Three concerts, two wins, one long road trip

Park packed a LOT into three days -- Van Morrison performing the entire Astral Weeks album (and more!), the Devils avenging a shutout to the Panthers, Chris Duarte burning up Mexicali, Brodeur and the boys recording their second shutout in three games and Fleetwood Mac opening their tour on all cylinders. A little snowstorm couldn't touch that.

The fun started Friday unassumingly when I went to snare Jack Bruce tix at BB's and was treated to the sight of Robert Cray tuning up for his gig that night. We probably would have been at that show, but Van Morrison was dipping into the archives for my favorite trend, the complete album show.

He actually started the evening with a whole other set though, and as the last time I saw him was a pretty brief show one New Year's Eve many moons ago, I was knocked out by Van singing his way through all of it and not giving away his vocals like he did back then.

Van is always reinventing the song with his bit of a rambling vocal style akin to an R&B Bob Dylan, and he just kept hitting them out of the park -- from a striking "And It Stoned Me" to an unexpected and top-notch "Comfortably Numb" to "Common One," which found him trading lyrics with his main sideman -- to the point that it cracked the Man up.

After the first set and a short break, Van and the band (with strings, minus some backup singers and guitarists) brought the elegant, soulful "Astral Weeks" to life. I came in to it knowing the album and 'ark hadn't before hearing it the week before, but it didn't matter either way as both of us wound up completely enthralled.

Next day, the Devils were playing early, so we figured we could fit it in to the busy schedule. In the teams' last meeting in Florida, the Panthers blanked the Devs, 4-0. This was complete reversal, the Devils looked totally sharp and Florida totally not. It helped that the Panthers' starting goalie couldn't play, so Craig Anderssson had to man the net for the whole 7-2 shellacking.

That night we went to Mexicali Live, and Chris Duarte just scorched the place like an electric jalapeno. He's got a wide array of interests and the guitar arsenal to back it up, so he can deliver Hendrix as well as alternative Soul Coughing -- spinning it through his unique filter. Like 'ark says it's a crime that this guy ain't as well known as regional counterparts like Stevie Ray Vaughan and frequent Clapton sideman Doyle Bramhall II.

Between sets, he didn't disappear either. He sat at his merch table and posed for photos and appreciatively listened to babbling fan comments. I blathered to him something about how 'ark told me I'd really like him because Hendrix was a big influence of his. He had just come off a scintillating take on "Third Stone," but Chris said he'd try to work some Jimi in. Then he thought a second, chuckled and said, "Well I just did that, didn't I?"

On to Pittsburgh about seven hours away. We were getting regular text updates from the best sister-turned-fanatical hockey fan (I know, MY fault) going. Brodeur delivered his second shutout in three days in a 3-0 blanking of the Filthy Flyers! No way his ego is going to suffer for that one, right?

Of course we had the tunes cranked and were treated to a gorgeous sunset through the mountains while listening to Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood lift not only the roof off the Garden but the whole damn building during "Voodoo Chile" last February.

We had been toying with the idea of partaking of Le Big Mac -- ya know, Mac Attack and what not -- and were pretty much powerless when a sign popped up for the world's largest Big Mac. So we stopped there and shot this gargantuan burger in the city it was first created in. Of course, neither of us actually had a Royale with Cheese.

On to the show. When I had looked at the map back when I bought the tickets, it led me to believe we'd be about half an arena away, albeit in some nice club seats. But in actuality, the stage was a couple sections in front of the end of the ice and the seats were really spectacular.

As Unleashed has been billed as a "hits" show, I have to admit I was a little concerned on how it was going to play out. Completely unfounded. I might have known all the songs, but at the tour opener, the band just let it rip.

Starting with "Monday Morning" and "The Chain," they ran through a substantial chunk of the back history. Just coming off their own brief tours, Lindsey and Mick were ON. Lindsey's vocals were searing, and sort of pointed out a bit of Stevie's shortcomings. Not surprising she can't hit some of the power notes anymore, but she was just dazzling on "Gold Dust Woman" and one of the set's big surprises, the ballad "Storms" off of "Tusk."

Lindsey sped up "Go Insane," so it was more akin to the original version than the lengthened version he did on the band's last tour in 2003. "Second Hand News" benefited from Stevie's vocals, but we sort of prefer "Never Going Back Again" with just Lindsey.

Another big surprise, and my personal favorite of the night, was "Oh Well" -- a big hit for the band before the Buckingham Nicks era. 'Ark was pretty amused, he referred to me as a "whirling dervish" during the song. I had suffered a stiff neck for a couple days, and I think it helped work the kink out ... but 'ark fretted it could have ended up the other way with me in traction the next day.

Stevie and Lindsey performed "Landslide" on their own, and Stevie disarmingly missed her vocal cue because the audience was soaking it up. Speaking of that, "Stand Back" brought me back to the days of dancing in front of the TV and I got up to boogie with a couple of neighboring Chiffonheads (that's what the fans who are totally there to see and emulate Stevie are called).

That apparently was the last straw for the sourpuss sitting behind us. He had been kind of a pain through the whole show, imploring the girls (tiny little rail things, were they that bothersome?) to sit down starting with the second number. Usually fans just sort of come to an unspoken arrangement, we'll sit for long periods of time and get up when the music really moves us. 'ark had been eyeing him from the beginning, ready to defend my dancing honor, apparently.

So "Stand Back" ends and "Go Your Own Way" starts, and that's pretty much the international signal for anyone who is able to get up and dance to do just that. Sourpuss had had enough by the end of the song, he actually grabbed the crocheted beret off Chiffonhead No. 1's head and tossed it and then stormed out. Incredible, seriously.

(That's my camera phone view. Objects are much closer than they appear.) Ultimately, it didn't bother the rest of us, though. We stood the rest of the show for the anthemic "Don't Stop" (OK, we do miss Christine McVie, particularly on this and "Say You Love Me") and "World Turning." The band even came back for a second encore ... "Silver Springs," sigh. I have NO idea how Stevie can deliver the vocal chops needed in that number at the tail end of the set, but she did.

With the heavily scheduled front end of vacation over, we set out for Virginia with news of the serious snowfall blanketing the country. Luckily, all we really ran across was a light dusting and some flurries. And the journey came full circle too, as we picked up Van Morrison's Astral Weeks Live CD and listened to it on the final leg.