Make the time
Photos by Seen in Saratoga
From the editor
HI!
Nothing makes me happier than a new batch of smiley Dinner Club pics by Seen in Saratoga — so this time, I saved them for a Monday.
Good to have a quiet day after such a star-studded weekend?
— Abby
P.S. A warm welcome to the 106 new readers from over the weekend. Something was aligned in the 518, and I’m so happy you’re here.
In this issue:
Guns N’ Roses with the kiddos
Axl Rose has a sweet tooth; SPAC was just the beginning for Flavor Flav
Spotted: locals meeting locals
Local, real, never corporate (it’s just me!). I cannot do this without you.
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Guns N’ Roses and Public Enemy play to an enthusiastic, multi-gen crowd
Declan (Laura’s 13-year-old offspring), dubbed the cocnert “the best show ever.” For moms pulling their hair out bringing their highly opinionated kids to rock concerts on a Sunday night, that’s music to our ears.
“This is an interesting mishmash of people and styles,” one of the 25,000 concertgoers at SPAC was overheard saying with a raised brow in the nosebleed section of the lawn.
Indeed, Guns N’ Roses and Public Enemy drew a motley crew of dedicated rock veterans wearing vintage tees / Slash wigs and bad denim, moms and dads with their teens in tow (guilty as charged), and older hip-hop heads and activists. The vibe was joyful, gleeful and smoky — once you were inside.
Actually getting beyond the gates was a doozy though.
“I was really frustrated that the State Park police and SPAC are now routing so many cars down Avenue of the Pines,” says Laura Tilton, an enthusiastic concert-goer who has become my unofficial go-to resource for all things SPAC, from rock and pop to classical. “Waiting in a car line for more than 45 minutes seemed really inefficient, and most of the cars should have been directed to use Route 50 lots.”
(I Uber’d to the show with three teens in tow, and ran into a similarly painful traffic experience.)
The wildness of the crowds and the performers from their full-chaos-mode apogee in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s was swapped for a focused set that cranked out fan favorites — included “Yesterday,” “Sweet Child O’Mine,” “Mr. Brownstone” and “November Rain.”
“Duff looked great, Slash still slayed,” Laura says. “And of course Axl’s voice doesn’t have nearly the range that he did 38 years ago, but I still love hearing all of the songs live.”
Multiple teens concur.
“I liked it a lot,” Miles (one of my 13-year-old offspring) says. “The crowd was chiller than the crowd in 2023 when we went. But I was also 10 then.”
👀 Related: Axl Rose hits Broadway on Friday for some gelato, while Flavor Flav met everyone at the track over the weekend (come back soon!) — including Cherie DeVaux, Kendrick Carmouche, Carly Connors and the similarly named (says Flav) Flavien Prat.
📌 ICYMI…
We brewed up quite the party…
And I was worried about people finding the time for the Dispatch Dinner Club during this crazy Saratoga Summer … Instead, more than 50 of our neighbors came on down! They dined at eight restaurants around downtown — then met me at Whitman Brewing for a nightcap.
Let’s take a look…
Photos by Seen in Saratoga
After-party: Whitman Brewing (thank you, Sam!)
Restaurants: Standard Fare, Chianti, The Market, Coat Room, Omakase and Familiar Creature
Total GDP brought into downtown Saratoga via the Dispatch Dinner Club: $7520
Total Dispatch Dinner Club members: 273
Sign up today to score an invite to the members-only August event. (Hint: 🍷)
“Cook together!” (Advice given to a bride-to-be by one of the Coat Room tables, as they made their way to Whitman for the nightcap.)
“We should tour,” deadpanned Tiina Loite, RIGHT, after someone joked they should form a band called “The Oranges.”
“As I chatted with different people and got to know how they heard of the event, I quickly realized most of these people were loyal Saratoga Dispatch readers.
They talked about the publication the way people talk about something that’s woven into the fabric of their community. That, to me, was beyond special.”
Recommended reading: Gabby O’Keefe of the New York Press Association wrote a great first-person account about attending Dinner Club for the first time.
You’re invited!
Next Dinner Club: Wednesday, September 9
(Sign up today to be invited to the members-only August event!)
Join 50+ of your neighbors who want to meet you at a special fall kick-off Dinner Club.
Thank you to our September Dinner Club sponsor, Helen Simpson of Keller Williams.
"Helen is unparalleled as a realtor. She not only negotiated our dream home with amazing skill, but also helped transform the home we're selling to maximize its value far beyond expectations."
