Monday, August 21, 2006

Jeff's Illinois State Fair review

After the high of the Missouri state fair, would the Illinois state fair disappoint? Obviously not haha.

This is the furthest I have ever been seated at a carrie concert. Phil Vassar opened for almost an hour and he put on a great show. I do think he is one of the most under-rated male country artists today.

During the intermission while they were setting up the stage for carrie, one of the Djs from the local station came up and talked about carrie. It was announced that this was the largest crowd for this years fair.for those unaware, CURT (carrie underwood radio team) organizes weekly listening parties (usually on a Friday) and one was arranged the Friday before the concert. The vey DJ who hosted the party for CURT came up and gave a shout out to the carrie underwood listening party that he hosted and thanked all those who were listening in! how awesome is he!

I think after the Missouri state fair, carrie has reached another amazing new level in terms of her as a live concert performer. She was full of energy and moving around (and making it extrememly difficult to take pics of her lol). A few tidbits

- she was back to flirting with her band members during BHC. After the song she was like “I notice its normally the girls who sing along to this song, but tonight I notice a lot of guys singing along too! Whats up with that?” and then she laughed. She then went on and said she has been getting lots of bats in the mail and assured guys need not be afraid of her. At this moment, being the goon that I am, (despite being way back in the grandstand) I decided to shout out “we’ll never cheat on you carrie!”

- early on her set, she tried to reach out to touch the outstretched hands of fans, and after the song, she announced “I really wanna touch your hands, but… I have a phobia of fallin off the stage when I reach out! I really do have a phobia!!!”

- the crowd really sang along when she sang DFTRM. She was really touched and said it means a lot to her when the crowd sings along to her songs, since it shows her that her songs do matter to the fans.

- after IAICA, she went around the stage and bowed to each section of the audience (ala martina mcbride. I think she gave martina a call lol). However, she needs to bow to the crowd when she gets those standing ovations that shes getting on a really regular basis instead of cutting the ovation off! Lol. She bowed really gracefully and I got that on video.

Meet and greet
I was way back in the lineanyhow i am about to meet her and the cop there asks me to place my picture for her to sign on the table (to make things faster). the cop says "hey thats a great pic!" but i didnt respond cos i was too engrossed looking at carrie lol. she signed this one



I chose this pic (with advice from some of you, thanks!). she looked at it and was like "eek i look scary!" as you know i think she looks cute in the pic, but who am i to argue with carrie underwood, 3x platinum artist, the next megastar, and angel in my eyes??? As usual, I got her a present (I was visiting st louis the day before, so I got her a tshirt from the gateway arch), so i just chuckled and then handed her the present and mentioned i was in st louis the day before and got her something from there since its the city where everything began for her. she then said "thanks! its my lucky city!"

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Jeff's missouri state fair review --- best Carrie concert yet!!! (8/18)

Okay, so you guys know that ive been to a few carrie concerts right? But as don had earlier mentioned, this was simply the BEST carrie concert ever. No doubt. When I met up with don after the show, I asked him (hey hes been to the most concerts so he’d be able to judge) and he agreed without hesitation this was her best yet. This girl just continues to amaze me. I was oohing and ahhing throughout as if I was attending my first carrie concert. I was slightly worried she was doing too many shows in too little days, that her voice might get strained; now I can stop worrying. Her vocals were the most powerful I have ever heard, and were soaring as she hit all those crazy notes effortlessly and held them for like forever; she was having fun and enjoyed performing for the crowd; and this crowd was the best ive ever had. Man they were out there to really have a great time. The people around me (and myself) were on their feet for the entire duration of carrie’s set, even during the acoustic set of songs (my type of crowd! I love standing during carrie concerts! So I didn’t have to sit down fearing blocking other peoples view). Most of her songs turned out to be carrie sing-along sessions as the crowd gave carrie backup vocals lol

A few tidbits about the concert (Words will never be able to describe or justify how awesome she was last night):
-Don and I were wondering what kind of crowd will be at the concert, cos the fair wasn’t crowded at all. Little did we know this was going to be the best crowd at a concert.

-I absolutely loved what she wore last night. She looked every inch a country princess.



-Good-weather carrie was at it again. There was 50% chance of a thunderstorm during the show. I had arrived at the venue at 430pm. it was mad hot, 100 degrees, then at around 530 the dark clouds gathered and it rained till about slightly past 6. it was overcast and MUCH cooler the rest of the night! Carrie was really happy as she mentioned “its really gotten a lot cooler here hasn’t it!” to the crowd

-The wind was blowing throughout the concert and you could see carrie adjusting her hair all the time. She mentioned that she was “eating my hair” and later on “I keep eating my hair!!!”

-She mentioned she still thinks she isn’t good at telling jokes, and beseeched to crowd to give her a courtesy laugh even if they thought she wasn’t funny. The crowd cracked up at that statement.

-The choreography for BHC was totally different. She didn’t do her dances and flirty moves with her band members but was totally rocking. Ive got a vid of that so youd see what I mean. She also talked about spending a whole night shooting the video for this and said it is coming out soon. She also mentioned there isn’t a whole lot of violence in it.

-I know I gave the album version of wasted some beef in the past, but its one of her best songs live. The place was rocking to the strong beat. I now do think if they do some tweaking to the album version and send it out as the next single it would be another smash for her. In fact, if they wanted a video of it they should just record this one live.

-She really threw herself emotionally into Don’t forget to remember me and Jesus take the wheel, particularly the former. She said she misses her mom and when she started singing the first couple of lines, I thought she was going to cry. She sang the entire song with her eyes closed. But she held on and gave another overwhelming vocal, and got a great ovation for it.



-I got a vid of JTTW so you can see what I meant above. She sang most of the song with her eyes closed and hand up in the air. Before the song, she thanked the crowd again for putting her where she is today and urged the crowd to go out and pursue their own dreams.

-I took one more vid for The night before. I know I had taken one of this before but I am a total sucker for her vocals for this song. Hearing how great her vocals tonight, I HAD to record this one.

-When she left the stage after some hearts the crowd was chanting her name for a long time. There was no way she couldn’t come back out for IAICA

-She mentioned she considers Missouri her good luck state, since she tried out for the audition in st louis. For IAICA at the end where she changes the lyrics to say “oh theres nothing like Missouri” she put her hand on her hip, (and I don’t really know how to describe it lol) and mentioned Missouri in a pretty sassy way.

-At the end of the show, she bowed elegantly and graciously to the crowd. Right side of the stage, right center, center, left center, left… she bowed so many times and for so long she didn’t want to leave. She might have been so happy and could have done a few more extra songs for this crowd if she had enough song material to do so.

After the concert:
The line to meet her was insanely long. As don and I were near the front, we ended up being near the end of the line since the nearer the row was to the stage, the further it was from the exit to the merchandise booth. We knew she was going to perform in Kentucky the next night and that’s an 8 hour drive away (the reason why I wont be going to that show). So it wouldn’t have surprised us if she had to leave early… but carrie came through again as she stayed back a couple of hours to sign for everyone in line. I planned on congratulating her on the success of her 2 singles and for putting up the best show ever. Well, after waiting in line for almost 1 ½ hours nervously, I finally got up to her and before I could say anything, she said something that gave me brain cramps (again. Hey what did you expect? I pulled a jeff… wait no I pulled a me lol). I got her a present (again) and demonstrated how to operate it and she laughed and she took it to take a closer look. Keith at this point must be rolling his eyes as he has to carry yet another present from this crazy guy for carrie lol. But keith was in a really good mood tonight too. Don then congratulated her on putting on her best show and I remembered I wanted to say the same thing so I butted in and added “yea! Yea! Your best yet!” lol sorry don!



its an electric hand held fan, you press his tummy to make it work and the tummy lights up...



She just continues to amaze me with her effort to reach out to her fans. How many triple platinum artist (or even double platinum or single platinum) ever turn up at his/her merchandise booth to sign autographs even for a short time, let alone a couple of hours night after night. She may be new, but shes a big star and a triple platinum one. My hat is off to you carrie.

Last comments:
I just couldn’t believe she put up such an awesome show in Missouri. For those of you who were there, you really had a great night and I would also like to thank you for attending as carrie really fed off your energy. It was the best (positive) energy ive ever experienced at a concert, carrie and non-carrie. If someone sent the video of this concert to the people who vote for the CMAs, carrie would probably end up being nominated for Entertainer of the Year. Im not kidding. I have seen most of the big name country acts in concert and her energy is up there with them. She also took her vocals to a whole new level. Theres no stopping carrie underwood right now. She keeps getting better. And the next time I think she couldn’t improve anymore, she will probably end up proving me wrong again.

Vids coming up (BHC with Jolene, TNB, JTTW), and another 100+ pics. The pics will be up monday evening when I return to Michigan. Vids I will be sending to vin for tagging and all that

One more thing I would like to add. Don and I were amazed at the friendliness of the people of Missouri. My hat is off to you guys. Thanks for being a part and helping me experience my best concert ever. What else could you ask for a concert? Great weather, great crowd, and the greatest carrie performance. I feel really blessed.

edit: i just remembered one thing she needs to improve on. when he throws her guitar pick to the corwd. it doesnt even get to the first row. i was in second row and saw the lady in front waving her hands out in a futile attempt to catch it!