grand funk concert stories miami township

In July of 2005 I was living down near Dayton and Cincinnati.When I got word that Mark Farner and his NRG band would be playing at the Miami township festival which was near Dayton,Ohio,I immediately endeavored to find out more about it.My girlfriend Joy was having knee troubles at the time.She would be getting total knee replacements later in the year but despite the pain she dealed with daily,she really wanted to go to this concert too.I decided to call Mr.C who was a mutual friend of ours and Mark Farners.Over the past year since my meeting Mr.C in 2004,I would give him a call once in a blue moon just to see how everyones been doing and to fill them in on how we have been.He told me that theyd all be at the concert and we would see them there.When we had arrived there that afternoon it was sunny and horribly hot outside and there was a half mile to a mile walk from where we had parked to where the stage was located at.She did not like that very well.Later on I had realized that I had forgotten the freakin camera and some other things,thus I had to walk a double trip to the car and back.By this time it was unbearably hot in the mid 90 degree weather.After cooling off under the roof of a shelter house we made our way to the stage for the opening act.Mark and the guys would be on very soon.Joy then looked to her right towards the front corner of the stage where several people were both sitting and standing.Hey Chris isnt that Mr.C right over there?,she says while pointing.At about that same moment the man got up and began walking towards us and sure enough it was him with his wife and all the kids.It was really good to see them all again.We talked for a little while and it was soon time for Mark and nrg to take the stage as people were now out of their lawn chairs and the front of the stage became very saturated with massive numbers of people.I had scribbled the song lineup onto paper as the concert progressed.This way I now have the song lineup for this particular show.They took the stage and started off with -are you ready as the crowd was really goin crazier than most shows Ive attended.Rock and Roll Soul,footstompin music,nothing is the same then followed afterwards in this order.They then played hooked on love.I had never seen them perform this song live at any previous concerts and it really rocked.The big crowd was packed against the stage pretty tight.Songs shinon on,feelin alright,people lets stop the war and the railroad were the next ones played.Then came a superb rendition of were an american band.The songs creepin,same ole feeling with Pauls great saxaphone playing was followed by bad time,the locomotion and the show ended with-some kind of wonderful.The crowd was ecstatic as the applause for an encore became louder and louder.They then came out once more and finished up with-into the sun.It was a really awesome concert.Mr.C and his family were all into the concert just as much as we were but by mid show Joys knees were really taking their toll on her.After the show I talked with Mr.C some more.He pointed to a small bus that was sitting backstage right beside Marks and says,thats whatn they came here in.I knew we could get a ride to our vehicle from him if I asked.I asked him to take a couple pictures with us and he obliged and afterwards we waited for Mark and the guys to come back out.This would be the first time I had met Marks bassist Lawrence Buckner.In the past years Lawrence had played bass for Mark clear back in the Mark Farner common ground band days in the mid to late 80s.but somehow I had always missed out on meeting him.We met him and them and talked with them for awhile.As we waited for our turn to see Mark I asked for a picture with both Lawrence and Marks drummer Hubert Crawford as Joy snapped off the shot for me.Finally it was our turn to see Mark.This all would be a quick visit and seemed to last only moments but it was a good feeling seeing Mark.He shook my hand and calmy says,How are you doin Chris?He signed our autographs and I then handed him a slip of paper with my then website address on it which featured Mark and Grand Funk.After our visit with Mark I was gonna ask for a ride from Mr.C.As we were setting to leave,Joy and I got into a heated argument about having to walk all that distance back to the car.She didnt want to ride with Mr.C.It was pretty obvious that everyone had partyed it up just a tad too much but I didnt feel there would be any danger in him taking us that half mile up the parks road.I was gonna ask him but it was too late.They had already taken off and they were now long gone.It was one long walk for sure.By early 2006 I was no longer with Joy anymore and was living back near my hometown in a place situated along a large lake.Marks next concert would be in July 2006.They would be playing a concert in Mansfield Ohio where I would be meeting some new and special friends from Marks online railroad forum in which would be my 17th concert.My 16th concert was now over and by the time we had finally gotten back home we were dead tired.Our footstompin was done stomped out and our nrg was now un-nrgized but overall we were still feelin alright.

Feelin Alright-Grand Funk Railroad from LP Survival 1971