MrsTrep's Portland ME AI and Limbo Show Recap

I had so much fun yesterday I just don't know where to start. Silly me, the beginning is usually a good place!!

THANK YOU KELLY! She's my idol buddy. She beat me to the back of the civic center to hang out by the buses, so by the time I got there I missed Bucky, Ace, and Chris. Kelly has her picture with them and their autograph. So armed with this information I created my own speed limit getting into the city and parked at the top of the Old Port, which meant I had about 8-10 blocks to go to get to the arena. I ran. I don't suggest it with Birkenstocks really. I ran and when I got there I waited, which was good because I was completely out of breath. I saw Chris (he didn't stop again while I was there), Bucky (didn't stop at my end), Taylor, Elliott with his girlfriend, Kat (didn't stop) and Kellie (didn't stop). I don't remember the exact order of everything, but Taylor's first trip into the venue he didn't look at anyone and didn't look happy at all. When he came back out and actually signed autographs he never smiled and didn't stop for pictures and just grabbed random papers and signed them on his way by. Bucky came out and signed more autographs, but not near where I was. He smiled and waved every time he walked by. Kellie and Kat walked together once and Kat was wrapped up in a blanket and they were both sporting the HUGE sunglasses. Someone said Kat wasn't at the M&G and we all assumed she wasn't feeling well again. They smiled a bit but kept on going. At one point Kellie walked by with what looked like a laundry bag that said Pheelma Budts on it. I had seen a couple of other laundry bags with random names on them go by but didn't pay much attention. I assume it's their clothes they are sending to be washed before they leave town. Anyway, I thought it was funny. The girls standing next to me are the ones that stopped Chris for his autograph on the way to Starbucks that he mentioned on the radio that I quoted yesterday around 3ish. They were concerned that he was mad about it because he seemed very happy to see them and sign the autograph for them. I assured them he was laughing about it and not complaining, just really stating the fact about his newfound fame. Anyway, Elliott walked by more than once and did stop to sign autographs! I got one!!! He couldn't take the time for pictures at the time though. I was bummed about it and felt silly for asking so I didn't ask him any questions! He talked with everyone and was really sweet. He and his girlfriend aren't afraid of PDA, but we already knew that right? There was no arm licking or anything inappropriate, but they were affectionate towards each other in a cute way. She went and got him a sandwich.

Anyway, the area quieted down a bit and MJ came over and we decided it was time for dinner and the show. I'd never had Quiznos before. It was yummy. And then it was show time. I ran into my big sister, who was one section over and 5 rows behind me on the floor. MJ was one row in front of us and in the same section as my sister.

The Portland crowd was LAME!! Kelly got yelled at by some old lady for standing up during Ace's set. Someone smelled and someone threw up on the seats in the row in front of them a few rows in front of us. I could turn around and see my sister whenever I wanted because we were frequently some of the few standing. It was a much older crowd. Manchester was really into it and Portland was into it sitting down.

Mandisa - she-s definitely lost weight and she¡'s changed her chatter parts a bit and played with her vocals a bit.

Ace - he's working harder at being sexier and using the stage more and it's all working. I know for a fact Ace pointed at Kelly and I and sang to us for a second because we were the only ones standing up and screaming! Good god that boy is sexy. (at intermission my sister says, you can tell he's a good boy though)

Lisa - she doesn't seem to have changed dramatically for me, she definitely has strong vocals but her song selection isn't the best for me. She's definitely got the dance moves for Waterfalls down a lot better though!

Paris - Poor girl struggled to keep the audience in it, but they all did. Everyone just kept sitting down!! She still misses a lot of the vocals with all of her dancing, but she puts on a good show. Her dancing has gotten better too. She's very into putting her bootie to the crowd. And what I thought the first time was a panel for maternity pants is actually the thing she straps her little earpiece thing to herself with. Most of them stick it in a pocket.

Bucky - he's all over the place now and having a blast. He's got some more dance moves and I just think he's sexy.  He's more comfortable on his duet with Kellie, but it's still just not good.

Kellie - she was more into it, way more into it. She pulled a girl's big pickle sign from the crowd and signed it (see MJ's recap, Kellie was super sweet about it). It was very cute and funny. Her transition between the two songs she does half of was the most awkward transition EVER (LiMBO mixed about 6 songs together and it was incredible, maybe they should have consulted them for advice) but that's not Kellie's fault. They all are super friendly with the security guard on the end of the stage and it's funny, she was harassing him. Oh yeah, the black tank is WAY better than the red corset!

BREAK - just as long as before except I get to go talk to my big sister this time. She noticed that Kelly and I switched seats and asked what was up. I told her about the asshats sitting around us. She said she noticed we were the only one's standing up in our section. They were pretty much the only ones in their section as well. Chatted with MJ, looked for Abilymom (didn't find her) and just hung out. The people were getting antsy. The queen asshat was standing up for the entire intermission and she did for most of the rest of the show, which ticked me off because she was so blatantly rude to Kelly. I worked hard to not be rude to her because my daddy always said two wrongs don't make a right! My sister also noticed that Kellie (not to be confused with my friend Kelly) "has a lot of junk in her trunk."  My sister cracks me up sometimes.

Chris - way more into his set and the crowd. He was fun, it was awesome. My sister was SO excited. He's her favorite and I totally enjoyed watching her jam to him when I wasn't doing so myself. More people stood up here.

Elliott - I started my fangirly scream the second the doors opened on the duet because I knew he was coming. People looked at me funny. I smiled. He was WAYYYY more comfortable on stage. It was awesome. I stood by myself and enjoyed his stuff. People stood during most of it, but not the slow stuff. I stood during the slow stuff by myself.

Kat - ok, so she wasn't there the first time, but she was very well received in Maine. I loved it. Her dress was fun and sexy, very flattering. It looked light and airy, not the "gown" I was expected from prior descriptions. Think was super fun and Black horse was really good, she veered off of singing it straight, which was cool. They all seemed to be doing that tonight, adding their own twists. That was cool

Taylor - he was much better vocally on the first night and much shorter last night. He was hilarious last night. My sister, who despises Taylor's shtick was up laughing and dancing because he was just all over the place silly last night. It was almost like he was punchy tired or something. He put in Working 9 to 5 lyrics in the middle of Hollywood Nights I believe. He also spoke a lot of lyrics instead of singing them and ended notes short and skipped lyrics.

Champions - I almost fell out of my chair when Kellie and Elliott came out in the mascot costume pieces! Kellie had the chicken head on and was moving like she was a chicken. Elliott had on a sombrero from Margaritas and the feet for the costume. And Bucky had on another version of the costume. They were all laughing hysterically. You want to see Chris smiling, he couldn't sing he was laughing so hard and smiled through the entire thing! It was great, they were having a blast.

LIA - They continued to have fun, but the chicken heads were gone and Taylor and Kat were there. They goofed off running into each other going down the ramp. They all had a blast and Elliott jumped onto the ramp in his chicken feet!! It was funny! Ace chucked another beanie (he's got quite a good arm with those) and we were done.

Other random notes: The guy who stood up and yelled he loved Ace was sitting in front of us. The girl who threw up on the row in front of her was sitting in front of the guy who loved Ace. And the people around us smelled funny. My sister had an absolute blast and I got to watch from afar which was enjoyable, though she did flip me off for a photo. She was up waving her cell for DIMYP and I had to capture it on camera.

Off to LiMBO. They are insanely incredible. We saw the buses drive by about 20 minutes into their first set, but stayed until it was almost over just in case and because they were incredible. Brian Less is insane, they're all insanely good musicians. I'd go see them again in a heartbeat. Well worth the lack of sleep! I hope they make it big enough to live off their music soon, they deserve it with the music they create.