Utica 7/10/05

[fiddlechick21]

OK, just got home from the show and it was AMAZING!!! I got meet and greet passes, and it was so exciting to finally meet Alison and the guys. We had to get in line and first we went in and got pictures (not allowed to use our own cameras, they had a polaroid camera) and then we went through the line again for autographs. I got a LRBW poster signed, and my dad got the New Favorite CD insert signed for me and I also got Jerry to sign Lookout For Hope. I gave Alison a birthday card a beaded bracelet that I made (yeah I know I'm a few weeks early...) and she was like, "Awww, sweeeeeetieeeee!" and gave me a hug and she looked like she was almost gonna cry. Then when I was leaving she yelled "Bye honey, thank you so much!" and waved.

I didn't copy down the set list, but it was pretty much the same as the Syracuse show except they didn't do If I Didn't Know Any Better and they did do Maybe and Jerry did different songs for his solo. Pretty much all the same old witty banter as always. Was great watching from the front row. ;D

Oh yeah and Alison is taller than I thought...she had on tall shoes so it was hard to tell exactly, but I'd say she's close to my height, 5'8". I always thought she was shorter because she looks so little next to the guys, especially Barry!

Editing here yet again to add that I asked Jerry when his new album comes out and he said September so YAY!!! I love Jerry.

[fiddlechick21]

Here's the birthday card I made for Alison:


and here's the bracelet:

The blue beads are swarovski (I think I misspelled that...) crystals and the rest are sterling silver.

[eyesoflove]

Well, I don't see the pics, but it sounds like you had an awesome time! I'm so jealous. I read somewhere once that Alison is 5'7''...I don't know how accurate that is, though. But I have to say IIDKAB is probably my favorite cut off LRBW so I hate that they're dropping it. But Maybe is a big fave, too. I'm glad you had such a great experience, getting a shout-out and a hug from Alison and all! Maybe one day I'll be so lucky .

Stacy

[fiddlechick21]

Yeah, I don't know why I can't get pics to work here.

I was a little disappointed that they dropped IIDKAB too. I love that song. Heh. Alison flubbed the words on that one at the Syracuse show.

I'd say 5'7" is pretty accurate. Here's a link to my pic with AK+US and as you can see, Alison and I are exactly the same height in the pic. I'm 5'8". We both had tall shoes on, but I think hers were just a bit taller so we look exactly the same.

share-dell.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeEMmTVo1bs3mw¬ag=1

[akusgal41790]

That's great that you had such an awesome time, but what else could you expect when you get to meet Alison! I've also read in a couple places that Alison's 5'7. But she really doesn't look it standing next to the guys. That's funny that your all's fav. song on the new record is IIDKAB, it's mine too! It's too bad that they dropped it. When I was at the show they had at the G.O.O in April, Alison kinda messed up on the words with that song there too. But that's okay, cause it was still wonderful! I'm so glad you had a great time fiddlechick! I hope to someday meet AKUS still, so I hope I get the chance to too! And thanks for fillin us in on it.

[fiddlechick21]

LOL...maybe she goofed too many times and the guys made her drop it. Actually, it's not my favorite song on the album. I love it (well, I love almost every song on the album, really) but if I had to pick a favorite it would be...well, I can't pick one favorite but I really really love Gravity...and Restless...and Goodbye Is All We Have...and Crazy As Me...and Borderline...and A Living Prayer...see, I told ya I love them all. But I wish they kept IIDKAB because I like that better than Maybe, which I really don't care for. Or else I wish they did Crazy As Me, I'd love to hear that one live. But in any case it really was a phenonenal show and I still can't believe I managed to get front row tickets and backstage passes. I'm starting to think Alison's singing about ME in The Lucky One... ;D

[akusgal41790]

LOL..maybe she is singin about you! hehe.

[eyesoflove]

That's an awesome pic!! You certainly are the lucky one. That's so funny because she messed up the words on IIDKAB in Nashville and I chuckled to myself because I knew Mindy Smith was in the audience. She did it perfectly in Knoxville, but messed up Forget About It there lol. I also sing on stage a lot and I'll tell you it's absolutely the scariest thing ever to know you've messed up a line and have to think fast to fix it without being too obvious. Alison does a much better job than me haha. But hey, when you do that many shows in a year you have to expect some missed beats, messed up lyrics, late intros...they're pros to handle it as well as they do . I looked like the dumb one at those shows when she goofed the lyrics because I was singing along to the top of my lungs and people looked at me like, "Learn the song you moron." But it's all good.

Stacy

[akusgal41790]

Hehe. That is soo funny! I'm always scared to sing during the shows cause everyone's so quiet! That is totally what I did too at the show in Nashville. She said Mindy was there, and then she messed up and I was like "oh, no!" But she still looked completely calm, like that's what the lyrics really were! I'm not surprized that she messed up a little on Forget About It, I've listened to that song a million times and still get the words out of order! She really is a pro, but she's been performing almost her whole life, so what do you expect? She's amazing!

[eyesoflove]

Yeah, what's up with everyone being so quiet during an AKUS show anyway? I can't help but sing along. FAI is structured weird in that one spot going into the second verse because the first line actually rhymes with what the first verse was saying and then it just breaks off into a different rhyme. As a songwriter I think that that's really cool because I've never really heard that done before and I can never think of doing stuff like that. Anyhow, I had problems remembering the words until I broke it down like that. Alison flubbed that exact verse. Instead of saying, "Forget about it/When forever's over I won't remember how much I loved you anymore" She started out the verse with "Forget about it/Put me outta your head now that you're free and easy out there on the town" She realized what she had done, though, and said that first line in lieu of the "lay me down" one and then just scrubbed that one altogether. That's the best part of playing with a band...if you screw up and you're with good musicians they can cover for you and the audience for the most part will be none the wiser. If you're singing to a track you're busted. That happened to me in church recently....talk about embarrassing. Sheesh

Stacy