Chrissy's St. Louis MO Recap

- Big Note: Bucky wasn't there due to illness. Kellie said he should be back tomorrow night though....

- Crowd:  The crowd was very big, definitely almost sold out if not completely sold out.  There were a lot of teenagers and pre-teens, but surprisingly there were also a lot of older couples (men too!).  I'm 29 and I went with a 52-year-old coworker of mine.  We were there with our Soul Patrol T-shirts on, which we got a lot of compliments about!

- Mandisa:  She was wonderful!!  She didn't mention Reuben but instead sang "If I was Your Woman" to all the men in the crowd.  She sounded amazing on "Angel" with Ace.

- Ace:  Definitely the 3rd most popular performer of the night.  He definitely is cuter in person and knew how to work the crowd.  He mentioned that he has family in StL and that his parents where there.  He also was very very good on "Harder to Breathe"

- Lisa:  Her set was good as well.  I enjoyed the Elton songs and think she'll have a great career ahead of her.

- Paris:  Wow - what energy!  She sounded good and her dancing was contagious.  The younger crowd definitely liked her a lot.

- Kellie:  I wasn't too impressed with her song-wise.  She seemed very sweet and was very appreciative of the crowd love, but her voice sounded weak and just not the way I'm used to hearing it.

- Chris:  The second most favorite performer . . . "Whole Lotta Love" was rockin' (of course no one can touch Robert Plant IMO), "Dead or Alive" was good too.  His duet with Elliott was AWESOME though!!  Chris mentioned a solo tour and the crowd went crazy to let him know we'd come out to see him

- Elliott:  Came out wearing a Cardinals shirt, so that got the immediate love from the crowd.  His set impressed me and I really really enjoyed him!  I was a fan of his from the show, but I think seeing him live made me like him a lot more.  MMFL was fantastic!!

- Guys' song, "Patience" (w/o Bucky):  Wow . . . Chris should seriously think about recording that song because he was unbelievable in the beginning of it . . . The 3 of them really sounded great together though and was probably my favorite non-Taylor performance all night

- Katharine:  She of course looked gorgeous in a long black gown.  She mentioned being out for 3 weeks then breaking her foot . . . BHACT was really good and she sounded awesome on SOTR . . . She also talked about how her big sis graduated from Webster University and that StL was her favorite Midwestern city

- Then it happened . . . I got Taylor-ized.  Literally!  I was on the aisle seat and heard him singing but didn't see him.  I also looked around and didn't see a spotlight, then next thing I knew it he was coming down the steps RIGHT NEXT TO ME . . . I reached out and touched his arm and his hand and he flashed me a smile . . . *SIGH*  The rest of "Jailhouse Rock" honestly was a blur because I was still back in my teenage phase of "OH MY GOD I JUST TOUCHED, GOT A SMILE FROM, AND SMELLED TAYLOR".  He smelled great BTW!  The rest of his set was just unbelievable . . . He can work a crowd so wonderfully and his energy really is infectious.  He sang Hollywood Nights (awesome!), Livin for the City, DIMYP (dedicated to the troops, actually made me cry because my BIL is currently in Baghdad).  He then came back with an encore of Takin it To The Streets, in a new purple shirt.  Wow.  Just amazing.

- "We Are the Champions" - Good encore by the group . . . Elliott had a new Cardinals jersey on and Ace came out in a Cardinals shirt as well.  Nice touch.  Us St Louisans love our Redbirds

- "Livin in America" - Great performance by all!  Taylor came out in a Cardinals jersey (which BTW I don't know what the story with it is . . . It had #5 on it, which is Albert Pujols' number, but Taylor's jersey looked like it said "Neil" for a name???  Anyone w/ info plz let me know!).  Taylor was a great ringleader for everyone and made sure that the band and rest of the idols got plenty of kudos.

All in all it was an awesome awesome AWESOME concert.  And no, I haven't washed my Taylor-ized hand yet, but I'm sure I will have to.  :)