Pam's Atlanta GA Recap

Okay – first off – I am dead tired this morning. I am old and fat and last night and yesterday afternoon really drained my limited energies. I got home at 2:00 am and had charley horses in my legs all night long. Sore and tired today. Hats off to Jena for having so much energy. And congratulations to Melissa for scoring a ticket to the show from her fellow Soul Patrollers she ate dinner with.

Afternoon delight was seeing Daughtry shirtless on the phone. However, the fence prevented us from getting any closer and the man was too far away to fully appreciate him or his tattoo. We knew it was Chris and he was shirtless, and there was a black tattoo on his back. He was on the phone walking back and forth into the wooded area. The disappointment was finding out that we had missed seeing the other idols going in by about 20 minutes.

After I dropped off Jena at her car, I took Melissa to Road House so she could meet her gang for dinner. I saw the Chic-fil-A next to it as I left and figured it would be a good spot to eat. I still had to meet up with my husband to go to the will call window (opened at 5:30) for my ticket so I headed back to the arena and sat in the box office area out of the horrible heat. I talked to a group of people who had just come out of the meet and greet and they were fans of Chris and Bucky and Kellie. They said that Taylor was very nice to them.

Most of the other fans I met were Taylor fans – but there were a lot of Chris and Bucky and Ace fans in that order. They all liked Elliott, too. My poster got a lot of attention by Taylor fans. They all liked the combo of Taylor and Elliott. Elliott was a secondary favorite to many fans, it seems. Elliott will never be secondary to me.

Okay – husband showed up at 5:00 – so we went back to Chic-fil-A to eat. I wonder if Taylor ate there earlier or if his food was take-out? There were 3 nice older ladies (like me - 50+) at the next table and we struck up a conversation since they saw my AI shirt. They are Taylor fans. They had tickets at will call but apparently since they were put in one of their names, the daughter who had credit-card purchased them didn’t need to be there. Live and learn – now I know. Since my ticket was in my hubby’s name – he had to be there to pick it up. Such a sweet guy! Anyway, the ladies and I had fun talking and we kept bumping into each other all night. We even left Wild Wings Café at the same time and commiserated at how tired and sore we were.

Well after I got my ticket, I got my poster out of the car and put my Elliott hat on my head, got my glo-sticks & pendants, and my ear plugs and went in. The sign on the door said that Kellie was ill and not performing. Too bad – but at least not my fav. I can’t help but wonder if they knew she couldn’t sing for awhile – why she didn’t stay in NC with her grandpa while she rested her voice. Hmmm. Okay – once I got in someone asked if I wanted to do Karaoke and guy led me over to the spot. The song I picked out was by Cast and wasn’t at all what I thought it was so got to pick another one. Neil Sedaka – Breaking up is hard to do– and it was in a low key for me but I managed to do okay. Chuckles, I heard the lady do Patsy Cline – not bad – and later got to hear your daughter do Jesus Take the Wheel (while I was in Ladies room nearby) – very good job – especially since all the other kids that sang kinda…. Gosh just didn’t sing well at all. I did backup vocal dancing on YMCA. Okay – that was after I finished my Zinfandel… and then sang Leann Rimes How Do I Live. I was hoping the key wasn’t too high and hopefully did alright on it. Anyway – that was a fun time while I waited for the concert.

I found my seat – stage right up high – okay but not good for pictures!
The show didn’t start until 7:25 – I checked my watch… that’s when Mandisa started singing. The show ended (encores & everything) at 9:52. Nothing replaced the missing Kellie time – and there was no girl’s group song either.

Sat next to a family who had no favorite – they had just watched the show. The girls behind me were a mixture of Chris and Taylor fans – but liked Ace a lot. They screamed – but appropriately – so I was okay. I did put my ear plugs in – mainly for the screams. The two girls who came in late on my other side were Taylor and Chris fans all the way. They asked me if Taylor would sing Levon and I had to tell them his probable set. Three guys came in together and sat in front of me. I couldn’t quite figure out who they were for. Paris maybe? They only stood for her. I know because they sat while I stood for Elliott and Taylor because I hit the guy in the head with my sign and apologized so had to remember to keep it higher than his head the rest of the time. Very atypical fans, IMO.

Impressions of the idols. First off – let me do a disclaimer. My digital camera not great – took videos but probably not good for sharing. Still pics were too far away even with full zoom. So – I will look at my stuff later and if anything worthy to share, I will send it to MJ. I ran out of memory right after Taylor started.

Loved Mandisa – great voice. Loved duet and taped it. Ace good – but he didn’t thrill me even in person. Now maybe if I had been sitting in front row – I would have felt the magic. Lisa very good – very soothing. I taped her Elton John thing but deleted the 5:21 video later when I thought I would need memory for LMBO guest. Wished I had kept it now - Poor Lisa. I thought duet was good. Paris good but dance song – boring, silly. I sat for her entire set even though I couldn’t see stage. Bucky – sweet Bucky - he really was entertaining on Superstition. Drift Away was literal as many left to beat crowd to intermission. I stayed for Bucky and left during Kellie appearance. She is sweet to be there and wave to fans.

After intermission, Chris rocked. I got a warm buzzy feeling listening and watching him sing. I did stand for his 1st song. Great song choices and I really felt the crowd noise was second only to Taylor. Sorry Elliott – your fans are like me – quiet and appreciative. I did notice on the duet that Chris backed off and seemed more subdued than at first. Elliott thrilled me and I found it very hard to hold sign (high enough over sitting guy’s head) and video tape and watch at the same time. When he sang Never Too Much – I really was super thrilled – great song for him. MML – was a disappointment. Yes I said it – not good for me at all. Don’t kill me – but my musical ear heard definite places where he was NOT ON PITCH. It was like the music background was too soft for him to hear it and he couldn’t quite get the key for it. When I asked my musical friend later, she said she didn’t hear it. Okay. I didn’t tape it because I was embarrassed at how it sounded so can’t prove it. Trouble was very good though. Patience was outstanding. Kat was very good – but probably not 100% yet. I heard her mumble explanation of why she was only singing 2 songs and I zoned out. Duh – not making sense. And I didn’t notice any problem walking during first song. (Was cute at end when she was hopping around being supported by Taylor. He’s so sweet.) BTW – Kat screamers a few rows behind me.

Taylor coming out was fun to watch. He appeared to not try to sing high part on DIMYP – backing away from it. His whole aura was mesmerizing and I really enjoyed him. I loved his Mick Jagger move. He didn’t seem to play harp as much as I think he had in earlier shows. Oh – and here’s a cute thing – the two fans next to me (Levon?) were amazed that he played guitar. LOL.

I really enjoyed the encores. I also noticed that Elliott seemed to be backing away from high stuff on LIA. Do you suppose that Charlotte’s USE ME used him a bit too much and perhaps he is also feeling the strain? EEP. Maybe it was a good thing they didn’t repeat LMBO fun.

I tried to call Jena after the concert several times but never got her. Ok – now I know why. So I went to LMBO and tried to find her and my friend Melissa. Finally found Melissa and she told me she had been at the concert. Yippee. She was standing in the crowd in front of the band. I was dead tired – legs cramping – and felt totally unable to stand and watch. So I went outside to sit and wait for idols. I could hear the music just fine there. I sat on the sidewalk and had ants crawl over me as I drank my beer. Two young girls sat with me and a step-mom apparently had a friend in the security detail and he told her that Taylor was coming and also Chris. Obviously – that was not true. The police were all anticipating his arrival at any moment. I had my pics ready to be autographed (later dripped beer or sweat on them and they are ruined.) I saw keyboardist come outside and talk on the phone during their break and it didn’t look good. They started playing again and when I heard Superstition, one of the people near me thought it was one of the idols and that they had come in thru the back door. It didn’t sound like any of them – but I went in for bathroom break to make sure. I went back out and finally left at 12:55. Got home an hour later and wasn’t able to sleep because of legs cramping up. All in all – it was a great concert and I had fun. Disappointing not to get to meet them. But I am going again in September.