Venue: William & Mary Hall, 31st Dec 1999 - 1st Jan 2000 - "The Millennnium Bash"

Click and to check the photos!

12/31/99 - 01/01/00 William & Mary Hall - Williamsburg, VA
Set 1: (Spider Fingers) > Great Divide, Will It Go Round In Circles, Bonaparte's Retreat > Great Divide, Signed Sealed Delivered, King of the Hill > Big Boss Man > (Arkansas Traveller) > King of the Hill, I'm in Love, Jacob's Ladder > (Blackberry Blossom), Lucky Old Sun, Talk of the Town, The Way It Is, Scarlet Begonias*, End of the Innocence, Rainbow's Cadillac > Women Are Smarter > Rainbow's Cadillac, We're Having a Party, Valley Road
Set 2: Big Rumble** > On the Western Skyline > Big Stick, Down the Road Tonight, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, (Millennium countdown), Auld Lang Syne, Spider Fingers > Tighten Up > Spider Fingers, In the Wee Small Hours, Winter Wonderland, Jack Straw*, Sunflower Cat > Lot to Laugh > Sunflower Cat, Mandolin Rain > I'm in a Good Mood Tonight > That Would be Something > Mandolin Rain, Cruise Control
Encore: Pig in a Pen, Across the River
Comments: Millennium Bash. * w/Bobby Hornsby ** w/Joe Lee. Bruce's twins joined them on stage for Scarlet Begonias.

It took 21 hours in total from door-to-door, Newcastle UK to Williamsburg VA. I don't feel as though I could have spent my time any better.

It was a party night from start (9.30pm) to finish (1.30am). For 23 of us it began with a meal beforehand, where swift trades were done (cheers David!) and those who had traded for years finally got to meet.

A short trip to the college (cheers again David!) and we were greeted by a unicyclist, a flame thrower and stilt walkers. The stage was in the middle, to revolve throughout the show, and a huge curtain on one wall had CNN projected onto it to cover the big moment. Group hugs were also a feature throughout, as the party atmospherere awaited the band.

Dressed for the most part in tuxes, the band tore straight into Great Divide, which pretty much set the mood for the night. The setlist provided plenty of upbeat songs for such an occasion, with the odd ballad amongst a huge pile of requests. All the while the stilt walkers, amongst hundreds of others, took to the aisles for some serious millennium shaking.

There were two notable exceptions to this - when Bruce invited a couple on stage for Rainbow's Cadillac, which provided about 1% of the final total who took their moment under the lights. This was almost surpassed by the grand total of one when Elyce was called up to join Bruce while he played accordian.

There was no single highlight - Bobby Hornsby joined his brother for several songs, as did Bruce's twins, with their own drums, for Scarlet Begonias (see the "Pictures" page). JT and Doug treated us to their own dancing, one or two security joined in from the doors for "We're Having a Party", Bonny went nuts in spectacular fashion during "Tighten Up", for Bruce himself, it was his own 16th wedding anniversary. For others, B.J. proposed to Stacey, Erika celebrated her 25th birthday ... oh, and a new millennium was thrown in as well.

As the year turned, the balloons and snow fell from the roof, before the crowd nearly blew it off. One mean celebration erupted as all friends together rang in the New Year to "Auld Lang Syne".

The show continued until nearly 1.30am. I should mention that Bruce was his usual affable self in seeing that he greeted every one of those who waited for him backstage, on his wedding anniversary no less.

On a personal level, it was a privelege to meet, amongst others; Leah, Mark, Eric, Cathy and Kip, David and B, Charles (write that book!), Rosemarie, Kate, Adrienne, Sue (thanks for the pre-show party!), Erika, Kathy Hornsby, Melissa and Elyce (now THAT was reckless abandon! Show them how it's done, friend!)