JEFF PIKE - ABBA MANIA - FALL 2021 TOUR BLOG - DAY 4

October 31, 2021
The Mendel Center
Benton Harbor, Michigan
www.themendelcenter.com

Check out the TOUR page for all venue and ticket information for upcoming dates. 

Halloween is my favorite day of the year. It always has been. So I have to admit that I feel a little out of place this year being out on the road. Although a good case can be made that I have a seriously cool costume and a place to strut around on Halloween, I still feel I should be home celebrating my favorite day of the year in my own particular way. This typically does not happen, meaning that there is usually not a tour planned during the fall. The only reason we did one this year is due to the demand after 2020 for ABBA MANIA. But even if I was able to be home on Halloween, it still feels odd. But hey, at least I do have a built-in costume. :-) 

This year, our venue for Halloween was the beautiful Grand Upton Hall at The Mendel Center in Benton Harbour, Michigan. We had performed here a couple of times before, so we knew the lay of the land going in. However, just like our gig in Wausau, Wisconsin, last night, the weather was much prettier today than in the middle of January when we usually are there. The weather was perfect too for Halloween. It was cloudy, windy, and cold. Actually, it was too cold. I walked around outside as much as I could to try and absorb some Halloween spirit. Still, it proved to be way too chilly for me to get a lot of steps in, which was just as well, I suppose. Again we had an early sound-check, along with an early dinner and a 7:00 show.

Unfortunately, the progress we made the night before seemed to backslide a little tonight. We had more problems with our monitors. But be that as it may, as most of our performances, the reviews were highly positive, and the audience was very enthusiastic and enjoyed our show  immensely. Still, being the perfectionists we all are we came off stage feeling like the Halloween Gremlins were back and had taken a small bite out of our candy apple. But none of that stopped the after-show party on the bus that went well into the night. Yet like a good boy, I performed my nightly after-show ritual - clean up, don my sweat pants and Meat Loaf shirt, crawl inside my bunk and try to sleep. In the true spirit of the season, my sleep was haunted with all sorts of nightmares, and the night was restless and disturbing, so you could say I did get to celebrate Halloween, even if it was in my dreams. :-)