Let’s see….where to start. Ok I guess I will start with the fact that I won 2nd row seats to Alan's show in Phila from WXTU. I had to listen to the station for over four hours to hear all the words to the "sentence of the day" which happened to be "I know the sentence….I want to go see Alan from the second row". I was the ninth caller (after also being the second caller which really was incredible….I think I was destined to win) and I won the tickets. This was also incredible as the week of this concert was Paul and my 20th anniversary. But wait….two of my kids wanted to sit in the second row too. What to do…..hmmmm thank goodness Paul and I had already planned to drive to Virginia Beach the following day so I told him "Honey….looks like you won't get to sit next to me this time. The kids want a turn in the second row and I AM NOT MOVING!!! HaHa!
We took my mother-in-law, and a neighbor and her 6 year old daughter (as we already had 3 extra tickets - one other extra seat in the 5th row from ticketmaster which is where Paul ended up sitting). This little 6 year-old girl has become a true-blue Alan fan just because that’s all the Rothrocks' play in the car and she is Rachel's best friend in the neighborhood and so on the way to karate, ice skating, etc she just got hooked. The girls favorites songs to sing in the car are Where I come From and Whoops I Slipped and Fell in Love (besides Little Bitty and Where Were You). They sing them all the time.
Anyway, my kids were so excited to be going. We had made homemade brownies for the Strayhorns just before we left and we lugged them around the Spectrum until we caught up with Mark McClurg during intermission. We got to chat with him for a few minutes. He had not been feeling well at all that week but still managed to do an incredible job when the time came. Way to go Mark!!
Oh I forgot, during Lonestar's performance, someone from security came over to me to look at my camera. It is the same one I always use. He took it for a few minutes and was looking at it with his flashlight. He thought I was taking video which I wasn't; It's just an old digital camera that takes awhile to get the picture in focus. I showed him the shot I had just taken and he believed me and let me keep it….thank goodness because I really was only taking still shots, and its not even my camera…..I was thinking my girlfriend would kill me or I'd have to trade one of my kids to get the camera back……just kidding.
Our original plan before we saw how the seats were laid out was to let Rachel and Matt take turns with me in the second row, but the way the seating was, it would’ve been too hard to switch mid-concert without really disturbing people. So after Lonestar I decided to just let Matt sit next to me, and had Rachel come up from the 8th row and sit on my lap.
The people in the front row (about 8 girls) had danced the whole time Lonestar was performing….but it was great because there was a lot of room between the stage and the front row…..so for us with them not sitting in their seats it was like WE were in the front row. When Alan came out we had perfect view of him. We were front and center.
Of course, being "perfect kids" mine decided to have a disagreement just before Alan came out. Here I am in the second row and I have a son who is mad at his sister and a daughter who is crying and I am thinking for this a worked so hard for 2nd row seats? I actually missed watching Alan during the first 2 songs as I was trying to calm them both down quietly. I whispered to both of them how lucky they were to be in the second row with Daddy stuck 3 rows back behind us ….between that and the overall appeal of Alan Jackson singing right in front of them….the crisis was averted.
Alan put on an incredible show. One of the best I have seen in a long, long time. He seemed very relaxed and happy and at one time remarked he felt like he was back in the old days playing in little clubs with all the people dancing in front of him. He opened with Gone Country followed by I Don't Even Know Your Name. I will list the rest of the songs in order at the end of this review. I will say though that we did get to hear Seven Bridges Road, and a new track off his Drive CD called "(This time I'll be Ready) …When Love Comes Around." He also let Dan Kelly play a solo on his fiddle, as he is from PA, which was really well done!
During Little Bitty, I held Rachel up over my head for the whole song and she danced and sang with her Bitty Baby doll. The cameraman focused in on her immediately and as soon as Alan started the chorus, there was Rachel and her Bitty Baby up on the big screen. Paul, who had the camera now, and took all the wonderful pictures of Alan you will soon see, actually got a picture of her up on the big screen. We are getting to be pros at that….I think Rachel has been on the big screen now 5 times during Little Bitty since March 2001. I don't know if Alan realizes the connection, but my daughter thinks that every time Alan sings about "Little Bitty" he is singing about her little "Bitty" baby doll. (That is the doll's real name). She has thought that since she was three years old, which is why we always have to bring the doll with us to Alan Jackson concerts.
Since Paul was 3 rows back, my son stood up and danced with me when Alan sang Here in the Real World. Oh my, my own little man is growing up too fast. And when Alan sang When Somebody Loves You, my children hugged me the whole time and sang it to me as well. What an incredible feeling. I really felt loved. It was a great Mother's Day present.
Drive for Daddy Gene was a definite winner with the audience and Where I Come From has replaced Chattahoochee I believe as the ultimate crowd-pleaser. Alan actually performs Where I Come From now as the last fast song in the show instead of Chattahoochee being that song. (before Where Were You of course). The shots in and around Philadelphia that are shown on the big screen while he is singing really got the crowd going. I look back to a year ago when I wrote Alan a note and asked him to sing Where I Come From in Hershey PA because it was Rachel's favorite song. At that time, not too many people in the audience (except for maybe some of us die-hard platinum members) really even heard of it. Yet my kids sang all the words right back at Alan during that concert. Now the song is such a huge hit….it's incredible what a difference a year makes.
Alan in usual style was flicking his guitar picks at the audience during the show. I told Matthew if he kept singing and dancing Alan might notice him and throw one his way. Alan did try a few times during the show but the pick never made it past the front row….there really was a LOT of room in front of the stage. He actually shrugged his shoulders once as if to say "sorry…I tried but what can I do".
Alan closed the show with Where Were You...Its something you all need to experience in person. It sounds even better being there. The audience sings along and lighters flicker as the emotion that Alan generates is felt by everyone in the room. I hope you all can hear him sing it live at least once.
Before Alan came back out for his encore, I let my kids climb up into the front row. Everyone was standing by this point. When Alan came back out and starting singing, he came right in front of Matt (and Matt then says he winked at him), and threw him a pick.. Matt got it!!!!!!! He was thrilled. Alan also tried to chuck one at Rachel, but she was too little and someone beat her to it. However, the best is yet to come. Alan went to our left and started signing autographs ….for a long time. I told Rachel to give him her Bitty Baby but she first she said no. I think she was afraid he'd keep it or something. When he came back closer to our side, Rachel said "give me Bitty" and I handed it to her. Next thing I know, there is Alan holding up her doll to the crowd and shaking his head "like what is this? what will they ask me to sign next?"…..but he turned her over and signed the back of her little red-checked overalls and passed her back down. Someone other than Rachel reached for her so of course Mom in action (me) jumps over the front seat thinking that maybe someone was going to keep her doll because of the autograph. But before I could get to her, she had her doll back with Alan's name on it. I was so so so excited for my children at this point that I didn't even think to go shake Alan's hand. I probably could have as he was right there in front of me but by the time my brain woke up, Mercury Blues was over and he was leaving. I was just too happy for my kids to think about me at that point.
Overall an incredible evening. After the lights came on, some of the band members came back out. One of the girls who had been in the front row gave Rachel a guitar pick as she had two of them. Monty was very kind and gave a "song-list" to Matthew. I will type it in just as it was written…..note though that it does not include Song for the Life which Alan did sing just after Here in the Real World, nor does it list Dan's solo or Alan's new song. The "dashed lines" are where he stopped to chat with the audience and introduce the band. See if you can figure out what the abbreviations stand for:
Gone
Tooth
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Trees
Livin'
Summer
Lovin' You
Rhythm
Little Man
WWW.
Bitty
Rock
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Real
Seven
Somebody
Drive
Blues
Pop
Cheatin'
Chatta
Cornbread
Where
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Merc
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