It was a great trip up to New York State. Laura, Stephanie, & I arrived in Glens Falls around 12:30 pm. Just in time to see Amy's bus.....yes, the band had stayed at our hotel, & we just missed them. Although, Laura thought she got a glimpse of Will as he was heading out-didn't realize that until we got to the sound check & she saw his rumpled hair. The hotel was very nice but there was a strong smell of soap when we first walked into the room that thankfully passed.

We headed over to the sound check, which started at 1:30pm. Amy showed up closer to 2pm. It was so freezing cold when we walked into the arena. There was ice under the flooring, and no heat on at this point. There were about 20 FOA at the soundcheck. We got the chance to meet Kim B., her sister, Maggie, & Kevin & Jeff.

It was a lot of fun to watch the interaction on stage. Amy spent some time on her cell phone with the local pharmacy asking about allergy meds for her driver-she wanted to make sure they wouldn't make her drowsy. It was killing Laura because it is the store/company that she works for! I heard Amy tell the pharmacist on the phone that he was her "Hero" after he had helped her. That really touched me. They worked through a few songs, & then Amy came down to meet us because we had to leave during the symphony rehearsal which was next. It was nice to take pictures, & get autographs. I had Amy sign my photo of us singing to her at the Coffee event in Texas. We talked about my hair which I had cut short since I last saw her. We watched others chat with her for awhile & then talked to Kevin & Jeff about dinner. We left the arena & went to lunch at the Davidson's Brothers Restaurant that Kim had suggested. It was fun, & the food was great! They brewed their own beer but I didn't get to sample it.

We headed back to our hotels to hang out & get ready for the concert. Laura, Steph, & I headed directly to the Rite Aid next to the hotel & bought scarves and mittens for the concert! We also took a few minutes to print out a couple sound check photos.

We entered the building actually before we should have but no one said anything to us while we shopped at the merchandise table so we stood in the entrance lobby talking. They let us in at 7, & we headed down those steep stairs again. We got to our seats & found goody bags. We opened them up in our excitement, hoping for some Amy goodies. Duh! This is a symphony show after all!!! We were given a symphony sweatshirt, travel coffee mug, & poster. It was still cold in the arena, but not quite as bad as in the afternoon. Our seats were on the left side of the stage, at the far end of the row. We must have been the last folks to get the front row seats!!! Not the best view, but who cares!!!!! Had a side view of Amy, could see most of the band (except the piano), & only bits and pieces of the orchestra.

They started out with a symphony only number, then one with the band, & then Amy came out. She wore a black, knee length, long sleeve dress. She had on what looked like black tights (too heavy for nylons), & black boots. Gene & Will wore suits, & Kim had on a black shirt, black pants, & a rhinestone belt. Things Amy talked about during the show...she said her family had a family tragedy this summer when a friend had a baby whom had a birth defect & only lived for 8 days...she tried to talk to Corrina about Heaven & where it is...very moving...this was before singing "What the Angels See". Also, Amy talked about Phyllis her nanny for about 22 years or so & when she was first there, Amy was singing Saved by Love so much in the song & Phyllis telling her that that was enough already, she was sick of the song & Amy knew she had hired the right person & not a brown noser. The concert was great! I thought the balance of sound was good, especially after some of the reviews, and comments from the other concerts. I loved the variety of songs, & I love the new angels song more & more!

The concert ended a little after 10, & they had us wait until the ushers moved us to the hall for the M&G. They checked our tickets 2 or 3 times to make sure we weren't sneaking in. It was really handy considering we were trying to grip our lovely gift bags!!! The overall chill wasn't quite as bad during the concert, although most folks didn't take their jackets off, & our feet were suffering only slightly from frost bite. Upstairs they had a table set up with veggies, a couple of appetizers, & drinks. We only had to wait a few minutes before her tour manager,Justin, came in to give us the "we only have an hour, please only have her sign one thing, don't take a lot of time" speech. So I didn't get totalk to Amy much other than to thankher for writing her new book & something else. There were approx 42 people from the front row. There was also a group from the local radio station that held back to make sure there was time for the folks who had paid to see her. We, like true Grantheads, hung in the room until she was almost done. We did get to chat with Gene for a few minutes toward the end. I think he mostly stopped by for the munchies, & to say hi to a couple of folks (he had already changed into his comfy clothes). I asked him about the cd he is working on & he said that he was so busy travelling doing Peter Cetera shows & with Amy (his scedule for the week tired me out just listening to it) that he didn't have much time to work on the new cd & brought a laptop along to work on it. He said that after next week, he hoped to work at home on the cd some more.

We hit the drive through at Burger King before heading back to the hotel room but I had eaten some munchies at the meet & greet so was not hungry. Laura gave us some ear plugs to keep out her snoring which really worked. The overall trip was an awesome time. I stayed at Laura's house the night before the show to ease up on the driving but drove all the way home on Sunday.