bluesail5's Sunrise FL Recap

Here is my recap of the Sunrise, FL concert:
Well what can I say…I’ve been pulled into the cheesefest but I enjoyed it! I was dancing and singing with everybody else. Their voices were strong even though at times the band would drown them out, i.e. Ace. I was up on my feet for each of them and gave them big shout outs.

They seemed to like South Florida…Ace said that he and Bucky were at the beach and thought the Fort Lauderdale area was one of the most beautiful cities they have visited so far. We do have great beaches here. Kat said the same thing too…that she might even like S. Florida better than California. And let me tell you…they must have been boiling ….it was hoooooottttt today. That’s S. Florida in the middle of the summer for you. Hot, sweaty, and humid.

Well here are some of the things I remember. The song sets were the same as the previous recaps except Kellie was not there because she was sick with laryngitis.

§ Mandisa sounded great and looked beautiful. Her set was a good way to start off the show.

§ They had the camera on Ace at the beginning of ‘Father Figure’ and he was doing this weird thing with his chest as though his heart was beating outside his shirt. It was on the big screen and I’m like.. what is that??? But the girls/women love him and he is cute. He has a great smile.

§ Lisa: very talented. I liked her Elton John songs. She reminds me of Alicia Keys

§ Paris: bundle of energy. Sounded great on Midnight Train to Georgia

§ Bucky: no complaints. I though he was better live than on TV. He was on the floor running in front of the crowd. People were running up to the front to touch him. I made sure I went to the ladies room before the concert so I wouldn’t miss his set.

§ Chris: Great voice for a large arena. He makes it look effortless. He was great on Renegade. He has a good connection with the audience and they loved him. The only thing is sometimes his songs sound the same for me.

§ I thought Elliott was a crowd favorite. Elliott has great vocal range. Impressive to hear it live. Between him and Kat, their sets were the slower R&B and ballad songs so I sat down, but I still was into it.

§ Kat was good. I guess because I read the comments here at MJ’s, I hear all the background noise about her personal life, but she really is a good singer. The girls next to me were snarking about her while she was singing SOTR. I think they have been reading the boards, because they hated her. I stood up at the end of her set and gave her a big woooooo (like taylor). The crowd also gave her a big applause. While Kat was singing SOTR towards the end, I was already trying to figure out where Taylor was going to come out and sing JHR.

§ Taylor: I don’t think JHR should count as a song. More than half of the song was spent trying to get him through the crowd. Once he got on stage, the song was over. Unfair.. we need another song! Ok..Hollywood Nights was great. His voice sounded strong and he was jumping around with his guitar. LFTC was also good but he didn’t do the ‘Find the groove’ or ‘we’re going to take you to church’ nor use the tambourine. That’s the problem with reading and watching prior shows/recaps. All of a sudden, LFTC ended and I’m like wait, he forgot something…Oh well. DIMYP was better than I expected. Not my favorite song, but he really has improved it. He sounded great on it and may I also add he looked great. On TITTS, he was all over the place. I love it when he plays the harmonica….that alone is worth the price of the ticket. His set seemed to go very fast. Can’t wait till he has a solo tour and he doesn’t seem rushed.

Just a few comments outside the concert

§ Before the concert, I was standing by myself on the balcony outside in front of the AI buses. Strangely, there were no other people there with me on the balcony. It was 6:40pm and the show starts at 7pm. Of course, the only two who came out of the AI buses and stood in front of me for twenty minutes were Elliot and Chris. Chris is friendly. I waved at him, (didn’t scream or call out his name) and he waved back and he had a nice smile. Elliot was on the phone smoking a ciggie so I didn’t bother him. Chris was also on his phone and kept on looking up at me (and even walked toward me) probably wondering why I was still standing there listening to my ipod. I wasn’t yelling anyone’s names, nor taking pictures. All I wanted was for Taylor to come out and sign my copy of his ‘In Your Time’ lyrics. But 7pm rolled around and there was no Taylor, so I went inside the arena

§ Lastly, after the concert, the traffic was so bad leaving the arena, that I parked again and heard a commotion by the buses. So I walked over. The idols were going back and forth between the bus and the arena. People were trying to rush over to the chained fence where the AI buses were. The local police were not letting anyone even close to the chained fence. They even told the idols (including Taylor and Elliott) to stop instigating the crowd by standing there. These two women next to me were yelling at the police that ‘the idols want their fans to come over to them… except for Taylor’ I thought to myself ‘uh oh, I don’t think they like Taylor.’ They the lady asked me who I was standing there for. I said Taylor. She said ‘He’s rude.’ I asked why. She said they were at the idol’s hotel yesterday at Ft Lauderdale beach and I guess he wasn’t as nice or as friendly as Ace or some of the others. I told her ‘ Well, I like Taylor’s music” and she just gave me this weird look and said ‘Oh.’ Well I end up finding out that these women follow these idols and know the hotels where they are staying. They actually told me they were going to follow the idol buses to tampa because they were going to that show, too (their 5th) and they also know what hotel the idols are staying at. Crazy…isn’t it.