Sue's and Dawn's Review Seneca Casino Niagara - Niagara Falls New York Friday January 13 and Saturday January 14, 2006
Our weekend started out at about 11:00am on Friday January 13,
2006. We set out for Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada for what
we anticipated would be a fabulous weekend of Air Supply and Ice
Wine. As always, when we go on these journeys, Dawn did
the driving. She has a van, so there would be lots of room
for the wine purchases.
It takes about an hour and a half to get from Toronto to Niagara
Falls but this day it took longer as we stopped to taste the "Ice
Wine" at several wineries along the Niagara Wine Route.
I don't know how many wineries there are in this area but there
are a lot! The Ice Wine is made from the grapes after they
have been frozen. It is very sweet - certainly a dessert
wine. The Niagara Region is quite famous for its Ice Wine.
We arrived at our hotel (on the Canadian side of the Falls) and
settled in. It was almost 60 degrees - unusually warm for
January in Ontario. We relaxed a while then got ready to
go and find out where Seneca Niagara Casino is on the American
side. We found the Casino in short order, parked and went
inside. We had lots of time before the show, so we did a
little gambling. When I say a little . . . I mean we played
on the penny and nickel machines!!
Finally it was 8:30pm, and we went to find "The Bears' Den"
- the venue where Air Supply was playing. There was the
usual table where "Dina" was selling 8" x 10"
pictures of Graham and Russell as well as the 2 latest CDs.
Of course Dawn and I have them already so we made it our job to
let everyone know that they should buy both CDs as they were both
wonderful and they could get them autographed after the show.
We went inside and took our seats. These seats were in the
second row, but there was nobody in front of us. The stage
jutted out into the audience, and we were on the left hand side
(Graham's side) From where we were, we could practically
reach out and touch Graham or the keyboard guy. (Jed was not there
for the weekend but one of Jonni's friends filled in - quite well
in fact) But we did miss Jed!!
The show started with Russell singing "The Power of Love"
and then "Just as I am". Needless to say he did
a FANTASTIC job. He even sounds better than he did all those
years ago. It was a powerful and moving performance.
Russell was also sporting a new black suit and boots. He
looked amazing!! Graham was also wearing a jacket and new
shirt. He is so trim and it seems to me that he jumps around
more than ever. It was interesting to be so close watching
him adjust the pedals and switches for his guitars.
The whole show was incredible. They sang 17 songs.
That is one more than they usually sing. They sang "A
Little Bit of Everything" and "Faith in Love".
Of course Russell sang "Miracles". What a beautiful
song. Graham is such a talent, and with Russell's voice they
can't go wrong. We were not allowed to take pictures though as
the security guard was right beside us. He made several
people put their camera phones away.
Afterwards we lined up for the Meet and Greet. We took
pictures and let the guys know how much we enjoyed the show.
It is certainly wonderful to be able to get up close and personal
with them and to even get a hug! We left the venue just
after midnight and went our to do some more "gambling".
By the time we got back to the hotel and into bed it was
after 2:00am.
The next morning we woke up to snow and wind and temperature of
about 20 degrees. We set out to go for breakfast and found
out that the roads were bad!! We got to McDonalds and had
our egg McMuffins and then left to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Bad weather doesn't stop us. Niagara-on-the-Lake is
a beautiful town with lots of great shops and Theatres and Inns
- very touristy. We did some shopping and then went to more
wineries. We tasted and we purchased. By mid day
the weather had cleared up, and the sun was shining.
We then went to dinner at "Swiss Chalet" and headed
back to the hotel to get ready once more to go to the second concert.
We went back to the Casino and back to the Venue and took
our seats. This time we were on Russell's side four rows
up. But he was still right in front of us. It was
another wonderful experience. By the end of the show the
lights were up, everyone was singing - even the security guard
near us - so I did get some pictures. Russell sang "Goodnight"
on his knees, with his arm around a little girl. She sang
the last word of the song, and it was really sweet. (Ah to be
seven years old again!!!)
The Meet and Greet was great once again. We got pictures,
hugs and kisses. All in all a wonderful night!!
We can't wait until next month when we will be going to see "Our
Most Favourite Band" once again.
Sue and Dawn
See Sue's photos from this show
