Jennifer's Greensboro NC Recap

Warning � I am a huge Chris fan, so this review is definitely slanted towards Chris and I felt about seeing him.

On the way to the concert, we saw a billboard for Chris on I40/85 near where he lives. It was red and black with "Chris Daughtry" in huge letters and then said "The triad area is proud of you!" I thought that was so sweet. I'm not sure if the sign is new or not, but I bet that it made him really happy to see him.

Ok, now we are at the concert. There was a man from the mrchris'slastname site outside the entrance to the arena getting shout outs from Chris fans. It was neat. I did my shout out. We then got inside and my husband decided that he HAD to get his picture with a dancing pop tart. It was hilarious. Note to self and others - Do not buy the mint chocolate chip pop tarts, not good). There was a radio station with a huge banner and was announcing for Chris fans to sign it. We both signed it for Chris and my husband wrote "My wife made me vote till 11 pm every Tuesday for you." I thought it was hilarious.

We had great seats. Row 32, center of arena on the isle on the floor. The show starts... The demographics were like nothing I've ever seen at a concert. I saw 75 year old people and 5 year old kids. When we walked in, there was a lot of screaming because Rocky (Bucky's twin) was signing autographs very near our seats. I got a picture of him. People kept thinking he was Bucky, but you can definitely tell a difference in the two.

Show starts.... Every time Chris shows up on the jumbotron the crowd goes wild.... Mandisa opens the show with "I'm Every Woman." She did a great job and got the crowd going. I thought her dedication to Reuben was a bit cheesy, but she then had an inspirational speech that was moving. I really hope that she pursues a gospel career, I feel that she could be an inspiration to a lot of people. She looked great for her set, had a red shimmery shirt on.

Next up was Ace. The duet with Ace and Mandisa was great!! LOVED. Crowd going wild again. Then Ace sang Father Figure and did his strip tease. Every time he said the word naked, the entire crowd went wild. He did his "make love with his eyes" signature move throughout the whole song. Very sexy, very good. He then did It's Getting Harder to Breathe. Excellent. Crowd back on their feet. Going nuts. I was very impressed with Ace. He was an early favorite of mine, I then turned into a Chris addict. I was not expecting to like him as much as I did.

Lisa up... I did not like her outfit, it was a halter top with an open back with spaghetti straps cris crossing the back. It just didn't match the type of songs she was singing or her age. I found it distracting. She did OK. Her Your Song was good and she did a great job on the piano. She seemed very sweet and playful. She seemed to have a good time.

Paris up. My least favorite song of the night was Waterfalls with Her and Lisa. Lisa introduced Paris as my best friend. Someone in another review said Paris looked like an aerobics instructor and that was a great comparison. Paris was an early favorite of mine, but I was disappointed in her set. I love her soulful, sultry voice, but she seems to want to go towards pop more. I found her dancing on the Beyonce song to be a bit much. The song and dancing are definitely not my style. She got a decent crowd reaction.

Bucky. I was very surprised at the very strong crowd reaction for Bucky. He said that he was so happy to get sweet tea and that he was sure getting thirsty for it. He has really blossomed as a performer and did a great job with the crowd. He was very good on drifting away and had the crowd in his palm. He seemed to be having an awesome time. Crowd was on their feet for Bucky.

Kellie - I was not a big fan of the Grease duet, so I took a bathroom break during her set. Husband said that she seemed very lifeless and not into it. He commented that he voice was great, but she just didn't have a lot of stage presence. I got back in time to hear her talk about the food she missed. She said that her, Bucky and Chris were really glad to have sweet tea. The minute she said Chris, the crowd went nuts and she said "So, We've got some Daughtry fans here." Crowd went nuts!!

Intermission......

At the end of intermission, the drummer from Absent Element went to the back of the arena. He looks similar to Chris, so the crowd went crazy and started screaming thinking it was Chris. I believe that this is the reason that there was an earlier report that he started in the crowd. Right when the crowd was screaming, the lights went down and the music started. And then Chris came on stage. So I think that the person who gave that report thought that the AE drummer was Chris since a lot of the crowd did.

Pandemonium breaks loose. Frenzied screaming. Everyone on their feet. Chris starts with whole lot of love. Very powerful voice. Immediate stage presence. My husband who is a Chris fan, but nowhere near like me said that he got chill bumps all over his arms when Chris came out. Chris did a great job of working the audience; he would point to people right on the side of the stage and get them to scream for him. He said "Greensboro..." at one point in the song, kinda like "I'm so happy to be home." He was wearing jeans and a black button down shirt. Looked incredible and was very relaxed. After whole lotta love he did WDOA. He had everyone do the cell phone thing and tried to get us to sing. He is amazing on the guitar. Very soul stirring. I am still jumping around screaming like a 17 year old again, but the entire audience was doing that. He then did Renegade. Which seemed short to me, but was very good. At some point during the set he said that it was good to be home and that he had a lot of friends in the audience. He smiled, waved, and blew kisses to people in the first row several times. He did not talk a lot, but seemed very appreciative. At one point he went down into the audience and shook hands with people. He then asked if we would mind if he did one more song. Audience screams.

He starts with Savin Me. This is one of my favorite songs and I've watched the video of this duet about 30 times, so I was afraid it would be anticlimactic. But it wasn't. It was amazing. Absolutely the best of the show. My husband said his chill bumps came back. And he HATES Nickelback and this song. Elliot did a very good job and at one point said "Give it up for the hometown hero" Which of course we did. The song is over and Chris exits.

I can't describe the feel of the audience and the room adequately. It was frenzied, loud and passionate. His voice was so powerful and had such stage presence. It was similar to a sold out Garth Brook's concert I went to in 1992 (Garth's prime) where the crowd was absolutely in the palm of his hand. Chris had the same presence. I've always thought Chris would be huge star from the moment I heard Hemorrhage, but this confirms it. Not only does he have an amazing voice but he has "IT". The ability to bring a crowd to frenzy with his presence and his voice.

The crowd was very into the concert and the floor was on their feet for most of the ENTIRE concert, but there was a frenzied, rockstar feel to Chris's set.

Ok, next up was Elliot. He was very good and got love from the crowd. We had a very passionate Elliot fan screaming in our ear so it was hard to hear the music, but she was having the time of her life so we didn�t' mind. The intensity definitely went down during Elliot's set, which was nice cusp I got to sit down. I was sweating and panting from all of my dancing and frantic screaming (I am a 34 year old stay at home mom, so I'm not the typical concert groupie). Elliot did a beautiful job on Moody's Moody and Trouble. That boy has a beautiful voice and I hope he goes far. He seemed to really be enjoying himself. He was wearing his signature hat.

Then the boys do Patience. Excellent!! Loud screams for Chris. Me, back up acting like a 17 year old again. Ace does an amazing job on this song. He sounded great. I would have loved to hear more of the boys together.

Katherine is up next... I was not looking forward to Katherine, but was pleasantly surprised. The audience was VERY into her for both of the songs. Nowhere near Chris and Taylor, but up on their feet yelling. Two people behind me had been at Richmond and they said that she got a much better reception hear. They said that the crowd at Gboro was a much crazier, loud crowd, which they found funny because they thought Richmond was very into the show till they came here. Katherine seemed to hold back a bit in SOTR, but the crowd liked it. She talked a bit about her illness and how she really liked the south and how people were so nice. This was a theme throughout the night from idols about how nice it was to be back in the south.

Then Taylor's set. He starts up in the lower level and comes through the crowd. He did a great job. Crowd was very into it. He did a lot with his tambourine and harmonica. Lots of dancing. Very energetic. He definitely did not seem sick. Did a beautiful job on DIMYP. Only problem was his pants. I believe that whole coliseum now knows he wears tighty whities cuz he pants here hanging down and you could see the top of his underwear several times. It was very obvious. LOL!! Crowd was very into Taylor, probably more dancing than Chris. Very loud, but it wasn't the frenzy that there was for Chris. People enjoyed Taylor, but LOVED Chris. After Taylor's Encore...

Then they did We are the Champions. Chris opened the song at the top of the stage in a spotlight with a solo. Amazing. Beautiful and soul stirring. The song was good, but a bit on the cheesy side. Then Living in the City, which I thought was very cheesy. At one point the 3 NC idols entered through the center stage with smoke. Chris and Bucky start throwing guitar picks and Ace gives up another. Chris works the audience a lot and gets cheers and screams. He looks happy and having fun. What an amazing experience he has had the past year and how much fun to come home and play your home arena to this reception. I was so happy for him. The show ends. I want to do it again. I am so happy at this point.

As we are leaving we overhear several conversations about how Chris was in a league of his own musically and crowd-wise. How there was just such a dramatic difference in his performance and the others.

I had a great time. Well worth the 4 hours in the car and the 150 dollars for the tickets. And I know that I will be seeing Chris again.