Macworld Expo Party!

Zen and the art of Macworld Magazine Expo Party

While registering us a few months ago for the Macworld Expo, my brother Larry was asked at the end of the online process if he wanted to also get tickets for the Macworld Magazine party at the ned of the first full day. Larry had read about these parties for years afterwards in the pages of Macworld and they were supposed to be pretty legendary, so he went ahead and made reservations for the two of us. As things turned out, I’m very glad he did.

Near the end of day 1 of the Expo, I was actually looking forward to something along the lines of a good night sleep. Between the excitement of being back a Macworld Expo for the first time in four years, representing the MyMac.com site, seeing my first ever Keynote live, and the general hullabaloo of being on the show floor, I was pretty tired and my feet were all kinds of sore. Near the end of the day, Larry reminded me that we still had to go and get our tickets in Moscone South. We tried to bluff our way into getting Tim tickets, but the event was sold out and none were available.

So, back to the hotel to clean up a bit and change clothes. We arrived a little late as I had forgotten to give Tim the video intro I had made a few weeks ago. The wireless in both hotels we’re staying at is less than stellar and trying to do it through Apple Mail or even online with Google just wasn’t working. Finally got the files transferred using iChat. Back on topic, when we walked into the building that the party was going to be held at, I was less than impressed. Very dark with a single bar running along a side wall near the rear and not much lighting. A loud booming noise was coming out of speakers located in various areas and the biggest crowd seemed to be located near the bar. Seeing as how at least your first two drinks were free, this wasn’t all that much of a mystery.

There was another even more darkened area (not sure how that was possible) near the rear of the room looking somewhat like a stage, but not very big. No one was making any “Welcome to the Macworld Expo party!”, so I wasn’t sure exactly what the plans were for the evening. I was ready to be a bit disappointed, but decided, “Hey, some free drinks and free food (sorta, the tickets were $40), may as well hang.”, when suddenly there was some movement up on the stage. A flash of light and much to my surprise, the legendary rock group Cheap Trick was on stage!

Even though I was a teenager during the 70s, I never had seen these guys in concert. thirty years later they still have all the energy of people half their age (which being older myself I won’t speculate on that). Rick Nielsen was a constant looming presence on stage, changing guitars after almost every song. All of his classic guitars made an appearance, including a double neck effigy of himself and the infamous 5 neck (yes 5 separate necks) monster guitar. Robin Zander’s excellent vocals and mostly rhythm guitar playing complemented the eclectic mix of new and old songs from Cheap Trick’s long history together. Bun Carlos’s drumming kept everything together and seeing live for the first time Tom Petersson’s 12-string Bass guitar was amazing.

Once they hit the stage there was no let-up. Rick kept the crowd entertained with various antics including throwing large amounts of guitar picks and jumping up to one of the taller parts of the stage. He also seemed to be trying to get some of the women to reveal certain parts of their anatomy though I wasn’t close enough to see how much success he had at that.

Kudos with Macworld and all the sponsors for a great party. I don’t know what will happen at the next one, but I plan on getting tickets!