Kari's Concert Collection

The Classic Boyband Move

Before the concert began they were playing music over the speakers. I remember hearing Incubus, P.O.D., U2, Lifehouse, and Phantom Planet. The opening acts began right at 7 o'clock. I had never heard any of these acts before. First out was Phat Chance, my favorite of the three. Five guys, all played their own instruments. I really liked the last song they did, "Sunshine Daylight." They did dance moves that reminded me of Sum 41. And the guy with blonde hair and wearing sunglasses did this funny chicken strut headbob thing.

Next was Natalie Grant. She didn't impress me too much. I sat for most of her performance. She did sing "We are Family." That was kinda cool. And last was ZOEgirl. They were okay. They had some nice choreography. And there was a guy from Radio Disney named Tommy that came up between opening acts to make announcements. I recognized him right away- he was also at the free OTOWN show at the Mall of America I went to. There was more waiting for final stage things to be set up. There were a lot of colored lighting and smoke that makes a cool effect with spotlights.

It was finally time for Plus One to come out at 9 o'clock. The lights went low (and the screams went up) and their band came out and began to play. And then out walks Plus One (and up goes the noise level). The first song (I brought with a little notebook and pen to write down the song order) was "Camouflage." During the song they had a lot a choreography that had them sitting (or something like that) on the stage. Actually a lot of their choreography in general had that. So at some points it was difficult to see them. The church had a really low stage. They also did a headbang dance.

Next song was "I Don't Care." At the beginning there was some freaky lighting effect. Red light shining up from the floor on the group. A lot of energy during this song. Another common dance throughout the show was just rockin' out headbanging and jumping around. After that Jason talked a little. The topic was things that aren't important. One thing on the list was grades at school. And then he quickly added, "Get good grades. Don't get bad grades like me. But look where I am!" And after that he also added a just kidding for the last comment. Next song was "Last Flight Out" one of my favorite Plus One songs. A slower song- good chance to get close up photos. With my zoom it was pretty good.

"Kick Me" was after that. It definitely my pick for best choreography. It was different karate kid/ kung fu type poses. Near the end Jeremy did a kick over Jason's head (Jason was kneeling). Next was "Soul Tattoo." They stood in a half circle a cappella style. What happened after that song was really cool. All of a sudden the band went into "Smooth Criminal" the Alien Ant Farm version! That's the one time during the show I screamed. It was unexpected and so very cool. And Jeremy did the Michael Jackson scream thing. Even had the pose down. Next Jeremy talked. He was wearing a Final Four T-shirt instead of the usual stage clothes. He explained how his favorite team (Kansas) was playing as the concert was going on.

Gabe strapped on a guitar for the next song, "Forever." Someone in the audience threw on stage a couple of stuffed animals. The kept one and threw the other back in the audience. A girl in the row behind me, and just to the left, caught it. She freaked out. Next was "You." Another slow song. Nathan talked after. He asked if anyone ever emailed him. Audience screams yes. He asks if they got a response. The audience screams no. Then he asks if they even know his email address. One of the guys shouted out "[email protected]". Then Nathan asked about his phone number. The guys started to say a number (the area code was 615). Nathan says they gave out his real number the other day.

Next song was "The Promise." Another ballad, and more talking after that. This time Nate. I don't really remember what he talked about. It was more of an intro to the next song "Start to Fly." It had interesting choreography. Kinda hard to explain. Had a lot of constant sitting on the stage and popping back up to the beat of the song. And there were cool lighting flashes to the beat as well. At the end they sorta pile up over each other. And in that pose they began the next song, "Under the Influence." The guy on top pulled the other guys up. It was funny in a way. Next song was "God is in This Place." They introduced the band during this song. As the bass player was doing his solo, Jeremy sang "Play That Funky Music."

Then Gabe talked. He said they were on the last song, and the audience booed. He was like, "Don't forget the encore, just pretend it's the last song." He said he wanted everyone going crazy, and that's how I guessed the next song was "Going Crazy." From listening to the song on the CD I had made up my own dance moves. Mine was the *NSYNC style, not the pose and jump up and down style. They did a lot of crazy jumping up and down. Jason from my view looked like he sorta stage-dived into the audience. Like I said, a bunch of jumping. The kind where you bring your knees up and turn in the air. That's over and everyone screams for the encore.

The lights went back up onstage and Jason said he attempted to jump onto an empty chair and clobbered a girl in the process. They let her and two other little kids up onstage for the last song. They're about to begin and someone asks, "Where's Jeremy?" He comes walking out from backstage saying "I'm comin', I'm comin'." The last song was "Written on my Heart." Two of the guys played guitars and the others spayed the audience with their bottled water and then threw the bottles into the audience. The third went sailing right up into the balcony. It went straight over me and got me wet. Everyone was clapping and singing along. Instead of holding out the microphone, Gabe held a whole mic stand over the audience. I tried to get a photo but the girl in front of me had her arms up and was jumping up and down. She had her arms up constantly through the show. It was SO getting on my nerves. The three little kids were so cute jumping around on the stage.

And that was the show. On the way to the car we past all the tour buses parked on the street. We saw one of ZOEgirl's dancers by one of the buses. While we were at the concert, my dad stayed home and watched the basketball game. Kansas lost.

PHOTOS

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