My ex-flatmate Mr Dave, when offered, like just about everyone else declined, and the news that I was thinking of catching the other shows was greeted with a why bother that, at the time, I took to be an adverse comment on one or both of the other venues.
Subsequent discussion revealed that the opinion was based on other factors (He's always been a little too 'Albion' for me) but by that time, of course, it was too late to change plans and travel arrangements.
As a long-term Thompson fan (dating back to buying Henry The Human Fly from the dollar cut out bin at Woolworths in Townsville) I was expecting an outstanding performance, and RT lived up to every expectation.
Having watched and heard just about everything the man's released (down to the entire range of official bootlegs) I knew what to expect but the rapid-fire succession of great songs was tantamount to an attack with a stun gun, and explains why the man includes the odd lightener (at that stage it was Hots For The Smarts) into the set-list.
I do, however have one regret. As a long-time but largely inactive subscriber to the RT discussion list I knew that the man was including Friday On My Mind in his Thousand Years of Popular Music shows, and given the number of voices calling requests could have easily chipped in with that one. Maybe, had I been sitting anywhere other than the front row, I probably would've. RT, however, can be rather scathing when it comes to some of these matters, so discretion seemed the best course.
Of course, as soon as I was outside, I was regretting it, but there you go.
I didn't have the same problem persuading Madam to tag along when I learned that Eric Clapton was touring Australia in March 2007. A check to confirm Derek Trucks was in the touring party was enough to ensure that doubles were needed when it came to flights and hotel bookings.