Callie's Recap of the Constantine Show - Higher Ground VT

I had never been to “Higher Ground” in my whole life of living in Vermont, so I honestly had no idea what to expect – neither did my sister or her boyfriend that joined us. We arrived there around 6:15, knowingly that the doors didn’t open til 7, and we were going to get stuck around some pretty INTERESTING people…but it wasn’t all that bad standing there. Occasional smokers. However, we were this close of just sitting on the ground and starting to play cards…it was very boring standing there.

Doors open at 7, and by that time there were only about 30 people, give or take, there. The three of us actually ended up in front row, which was pretty snazzy. None of us had ever had front row seats for a concert before…but then we realized that all those concerts had a ton more people there…

Surprisingly, My aunt and cousin were there. They had won backstage passes and free tickets to the show. My aunt was complaining that it’d probably be too late for them to stay – so of course my sister and I mentioned that we’d SO take the passes if they wanted to leave.

The concert started at 8, with the opening act of some guy named Matt White. He wasn’t bad – we could really only hear the guitar in front of us, though. (We were front row, stage left the whole night) One of the guitarists’ there…mannnn…he kept staring at me and smiling…I swear he was high. They were done around 8:30, and Constantine was set to be on stage at 8:45, but never came on until 9pm.

I don’t know the guitarists’ names or any of the band members, but they all did seem like one awesome group to tour with. The guitarist right in front of us was REALLY nice and kept talking to the three of us before the show started, and some crazy fan next to me that kept hugging me and jumping on me…But having the guy in front of us, we had the set list to read.

I don’t remember all the songs that he sang in what order, so bear with me. I wasn’t a fan of Constantine’s during Idol – in fact, the night he was voted off, I was the giddiest person EVER.

I think it was “Crying” (if that’s even a song…I thought it was the Aerosmith song, but My sister says it’s a song of his own), he took this little girl from the audience who was like…3 years old, and sang to her. She looked like she was extremely nervous and had no idea what to do, but it was VERY adorable. He’d twirl her around like a ballerina. I have pictures of it for anyone who’d like to see. Constantine would leave her at moments, which I thought was very strange…but the guitarist on the right would come stand next to her so she wouldn’t be alone. I guess that’s the special kind of treatment you get when there’s only about FIFTY PEOPLE THERE!

I had a TON of interaction with Constantine and the super cute guitarist right in front of me. I really wish I knew his name so this review would sound a little better, haha. But he kept smiling at me, and laughing at the girl next to me. And during the show, Constantine kept looking at my little group and smiling at me, which was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. If I remember correctly, I had 7 Constantine winks, too!

I think it was the song before “Everybody Loves, Everybody Cries” that he came over to our side of the stage for the first and only time during the show. He was literally 2 inches away from me – I could grab his leg! But I didn’t, haha…He did touch my hand though…for about 10 seconds…not that I counted or anything…

After “Heaven Help the Lonely”, it was “supposedly” done…but then he came back out for Bohemian Rhapsody. This has to be one of my favorite parts of the night, LOL. Before he started the second verse, he looked to our side and asks us “Do you all know the second verse?” And I go “I Do!” not knowing that he was looking at us still, and he says to me “You do?!” and I go “I do!!” I felt like a total loser that everyone was looking at me and that I had that as a reaction – but I don’t care. It’s not like I’ll ever see that group of people again! I just thought it was funny, seeing as I wasn’t a fan of his.

After the show and his meet and greet with the people who won the passes, he was giving autographs to us, so of course we stayed an hour later just for that. My aunt and cousin who went backstage were telling us about their experience and said it was awesome back there. Constantine said to my cousin “Hey! I recognize you! You were behind the girl in the green shirt!” That girl in the green shirt was me, hahha.

Autographs were great. He wrote a little note to everyone BUT ME though. So apparently I don’t rock, I shouldn’t “stay cool”, or “stay hot.” Yeah…he wrote “stay hot” to my cousin who is like…11.

All in all it was a great show. I think my two favorite songs were “Heaven Help the Lonely” and “Tradegy”. I’m thinking of bringing my sister and her boyfriend along to every concert for now on…the last concert I went with them, we met Bo Bice. And then Constantine. Who knows – maybe the Carrie Underwood concert we’re going to on the 27th, we’ll meet her too! I have a source…he just needs to get it confirmed a few days before the show starts.