sodascouts
08-16-2005, 10:18 PM
Better late than never...
Finally, my AHI photo came in, and now I'll give a rundown of the Phoenix concert and meeting Stevie!
Before the show, I'd met up Amy (Sorceress) and Stefanie, and I was rooming with Deborah (golden_braid) and Kristin (gypsyrhiannon). While there, I was on the lookout for Ledgies and BN'ers and saw Patti, Tiff (enchantedsln) and Kathy (glitter_fades). I also saw Joy and Michelle from Mick's board, sitting further down the row from us. There wasn't time to chat, though, as I spent all the pre-show time in line with Deborah waiting to buy a tourbook and a T-shirt.
The show
Then the show started. While our front row seats were not in the middle, they were still great - in front of Waddy's mic. We sat through Vanessa (she's talented, but all her songs sound the same). Bootylicious began and, unable to contain myself, I stood up and started dancing. Luckily, I wasn't the only one. I didn't sit down for the rest of the show.
OK, I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember the exact set list order, but I'll write down the moments that Kristin, Deborah, and I later thought stood out.
Stevie seemed very energetic to me. She danced around a lot. Now, we know that she was probably upset at the time, but she did a good job of hiding it. She convinced me all was well. Vocally, she nailed it.
The first thing she did when she came out was go to an audience member and touch him/her. I didn't see who it was, but there was a guy in a wheelchair in that direction so I assume it was him.
During Rhiannon, she accidentally repeated the wrong verse but covered it well, saying "I don't think you know!" Instead of "I don't think you do."
When it was time for Don to come out, Stevie began her introduction with (paraphrase): "I have a surprise guest for you tonight - he just decided to drop in, like, from space" (Me: LINDSEY. PLEASE LET IT BE LINDSEY.) "Mr. Don Henley!" I was like "Um, that's a surprise how?" But oh well. He came out to thunderous applause, dressed in black from head to toe, and did great on Leather and Lace. Lots of smiling at each other. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around saw Don messing up a bit but it was no biggie.
I figured since Circle Dance is so connected to her father and he was doing badly, that she might seem upset during this, but again I couldn't really tell. Maybe I'm just unobservant, or maybe Stevie's just that much of a performer. She sounded terrific.
Gold Dust Woman was hot, as always. The ending of this is similar to what she's been doing - "Baby, baby, baby, baby... you can't save me now." Don and Stevie danced for what seemed to me to be an extended period. It was no different than their previous dances, although Don had a weird constipated look on his face occasionally and Stevie stepped on his toes more than once.
She introduced Landslide with something like (again paraphrase): "I usually take this time to dedicate this song to my dad but he couldn't be here tonight. He broke his leg. The terrible thing is that John McVie called me before the show and told Jess to 'break a leg'! Not funny!" But then of course she dedicated the song to her dad. Surprisingly, she didn't talk much about the Arizona Heart Institute. She was very composed throughout. She did great and as I said before, it seemed nothing was wrong.
During the band intros, she forgot to introduce Waddy, and after a few of us yelled out "What about Waddy?!" She realized it and apologized profusely, saying that's the only time in 30 years she's ever forgotten to introduce Waddy. She claimed it was because they were doing the intros at a different part of the show and so she got confused. lol Oh, and supposedly it was Jana's 25th birthday? Al Ortiz got a big cheer since Phoenix is his hometown. She didn't go into her whole "Carlos was there for me when I was fat" deal.
One of the best performances of the night was Fall From Grace. She was really into this one, dancing all over the place, singing it with vigor. She rocked. Lyric change: "I creep from goassmer wings..."
Lori came out for Edge of Seventeen and also for the encore songs. The hand-touching part was great because there was just one row of people - the quarters were too close for anyone to come up besides the people in the front row, and some in the aisles. Stevie took both my hands and all I could do was say "Thank you." Because there were so few of us, she got to greet each of us for what seemed like a long time to me, but was probably about 15 seconds.
For Rock and Roll, we were all delighted to see that not only was Stevie wearing pants and her adorable hat for the encore, she was wearing BOOTS! Her hat kept wanting to fall off and she had to keep one hand on her head pretty much throughout the song.
On Beauty and the Beast, Stevie did seem to let her sadness show. She always gets into the mood of the song but it seemed less theatrical this time. It also didn't have the punch of previous performances I'd seen.
As everyone, even Vanessa, came back to sing on So You Wanna Be a Rock'n'Roll Star, Stevie decided to literally "let her hair down" - only problem is she didn't take off the BATB cape. The result? Her hair hit the lump of the neckline and went out in all directions. Did Stevie care? Apparently not, although I saw Don making a quick attempt to smooth her hair. Seeing the futility of it, though, he barely touched her hair before he gave up. They rocked the song - Don and Stevie seemed to beat their tambos in synch! - and I even got a laugh out of Don as he happened to glance my way for a second and see me dancing around like a goober. Yes, he was laughing AT me but hey, I'll take what I can get.
The afterparty
Afterwards, it was time to go upstairs and meet Stevie! Amy, Stefanie, Deborah, Kristin, and I went up together, along with a girl named Megan who’d been in our group in 2003, and who we saw after the concert. We didn’t quite know what it would be like – would it just be Stevie or Don too? Would they do autographs or photos or both? We took albums with us just in case. I took my Buckingham Nicks album that Lindsey had signed. My dream was to have Stevie's signature on it as well. I also had a Don album in case he showed up.
We get there and see a line forming. Of course, we hop in the line, not even knowing what it’s for. I ask someone in front of me what we’re in line for and get told snippily “To get our photo with Stevie, of course.” Well, SORRY.
It was so hot in there we were all sweating off our makeup. My feet were hurting, and since I was in line, I wasn’t even getting to sample all the free wine! (Finally I got out of line to do so. Gotta get my money’s worth here. Deborah held my place). No waiters or anything like past AHIs – this wasn’t a club, this was a little room in the venue. The only staff around besides the AHI volunteers were the security, who treated us like unwanted losers they were being forced to tolerate. They yelled at us “NO ASKING FOR AUTOGRAPHS OR WE SHUT DOWN THE LINE AND NO ONE GETS A PICTURE!” OK, prick, so you’re telling me if some overzealous fan asks Stevie to sign his napkin we all get kicked out? I thought we were supposedly honored guests? Showing no creativity, they also used that same threat for other “bad” behavior: “NO GETTING IN LINE TWICE OR WE SHUT DOWN…” blahblabblah. Then I heard one of them bellow at two people sampling the cheese tray “GET IN LINE OR GET OUT.” They had some nerve!!!
And the gift bags? Oh, the gift bags sucked hard. Let me tell you what was in these lovely plastic gift bags. I am now the proud owner of an AHI PILLBOX and, the best gift of all, an AHI BAND AID box. And it even came with band aids inside! Oh, I am unworthy. (OK, I realize the gift bags were not what I came for but hey, put a little effort into them).
But let’s be positive. I got to meet Stevie! She arrived with Don and also, surprisingly, Waddy. While I love Waddy, I’m not sure why he was one of the people in our celebrity photo! At least the photos were two and a time and not six at a time, like they were with Fleetwood Mac. Kristin and I were together. When it was our turn, hyper Nancy took over. I bounced up to Stevie and Don, flung out my arms and hollered “HEY GUYS!!!!” They looked a little surprised, then laughed and of course went “hey!” I blather about how awesome it is they’re both there and Stevie says “I know” – then I ask if I can get in between them for the photo. They say yes, Don scooches over, and ouila! The photo:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/sodascouts/Phoenix2005/AHI/AHI2005All.jpg
Afterwards, I took a few seconds with each person to say something.
To Stevie, as I gripped her hands: “Please never stop sharing your music with us.” She nodded somberly, but said nothing.
To Don, touching his arm: “Thank you so much for being here, I appreciate you coming down with Stevie…” etc. He smiled and seemed genuinely pleasant and not all "Get this psycho Stevie fan away from me!"
To Waddy, grabbing his arms: “Well, I never thought I’d get my photo taken with Mr. Waddy Wachtel!” We both laughed at that.
And then we were herded away. But I wasn’t leaving just yet. I went to the little appetizer buffet, grabbed a plate, and went to town on their lemon bars, brownies, cookies, and fruit, as well as snagging another glass of wine. Again, just trying to get the most for my money! There was a little balcony type place and me and the girls all went out there to hang out for a while, along with a few other groups of people. I chatted briefly with Joy and also Mary in addition to the folks I came up with (Amy, Kristin, Stefanie, Deborah).
I was having so much fun on that balcony just reveling in the moment with my friends. You know, a lot of the fun is having friends to share it with. I’m not sure how long we were out there, but three glasses of wine and two plates of buffet food later, I was finally forced to leave. We all wanted to go downstairs anyway to see if we could catch Stevie leaving in her limo. Deborah and I were a little behind the others and this enabled us to talk briefly with John K. of the NicksFix and Chris Nicks. They were standing around outside. John decided to mess with me and told me that the film for the first 25 photos didn’t develop – what number was I again? “10...” “Oh, I’m sorry…” of course I fall for it and freak out, much to everyone’s amusement, lol. I didn’t really talk to Chris all that much, just said I was praying for his dad. He talked a little about what had happened.
I did get to see Stevie get into her limo – from far, far away. I didn’t get any photos of anything worth mentioning, but I was too busy being thrilled with the evening to care. What a night!
Finally, my AHI photo came in, and now I'll give a rundown of the Phoenix concert and meeting Stevie!
Before the show, I'd met up Amy (Sorceress) and Stefanie, and I was rooming with Deborah (golden_braid) and Kristin (gypsyrhiannon). While there, I was on the lookout for Ledgies and BN'ers and saw Patti, Tiff (enchantedsln) and Kathy (glitter_fades). I also saw Joy and Michelle from Mick's board, sitting further down the row from us. There wasn't time to chat, though, as I spent all the pre-show time in line with Deborah waiting to buy a tourbook and a T-shirt.
The show
Then the show started. While our front row seats were not in the middle, they were still great - in front of Waddy's mic. We sat through Vanessa (she's talented, but all her songs sound the same). Bootylicious began and, unable to contain myself, I stood up and started dancing. Luckily, I wasn't the only one. I didn't sit down for the rest of the show.
OK, I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember the exact set list order, but I'll write down the moments that Kristin, Deborah, and I later thought stood out.
Stevie seemed very energetic to me. She danced around a lot. Now, we know that she was probably upset at the time, but she did a good job of hiding it. She convinced me all was well. Vocally, she nailed it.
The first thing she did when she came out was go to an audience member and touch him/her. I didn't see who it was, but there was a guy in a wheelchair in that direction so I assume it was him.
During Rhiannon, she accidentally repeated the wrong verse but covered it well, saying "I don't think you know!" Instead of "I don't think you do."
When it was time for Don to come out, Stevie began her introduction with (paraphrase): "I have a surprise guest for you tonight - he just decided to drop in, like, from space" (Me: LINDSEY. PLEASE LET IT BE LINDSEY.) "Mr. Don Henley!" I was like "Um, that's a surprise how?" But oh well. He came out to thunderous applause, dressed in black from head to toe, and did great on Leather and Lace. Lots of smiling at each other. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around saw Don messing up a bit but it was no biggie.
I figured since Circle Dance is so connected to her father and he was doing badly, that she might seem upset during this, but again I couldn't really tell. Maybe I'm just unobservant, or maybe Stevie's just that much of a performer. She sounded terrific.
Gold Dust Woman was hot, as always. The ending of this is similar to what she's been doing - "Baby, baby, baby, baby... you can't save me now." Don and Stevie danced for what seemed to me to be an extended period. It was no different than their previous dances, although Don had a weird constipated look on his face occasionally and Stevie stepped on his toes more than once.
She introduced Landslide with something like (again paraphrase): "I usually take this time to dedicate this song to my dad but he couldn't be here tonight. He broke his leg. The terrible thing is that John McVie called me before the show and told Jess to 'break a leg'! Not funny!" But then of course she dedicated the song to her dad. Surprisingly, she didn't talk much about the Arizona Heart Institute. She was very composed throughout. She did great and as I said before, it seemed nothing was wrong.
During the band intros, she forgot to introduce Waddy, and after a few of us yelled out "What about Waddy?!" She realized it and apologized profusely, saying that's the only time in 30 years she's ever forgotten to introduce Waddy. She claimed it was because they were doing the intros at a different part of the show and so she got confused. lol Oh, and supposedly it was Jana's 25th birthday? Al Ortiz got a big cheer since Phoenix is his hometown. She didn't go into her whole "Carlos was there for me when I was fat" deal.
One of the best performances of the night was Fall From Grace. She was really into this one, dancing all over the place, singing it with vigor. She rocked. Lyric change: "I creep from goassmer wings..."
Lori came out for Edge of Seventeen and also for the encore songs. The hand-touching part was great because there was just one row of people - the quarters were too close for anyone to come up besides the people in the front row, and some in the aisles. Stevie took both my hands and all I could do was say "Thank you." Because there were so few of us, she got to greet each of us for what seemed like a long time to me, but was probably about 15 seconds.
For Rock and Roll, we were all delighted to see that not only was Stevie wearing pants and her adorable hat for the encore, she was wearing BOOTS! Her hat kept wanting to fall off and she had to keep one hand on her head pretty much throughout the song.
On Beauty and the Beast, Stevie did seem to let her sadness show. She always gets into the mood of the song but it seemed less theatrical this time. It also didn't have the punch of previous performances I'd seen.
As everyone, even Vanessa, came back to sing on So You Wanna Be a Rock'n'Roll Star, Stevie decided to literally "let her hair down" - only problem is she didn't take off the BATB cape. The result? Her hair hit the lump of the neckline and went out in all directions. Did Stevie care? Apparently not, although I saw Don making a quick attempt to smooth her hair. Seeing the futility of it, though, he barely touched her hair before he gave up. They rocked the song - Don and Stevie seemed to beat their tambos in synch! - and I even got a laugh out of Don as he happened to glance my way for a second and see me dancing around like a goober. Yes, he was laughing AT me but hey, I'll take what I can get.
The afterparty
Afterwards, it was time to go upstairs and meet Stevie! Amy, Stefanie, Deborah, Kristin, and I went up together, along with a girl named Megan who’d been in our group in 2003, and who we saw after the concert. We didn’t quite know what it would be like – would it just be Stevie or Don too? Would they do autographs or photos or both? We took albums with us just in case. I took my Buckingham Nicks album that Lindsey had signed. My dream was to have Stevie's signature on it as well. I also had a Don album in case he showed up.
We get there and see a line forming. Of course, we hop in the line, not even knowing what it’s for. I ask someone in front of me what we’re in line for and get told snippily “To get our photo with Stevie, of course.” Well, SORRY.
It was so hot in there we were all sweating off our makeup. My feet were hurting, and since I was in line, I wasn’t even getting to sample all the free wine! (Finally I got out of line to do so. Gotta get my money’s worth here. Deborah held my place). No waiters or anything like past AHIs – this wasn’t a club, this was a little room in the venue. The only staff around besides the AHI volunteers were the security, who treated us like unwanted losers they were being forced to tolerate. They yelled at us “NO ASKING FOR AUTOGRAPHS OR WE SHUT DOWN THE LINE AND NO ONE GETS A PICTURE!” OK, prick, so you’re telling me if some overzealous fan asks Stevie to sign his napkin we all get kicked out? I thought we were supposedly honored guests? Showing no creativity, they also used that same threat for other “bad” behavior: “NO GETTING IN LINE TWICE OR WE SHUT DOWN…” blahblabblah. Then I heard one of them bellow at two people sampling the cheese tray “GET IN LINE OR GET OUT.” They had some nerve!!!
And the gift bags? Oh, the gift bags sucked hard. Let me tell you what was in these lovely plastic gift bags. I am now the proud owner of an AHI PILLBOX and, the best gift of all, an AHI BAND AID box. And it even came with band aids inside! Oh, I am unworthy. (OK, I realize the gift bags were not what I came for but hey, put a little effort into them).
But let’s be positive. I got to meet Stevie! She arrived with Don and also, surprisingly, Waddy. While I love Waddy, I’m not sure why he was one of the people in our celebrity photo! At least the photos were two and a time and not six at a time, like they were with Fleetwood Mac. Kristin and I were together. When it was our turn, hyper Nancy took over. I bounced up to Stevie and Don, flung out my arms and hollered “HEY GUYS!!!!” They looked a little surprised, then laughed and of course went “hey!” I blather about how awesome it is they’re both there and Stevie says “I know” – then I ask if I can get in between them for the photo. They say yes, Don scooches over, and ouila! The photo:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/sodascouts/Phoenix2005/AHI/AHI2005All.jpg
Afterwards, I took a few seconds with each person to say something.
To Stevie, as I gripped her hands: “Please never stop sharing your music with us.” She nodded somberly, but said nothing.
To Don, touching his arm: “Thank you so much for being here, I appreciate you coming down with Stevie…” etc. He smiled and seemed genuinely pleasant and not all "Get this psycho Stevie fan away from me!"
To Waddy, grabbing his arms: “Well, I never thought I’d get my photo taken with Mr. Waddy Wachtel!” We both laughed at that.
And then we were herded away. But I wasn’t leaving just yet. I went to the little appetizer buffet, grabbed a plate, and went to town on their lemon bars, brownies, cookies, and fruit, as well as snagging another glass of wine. Again, just trying to get the most for my money! There was a little balcony type place and me and the girls all went out there to hang out for a while, along with a few other groups of people. I chatted briefly with Joy and also Mary in addition to the folks I came up with (Amy, Kristin, Stefanie, Deborah).
I was having so much fun on that balcony just reveling in the moment with my friends. You know, a lot of the fun is having friends to share it with. I’m not sure how long we were out there, but three glasses of wine and two plates of buffet food later, I was finally forced to leave. We all wanted to go downstairs anyway to see if we could catch Stevie leaving in her limo. Deborah and I were a little behind the others and this enabled us to talk briefly with John K. of the NicksFix and Chris Nicks. They were standing around outside. John decided to mess with me and told me that the film for the first 25 photos didn’t develop – what number was I again? “10...” “Oh, I’m sorry…” of course I fall for it and freak out, much to everyone’s amusement, lol. I didn’t really talk to Chris all that much, just said I was praying for his dad. He talked a little about what had happened.
I did get to see Stevie get into her limo – from far, far away. I didn’t get any photos of anything worth mentioning, but I was too busy being thrilled with the evening to care. What a night!