2008 Show - 4 February Austin TX

AUSTIN @ Antones
4 February 2008
Monday 9:00pm

ON THE GO - From St. Charles hotel I cabbed it to the Lambert-St Louis International Airport.

...and flew to Austin TX. Still flat...but no snow for as far as I can see.

Checked into the Austin Motel. Very cool place, people and location.

Checked out the so cool SoCo (south Congress) neighborhood...

Checked out the neighborhood around Antone's, at 5th Street and Lavaca Street.

Checked to see if the GoGo bus arrived safely.

Checked out what to do in Austin if one was gonna be here for 4 nights.

• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
• LBJ Presidential Library & Museum
• 6th Street Entertainment District
• South Congress
  
• Texas Hill Country
• LBJ Ranch House
• San Antonio
• The Alamo
• Riverwalk

Good starting place...

After checkin' all that out... (and 3 days later) my husband and I checked into the old classic Driskill Hotel. WOW! This place certainly had a different vibe than the Austin Motel. But it was our final night here so we decided to splurge.

Besides - from here it was an easy walk around 6th Street and Antone's on 5th.

The Driskill Hotel

The doors opened at 8:00pm

FOR STARERS - FASTBALL -on at 9:00pm. Great local Austin band. Their set was fast and ...well --- they were all pretty cute.

HOW IT GOES - The GoGos went on about 10pm.

Bad news.
Kathy came out by herself.

I knew something was up. The stage crew had put up a music stand with cheat sheets for song chords and also taped them all over the monitors. (Jane usually didn't need all this) Something's up.

Kathy made the announcent.

The Go-Go's are sad to announce that their beloved guitarist - Jane Wiedlin- unexpectedly had to leave the tour to be with her family and at her mother's side as she succumbs tothe final stages of a terminal illness.
After prolonged discussions, the band w/ Jane included, decided
it was best to continue on with our contracted scheduled
appearances. Of course Jane is irreplaceable, but
Austin guitarist Eve Monsees has taken on the challenge of learning
our entire set in order to fill in the
rhythm guitar duties. We are grateful to Eve for helping us out,
and hope our fans will give her a big welcome. Our sympathies
and condolences go out to Jane and her family during this difficult
time.

This was very sad. The Go-Go's hadn't played without Jane - well - since October 1984.

It felt really strange. Her presence was missed.

They dropped LA LA Land, Stuck in My Car, Cool Places, Unforgiven.
They added Lust to Love, Beatnik Beat, Let's Have a Party.

The Set List for that night

WORTH NOTING - The show was sold out. Antone's is a great place. It held maybe 300-400 people.

• Kathy sang Jane's part on Our Lips Are Sealed.
• Charlotte dedicate Our Lips Our Sealed to Jane and her family.
• Gina came forward and thanked Eve for doing a great job in a difficult situation.
• They did not play 'Cool Places'
  
• Kathy had several family and friends in the upper VIP section of the audience.
• Loved Charlotte's Eddie Sedgwick t-shirt.
• The drum set was not raised up at all so it was hard to see Gina behind them.

All About Eve - Eve's Monsee's myspace page:
www.myspace.com/eveandtheexiles

The Kathy Valentine interview @ Austin360.com

By Richard Skanse | Sunday, February 3, 2008
"We had a day off between New Orleans and Dallas, and I basically begged the agent to book us in Austin, and I specifically wanted it to be at Antone's. I decided to become a musician from my eaarly days living in Austin and going to Antone's so to have gone off and found the kind of success that the GoGo's have had, and now to get to bring that special band to play there 28 years later is really cool for me. It's like a little bow on the package..."

HIGH NOTE - Seeing the girls play in Austin. What an awesome town. And this was definately Kathy's night. She was glowing. She even had her hair pulled back. She helped Eve through some of the chord progressions.

LOW NOTE - No Jane. What more can I say. It was all bittersweet. We miss Jane.

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All in all - Austin seemed like a pretty dog friendly place to be...