After Henry warmed up the audience with his standup routine (I had already heard most of this stuff from Amy's Christmas shows), he laid down some ground rules. Live recording, you will be on camera, if you�re here with someone you shouldn�t be, better move now. Since they wanted audience shots, he explained the house lights would remain up during the concert and to expect cameras to come sweeping by/overhead throughout the performance. The rule to remember was don�t look at the camera or they wouldn�t be able to use the shot. He also said that no flash photography was allowed (but did not say no photography was allowed and that made me upset because I already checked my camera because they said no cameras originally so I was up a creek without a paddle).

I was 2nd row center on the end and always was trying to not look at the cameras but that was hard sometimes.

Then Henry conducted us in laying down a few sound tracks for the recordings. First light applause, then medium, large, and then all out crazy clapping, screaming, whistling, etc. He then walked us through the same routine for laugh tracks � light, medium, large, and extra-large. I don't know if they will use them but he enjoyed doing them.

Then the band came out and plugged in, and Amy walked on stage to a standing ovation from the entire audience. She smiled, thanked us for coming and said that she was going to share a lot of the music from her career. She also commented that she had not received a standing ovation like that in a long time and thought we were doing it because of the cameras. David (guitar tech) gave her a guitar and she asked, �We ready?� Of course the audience erupted in applause, but the question was directed to Justin (Tour Manager) who was off to the right backstage at the recording center. He gave her the go through her earpiece and the night began.

I loved being that close up for the concert because I saw the cameras moving around for the audience shots and I thought maybe I might be in the DVD as I did not look at them. Amy started with "Stay for a While", "Takes a Little Time", and "Simple Things". Amy commented it was hard for her to place which album what song came from since they all kind of run together in her mind and joked that �having a baby at 40 shot my brain.�

Before she did Lucky One, she spoke about how she�d read that our sense of smell is one of the most powerful attractions we have to others and one of the strongest triggers for memories in the brain. She shared how the first time she met Vince she just leaned close and breathed him in. Then talked about how smelling a certain scent, or cologne can just take you back to a special moment or place in time like it was just yesterday. Then, she added that now because of her sharing this a lot of people would go around trying to smell Vince. How Funny! She then did "Lucky One" and then told the story about writing Saved by Love for her sister Carol (she changed the name to Laura to �protect her identity�). Carol was two years older than Amy and the beautiful/most popular girl in school-type. Everyone just expected her to be the successful, famous achiever of the girls. Amy and Carol were very close hanging out and sleeping in each other�s rooms growing up as sisters and friends. When Carol was in the hospital having her second child, Amy was in the next room having her first baby one day apart. Carol�s life and dedication to her family inspired Saved by Love.

Before she started "Saved By Love", she invited Vince out to accompany her on mandolin for the song and he did a great job with the solos. When Amy came to the part in the song when she sings �but through it all it only makes me love Jesus more, this is what he came here for,� the audience erupted in applause.

She changed guitars nearly every song or two. David would bring out each guitar and do the exchange. Dave had them tuned and ready to go. She explained that they wanted to get as many songs laid down for the DVD as possible and she really liked not having to tune up after every song, because as she said she cannot multi-task (tune and talk at the same time).

She shared a story about the event that inspired �Turn this World Around.� Arriving into Los Angeles early one day (she was out there to record Behind the Eyes), she had some time to kill before the rest of her team arrived and decided to grab a book and head down to the beach. She ended up in Santa Monica in a park overlooking the beach and took up residence on a park bench to read her book and people-watch.

As she was sitting there enjoying the sunshine, a man wandered by with a several large bags that appeared to contain all his worldly belongings. He sat next to her and asked Amy if she had any money he could have. She said she did not have a lot of money with her and couldn�t help him. To which he replied, �Good, because I have a drug problem and you shouldn�t give money to people with drug problems.� After a short while of sitting there, she found herself very curious about what this man kept in his bags, but couldn�t bring herself to ask. Then he told her he had to use the bathroom and asked if she would please guard his bags. She agreed and as he was gone, she began wondering about this man and what brought him to this point in his life. He returned and she struck up a conversation with him. He shared his name was John Gillespie and they proceeded to talk for the next two-and-a-half hours. They discussed life, their mutual love for music and as they shared, Amy began to realize that they were not that different from each other � but that for whatever reason life just directed them down different paths. She decided she wanted to give him some money and gave him $20 out of the $36 she had on her. He accepted the money and they continued their conversation. A few minutes later, a child wandered by with a cart of stuff he was trying to sell to tourists. John called him over and used the $20 Amy had given him to buy a candle and some tea, which he then gave to Amy as a gift. Eventually, it was time for her to move on and John offered to head up to her hotel with her to which she politely said "No". As she got up to leave, John got up too and Amy said to him �John, we just shared an amazing afternoon, please don�t ruin it by following me to my hotel.� He smiled and said �I�m just going to walk with you up to that fork in the road and them I�m going to go my way Amy.� She went up to her room and wrote "Turn This World Around" about the �shelter she found that one afternoon with a stranger on a park bench in Santa Monica.� Amy sang "Turn This World Around", "Big Yellow Taxi", and "Out in the Open".

A couple songs later Amy moved back to the couch and sat down. She warned us that she doesn�t play this song often and needs extra support. Then she played �In A Little While.� It was awesome to hear an old favorite and I don't think that Amy/the crew expected her to go to the couch because she needed some help to get situated and sit down and adjust the microphone.

She shared that she had woken up that morning very nervous about tonight. She sat up in bed and asked Vince, �Why are we recording this?� Sensing her concern, he replied the great thing about a bad note is that it�s out there and then it�s gone in just a few seconds and no one remembers it. Then she invited Vince to come join her on stage. He came out and sat down beside her. She mentioned Vince was turning 49 at midnight that night and the crowd spontaneously began to sing Happy Birthday to him. When completed, he commented, �Now I know why you all paid to hear her sing. I�ve never heard Happy Birthday in 9 different keys before.� He went on to add, �You know, this is our actual couch from home� and joked that he had to come down because �he had no place to lie down at the house" and that "all he need was the remote" to feel like he was at home. Then he got serious and said, �My lot in life is to lift this lady up.� (How awesome to hear Vince say that...Amy is truly lucky)

He asked Amy what she would like him to play. She leaned over to him and whispered something in his ear. He looks at the crowd and said, �of course she requests an Alan Jackson song.� Amy kind of play hit him after he said that. Then he played a song he wrote for her titled "These Days". She wanted one more song and whispered another request to him. He said, �Now she wants to hear something from Keith Urban.� She gave him a playful slap and said, �Stop it.� He shrugged his shoulders and said, �Hey if the joked worked once it�ll work twice.� Then he played a second song called "I'll Be the Ace" that he was recording for his new album and left to let Amy finish the show.

Amy sang "House of Love" with Gene Miller and oddly enough, not Vince. She commented that she was doing it with Gene because that is how they normally did it in concert to capture her true concert experience. She then did "Baby, Baby"

Amy introduced the band throughout the evening and when she came to Kim Keyes, she gave her a very nice complement stating that she had worked with her since 1994 and it was probably the best working relationship she�s every had in her career. Kim sang her impression of Cher singing Patsy Cline song.

Amy then sang "Ask Me", "After the Fire", "Carry You", and "Alright". They had to stop during the beginning of the song �Alright� because Amy�s guitar was not setup correctly. After re-positioning her capo to the correct fret, they started from the top which was a good thing because it did sound like something was not quite right before they made the change. Amy said, "I'm always up for reloading". After that song, Amy commented thinking about a singer she worked with for a long time, Donna McElroy whom is teaching up in Boston. John Lam yelled out a request for the �Wallet Song� and Amy said she would play it tomorrow.

Amy then did "Come Be with Me" with Gene Miller. Amy commented about every song that she's made for a movie, the movie has been a flop and every time she's sung at the wedding, they have split up so now she recommends that people rethink wanting her to sing at their wedding. Then she started "The Things We Do for Love".

Then, they took a short break for Shelia Davis, Amy�s makeup person to apply a few touch ups; Amy called this "technical difficulties". John Lam (sitting in the fourth row) then yelled out to ask if Amy wanted any potato chips. She replied, �You got some?� He said, �Yes!� and she said sure, �I�ll have some.� John grabbed the chips and bolted to the stage and Amy enjoyed a few chips while Shelia finished the makeup.

Amy started playing "Father's Eyes" just her for just a few chords during the makeup break while Sheila was powdering and then she stopped and we all went "AWWWWW"...so she started again and then we all started singing along with her and it was just Amy and us singing. It was such an awesome moment in the concert. At the end of the song she said, "Pretty". I hope that ends up on the DVD but if the make-up person was out on stage, I doubt it will be there.

Amy talked about her NBC 3 Wishes TV show and the anticipation being so high because 3 people would be picked. It affected Amy's faith as she said it took the idea of hope from some floppy, flimsy thing to something solid. Amy then sang "Believe" and "Every Heartbeat". She thanked us for showing up before starting "I Will Remember You". When she sang, "I Will Remember You", at the end she added in, "For my friends in Ft. Worth, TX, surrounding areas, and for those who came from far, far, away, I will remember you"...very sweet touch just for us.

Someone yelled a request for �Grape, Grape Joy� and Amy did a quick solo of it to the delight of many of her old-time fans. She then kicked it up with �Lead Me On� that got everyone back on their feet. She commented that she hoped that she had done songs that we wanted to hear but if not we could slip her a note and she'd do them tomorrow night then added not that we'd all be back tomorrow night. She then commented about remembering people/things from the past and added about Jesus being told to remember on the cross. Amy then sang "If These Walls Could Speak� solo with just her and Jonathan Hamby on keyboards. A nice emotionally charged way to end an evening.

The Meet & Greet took a long time, but Amy was a real trooper. She signed stuff, took pictures, joked around, and shared some one-on-one time with each and every person in line over a two-hour period. We were told that we could get one thing signed and have our picture taken. Jen, her manager tried to keep the line moving so we did not get a huge amount of time with Amy but that was understandable since the line for the meet and greet was so long. Many FOA members had memorable moments from the M&G, Kim and Tammy posing with Amy as Charlie�s Angels (I laughed when I saw this happening when I was way back in line); Randy, GAJules� husband giving Amy the Levitra pen; and Jake and his black boa. One cool surprise was a special appearance by Carla (caraella) who flew in for the show and the opportunity to meet Amy. It was a touching moment with both Amy and Vince taking a special moment to spend some time with her. They took a good deal of time with Carla and I was happy to see that. I met Carla at the Hilton after and was pleasantly surprised to see her there.

I got Amy to sign a picture I'd taken of her in her black top & skirt outfit and asked if she'd be singing the Wallet Song tomorrow. She said she'd do that at the Coffee. I asked if she got the flowers we had sent her and she said that her dressing room was overloaded with flowers. Amy looked awesome in her cowboy-style top.

I rode with Lori from FOA whom sat next to me at the concert back to my hotel where about 30 FOA�ers hung out at the Hilton lobby, sharing stories over pizza, reliving the memories of a wonderful night, and working on finishing their scrapbook pages that were started at the Pour House. Some of the crew from Amy's concert was even there having pizza. I looked at the scrapbook that had been worked on so far and it looked really great. Everyone's pages looked creative and the poem in the front was so moving. Excited about the Coffee the next morning, everyone headed out to try and get some rest for the big morning with Amy.

I found out when I got back to my hotel room that Kari (one of my roommates) and Debbie from FOA had rode up in the elevator with Amy, Vince, Jen and others in their party. They had tried to get the elevator to close and go before Amy and Vince got there but it ended up that they all rode up in it. How cool is that! That made me wish I'd went up with Kari to our room.

Doors opened at 10:00 am. As soon as I entered, I gave them my name to check off their list and picked up my ticket for my complimentary Coffee with Amy travel mug from Amanda.

I headed inside to find a seat. The room was set with a small stage riser, single stool and a microphone. Theater seating was setup for about 100 people in front of the stage with round tables and chairs set throughout the back of the room for sitting and enjoying breakfast.

I figured that Amy might play something or do something on the stage since they had it setup so I went to find a great seat for viewing the stage. Luckily, I found Myra and Kelley, FOA members I have chatted with online for years and sat next to them in the front row to the left of the stage. They announced that Amy would be arriving in about 10 minutes.

There was a very nice Continental Breakfast featuring rolls, Danish, assorted fresh fruit, and of course, coffee. From the looks of it, most people were either too nervous to eat, or they had already eaten breakfast because there was a lot of food left over. I never even went over to the food because I had eaten breakfast before I got there and I was too excited to try and eat thinking that I would miss something.

Directly to the left of the entrance in the back corner of the room was a professional photographer with lights and printing equipment setup up to provide instant photographs of you and Amy to anyone who wanted one. This was a very nice touch. In fact, when you add up the cost of Hall rental, sound system, food & beverage, the travel mug, and the complimentary picture, I figure each of us pretty much recouped our entire $40 FOA membership cost with this one event.

A basic sound system was setup in the back of the room as was a video camera on a tripod and some other equipment. The DVD guys were there with their cameras and sound equipment to document the event for possible inclusion on the DVD. Amy�s music was playing as background music in the room.

There was definitely an excitement in the air as people were buzzing about, securing their seats, and meeting each other for the first time in real life.

Amy walked in to the immediate applause and cheers of everyone in the room. She said hi to a few folks on the way to the front of the room and then Jennifer announced that pictures with Amy would be available (as if anyone wouldn�t want one), but said the more time we spend doing pictures the less time Amy has to �share� with everyone.

Amy stepped on the stage ready to talk but someone said that we had some songs to perform for her. I was apart of that so I looked for the sheet music that I was given at the Pour House the night before (we had NO practice). We stood in front of the stage but Amy said that we had to get up on the stage. So, Kim, Mary Ellen, Dasha, Beth, Laura, Karen, and I took to the stage to perform their Amy parody songs that Beth wrote. Amy sat in the front row and really enjoyed the performance. She laughed, clapped, and even �hooted� a couple times. I did not think before I said yes to doing this that the DVD people would be there to record this and the performance would most likely end up on a National DVD release that my grandchildren will still be watching 30 years from now. (My daughter loved to watch me doing this on the videotape I made of the coffee event.)

Following the entertainment, Mary Ellen took the stage and presented Amy with the list of contributions FOA members had made to various charities in Amy�s honor. It was a very sweet moment and I was proud that Mary Ellen was able to make it though her list. I know she was nervous about �presenting it� to Amy. FOA members rose over $1300 dollars and over 45 hours of community service in Amy's honor. Amy touched her hand to her heart when Mary Ellen was almost done reading the letter.

Then Amy asked everyone what they would like to do. �Sing� was the resounding request and she grabbed a guitar they had brought over from Bass Hall. Requested were yelled out including "Doubly Good". Amy couldn�t remember how to play it. Alan offered to give her the Straight Ahead songbook he had brought with him but Amy quickly and very casually replied, �Oh no, I can�t read music.� Too funny. She tried in vain to work it up on the guitar for few minutes and then commented �this should be a memorable lesson for anyone who is considering a career in music.� She did a verse and chorus a cappella and then said, �maybe I�ll figure this out and add it to tonight�s show. It�ll be fun to have something to work on.� But it didn�t happen. Amy also sang "Come Into My World" by request. I had never heard this song so it was a real treat. I did not yell out the "Wallet Song" as Amy said she'd do it at the Coffee several times before today but she did not. She tried to sing "Say Once More", ended up only singing a little of it because she could not remember the guitar work for it which is kind of disappointing as I love this song but it must be hard to remember all those songs.

Someone requested �Cry A River� and she struggled a bit with the first verse. She was trying to figure out the correct chords and paused for a moment while singing the line �when you�re thinking about �� and spontaneously the audience sang out loud �What might have been!� Then we all laughed out loud. Next came Alan�s big moment. Amy asked, �Do we have any harmony singers here?� Kim and a few others shouted and pointed out Alan and Amy signaled him to join her on stage. You could tell he was a bit nervous at first, but came on strong at the end. What a moment for him. There was a point near the end of the song where Amy looked right into Alan�s eyes and nods as if to say �Now you got it.� Very cool.

She took a stab at �Wise up,� struggled some more, and then commented, �I really need to work on my solo performance." She said, �Let�s see if I was just sitting around the house what would I play?� She performed a nice version of �Mimi�s House� and then noticed her guitar player Gene Miller was in the room. She welcomed Gene up on stage and he entertained us with very soulful versions �Oh Susanna,� and �Blackbird.� During this time Amy sat on the floor of the stage looking up at Gene and just enjoying the performance of this talented musician.

She and Gene performed an acoustic version of �I Will Be Your Friend� with background vocal support provided by all the FOA�ers in the room. It was great participating in a sing-along with Amy and Gene. All that was missing was a campfire and some marshmallows.

Amy wisely decided to stop singing to preserve her voice for the concert that night and offered to just chat with us for a bit and take some pictures. By this time, the scrapbook was ready to go and Christine and Dasha presented it to Amy on stage. She smiled, looked through a few of the pages and said she looked forward to enjoying reading this at home. Kim then presented Amy with the non-authorized, official FOA Fort Worth shirt. Many people were wearing their shirts at the coffee. Kim explained the tradition of creating a new shirt design for each large FOA gathering as she gave Amy her shirt and quickly added, �but there�s no pressure to wear it for us though.� Amy commented she might like to incorporate the design into a quilt. She gave Kim a hug and then turned to address the crowd.

Amy was clearly very moved by the love in the room and got pretty choked up. She was fighting back crying and said, �I�ve got a big fat lump in my throat� and looked away from everyone. At this point you could hear pin drop. It was like everyone in the room just got hit by all of the emotion of the last couple days and a lifetime of connection with Amy and her music. You could see her struggling to keep it together and I heard a few people around me beginning to sniffle. Amy commented on how years of singing the wrong way had taken their toll on her vocal chords and that she'd had a rough time lately. I think the emotions of what had happened overwhelmed her and she needed a few seconds pull it together.

She said, �I was just thinking God is so good.� And then she said that what she really wanted to do right now was pray with us. She invited Gene on stage to lead us in prayer. He thanked God for His love; asked for blessings on Amy and all of us; for safe travels for everyone home; and asked that God would continue to fill us with His love and help us to be the people He wants us to be.

Amy then shared that her prayer for herself and for all of us, is that �all that God has for us, we would receive.� She said, �We don�t have anything that isn�t given to us, but a lot of times we don�t receive all that God wants to give us.�

She then shared a great story about attending a Healing Seminar with her sister 15 years ago. It was during the time of her big radio success and she was meeting a lot of Make-A-Wish kids. She shared that she used to think, �Oh God if I could just lay hands on these children and heal them�� At the end of the meeting, the speaker asked if anyone would like to come forward to receive this gift and Amy thought, �What do I have to lose?� She went down front and the speaker asked everybody to cup their hands in front of them and pray, �God whatever you have for me I receive.� She said she thought, �Man that�s so practical, I going to ask for that.� So in between fighting hunger pains and thinking of how good a ham sandwich would taste, she prayed �God all that you have for me I receive.� As she continued focusing on this prayer she felt an energy in her hands and they began to move. She said she remembered thinking, �I didn�t move my hands, and yet they were moving.� She thought, �Don�t worry about your hands, just keep praying,� and over the course of the next several minutes, she found her arms high in the air and she couldn�t pull them down.

Amy said she left that night, with a newfound spiritual strength and a child-like sense of wonder that was exploding inside her. She said her prayer for everyone is that they too would have this experience of receiving all that God wants to give them in their life.

She said, �When someone asks me to pray for them, that�s my prayer, that they would receive all that God has for them.� Then Amy looked out over the room and said, �That�s going to be my prayer when I read that Scrapbook, and when I see you guys and Jen�s going �get through the line, go on,� just know in the rush, that�s still my prayer for you.�

She thanked us all, put on her new official, non-authorized FOA Fort Worth shirt and headed to the back of the room to meet everyone, sign stuff and take pictures.

I got in line near the back with Myra and Kelley. When Amy saw me, she said "Nice singing up there" which embarrassed me kind of as I am shy normally. I took a program for Amy to sign from a fan in Indiana whom had never met Amy but loved her music. I asked Amy to sign it for her and said she was the one who yelled out "Sleigh Ride" at the Indiana concert. I told her I was going to mail it to her in Pennsylvania and Amy said that was sweet. I only had to wait a few minutes for my picture with Amy. That was so awesome. Amy stayed there for way over the allotted time signing, taking pictures, and chatting. At a point near the end of the line, Jen had to tell people just a photograph and nothing signed to move the line quickly as Amy had to go. So I felt bad for those people. I did video tape Sue's family with Amy for her so her hubby could get in the video. I told him I knew how always being the videotape person felt. While watching everyone, I noticed Jen brought her baby, Braden in for a couple minutes to snap a quick picture with Amy.

Later that afternoon, I went with Dasha and Joe up to his suite on the 15th floor to review the pictures from the morning. We ordered a couple pizzas and some sodas and were just hanging out when Dasha shows up with Gene. We invite him in for some lunch and spent the next half-hour chatting about life, his music, and being on the road with Amy. What an amazingly humble guy. He shared that he�s been answering interview questions for a profile that is soon to appear on FOA. I look forward to reading it and learning more about this talented man. He said that he did not know how to answer a few of the questions and may leave them blank. Gene took some pictures with us and then he left to go workout.

It was an amazing morning and this experience alone justified the cost and sacrifice each of us had to make to be in Fort Worth. I will remember this day fondly for many years to come and am thankful my husband let me go to Ft. Worth.

I was sitting Row L center with Dasha (much farther back than last night when I was in Row BBB center- 2nd row) and what a difference being that far back makes. Dasha had a plan to move up after Amy started so I was on the lookout for open seats that we could move up to after the start.

Henry came out and warmed up the crowd again, doing some different material from the night before. I think I had heard most all of his material because he did it at Amy's Christmas tours. He did talk about having a new baby and that part was new. Dasha was knitting during the concert. I still don't know how she can do that and enjoy the show at the same time.

Amy took the stage with what seemed like a lot more confidence than the night before. You got the feeling she knew she was among friends and was much more relaxed than the first show. Amy commented about her first concert being in Ft. Worth and that she was glad to be back. Someone in the audience yelled they were there. I was expecting the same set as Tuesday, but was blown away when they kicked of the show with Lead Me On. Bam � energy and action right out of the gate. All of FOA in the front rows were on their feet. Dasha and I stood up but we were among the much less rowdy audience as not many people stood up...boy, I missed being among FOA people.

She followed that up with Good for Me and mentioned that the band was feeling pretty good after hitting the local Starbucks for espressos before the show. Andrew from Florida brought a bouquet of flowers for Amy and took them up to the stage. Amy smiled and gladly accepted the flowers, thanking him by name. She took a nice long smell and commented how beautiful they were, then asked for the stage manager to come take them. �We can�t have them in the shot since we�re editing this with last night�s concert. How would it look? Flowers. No Flowers. Flowers. No Flowers.� After "Good For Me", Dasha and I made our move to better seats as I spotted 2 open seats behind Debbie from CA and her husband. Dasha made me lead and we ended up exiting to the left aisle and little did I know that there were two big cameras there recording the whole stage and I felt so bad because now we'd be seen leaving on them and they could not use that part of the tape.

Amy sang "Stay for Awhile". At this point a very annoying guy from the balcony begins shouting out song requests and reciting chart information from 20 years ago. It was really weird because he started shouting out saying he knew all her songs. Amy handled it in her pure sweet fashion saying that it was great to know if anyone up on stage keeled over that it was good to know someone would know the songs. He popped off again a couple songs later and then was gone � either security grabbed him or the audience took matters in their own hands and shut him up.

After the quick kick to get the audience moving, they returned to the basic set list from the previous night. Amy commented that she wasn�t planning on talking very much because they wanted to get as many songs on tape as possible. Then she joked, that having a baby at 40 has made it difficult for her brain to connect a complete thought anymore anyway.

Amy has a little intro she usually does before �Takes A Little Time,� where she asks the audience, �has anyone out there just had a rough day today?� Of course this is kind of a setup question, because let�s face it, most days are pretty rough � and in five concerts so far (including Tuesday night), I�ve always heard the audience give a collective sigh and respond with an affirmative �yes.� But not this night!

With everyone up front still riding their Coffee with Amy high from the morning, the response she got was a resounding �No way, it�s been a GREAT day!� I had to laugh when I saw the look on her face from our response. She clearly wasn�t expecting this reaction, but quickly composed herself and responded, �It can be even harder when everyone around you is doing so well and you�ve had a hard day. So if you�ve been having it tough lately, this song is for you.� After we all yelled NO to Amy's question. She laughed and said well, except for these "Grantheads" down here.

After "Takes A Little Time", she also told a cute story about being busted on a plane ride with Millie one time. It was during a hectic time in her career with Amy on the road quite a bit. In a pinch one holiday season, she did most of her Christmas shopping out of a Sky Mall airline magazine while traveling from one show to the next. Amy was flying with Millie some time later and while perusing the Sky Mall magazine, she said, �Mom, how come all of our presents are in here?� She added that in the magazine she saw a vision that casts a blue light to help people not get the winter blues and it made her realize how bad people look in blue light.

Amy forgot to tune her guitar so that took a minute before going into "Simple Things� Amy introduced some of her band members. She asked "Who all was here last night?" and we yelled. JamminJeff yelled "FOA rules" and then Amy commented about the "GrantHeads" down front. Amy then did "Lucky One� The annoying guy yelling out was back. He yelled some more information out to the crowd's laughter. Someone in the audience yelled out "Bless your Heart", a reference to Henry Cho's comedy routine. Amy brought Vince out on stage to play mandolin for the next song. Someone yelled out "Happy Birthday, Vince" then JamminJeff started the audience singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Then she told of the song "Saved By Love" being written for her sister but she changed her name to Laura to protect her identity and started it the song.

She then sang "Out In the Open". Amy commented about talking to an old friend who asked how she wanted this live show to be like and she told him she wanted it to be like a cozy living room setting and not hyped up so he told her to take her living room furniture and she did, packing up her couch, rug, painting, and lamps to bring to this show. She thanked her friend for giving her this idea.

At this point, Amy took a seat to give us some �couch time,� playing some of her older tunes. She talks about being nervous since she had the espresso coffee but for this moment, she is feeling slow then goes into "In A Little While" followed by an introspective, quiet rendition of "Thy Word" to which the crowd sang along. She introduced Father's Eyes by saying "This was beautiful last night when everyone sang along" then she did "Father's Eyes" to which I again sang along but it was not as quiet, soft rendition as last night's show but still beautiful. Amy dedicated "Mountain Top" to 2 girls that she met in California last year and said their mom has playing her music for them since before they were born. She then went into "El Shaddai".

Amy invited Vince to do a song or two but he never came out on stage. So she proceeded to continue on with the set list. A little later in the show Amy shared a cute story about Corrina. They were coming home after being away from home for several weeks (I think it was while Amy was touring last year). Corrina turned to Amy and asked, �Are you excited to see your Husband?� Amy smiled and said �Well yes I am.� Corrina then said to Mommy (Amy) "I'm excited to see my Dad." That was so cute. Then Amy sang "Baby Baby" which she said she wrote for her older daughter Millie.

After "Baby Baby" then introduced some of the band members. "Eye to Eye" was next on the set list. She then talked about her friend whom had a bad childhood and finding out about it which shocked her then did "Ask Me". "After the Fire" was next.

Amy began telling the story behind the song �The Water� and just then, Kim Keyes comes over to Amy and whispers something in her ear. Amy nodded and then walked off the stage. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Amy told the story of Corrina and her baptisms that inspired �The Water� about Amy, Vince, and Corrina spending time with a pastor friend of theirs and that they decided to dedicate Corrina in that water. After they baptized Corrina, her pastor friend asked if anyone else would want to be baptized and Amy chose to do so. So as Amy is finishing the story, Kim makes it back on stage and they do �The Water.�

Then Amy �threw it around� to the band and let Kim, Gene, Millard, and Will rock the house with some great covers. You can really see how much Amy loves music and great talent. At one point she just kicked back on the couch with her feet up and enjoyed the music. One cool point in the show was during Millard�s Keep Your Hands to Yourself, Kim Keyes flags down Jake from the audience to get his large black boa and hands it to Amy who put it around her neck as she was grooving to the music. The audience loved it and cheered her on. Amy and Kim sang backup to Will's "Sweet Home Alabama" which was fun to watch as they seemed to have a blast singing and shaking shakers together.

She asked Vince to come out again but he did not. She commented that they were going to fire through the next few songs really quickly. Amy then did "Things We Do For Love" Jeff yelled out asking how Corrina was doing to which Amy replied, she was doing great and she told a Corrina story. Then, she did "Believe", I love that song. Amy went right into "Every Heartbeat" next then "I Will Remember You". For the end line of the song, Amy sang "for all you from Ft. Worth and all you that came a long, long, long way to get here, I Will Remember You".

At one point, Amy mentioned that they were going to complete the set and take a quick break to reset the recorders and then come back and redo a few songs for the DVD. We were welcome to stay and enjoy the �fixes.�

When Amy came back out for the encore, she shared about the power of remembering. She told about a story of visiting her old family house on the 4th of July and sitting on the porch remembering her Great Grandmother who died when Amy was just 20 years old. She spoke of the power of memories and how she could just sit in a rocking chair, close her eyes and go back to when she was a little girl running through the house and enjoying her childhood. She said that is why Jesus said when we eat or drink to remember Him. �It�s no wonder,� she said, �that the thief on the cross said when You get to paradise, remember me.� She then played �If These Walls Could Speak� with just Jonathan on piano. This was both gorgeous and haunting, a perfect way to end the concert. Her parting words were the same as the previous night, �God Bless Us All.�

Henry came back out on stage and did about 10 minutes of material. You could tell he wasn�t planning this because he had to pull some of the same jokes from the previous night�s performance. A couple times he looked off the stage to ask if they were ready, and was told to stretch the time.

During this time some of the audience took off. I was in row A and noticed that at this time many people moved up to take seats vacated by people leaving.

Amy came back out on stage to do the few songs they wanted to fix. The re-do part of the concert was a lot of fun, like an added bonus. Amy was very relaxed and seemed pretty intent on getting the songs just right. As she was getting ready to play, she began engaging in what appeared to be a one-sided conversation. �We ready?� �No I think it was the other guitar.� �Yeah, I really want that song on the DVD.� At this point she notices the audience curiously watching her and she says �No, I�m not crazy, Justin�s talking to me in my monitor and I�m answering him.�

As they were waiting on the tech guys to give them the cue to begin, Kim Keyes asks, �So did you hear about Dolly Parton today?� Did you hear about Dolly Parton?
She just bought Big Lots, Piggly Wiggly and Harris Teeters.
She is going to combine the stores and call it Big Wiggly Teeters.

During this time Amy was still talking to the voice in her ear, but she paused to see what Kim was up to. Later when they were talking in Amy's ear again, Kim said Did you hear about Dolly Parton? Pretty funny!

They did �Lucky One� and as they were getting ready to do �Carry You� Amy commented that the Starbucks was definitely �wearing off.� She performed the rest of the re-takes �Eye to Eye,� "Ask Me," and �In A Little While.� Then, talking again to Justin, said �I really want that one on the DVD� (I think referring to Ask Me).

She called for Vince to come on stage and do a song for her. He came out and she leaned over and asked him a question. I couldn�t make it out, but think it was something to the effect of �where were you before?� He joked, �I was back in the hotel when they called said to get back over here.�

Of course, someone yelled out Happy Birthday and the audience did their own second take on the song from last night. From the look on Vince�s face, we didn�t exactly �nail it� this time either. Although JamminJeff took this opportunity to rush the stage and give Vince a Dallas Cowboys ball cap in a plastic bag. Vince joined Amy on the couch and sang her a song. And they left the stage together.

Overall, I enjoyed the second night�s show better. It sounded like the backup vocals were dialed up a bit louder than the night before and everyone just seemed more relaxed on stage. The audience was also more into the show. Sitting in the front 10 rows with the rest of the �Grantheads,� as Amy referred to us, was a lot of fun, although I noticed a couple times that �we� were up on our feet and grooving to the music, while the rest of Bass Hall seemed to be wondering what all the excitement was about.

Another element I felt in the second show was more of a connection between Amy and �us.� I think we were all affected by the emotion and moving of the Spirit during our time at the Coffee and Amy seemed to tap into this vibe and somehow you just got the feeling she knew she was performing for her friends.

It was an amazing night surrounded by amazing friends. There was such a connection not just from Amy to the audience, but in all of us FOA members as well. It was a night I will not forget.

Bass Hall was a great venue. Everything I heard about the elegance and majesty of the place was true. Amy wisely chose to set the stage very intimately bringing her living room from home (couch, large painting, carpet, and lamps). It really felt like she knew she was doing a concert for �friends.�

Of course the set list has already been posted and discussed by now, so I will just share some notes I took during the evening.

After Henry warmed up the audience with his standup routine, he laid down some ground rules. Live recording, you will be on camera, if you�re here with someone you shouldn�t be, better move now. Since they wanted audience shots, he explained the house lights would remain up during the concert and to expect cameras to come sweeping by/overhead throughout the performance. The rule to remember was don�t look at the camera or they wouldn�t be able to use the shot.

I was 4th row center and it took a while before I could �ignore� the cameras and pretend they weren�t there.

Then Henry �conducted us� in laying down a few sound tracks for the recordings. First light applause, then medium, large, and then all out crazy amazing fantastic clapping, screaming, whistling, etc. He then walked us through the same routine for laugh tracks � light, medium, large, and gut-busting (I think the laugh tracks were for him personally IMO).

Then the band came out and plugged in, and Amy walked on stage to a standing ovation from the entire audience. She smiled, thanked us for coming and said that she was going to share a lot of the music from her career. David (guitar tech) gave her a guitar and she asked, �We ready?� Of course the audience erupted in applause, but the question was directed to Justin (Tour Manager) who was off to the right backstage at the recording center. He gave her the go through her earpiece and the night began.

I�m sure the sound was much better further back in Bass Hall than in the front few rows, but that didn�t matter, since it was more important for me to be close than have the best seat for sound. A few songs into the set she mentioned that it was hard for her to place which album what song came from since they all kind of run together in her mind and joked that �having a baby at 40 shot my brain.�

Before she did Lucky One, she spoke about how she�d read that our sense of smell is one of the most powerful attractions we have to others and one of the strongest triggers for memories in the brain. She shared how the first time she met Vince she just leaned close and breathed him in. Then talked about how smelling a certain scent, or cologne can just take you back to a special moment or place in time like it was just yesterday.

I�d heard Amy share the story about writing Saved by Love for her sister Carol (she changed the name to Laura to �protect her identity�), but is always cool hearing the details. Carol was two years older than Amy and the beautiful/most popular girl in school-type. Everyone just expected her to be the successful, famous achiever of the girls. Amy and Carol were very close hanging out and sleeping in each other�s rooms growing up as sisters and friends. When Carol was in the hospital having her second child, Amy was in the next room having her first baby one day apart. Carol�s life and dedication to her family inspired Saved by Love.

She invited Vince out to accompany her on mandolin for the song and he did a great job with the solos. When Amy came to the part in the song when she sings �but through it all it only makes me love Jesus more, this is what he came here for,� the audience erupted in applause.

She changed guitars nearly every song or two. David would bring out each guitar and do the exchange. She explained that they wanted to get as many songs laid down for the DVD as possible and she really liked not having to tune up after every song, because as she said she cannot multi-task (tune and talk at the same time).

She shared a story about the event that inspired �Turn this World Around.� Arriving into Los Angeles early one day (she was out there to record Behind the Eyes), she had some time to kill before the rest of her team arrived and decided to grab a book and head down to the beach. She ended up in Santa Monica in a park overlooking the beach and took up residence on a park bench to read her book and people-watch. I�ve actually been to this park she was talking about several times and it was cool that I could close my eyes and picture the very spot she was discussing.

As she was sitting there enjoying the sunshine, a man wandered by with a several large bags that appeared to contain all his worldly belongings. He sat next to her and asked Amy if she had any money he could have. She said she did not have a lot of money with her and couldn�t help him. To which he replied, �good, because I have a drug problem and you shouldn�t give money to people with drug problems.� After a short while of sitting there, she found herself very curious about what this man kept in his bags, but couldn�t bring herself to ask. Then he told her he had to use the bathroom and asked if she would please guard his bags. She agreed and as he was gone, she began wondering about this man and what brought him to this point in his life. He returned and she struck up a conversation with him. He shared his name was John Gillespie and they proceeded to talk for the next two-and-a-half hours. They discussed life, their mutual love for music and as they shared, Amy began to realize that they were not that different from each other � but that for whatever reason life just directed them down different paths. She decided she wanted to give him some money and gave him $20 out of the $36 she had on her. He accepted the money and they continued their conversation. A few minutes later, a child wandered by with a cart of stuff he was trying to sell to tourists. John called him over and used the $20 Amy had given him to buy a candle and some tea, which he then gave to Amy as a gift. Eventually, it was time for her to move on and John offered to head up to her hotel with her to which she politely said no. As she got up to leave, John got up too and Amy said to him �John, we just shared an amazing afternoon, please don�t ruin it by following me to my hotel.� He smiled and said �I�m just going to walk with you up to that fork in the road and them I�m going to go my way Amy.� She went up to her room and wrote Somewhere Down the Road about the �shelter she found that one afternoon with a stranger on a park bench in Santa Monica.�

A couple songs later Amy moved back to the couch and sat down. She warned us that she doesn�t play this song often and needs extra support. Then she played �In A Little While.�

She shared that she had woken up that morning very nervous about tonight. She sat up in bed and asked Vince, �Why are we recording this?� Sensing her concern, he replied the great thing about a bad note is that it�s out there and then its gone in just a few seconds and no one remembers it. Then she invited Vince to come join her on stage. He came out and sat down beside her. She mentioned Vince was turning 49 at midnight that night and the crowd spontaneously began to sing Happy Birthday to him. When completed, he commented, �Now I know why you all paid to hear her sing. I�ve never heard Happy Birthday in 9 different keys before.� He went on to add, �You know, this is our actual couch from home� and joked that he had to come down because �he had no place to lay down at the house.� Then he got serious and said, �my lot in life is to lift this lady up.�

He asked Amy what she would like him to play. She leaned over to him and whispered something in his ear. He looks at the crowd and said, �of course she requests an Alan Jackson song.� Then he played a song he wrote for her. She wanted one more song and whispered another request to him. He said, �Now she wants to hear something from Keith Urban.� She gave him a playful slap and said, �Stop it.� He shrugged his shoulders and said, �Hey if the joked worked once it�ll work twice.� Then he played a second song that he was recording for his new album and left to let Amy finish the show.

Amy introduced the band throughout the evening and when she came to Kim Keyes, she gave her a very nice complement stating that she had worked with her since 1994 and it was probably the best working relationship she�s every had in her career.

They had to stop during the beginning of the song �Alright� because Amy�s guitar was not setup correctly. After re-positioning her capo to the correct fret they started from the top. Later that night, over pizza in the lobby of the Hilton, we learned from David, that he had mistakenly placed the capo on the wrong spot.

They took a short break for Shelia Davis, Amy�s makeup person to apply a few touch ups. Of course John Lam yelled out a request for the �Wallet Song� and Amy said she would play it tomorrow. John (sitting in the fourth row) then yelled out to ask if Amy wanted any potato chips. She replied, �You got some?� He said, �Yes!� and she said sure, �I�ll have some.� John grabbed the chips and bolted to the stage and Amy enjoyed a few chips (because you can�t eat just one) while Shelia finished the makeup.

Someone yelled a request for �Grape, Grape Joy� and Amy did a quick solo of it to the delight of many of her old-time fans. She then kicked it up with �Lead Me On� that got everyone back on their feet, and ended with an encore performing �If These Walls Could Speak� solo with just her and Jonathan Hamby on keyboards. It was a great way to close the night.

The Meet & Greet took a long time, but Amy was a real trooper smiling just as bright and taking her time for the last person in line (me) as she did for the first. She signed stuff, took pictures, joked around, and shared some one-on-one time with each and every person in line over a two-hour period. I�ve already posted pictures documenting some of the memorable moments from the M&G, Kim and Tammy posing with Amy as Charlie�s Angels; Randy, GAJules� husband giving Amy the Levitra pen; and of course Jake and his black boa. One cool surprise was a special appearance by Carla (caraella) who flew in for the show and the opportunity to meet Amy. It was a touching moment with both Amy and Vince taking a special moment to spend some time with her. I got to spend a few minutes with Carla and Dasha back at the Hilton and she was so excited that she got to meet Amy and give her a special letter she wrote.

The night ended with about 30 FOA�ers hanging out at the Hilton lobby sharing stories over pizza, reliving the memories of a wonderful night, and working on finishing their scrapbook pages that were started at the Pour House. Excited about the Coffee the next morning, everyone headed out to try and get some rest for the big morning with Amy.

Doors opened at 10:00 am. I was a bit late arriving as I was on one of my adventures driving my rental car lost on the streets of downtown Fort Worth. I had headed out to Walgreen�s to get some pictures printed from the Meet & Greet the night before. Several locals had sworn up and down that Walgreen�s was only about 10 blocks from the Hilton, yet I found myself hopelessly lost in a maze of one-way streets and downtown construction. After a desperate call to Mike, the Hilton concierge/human GPS service, I was �talked back� on track and did find the Walgreen�s. I ran into Lionel there who was also printing a few choice shots to share with the others. A huge thanks to him for giving me exact directions back to the hotel and Bass Hall. I was literally there in 7 minutes. :shock:

Anyway, I was passing the hall about five minutes after 10:00 and folks were lined up down the street to get checked into the Coffee. In the five minutes it took to park the car and walk back the line was gone and so the registration process must have gone pretty smoothly.

I said hi to Amanda, picked up my ticket for my complimentary Coffee with Amy travel mug, and headed in to scope out the place. They were just announcing that Amy would be arriving in about 10 minutes. The room was set with a small stage riser, single stool and a microphone. Theater seating was setup for about 100 people in front of the stage with round tables and chairs set throughout the back of the room for sitting and enjoying breakfast.

There was a very nice Continental Breakfast featuring rolls, danish, assorted fresh fruit, and of course, coffee. From the looks of it, most people were either too nervous to eat, or they had already eaten breakfast because there was a lot of food left over.

Directly to the left of the entrance in the back corner of the room was a professional photographer with lights and printing equipment setup up to provide instant photographs of you and Amy to anyone who wanted one. This was a very nice touch. In fact, when you add up the cost of Hall rental, sound system, food & beverage, the travel mug, and the complimentary picture, I figure each of us pretty much recouped our entire $40 FOA membership cost with this one event.

Christine and Dasha had commandeered the back table nearest the photographer to establish their scrapbooking hot zone where various people were feverishly working to finish their creations for inclusion in the book. I observed the guys (Ben, Nathaniel, Jake, John, etc.) carefully strategizing their plan of attack for page placement in the book for maximum impact. The theories they appeared to be discussing were �command and conquer� by securing a bunch of pages in a row in the middle of the book vs. make sure our stuff is all at the end because people only read the beginning and end and skip the middle. (I could be mistaken on this point because I�m not in the least bit artistic and scrapbooking theory is something I just �don�t get.� It�s true � you can ask Dasha.)

A basic sound system was setup in the back of the room as was a video camera on a tripod and some other equipment. The DVD guys were there with their cameras and sound equipment to document the event for possible inclusion on the DVD. Amy�s music was playing as background music in the room.

There was definitely an excitement in the air as people were buzzing about, securing their seats, and meeting each other for the first time IRL. I overheard many exchanges similar to�

�Hi, I�m Tom.�
�Huh?�
�You know me, AmyFan16274938!�
�Oh, so you�re AmyFan�. Dude, I thought you were a girl!�

A cursory scan of the room quickly revealed that my tardiness did indeed come at a price. All the good seats were taken. Fortunately, I had an Ace in the hole to play. I just happened to have in my possession about 15 newly printed 5x7 pictures of FOA members posing with Amy from the M&G the previous night. These were of course, suitable for signing when meeting Miss Amy today. I figured I could broker this leverage for a good seat up front if necessary. However, the lovely and talented Shari Creamer agreed to �volunteer� to be my videographer for the event (she was sitting second row, dead center) which allowed me to roam the room; shoot still pictures; and keep on the run from Dasha who was still trying to pin me down to sign my scrapbook pages that she put together on the floor of her bathroom at 3:00 AM. I should have known better, but I just had to ask. It�s a long story, but apparently has something to do with needing to finish 40 pages by morning and not wanting to disturb her roommates Kari and Jill.

So anyway, I�m roaming, chatting, and discussing the finer points of video rendering with someone when in walks Miss Amy to the immediate applause and cheers of everyone in the room. She said hi to a few folks on the way to the front of the room and then Jennifer announced that pictures with Amy would be available (as if anyone wouldn�t want one), but said the more time we spend doing pictures the less time Amy has to �share� with everyone.

Several brave ladies boldly took the stage to perform their Amy parody songs that Beth wrote. Amy sat in the front row and really enjoyed the performance. She laughed, clapped, and even �hooted� a couple times. I�ve got to give these ladies credit. Any idiot can grab the karaoke mic at 1:00 in the morning when they are too hammered to have good sense. But these gals took the stage stone-cold sober; in front of their friends and life-long idol; without practicing; and with the full knowledge that their performance would most likely end up on a National DVD release that their grandchildren will still be watching 30 years from now. Well I don�t know if they considered [i]all[/i] these points, but it�s sure the heck what went through my head when they asked me about participating the night before at the Pour House. No Thank You.

Following the entertainment, Mary Ellen took the stage and presented Amy with the list of contributions FOA members had made to various charities in Amy�s honor. It was a very sweet moment and I was proud that Mary Ellen was able to make it though her list. I know she was nervous about �presenting it� to Amy.

Then Amy asked everyone what they would like to do. �Sing� was the resounding request and she grabbed a guitar they had brought over from Bass Hall. I requested Doubly Good. And after waiting 20 years and attending 17 Amy concerts hoping to hear my all-time favorite AG song� she couldn�t remember how to play it.

Alan offered to give her the Straight Ahead songbook he had brought with him but Amy quickly and very casually replied, �Oh no, I can�t read music.� Too funny. She tried in vain to work it up on the guitar for few minutes and then commented �this should be a memorable lesson for anyone who is considering a career in music.� She did a verse and chorus a cappella and then said, �maybe I�ll figure this out and add it to tonight�s show. It�ll be fun to have something to work on.� But it didn�t happen.

Someone requested �Cry A River� and she struggled a bit with the first verse. She was trying to figure out the correct chords and paused for a moment while singing the line �when you�re thinking about �� and spontaneously the audience sang out loud �What might have been!� Then we all laughed out loud. Next came Alan�s big moment. Amy asked, �Do we have any harmony singers here?� Kim and a few others shouted and pointed out Alan and Amy signaled him to join her on stage. You could tell he was a bit nervous at first, but came on strong at the end. What a moment for him. There was a point near the end of the song where Amy looked right into Alan�s eyes and nods as if to say �Now you got it.� Very cool.

She took a stab at �Wise up,� struggled some more, and then commented, �I really need to work on my solo performance." She said, �Let�s see if I was just sitting around the house what would I play?� She performed a nice version of �Mimi�s House� and then noticed her guitar player Gene Miller was in the room. She welcomed Gene up on stage and he entertained us with very soulful versions �Oh Susanna,� and �Blackbird.� During this time Amy sat on the floor of the stage looking up at Gene and just enjoying the performance of this talented musician.

She and Gene performed an acoustic version of �I Will Be Your Friend� with background vocal support provided by all the FOA�ers in the room. It was great participating in a sing-along with Amy and Gene. All that was missing was a campfire and some marshmallows.

Amy wisely decided to stop singing to preserve her voice for the concert that night and offered to just chat with us for a bit and take some pictures. By this time, the scrapbook was ready to go and Christine and Dasha presented it to Amy on stage. She smiled, looked through a few of the pages and said she looked forward to enjoying reading this at home. Kim then presented Amy with the non-authorized, official FOA Fort Worth shirt. Many people were wearing their shirts at the coffee. Kim explained the tradition of creating a new shirt design for each large FOA gathering as she gave Amy her shirt and quickly added, �but there�s no pressure to wear it for us though.� Amy commented she might like to incorporate the design into a quilt. She gave Kim a hug and then turned to address the crowd.

By this time, I had actually taken up a position on one knee on the floor right in front of the stage. Many people had come forward to get pictures of the scrapbook/shirt presentation and I had ended up kneeling down in front of the first row of chairs to get some good pictures. Of course, once I realized Amy was going address the group, I didn�t want to stand up in front of her and walk away. So everybody took their seats and I just hung out there in front of the stage looking up at Amy from the floor.

Amy was clearly very moved by the love in the room and got pretty choked up. She was fighting back crying and said, �I�ve got a big fat lump in my throat� and looked away from everyone. At this point you could hear pin drop. It was like everyone in the room just got hit by all of the emotion of the last couple days and a lifetime of connection with Amy and her music. I was probably the closest person in the room to Amy at this point looking right up into her eyes and I could see her struggling to keep it together. It felt like someone kicked me in the stomach and I heard a few people around me beginning to sniffle. I immediately thought about last year�s concert in Saratoga, CA when Amy announced to the crowd, �I�m feeling pretty emotional tonight, so no one is allowed to come up to the front of the stage and start crying or I�ll just lose it.�

I was determined not to be the guy that cried in front of Amy. I thought, �I met Steve (ultrafs) here this morning. No way that mountain man with the climbing wall in his closet is crying. Be tough Joe.� Smile big and support Amy. Then she looked down right at me and I could see her eyes welling up. As I was fighting a lump in my own throat and felt the tiniest drop beginning to form in the corner of my right eye, I looked over and was slapped back to reality by the fact that the video crew was right there filming all of this. I thought, �NO WAY was I going to cry on DVD for the world to see. Heck if that�s the case I should have just joined the girls on stage and sung the silly songs.� So I pulled it together and so did Amy.

She said, �I was just thinking God is so good.� And then she said that what she really wanted to do right now was pray with us. She invited Gene on stage to lead us in prayer. He thanked God for His love; asked for blessings on Amy and all of us; for safe travels for everyone home; and asked that God would continue to fill us with His love and help us to be the people He wants us to be.

Amy then shared that her prayer for herself and for all of us, is that �all that God has for us, we would receive.� She said, �We don�t have anything that isn�t given to us, but a lot of times we don�t receive all that God wants to give us.�

She then shared a great story about attending a Healing Seminar with her sister 15 years ago. It was during the time of her big radio success and she was meeting a lot of Make-A-Wish kids. She shared that she used to think, �Oh God if I could just lay hands on these children and heal them�� At the end of the meeting, the speaker asked if anyone would like to come forward to receive this gift and Amy thought, �What do I have to lose?� She went down front and the speaker asked everybody to cup their hands in front of them and pray, �God whatever you have for me I receive.� She said she thought, �Man that�s so practical, I going to ask for [i]that.[/i]� So in between fighting hunger pains and thinking of how good a ham sandwich would taste, she prayed �God all that you have for me I receive.� As she continued focusing on this prayer she felt an energy in her hands and they began to move. She said she remembered thinking, �I didn�t move my hands, and yet they were moving.� She thought, �Don�t worry about your hands, just keep praying,� and over the course of the next several minutes, she found her arms high in the air and she couldn�t pull them down.

Amy said she left that night, with a newfound spiritual strength and a child-like sense of wonder that was exploding inside her. She said her prayer for everyone is that they too would have this experience of receiving all that God wants to give them in their life.

She said, �When someone asks me to pray for them, that�s my prayer, that they would receive all that God has for them.� Then Amy looked out over the room and said, �That�s going to be my prayer when I read that Scrapbook, and when I see you guys and Jenn�s going �get through the line, go on,� just know in the rush, that�s still my prayer for you.�

She thanked us all, put on her new official, non-authorized FOA Fort Worth shirt and headed to the back of the room to meet everyone, sign stuff and take pictures.

A few of us chatted with Gene for a bit minutes and thanked him for the prayer. He said he was heading off back to the hotel. Yet there he was over an hour later still hanging out, posing for pictures, and enjoying talking with all the people from FOA.

Later that afternoon, I had a few people up to my room to review the pictures from the morning. We ordered a couple pizzas and some sodas and were just hanging out when Dasha shows up with Gene. We invite him in for some lunch and spent the next half-hour chatting about life, his music, and being on the road with Amy. What an amazingly humble guy. He shared that he�s been answering interview questions for a profile that is soon to appear on FOA. I look forward to reading it and learning more about this talented man.

Jenn brought her baby in for a couple minutes to snap a quick picture with Amy. What a cute little guy he is.

After two full days at Camp Amy people were primed and ready for a great night of music and fun to cap off this trip. Nearly everyone was still riding on a cloud from the Coffee with Amy experience earlier that morning. The half-hour before the show started was a great time of chatting and reliving the day�s experiences in the front 10 rows of Bass Hall. Nearly everyone was FOA.

I was sitting 2nd row center (up from my �cheap seats� in the 5th row last night) and what a difference 10 feet makes. I think there may have been a couple other people at Bass Hall that night, but it didn�t matter, cause Amy was singing just for me.

Steve, BJ, Elisabeth were in front of me. Andrew, JJ, and Diana were behind us in row CCC. I strategically placed myself smack dab in the middle of four beautiful FOA ladies � Mary Bess and Shari to my left, Cathy and Miss Kim on the right. When Henry joked about moving in case you don�t want to be seen on camera sitting next to the wrong person, I just smiled. Bring the camera on man, I�m in FOA heaven. 8) :wink:

The jib camera/crane was repositioned to the right side of the theater and when that camera came swinging right over our heads, it felt like we were going to get smacked. This was especially true when we were standing up and moving to the music. Not sure I would exactly call our �semi-rhythmatic,� movements [i]dancing[/i], but I�m sure you�ll see what I mean when the DVD comes out.

Henry�s warm-up featured some different material from the night before, but I honestly wasn�t paying much attention. I was trying to get Melissa to answer her phone in Australia so she could hear part of the concert.

Amy took the stage with what seemed like a lot more confidence than the night before. You got the feeling she knew she was among friends and was much more relaxed than the first show. I was expecting the same set as Tuesday, but was blown away when they kicked of the show with Lead Me On. Bam � energy and action right out of the gate. We were all on our feet in about 3 seconds.

She followed that up with Good for Me and mentioned that the band was feeling pretty good after hitting the local Starbucks for espressos before the show. Andrew who was sitting behind me had brought a bouquet of flowers for Amy and he was debating when to give them to her. �She always holds her guitar when she sings these days� he said �so it�s hard to give her flowers.� Well she didn�t have the guitar for the first couple songs, so we talked Andrew into taking the opportunity while he had it early on. Well by the time he extricated himself from the middle seat in the row and hit the aisle, David had brought Amy�s guitar to her. But Andrew had already committed himself and rushed the stage anyway. Amy smiled and gladly accepted the flowers. She took a nice long smell and commented how beautiful they were, then asked for the stage manager to come take them. �We can�t have them in the shot since we�re editing this with last night�s concert. How would it look? Flowers. No Flowers. Flowers. No Flowers.�

At this point a very annoying guy from the balcony begins shouting out song requests and reciting chart information from 20 years ago. It really diffused the energy, but Amy handled it in her usual graceful manner. He popped off again a couple songs later and then was gone � either security grabbed him or the audience took matters in their own hands and shut him up.

After the quick kick to get the audience moving, they returned to the basic set list from the previous night. Amy commented that she wasn�t planning on talking very much because they wanted to get as many songs on tape as possible. Then she joked, that having a baby at 40 has made it difficult for her brain to connect a complete thought anymore anyway.

Amy has a little intro she usually does before �Takes A Little Time,� where she asks the audience, �has anyone out there just had a rough day today?� Of course this is kind of a setup question, because let�s face it, most days are pretty rough � and in five concerts so far (including Tuesday night), I�ve always heard the audience give a collective sigh and respond with an affirmative �yes.� But not this night!

With everyone up front still riding their Coffee with Amy high from the morning, the response she got was a resounding �No way, it�s been a GREAT day!� I had to laugh when I saw the look on her face from our response. She clearly wasn�t expecting this reaction, but quickly composed herself and responded, �It can be even harder when everyone around you is doing so well and you�ve had a hard day. So if you�ve been having it tough lately, this song is for you.�

Later, She also told a cute story about being busted on a plane ride with Millie one time. It was during a hectic time in her career with Amy on the road quite a bit. In a pinch one holiday season, she did most of her Christmas shopping out of a Sky Mall airline magazine while traveling from one show to the next. Amy was flying with Millie some time later and while perusing the Sky Mall magazine, she said, �Mom, how come all of our presents are in here?�

About nine songs into the set, Amy took a seat to give us some �couch time,� playing some of her older tunes. She added a couple of classics to the set including Thy Word, Father�s Eyes (audience sang along with this one), El Shaddai, and Mountain Top � which she dedicated Nicole�s two beautiful young girls. Amy didn�t mention them by name, but she did reference that she first met these girls in California last year and said their mom has playing her music for them since before they were born. Mountain Top was their favorite song and Nicole would play it for them at bedtime each night. Amy was happy to give them this special moment.

Amy invited Vince to do a song or two but he never came out on stage. So she proceeded to continue on with the set list. A little later in the show Amy shared a cute story about Corrina. They were coming home after being away from home for several weeks (I think it was while Amy was touring last year) and Corrina turned to Amy and asked, �Are you excited to see your Husband?� Amy smiled and said �Well yes I am.� Then Amy sang Baby Baby which she said she wrote for her older daughter Millie.

Amy began telling the story behind the song �The Water� and just then, Kim Keyes comes over to Amy and whispers something in her ear. Amy nodded and then walked off the stage. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go. :D

I�ve heard the story of Amy�s baptism that inspired �The Water� before, but it�s always great to hear it again. I actually posted a clip of her telling this story from a concert last year. You can check it out if you�d like [url=http://www.amygrant.com/friends/modules/gallery/albums/albup36/The_Water_small.wmv][size=12]at this link[/size][/url]. So as Amy is finishing the story, Kim makes it back on stage and they do �The Water.�

Then Amy �threw it around� to the band and let Kim, Gene, Millard, and Will rock the house with some great covers. You can really see how much Amy loves music and great talent. At one point she just kicked back on the couch with her feet up and enjoyed the music. One cool point in the show was during Millard�s Keep Your Hands to Yourself, Kim Keyes flags down Jake from the audience to get his large black boa and hands it to Amy who put it around her neck as she was grooving to the music. The audience loved it and cheered her on.

At one point, Amy mentioned that they were going to complete the set and take a quick break to reset the recorders and then come back and redo a few songs for the DVD. We were welcome to stay and enjoy the �fixes.�

As she was winding down the show, Amy shared about the power of remembering. She told about a story of visiting her old family house on the 4th of July and sitting on the porch remembering her Great Grandmother who died when Amy was just 20 years old. She spoke of the power of memories and how she could just sit in a rocking chair, close her eyes and go back to when she was a little girl running through the house and enjoying her childhood. She said that is why Jesus said when we eat or drink to remember Him. �It�s no wonder,� she said, �that the thief on the cross said when You get to paradise, remember me.� She then played �I Will Remember You.�

For an encore she came back on stage with Jonathan and the two of them closed the show with �If These Walls Could Speak.� Her parting words were the same as the previous night, �God Bless Us All.�

Henry came back out on stage and did about 10 minutes of material. You could tell he wasn�t planning this b/c he had to pull some of the same jokes from the previous night�s performance. A couple times he looked off the stage to ask if they were ready, and was told to stretch the time.

During this time some of the audience took off. I was sitting at the front and didn�t really pay attention to the crowd behind me, but there were plenty of willing FOA�ers ready to come forward a grab closer seats that were available.

Amy came back out on stage to do the few songs they wanted to fix. As she was getting ready to play, she began engaging in what appeared to be a one-sided conversation. �We ready?� �No I think it was the other guitar.� �Yeah, I really want that song on the DVD.� At this point she notices the audience curiously watching her and she says �No, I�m not crazy, Justin�s talking to me in my monitor and I�m answering him.�

As they were waiting on the tech guys to give them the cue to begin, Kim Keyes asks, �So did you hear about Dolly Parton today?� And proceeded to tell a joke that I am going to have to have someone else share because I never did get the name of the third store that completes the punch line. So anyone with the info, feel free to share.

They did �Lucky One� and as they were getting ready to do �Carry You� Amy commented that the Starbucks was definitely �wearing off.� She performed the rest of the re-takes �Eye to Eye,� �Ask Me,� and �In A Little While.� Then, talking again to Justin, said �I really want that one on the DVD� (I think referring to Ask Me).

She called for Vince to come on stage and do a song for her. He came out and she leaned over and asked him a question. I couldn�t make it out, but think it was something to the effect of �where were you before?� He joked, �I was back in the hotel when they called said to get back over here.�

Of course, someone yelled out Happy Birthday and the audience did their own second take on the song from last night. From the look on Vince�s face, we didn�t exactly �nail it� this time either. Although JJ took this opportunity to rush the stage and give Vince what appeared to be a ball cap and something in a plastic bag. Vince joined Amy on the couch and sang her a song. And that was the end of the night.

Overall, I enjoyed the second night�s show better. It sounded like the backup vocals were dialed up a bit louder than the night before and everyone just seemed more relaxed on stage. The audience was also more into the show. Sitting in the front 10 rows with the rest of the �Grantheads,� as Amy referred to us, was a lot of fun, although I noticed a couple times that �we� were up on our feet and grooving to the music, while the rest of Bass Hall seemed to be wondering what all the excitement was about.