Conn. concert review 11/21/98

Posted by Vampgirl

You residents should have SEEN our own Susanne, struttin' her stuff up on that stage like she belonged! Yes, they were tossing girls off the stage; as a matter of fact, the first blonde chick that hopped up there was just boppin along with the music, was dressed normal (i.e., no cleavage showing or prom dress action) but Chris saw her & bolted over to hide behind Herschel. (he later joked, did you see that girl? She looks like my ex, and I thought she had a subpeona!) Security came & escorted her off, but she came back & more tried to join her. I understand the security concern, but I must say girls were not storming the stage & trying to attach themselves to Chris or anyone else, they were just up there to dance & strut. Too bad they were booted. As soon as Susanne got her butt up there, I leaned over to my girlfriend & yelled " Holy sh*t, that's the girl I'm supposed to be looking for!" (tasteful outfit, hon, thanks for telling me in advance, otherwise I wouldn't have know it was you!) We were so psyched for her, especially when she was allowed to stay & dance behind Kenney!! Way to go, girl!

Like Susanne said, all the prev reviews pretty much apply here in terms of set lists, humorous stories, the mirrored suit, etc. But this was my FIRST experience with CI&S live and in person, so the whole night was one big happy blur anyway. Thank god I wasn't trying to keep track of all the songs, I knew it would be impossible!

My girlfriend & I got there before everything started, so we checked Susanne's seats & they weren't there! So we got some wine & wandered the lobby, I bought I tshirt (had to!) and sat in time to see Shawn Mullins. I have to say, although I've ready differently here, this guy was awesome. He has a great voice! I felt a little sorry for him, though, becuz at 7:30 (showtime) he and his band just kind of wandered out on stage, he picked up his guitar and started to play. No introduction!! He grooved along for a song or two, then introduced himself & talked a little in between in songs. After only 45 min or so, he was done! Yes, I know I was there to see Chris, but I love any live music and I thought Shawn's set was much too short.

I had seats in row L, center orchestra, so we were sitting in front of Hershel. Not bad seats, but being in the middle of the row, I figured we'd never get a chance at going up front.

The stage was dark, when suddenly we were blinded by blue spotlights! The stage was positively awash in a smoky glow of blue light. It was extremely cool, and I immediately got a stomach-ache, becuz I knew any second he would be on stage in front of me! All the anticipation, planning, thinking, talking about the concert, and it was finally happening! It was almost surreal to me. The lights came up and there he was! The music kicked in & I was flyin!! I almost had to pinch myself, make sure I wasn't dreaming (I'm sure some of you know what I mean!). Almost immediately, Hersh came to the edge of the stage, & Chris ran over to stand next to him, they were jammin right in front of us, AND THEN THE EXTREMELY LARGE MAN IN FRONT OF ME STOOD UP!!! The girl next to me & I both started to yell at him, cuz we both had our cameras out and were missing the first incredible photo op. (I'm not proud of my behavior, but this guy was HUGE!) He turned & gave us a dirty look, but doncha think he should've taken his jacket off BEFORE the concert started?!?! LOL

Chris looked great, very up & energized, as did all the boys. Grins on the band all the way around. And having Silvertone dress all in black suits is a cool look. sigh.

Sure enough, after a few songs he invited people to come down front and "get this party goin!" Believe it or not, there was not a great rush. It was an older crowd, and maybe they didn't believe he was serious. I turned to my girlfriend, she looked at me and said, wanna go for it? No need to ask twice. We JUMPED over the people next to us (well, okay, we very quickly did the excuse me! pardon me! polite thing as we went past them) and we RAN down to the stage. Wah! Holy cow! We were right in front of Hersh and it was like being in another world! I've never had the chance to be so close at any concert before, and I was really diggin it! We were standing down there when he did his long introduction to BDABBT, the crowd loved his gasoline story! And the use of the word akimbo?! I know I read about this somewhere else on the board, can't remember where, but....nice vocabulary word! The man is too funny. I just have one question, for people who saw other shows, did he also talk about finding a little hair in the bed & thinking it looked like a little poodle hair, he sends it off to the FBI lab for analysis, but receives it back with a "Dear Mr. Isaak, sorry, ain't no poodle hair, this is a mustache hair" and Chris turns to look at Hersh????? The crowd was hysterical over that part! He also paused to take off his suit jacket; he walked up to the edge of the stage & gave his guitar to someone to hold! I couldn't see who, but he had to CONVINCE them to hold it for him, while he peeled off his jacket. sigh again. Now I know it's been discussed before, how thin he is lately, but I am telling you thin or not he looked great! The man has a great build and his arms.........okay, sorry, my mind was temporarily taken over by Tiger Beat thoughts........

Alas, after 3 or 4 songs, security herded us back to our seats, and Chris didn't say anything about it. We spent the rest of the concert doing some serious chair-dancing.

Cute note - when he first came out & started talking after the first song, he was going on about how we were all gonna get down & dirty tonight, hope everyone's prepared, when he suddenly stopped and looked down at the first row. He said he was suddenly embarassed becuz there's a lady in the 1st row that looked just like his mom, and he felt he should apologize!

The mirrored suit made it's appearance for the last part of the show. Oh my. That is definitely something you have to see to believe. How does he come up with this stuff?? He also disappeared stage right & showed up down on the floor right near where Susanne was sitting! (sorry, I can't remember during which song). He made a complete loop, guitar and all, up and around the front orchestra section & passed right by me. And yes, he told a VERY long but very funny story about how he "discovered" Hershel. Interesting. I never knew Kenney drove a flesh-colored Ford Probe! (too funny, part of the story, ya had to be there!) Chris almost lost it when Kenney came up with that contribution to the story! After Bonnie Bee, and the stage-dancing incidents prev described, Chris announced he'd be out in the lobby signing autographs and giving free physical exams, with a disclaimer, of course. Well, you should've heard the people in back of me as we made our way up the aisle. They didn't believe him, were worried about the crowd, and were discussing where they had parked the car!

I planted my butt firmly in line, at that point wasn't even thinking that being at the end would be better than at the beginning! When my girlfriend turns to me and tells me to look over there! She spied an interesting-looking guy, so I glanced over, and it had to be one of his brothers! This guy was TALL, very nicely dressed, but the ears & sideburns were a dead giveaway. He seemed to be looking for somebody, and I lost track of where he went, but yes, he was cute too!

They had a long souvenir table set up along the front wall, right in between the exits, and this is where he was signing autographs. There were a LOT of people swarming around, some in line & some not, you couldn't even see if he was there or not. Once I got up to the table, I felt sorry for him. You couldn't see him becuz it was like a military assembly line! The guys (theater security or what?) really kept people moving quickly and telling them to put their stuff on the table!!, and Chris was bent over just moving from person to person, signing his little hand off! I, of course, lost all power of speech the second I saw him. He was at the other end of the table when I got up there, I laid my little tshirt down, and proceeded to have a minor heart attack as he got closer. I did NOT expect this to happen to me, but as I've read in other reviews, once you see those blue eyes! Baby! I was leaning on the table with my hands smoothing out my tshirt, and as he was signing the poster of the girl next to me, he rested his hand right up alongside of mine. Okay. Major hot flash. Not very mature, but all I could think was, he's touching my hand! (sorry, guys. I know some of the girls will understand!) Then he's standing in front of me, bent over my tshirt & ticket stub, and being the oh so together sophisticated chick that I am, I squeaked out a little Hi! (I am so shy I can't even begin to tell you.) At least I think I opened my mouth. I can't even remember anything straight. He glanced up at me with those blue eyes & said hi, signed my stuff and moved on. sigh. Then security asked me to move along, and I found myself standing by the exit door and my girlfriend was just laughing at me! She said the goofy look on my face was just too much.

We did a quick look around, but don't know how we missed Susanne. There was still a HUGE line waiting for autographs, and one of the security guys was telling people they needed to leave, and Chris was not staying for pics afterward. Yeah right. We hung around a little bit, but my girlfriend suddenly asked if I minded leaving becuz she had to work at 6am the next morning! Okay, I love her, but she never told me this before. I felt bad about making her stay late, so I said we could leave. It was very difficult, but.....I floated out into the parking lot & got into the car, she was laughing at me the whole time. This is a night I will never ever forget. So when's the next tour? ;-)

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I really apologize for taking up all this space, but I couldn't edit out a single word if I wanted to. Flame me if you wish, but hopefully those of you who will not be able to make it to a concert this time around will get an idea of what the experience is like. The CI&S concert experience is like no other. If you get the chance, use any means necessary to attend one. You won't regret it!!

Keep the peace!
Vampgirl

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