The tension began to ease now that I had procured the seat to my last show of the tour. And I had a couple of hours to kill and wanted to relax with some other fans and put my feet up for a while since I had been standing since 6 a.m. that morning. It felt like I walked 10 miles. But then I heard some familiar notes and chords and drum chops - and it was very loud. Very loud. It was sound check.
I walked over to the Garden Arena and a few people had gathered outside the closed doors. You never would have imagined that there was an entire arena behind those few doors, but there was. You could hear the band warming up, checking out the sound and the acoustics and I stood with my ear against the doors, trying to look funny. I liked hearing the band mess around in between being serious. Maybe I was there for about 10 minutes or so.
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Plans with my travel partners - well - there never were any real plans. And I was lucky again in the sense that I knew some people who were staying in the hotel and decided to go see them. They saw me earlier in the day and gave me their floor and room number.
So I went up to the 17th floor to hang out, relax and prepare (party!) for the show with Merrie - or more distinctly - the Geddy Goddess, who managed to get a room in the massive hotel with an unreasonable amount of hassles. From what I understand,
many Rush fans had a lot of problems with their reservations at the MGM, including the party of three I was a part of. There were so many people inside the MGM that I couldn't believe it - and all it's 5,000 or so rooms were sold out. I've never seen anything like that before. I got lost several times trying to find the main lobby and the ticket office and
had to ask how to actually get up to the 17th floor.
I was really happy when Merrie opened the door when I knocked. I walked in and said hello, and despite it being a modest room, I was greeted with a huge window facing out toward Stratosphere in the distance. The overall view of
the strip and Las Vegas from the 17th floor of the MGM was really nice and relaxing. I took off my Rush jacket
and somewhat collapsed on the couch and sighed a heavy sigh of relief, still enjoying the view from high up in
the hotel.
I'm not much of a drinker but after the events of the day (it's now about 6 p.m.), I decided that it would be a really nice change to have one. Have you ever had vodka and pineapple juice with a lime twist? Merrie and her partner were well-stocked on room
service and alcoholic beverages and shared with me. My icy cold drink was stimulating, new and refreshing, the conversation and company was good and my Rush jacket with a 7th row center seat tucked in its upper breast pocket was laying on the bed. I thought
to myself, "Now THIS is the way I envisioned Vegas to be." I wasn't stuffing nickels into slot machines, I wasn't losing $25 a hand at Black Jack, I had scored a face value ticket and found a hotel room on a whim and now I was completely relaxed with nothing to worry about except going back down to the Grand Garden Arena in an hour and a half.
"I feel just grand," I said out loud after some of the vodka started to kick in, a smile on my face. "Get it?"
"Oh please, gimmie a break," Merrie kicked back.
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And as I sat on the couch up on that 17th floor, I turned my head to the left and again saw the hotel Stratosphere dominating the strip skyline. "I think I've died and gone to heaven," I said. "Being up here with you guys is very nice and with the show just an hour away I feel like I'm on top of the world."
"Why thank you Jordan, that's a very nice thing of you to say," Merrie said, not knowing where I pulled the little metaphors from.
During our casual waiting period before the show, we talked about all kinds of things Rush, about how I had sort of taught myself how to play the intro to "Earthshine" on my electric guitar and that Merrie was teaching her daughter how to play the bass. Merrie produced a few photos of her holding a black and white bass and they looked cool. She hopped in the shower, finished and did her hair. It was now 7 p.m., and I knew that I would need a little extra time getting to the arena - I was sure to hook up and see John and Dan (the other "jacket guys") and security was sure to be tight. An hour was needed to take care of it all.
Merrie said they would be along shortly and I made my way back down the long hall that was the 17th floor to the elevators. When I hit the lobby level and the door opened I was confronted with about double the amount of noise, people and other stimulating things than what was there earlier. The stakes had been raised a notch or two, that's for sure. Walking in the direction of the arena there was a sight to behold that was pure joy - Rush fans everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Darting in and out of elevators, slipping between
the rows of slot machines, sitting at the tables getting in a last hand - everyone was wearing current tour shirts or Rush t-shirts of all sorts. It felt like as fans we were over-running the place. It was really cool to see everyone gravitating toward the arena.