Paula,
my guess was also a bit of a "wishful thinking", as the announcement of the first leg came after I already bought the (non refundable!) air tickets to Japan for a vacation last April.
So I was actually flying out of San Francisco while LC was on stage in Oakland on April 13th (I live in Oakland, by the way)!!
And this didn't make me happy.
Then, my idea was that - after an exhausting year and a half on the road - LC wanted to be close to home for the final show. And I know that he lives part in Montreal and part in L.A. But Jarkko already said that Montreal was not on the list. Therefore it had to be California.
It did not look right to me to have a final show in L.A. - musically speaking, it's not his "scene"...
Also, I thought the guys were going to be tired of travelling, and not willing to perform for small audiences (=theatres) anymore.
The tour then had to finish in 2009 no matter what, so it had to be a short final leg to maximize their time.
So, California - big venue - not L.A.
Final note: LC announced the tour last year in Palo Alto together with Philip Glass (and I was in the audience). So a king of full circle, right? Not to mention Roscoe writing on his blog of coming back to the Bay Area...
Anyway, my first guess was San Diego, both because of the climate (always mild) and of the venue (there's a big outdoor venue in S.D. that they could have very well chosen).
When a second guess was allowed, then I immediately thought of the Bay Area.
Big venues here are:
- in Oakland, but LC already was at the Paramount... so not likely to come back again, either at the Arena or at the Coliseum (outdoor by the way, see below)
- in S.F. (there's only the Ballpark, but it's just too big - I saw the Stones there, and it was hard even for Jagger to "fill the space"), and it's outdoor (not a likely choice in late Nov / early Dic, when I was guessing the concert had to be scheduled)
- in Mountain View or Concord (same thing, more outdoor venues... brrrrr...)
- in San Jose', at the HP Pavilion
So, this was my "mental path", leading me to San Jose'.
Now, what I really need is some luck with the tickets (and a little help from G...d and/or his/her substitute on Earth, from Finland).
Good luck everyone anyway.
Andrew
P.S. This (if everything goes well...) will be my second LC show, after Montreal in 1993.
