**This entry was created for July 3rd**
The next day after the Mohegan Sun show we had to drive to Hershey, PA. And it's true what they say about Hershey, it does smell like chocolate. Evan had a show there in the football stadium next to the Hershey Amusement Park. Again, it was a much different venue than we had been doing at the beginning of the tour. An outdoor stage without the shelter of an amphitheater means the sound easily gets lost in an open space. For the audience it’s great because it's not too loud but the artists on stage have trouble hearing them selves.
Evan played his set opening with “Indiana” and then brought up Vivian to play their cover of Robert Johnson’s “Come on in my kitchen”. Evan finished up with “Woodpecker” and I brought Evan’s Uncle Jeff, Aunt Barbara and cousin Jake up to the side stage. We were staying with them while we were in the area. We just happened to get a wink and a wave from Ann Wilson as she went on stage to perform. It’s a quick change over from Evan to Heart with only 5 minutes between.
We stayed and listened to most of the Heart set from the restricted area right of stage. The volume was tolerable at that distance; the acoustics of a football field are to send the sound up and out. Evan took off through the crowd to get to the merchandise booth to sign CDs. He didn’t make it very far before a group stopped him to chat. Five minutes would pass and he would move towards the back of the stadium again. There in front of him less than10 feet was another group that wanted to chat. It took Evan almost a full hour to walk the length of that football field.
I hadn’t been feeling well so after the 30-minute break between Heart and Def Leppard’s performance I was ready to go back to Jeff and Barbara's house. There was something going on with my stomach, probably the combination of eating what we can find near the road and sitting all day. Evan was happy to rest up, he was exhausted from talking to so many people (not complaining about that!).
As we made our way out to our car and trailer I caught a glimpse of a woman jumping up and down, frantically waving her arms. She was standing at the truck entrance to the backstage area. This is the area where the 10 tour buses and 10 semi-tractor trailers park to unload. I couldn’t believe this woman was so excited and clearly screaming out for Evan’s attention. I thought in this situation it was best to keep our heads down and continue to walk but it turned out it was one of our friends from NYC, Chelsea.
Chelsea just happened to be visiting her Uncle in Hershey. She told us that she had heard Heart playing from her Uncles balcony and knowing Evan was on tour with them but not knowing our exact tour schedule, she ran over to the stadium to say ‘hi’. Much better ending to that story than if it was a crazed fan, I would need to figure into our budget a bodyguard and I know we don’t have the wiggle room for it.
We left Uncle Jeff, Aunt Barbara and Jake at the show and went back to their place to relax. A cold beer and Star Wars on the Spike channel was the ending of our night. We had to get up at 6 AM the next morning to start our trip to Wisconsin. Evan had a show there on July 5th and we wanted to get to Crawfordsville, IN in time to enjoy some of the 4th of July holiday with family. It was a long trip so we needed to rest up.
Thanks again Jeff and Barbara for your hospitality and the delicious care package. Miss you already!
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