Sal Comes Close to Being Blown Away at an Arlo Guthrie Concert

On July 27th, Arlo Guthrie appeared at Cain Park, and Sal and I went to the show.  Two of our Flea friends were our companions for this exciting evening of music and weather.   Sal, Bruce, and I were driving from the west side of town, and Nicole was coming from the east.  We west-siders had brought along a picnic and planned to eat it in the park before the show, but, as seems to be the case almost every day this summer, the sky was threatening rain and delivered on its promise.  Consequently we ate in the car as the rain poured down around us.  Luckily the precipitation stopped long enough to allow us to walk to the ampitheater without getting wet.  We hoped that the clouds had finished their work for the evening, but we were very wrong...

Shortly before the show was to start, Nicole arrived and we all settled in to enjoy the music.

Stories and songs -- all super entertaining!

Arlo Guthrie came out and entertained us mightily.  He told wonderful stories between the songs, and there was much laughter all around.

Suddenly, in the middle of a song, a voice came through the P.A. system announcing that the show was going to stop for 15 minutes because of some very bad weather coming through. The audience was instructed to remain where we were, and Arlo was required to leave the stage.

Very shortly rain came bucketing down and there was thunder and lightning galore.  We speculated about what would happen if a tornado came through.  There was quite a bit of nervous laughter as we looked up at the metal roof.

Rain pouring down from the edge of the roof

It was so windy that rain was blowing inside.  People began putting up their umbrellas inside the pavilion.  Despite being in the center section -- pretty far away from the edge of the roof -- we got a bit damp.

Cain Park staffers came out and covered the guitars, piano, etc. with a tarp.

Well-prepared Nicole donned her raincoat.  Sal came out of her bag to take part in the experience.

After 15 minutes we were told that we would be waiting another 15 minutes, but that the show would most likely resume at that time.  It did!  The tarp was removed, the stage mopped up with towels, and the show went on!

For some reason I like this shot of Arlo tuning up his 12-string while a bunch of folks wearing rain gear mopped the stage with towels.

The rest of the show was just as wonderful as the pre-storm portion.  As we made our way out of the pavilion, I saw some people haven't seen for a long time.  It's a small world -- especially at Cain Park -- where it seems like I always run into people I know.  Apparently we all have great taste in music!  Thanks, Arlo, for a very entertaining show.  And thanks, Mother Nature, for making the evening extra exciting!