Tuesday in Atlanta was a horrible rainy traffic day – both into the city in the morning and heading out of the city to the arena after work.  I was delayed at work and was frustrated by the traffic afraid I would be late to the concert but got there in time.  I parked and walked in the rain to the arena, bought a glass of wine and headed to my seat which was not as good as the one I had snagged for the August concert, but was on the floor near the back.  (Not my choice for future concerts.)  As I showed my ticket to the usher which I had carried in my camera case, my camera dropped out and landed on the floor.  I picked it up and had to shut all the compartments.  The nice usher held my wine as I messed around.  I later discovered while filming the Savin Me duet that I ran out of INTERNAL MEMORY and checked and found that I had no memory card.  RATS.  (After the concert I checked with her and we looked but no card. Probably picked up by someone.)  Last night, my husband told me that the old card (with less memory) was in the camera case pocket – sure enough – there it was – I could have used that if I had known.  Anyway --- this is was the ONLY bad part of my evening and I was unable to film anything later at Smiths.  L

I sat down next to a mother with two daughters who were sitting on the aisle.  She was a Chris fan, they were Taylor’s fans.  I let her know that Taylor would be coming in through the crowd so that she could be prepared for them to maybe get a close encounter.  They were sweet and QUIET – thank gog – though the girl next to me kept getting up on her seat and bumping me a little – they were very nicely behaved girls. There was a family behind me and their boys were a little more rowdy. The people in front of me were also quiet and sat for a lot – but when they stood – I could see nothing even standing I had to look around them to see the stage.  Thank gog for the jumbotron.  Since the seats next to me were empty and also empty in the row in front of that – for the second half I moved down so that I could get an unobstructed view of my guys.   

Okay – the concert.  First let me say as a general overview of the whole show – it was so much better than the August concert, imo.  The sound was superb and all of the idols sang great.   I had been noticing on some of the videos of Living in America and Patience that the sound mixes have not been good and that for instance Ace would not come out as well as the others and Elliott would be the only voice besides Mandisa’s that I could hear in the encore number.  This was not the case in this concert ---- sound mix was perfect and all the voices could be heard.  The Patience quartet was absolutely fabulous and Ace was just as loud as Elliott and Chris and you could hear Bucky really well.  

Now for the highlights and observations.  Mandisa, Ace, and Lisa were great.  The Lisa/Paris duet was great.  Paris was good on Midnight Train to GA and had the crowd going and I even enjoyed her Beyonce dance a little.  She definitely should have done old style instead, imo.

Bucky was a joy – and I got my camera out to film a few clips just to show that he had a lot of applause and was crowd pleasing.  I was on my feet showing my love. His duet with Kellie was cute – not memorable – but sounded good.  Kellie was good too and of course, you have heard that she talked about her single being played on the radio.  She said that a group of them were in the bus listening to the radio when it came on and she said it was right after a Rascal Flatts song which was thrilling to her.   Then she sang her last song and near the end of it I left to go to the ladies room.  It is SO NICE to know what’s happening since I was the first to the room and when I came out of my stall there was a huge long line.  HAHAHAHAHA!  I put my earplugs in at this point to be prepared for the next part.

Chris was good and the earplugs came in handy.   I was fortunate not to have any screamers near me so was able to take the plugs out by his last song.  He did ask if people would come see him on tour.  Then I stood and put my Elliott hat on and got my camera out to film their duet.  The crowd went wild when he came out - and I filmed a little before discovering the internal memory was used up.  Bummer. 

Elliott’s set was incredible.  Nothing short of totally enjoyable.  The crowd was standing and swaying with Never Too Much and sat down for MMFL but a lot stood again for Trouble.   He looked great.  He was wearing his blue Superman/Star of David shirt and no hat.  His hair looked great.  Love him.   I was waving my green glow stick like a fool. Oh and yes, he did ask about his ladies and got a great response.

Patience was awesome.  Like I said – it was a true quartet with all voices sounding just awesome together.  I am so glad they kept this.  I just wish I could have had my own video of it since the sound mix was so good and all of them performed so well.

Katharine was great.  I really like her hair this way.  She sounded good on all three songs.  There was a good Kat crowd there too.  SOTR was gorgeous.  It made me happy that I had cast some of my votes for her.

Then TAYLOR!!!!!  The crowd went wild – and of course was looking for him.  He didn’t come near us – but the effect was still magical.  He sang wonderfully.  I stood and waved my glow stick for him too.  I agree that his set seems so short and it goes by so fast.  He did a lot of great dance moves but didn’t play as much harmonica as I would have liked. 

Encore was fabulous.  Even We Are the Champions was great.  And I love Living in America even though this time it wasn’t just Elliott being backed up by the others.  I LOVED the whole show.  

I headed for the exit after they finished and talked to the usher about my memory card and then stood in line for the bathroom.   Then heading out to the exit – I see this big black man with a fine lady on his arm walking against the crowd.  He had a hat on turned sideways, with diamond earring and bling and looked like a professional athlete.  He had the look of someone who was trying not to be recognized and I kept trying to figure out where I knew him from and as he is passing, I give him a shy smile and he gives me a sweet bashful smile back – and I think – OMG – it’s Ruben!  A man next to me says “That’s Ruben” and I nod and we comment on how much weight he has lost.  So I am not able to find out for sure if it was him or not since crowd is moving and I need to get to LMBO concert.  Later in the evening – this couple shows up at Smiths and so many of us are damn sure it is Ruben – but people talk to him and it turns out he IS a professional ball player and not Ruben. But Daym – he sure looked like him.   One of Jena’s friends asks him his name but forgets it by the time she tells us!!!  The soul patrol lady next to me finds out that he plays for two teams – both football and baseball – but she also forgets what he has told her.  So mystery man remains – but he does live in Atlanta.  Anyone?

Okay – it took me almost forty minutes to get out of the parking lot but I make up the time on the road (80 mph) and get to Smiths Olde Bar at 11:05 which is just after they have opened the doors to the show.  As I walk in I see the long line and someone calls out “Pam?!” (since I am wearing my Elliott hat) and it is Me with her sister standing in line.  They graciously let me in line and I get up there before Jena and her friends.   Me and her sister stand up about second row in front of the stage and I go to get beer and find Jena.  Jena’s friends have staked out a nice spot in front of the sound guys’ platform which has carpeted front and so I tell Me & sister that I will be back there with them sitting down!!! Such a thrill to be able to stand only when I want to.   

So – show starts and LMBO sounds great but no JEFF!  Just Zippy and Sam and Brian and bass player (Mitch?) – but they sound great.  They did Whipping Post with Brian singing – and I think – uh oh – that’s what Elliott would be singing.  Does that mean he’s not coming? But then I think – hey they could always play it again.   After they play – I head to the ladies room and a nice looking guy comes out of the men’s room and the lady in front of me says something to him and he enters the backstage area.  I say he is a nice looking guy and she tells me that he is the drummer in her husband’s band and that he is so excited that they are going to let him play with Taylor.  Jena and I ask her about the band.  They are good – and I wonder if the guitarist, Wynn is her husband.  If so – wow – keep him, honey.  

So – second set starts and yes, Taylor comes out and is freaking fabulous.  I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it felt to be directly across from him on the steps about twenty feet from him while he sings.  I am an Elliott lover and would thud to death if he had been there – but truly love Taylor as well and was standing there thudding and feeling the full effect of a great looking guy who is singing his heart out.  I think I had a smile on the entire night.  So fine – so great to listen to him sing and work the magic.    BTW – the Rodney Ho article states that the crowd was mostly middle-aged women and I have to state that about half of the crowd was middle-aged women (probably soul patrol or like me – soul trainers) but the other half was a good mixture of men and young people.  As this was a Tuesday night – the crowd was probably not the usual they would get there – but come on – there were a lot of others there too besides us oldies.   

Third set – we are hoping for other idol guests – but instead we have the Spoonful James friends join him instead of LMBO.  They are great and the interaction between Taylor and his friend Wynn Christian is magical.  Wynn sings lead on one of his original songs and Taylor has a fine high harmony – wow.   More magic. Then the LMBO guys come back on and Wynn stays with them and gets to play a solo and he is fabulous.  Taylor does a lot of ad libbing with different song lyrics and it is pure magic.   Then they all leave but him and Brian.  He sits down with his harmonica as Brian plays a chord progression that I instantly recognize as “Georgia” and I poke Quinn next to me and Jena and tell them that it’s Georgia and sure enough – it is and the crowd goes wild.

 

Now – I think he did a great job of it when he was twenty – truly great version – but this version is mind boggling.  However, all the strange little ad libs he did made it look like he was channeling and having an out of body experience and imo, took away from the purity of the song.  It was enjoyable to watch --- but I’d rather LISTEN to his pure version. It was like he couldn’t quite remember the lyrics so went wild with ad libs instead.  But the harmonica – OMG – it was lyrical and he could have done the rest of the song that way and I would have been thrilled.  But he went back to the main melody and gave me back the pureness and then as he rose to finish – he thanked us via the lyrics – Thank you for letting me be myself, again.    It was awesome. 

My final thoughts are that I was so totally relaxed about seeing this second AI concert and enjoyed it immensely.  I was not hopped up on maybe seeing the idols in person or getting their autographs.  I went to the LMBO concert with hopes of seeing Elliott there but was extremely happy to listen to an all Taylor revue instead.  I did not attempt to meet Mr. Hicks in person --- I was there to see and hear the musician perform and was ‘meeting’ him across the room as I watched enthralled.  What a fine musician he is and his cohorts were fabulous too.   Now if Elliott had been there ----- yes, I admit it --- I would have climbed over people to talk to him and tell him how much I appreciated his voice.  I would have been thudding to death as he sang and probably freaking as I shook his hand.  But – getting to see Taylor perform in this format without his sharing the music with his idol rat pack was phenomenal.  I really think we saw the best of Taylor this way and I was so into the moment as they performed.  Thank you Taylor for letting us see you be yourself again.