Title: Brad Paisley in Rockford, IL!
crazyanna - October 15, 2005 01:16 PM (GMT)
Alrighty folks this my lovely review that I don't feel like posting on Brad's board.
All right I got to Rockford at about 5:15 pm. I was excited but not like I was for the DuPage County Fair show. I was getting there. We parked in a parking garage behind the Metro Centre (where the concert was) and then went to go get our tickets. I had second row to the left and well I just really hate CMT but I'll get to that in a moment.
We hadn't eaten so we went to Subway to eat before the show. I didn't eat nutritional food (the drink was though). I ate a cookie because that was all I could force myself to eat. We met this older couple in the restaurant and we started talking about Brad. The lady told me how she had met Brad when he was first starting out because her son used to work in radio. She had seen Brad once before when he played the Waterfront in Rockford a few years back. Those two were really nice and I am very glad that I met them.
We went over to the Metro Centre at about 6:30 pm and got in line for the doors. They were scheduled to open at 7 and we just couldn't wait any longer. We waited with the same couple who wanted to see my lampshades. They really liked them! So we got inside the Metro Centre at about 7-ish and waited in line until about 7:10 (which felt like an eternity) when they let us go find our seats. Mine were pretty good. Once again it was off-center to the left, second row.
Sugarland came out at 8 pm doing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". Jennifer was absolutely beautiful. She was wearing this silver (one arm had a sleeve the other had none) halter like top and she was stunning. I thought that they would break into "Something More" but they went into another song. I don't remember the exact order of songs but they did "Tennessee", "Down in Mississippi (and up to no good)", "Just Might Make Me Believe","Fly Away", "Something More" and "Baby Girl". During "Baby Girl" she decided to let one of the younger girls in the crowd join her in singing it. My little friend Hannah (the one I gave the guitar pick to last concert) got to sing with her!!!! She was soooo happy!! Sugarland was great in concert even though it lasted only 30 minutes. It was wonderful and I really really want to see them again (with a full time set). .
Sara was beautiful as well. She came out I believe doing "Perfect" and she was great. I got into this one too. She did maybe 4 songs from the new album. She did Cheatin', Real Fine Place to Start, Coalmine and Momma's Night Out. She joked that when she went on stage for the night she left her three kids in the bus with a bowl of water and some crackers. She said that most of the time they're okay. LOL! She also thanked us for coming out to the concert and buying all her t-shirts and buying none of Brad's!!!! hahahahahaha The second song she did was "I Keep Lookin'" and during this one she noticed me singing along to this (I only have one of her cds so if it ain't on Born To Fly and wasn't a single I don't know it so I'm glad I knew this one) and she pointed at me and gave me a huge grin. It was pretty awesome. She also did "No Place That Far", "I Could Not Ask for More", "Suds in the Bucket", and maybe one or two more. During "Coalmine" Jennifer and Kristian came back out and started to dance. It was hilarious!!! Kristian then went over to the fiddle player and watched her playing right behind her. He then went over to Sara and got down on his knees and grabbed her hands begging for her to love her. hahahahahahahaha It's so hilarious since both of the two are happily married with kids. (and not to each other). Sara was great.
Then it was time for the Bradmaster. I got out my cape (yes I said cape!!!) which was made of Batman material. I safety pinned that and then decided to listen to the songs that Brad had chosen to play. It was hysterical!!! He chose to play the BATMAN!!!! theme song!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha It was so hilarious!!!!!
Okay so then the backdrop went up and the band was out. I was getting very very excited!!! It started out with that little cartoon (the beginning of it) that announced the tour. Brad started the guitar riff that introduces "The World" and then came out on the stage. At first I thought that he was wearing the same shirt as he wore last time but no. It was a long-sleeve blue shirt but this one had a picture of a bullrider that said "No Fear" at the bottom of the picture. So he sang The World which was awesome even though it is definitely not my favorite Brad song. He then went into "Wrapped Around" which is when I think he acknowledged my cape. During one of the guitar riffs he came over to our side of the stage and gave me this grin and nod. I think the band members were secretly talking about me. I kept seeing people like Randle, Justin and Kenny kinda glance at me and grin. (steel guitar player, fiddle player, and bass player). He went into MOTT next and said "This is for all you rednecks in Rockford who can't keep their trucks clean!!". Of course it great too. Me Neither was next and of course he did the awesome jam after the last Me Neither. I loved singing along to every single song. He did Little Moments next which started out differently then the first two times I've seen him in concert and the album. I think I liked the way he did it last concert better. Little Moments was great because Brad really gets into it. Next was We Danced. I sang along to this song too but softer so I wouldn't get stares. One drunk person behind me was singing way too loudly and people kept shooting her nasty looks. Luckily her friend was sober and got her to shut up.
After that we went "live" to Little Jimmy's home in Nashville where Brad asked if he would like Brad to play anything special. Little Jimmy was like, "I would really like to hear 'Little Bitty'" Brad then said, "That's an Alan Jackson song Jimmy. Is there anything of mine that would like to hear?" Little Jimmy thought about it and then decided on the Waa Waa Song (I'll take you back). I won't ruin the cartoons for those of you that are going to see a tour date in this tour but I'll just say they are great. Brad ripped out so many guitar solos. He was incredible.
He went into Time Warp which almost made me sick because it goes way too fast. I like his other instrumentals better. He did Celebrity and he had added some more outtakes from the video to play during the song. Justin also did this hilarious little jumping action (like from the video) and it was so funny! I was gonna get a picture of that but he stopped doing it before I had the chance.
Then he went into the accoustic show. He did the first first and the chorus to HDHTB which was great. I hope one day he adds the full song back into his set. Next he did WIGWIG which I didn't really want him to do. I cried the whole song and it was the best that I could to do not to burst out sobbing. (I love the way he does in concert...accoustic so much better!!!!) Luckily the next song was "The Toliet Song" so I could burst out laughing. It was the normal concert version and it wasn't the album version of it. Next was Whiskey Lullaby which was fantastic. People started applauding when Alison was on the screens. I'm not really sure why...If it were like the Opry thing where she came out randomly then I would start screaming and applauding like crazy but I just kept on singing her part.
Easy Money was next. Sadly not all the band members got to play their solos. I was disappointed with that. Justin did get to play his where about 4 backstage people and Brad danced around the stage like maniacs (Brad had a guitar this time so he couldn't really do the whole dancing thing). Ben still got to his which was awesome. I don't remember the places this time completely but Ben was from Rockford, Kenny this time was the one that just got out of jail (man his band is so bad!!! That's two people that have been to jail!! LOL! hahahahahaha y'all know that ain't true right?) , Randle was from Normal and that's all I really remember. He did the Lampshade Song next where of course I put on my interesting lampshades. I had a big one and then a small one and then a yoo-hoo carton on top. It was huge. That was fun. There were a lot of lampshades so I didn't really get special treatment like last time.
Then he thanked us left the stage then came back out. He did the Fishin' Song next and then Walk of Life. I know all the words to Walk of Life because of how many times I've seen him in concert. So I sang along to every song except the one I was crying to.
Okay I had planned to give him this birthday package before I found I out that I wasn't getting a M&G through fanclub. Since I already had it I decided to bring it to the concert anyways. My mom asked the security guard in front of us if there was any way that we could hand it to Brad. He told us that towards the end to hand it to him (security guard) and he would give it to Brad. Well Brad didn't really come over there during the encore. So the security guard made sure someone got it. I don't know who it was but I had seen him before. He works backstage for Brad. The guy asked security person what this was (since I had added a goo-goo cluster to the gift) and the security guard scolded him saying that it was just from a little girl. That's one time that I don't care that I was called a little girl me being my age. I think he went and gave to Bradmaster because he went off the stage and then came back up to do something else.
I didn't get to meet Brad which was extremely disappointing. I know that last night was most likely my last chance to be able to meet Brad and it's just so frustrating after how many things I have attempted to do to try and meet him.
Oh yea and this time Brad gave the hat to my friend Hannah's little brother. He's about 3 years old and he was just so cute. Brad was trying to place it right on his head but since he was so tiny it wasn't really working so his dad (who was holding him...his dad's a great guy. that whole family is really nice) took it and put it on his son's head for Brad. The little boy looked so cute with it!!!
Oh yea one final thingy. I met Ben!!! I saw him after the show and I couldn't resist telling him what an awesome drummer he is. He seemed surprised and extremely grateful that I told him that. I told him that I'm a drummer myself and he said, "Oh yea? That's pretty cool." He was very nice.
Umm i think that's it for now.
All right I got to Rockford at about 5:15 pm. I was excited but not like I was for the DuPage County Fair show. I was getting there. We parked in a parking garage behind the Metro Centre (where the concert was) and then went to go get our tickets. I had second row to the left and well I just really hate CMT but I'll get to that in a moment.
We hadn't eaten so we went to Subway to eat before the show. I didn't eat nutritional food (the drink was though). I ate a cookie because that was all I could force myself to eat. We met this older couple in the restaurant and we started talking about Brad. The lady told me how she had met Brad when he was first starting out because her son used to work in radio. She had seen Brad once before when he played the Waterfront in Rockford a few years back. Those two were really nice and I am very glad that I met them.
We went over to the Metro Centre at about 6:30 pm and got in line for the doors. They were scheduled to open at 7 and we just couldn't wait any longer. We waited with the same couple who wanted to see my lampshades. They really liked them! So we got inside the Metro Centre at about 7-ish and waited in line until about 7:10 (which felt like an eternity) when they let us go find our seats. Mine were pretty good. Once again it was off-center to the left, second row.
Sugarland came out at 8 pm doing "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". Jennifer was absolutely beautiful. She was wearing this silver (one arm had a sleeve the other had none) halter like top and she was stunning. I thought that they would break into "Something More" but they went into another song. I don't remember the exact order of songs but they did "Tennessee", "Down in Mississippi (and up to no good)", "Just Might Make Me Believe","Fly Away", "Something More" and "Baby Girl". During "Baby Girl" she decided to let one of the younger girls in the crowd join her in singing it. My little friend Hannah (the one I gave the guitar pick to last concert) got to sing with her!!!! She was soooo happy!! Sugarland was great in concert even though it lasted only 30 minutes. It was wonderful and I really really want to see them again (with a full time set). .
Sara was beautiful as well. She came out I believe doing "Perfect" and she was great. I got into this one too. She did maybe 4 songs from the new album. She did Cheatin', Real Fine Place to Start, Coalmine and Momma's Night Out. She joked that when she went on stage for the night she left her three kids in the bus with a bowl of water and some crackers. She said that most of the time they're okay. LOL! She also thanked us for coming out to the concert and buying all her t-shirts and buying none of Brad's!!!! hahahahahaha The second song she did was "I Keep Lookin'" and during this one she noticed me singing along to this (I only have one of her cds so if it ain't on Born To Fly and wasn't a single I don't know it so I'm glad I knew this one) and she pointed at me and gave me a huge grin. It was pretty awesome. She also did "No Place That Far", "I Could Not Ask for More", "Suds in the Bucket", and maybe one or two more. During "Coalmine" Jennifer and Kristian came back out and started to dance. It was hilarious!!! Kristian then went over to the fiddle player and watched her playing right behind her. He then went over to Sara and got down on his knees and grabbed her hands begging for her to love her. hahahahahahahaha It's so hilarious since both of the two are happily married with kids. (and not to each other). Sara was great.
Then it was time for the Bradmaster. I got out my cape (yes I said cape!!!) which was made of Batman material. I safety pinned that and then decided to listen to the songs that Brad had chosen to play. It was hysterical!!! He chose to play the BATMAN!!!! theme song!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha It was so hilarious!!!!!
Okay so then the backdrop went up and the band was out. I was getting very very excited!!! It started out with that little cartoon (the beginning of it) that announced the tour. Brad started the guitar riff that introduces "The World" and then came out on the stage. At first I thought that he was wearing the same shirt as he wore last time but no. It was a long-sleeve blue shirt but this one had a picture of a bullrider that said "No Fear" at the bottom of the picture. So he sang The World which was awesome even though it is definitely not my favorite Brad song. He then went into "Wrapped Around" which is when I think he acknowledged my cape. During one of the guitar riffs he came over to our side of the stage and gave me this grin and nod. I think the band members were secretly talking about me. I kept seeing people like Randle, Justin and Kenny kinda glance at me and grin. (steel guitar player, fiddle player, and bass player). He went into MOTT next and said "This is for all you rednecks in Rockford who can't keep their trucks clean!!". Of course it great too. Me Neither was next and of course he did the awesome jam after the last Me Neither. I loved singing along to every single song. He did Little Moments next which started out differently then the first two times I've seen him in concert and the album. I think I liked the way he did it last concert better. Little Moments was great because Brad really gets into it. Next was We Danced. I sang along to this song too but softer so I wouldn't get stares. One drunk person behind me was singing way too loudly and people kept shooting her nasty looks. Luckily her friend was sober and got her to shut up.
After that we went "live" to Little Jimmy's home in Nashville where Brad asked if he would like Brad to play anything special. Little Jimmy was like, "I would really like to hear 'Little Bitty'" Brad then said, "That's an Alan Jackson song Jimmy. Is there anything of mine that would like to hear?" Little Jimmy thought about it and then decided on the Waa Waa Song (I'll take you back). I won't ruin the cartoons for those of you that are going to see a tour date in this tour but I'll just say they are great. Brad ripped out so many guitar solos. He was incredible.
He went into Time Warp which almost made me sick because it goes way too fast. I like his other instrumentals better. He did Celebrity and he had added some more outtakes from the video to play during the song. Justin also did this hilarious little jumping action (like from the video) and it was so funny! I was gonna get a picture of that but he stopped doing it before I had the chance.
Then he went into the accoustic show. He did the first first and the chorus to HDHTB which was great. I hope one day he adds the full song back into his set. Next he did WIGWIG which I didn't really want him to do. I cried the whole song and it was the best that I could to do not to burst out sobbing. (I love the way he does in concert...accoustic so much better!!!!) Luckily the next song was "The Toliet Song" so I could burst out laughing. It was the normal concert version and it wasn't the album version of it. Next was Whiskey Lullaby which was fantastic. People started applauding when Alison was on the screens. I'm not really sure why...If it were like the Opry thing where she came out randomly then I would start screaming and applauding like crazy but I just kept on singing her part.
Easy Money was next. Sadly not all the band members got to play their solos. I was disappointed with that. Justin did get to play his where about 4 backstage people and Brad danced around the stage like maniacs (Brad had a guitar this time so he couldn't really do the whole dancing thing). Ben still got to his which was awesome. I don't remember the places this time completely but Ben was from Rockford, Kenny this time was the one that just got out of jail (man his band is so bad!!! That's two people that have been to jail!! LOL! hahahahahaha y'all know that ain't true right?) , Randle was from Normal and that's all I really remember. He did the Lampshade Song next where of course I put on my interesting lampshades. I had a big one and then a small one and then a yoo-hoo carton on top. It was huge. That was fun. There were a lot of lampshades so I didn't really get special treatment like last time.
Then he thanked us left the stage then came back out. He did the Fishin' Song next and then Walk of Life. I know all the words to Walk of Life because of how many times I've seen him in concert. So I sang along to every song except the one I was crying to.
Okay I had planned to give him this birthday package before I found I out that I wasn't getting a M&G through fanclub. Since I already had it I decided to bring it to the concert anyways. My mom asked the security guard in front of us if there was any way that we could hand it to Brad. He told us that towards the end to hand it to him (security guard) and he would give it to Brad. Well Brad didn't really come over there during the encore. So the security guard made sure someone got it. I don't know who it was but I had seen him before. He works backstage for Brad. The guy asked security person what this was (since I had added a goo-goo cluster to the gift) and the security guard scolded him saying that it was just from a little girl. That's one time that I don't care that I was called a little girl me being my age. I think he went and gave to Bradmaster because he went off the stage and then came back up to do something else.
I didn't get to meet Brad which was extremely disappointing. I know that last night was most likely my last chance to be able to meet Brad and it's just so frustrating after how many things I have attempted to do to try and meet him.
Oh yea and this time Brad gave the hat to my friend Hannah's little brother. He's about 3 years old and he was just so cute. Brad was trying to place it right on his head but since he was so tiny it wasn't really working so his dad (who was holding him...his dad's a great guy. that whole family is really nice) took it and put it on his son's head for Brad. The little boy looked so cute with it!!!
Oh yea one final thingy. I met Ben!!! I saw him after the show and I couldn't resist telling him what an awesome drummer he is. He seemed surprised and extremely grateful that I told him that. I told him that I'm a drummer myself and he said, "Oh yea? That's pretty cool." He was very nice.
Umm i think that's it for now.
Lillie_Pawluk - October 15, 2005 04:47 PM (GMT)
Anna -
Wow!!! What a wonderful review!! Thank you so much for coming here and telling us all about it. Did you take pictures???? (I really wanna see your :ph43r: cape!)
I'm glad you had a good time. I'm also glad you were able to get the package to Brad. I'm sure whatever it was, he'll love it!
We have to start planning your next show already....
You got to meet Ben, he is so sweet!!!! I'm glad ya got to talk to him.
Hope you took some pictures! And I hope you feel like sharin' them with us too!
Love ya lots...
~ Lillie
Wow!!! What a wonderful review!! Thank you so much for coming here and telling us all about it. Did you take pictures???? (I really wanna see your :ph43r: cape!)
I'm glad you had a good time. I'm also glad you were able to get the package to Brad. I'm sure whatever it was, he'll love it!
We have to start planning your next show already....
You got to meet Ben, he is so sweet!!!! I'm glad ya got to talk to him.
Hope you took some pictures! And I hope you feel like sharin' them with us too!
Love ya lots...
~ Lillie
crazyanna - October 15, 2005 08:31 PM (GMT)
Yup I did take pictures!!! I think I have three cameras worth. I didn't really take any (maybe 2-4) for Sugarland's set, a little more for Sara and probably two camera's worth on Brad. I've got to get them developed regularly and onto a kodak disk which basically means I'm not gonna be able to share them until maybe November. There's two pictures left to take I think and mom's gonna take one of me with my cape and my tower of lampshades. She didn't get to get a picture of that at the concert. You'll see the pictures hopefully sooner rather than later and because I'm gonna use my Kodak program to crop and enlarge them they should be pretty good.
I can tell ya right now I went a little picture happy with Justin...(again)
I can tell ya right now I went a little picture happy with Justin...(again)
Bradfan628 - October 16, 2005 01:57 PM (GMT)
Great review Anna!! :) I'm glad you posted it on this board because the other one pretty much sucks! I agree 100% with Lillie about that. You can't get emotional with smileys & things. The new board is just too.....well.....formal. I think that's the word I'm looking for.
I can't wait to see your pictures. I'm not exactly sure where the Metro Centre is, so I can't tell you how close or far you were from our new house in Rockford. B)
I can't wait to see your pictures. I'm not exactly sure where the Metro Centre is, so I can't tell you how close or far you were from our new house in Rockford. B)
crazyanna - October 30, 2005 02:44 AM (GMT)
I got my pictures today and through a lot of blood, sweat and maybe a few tears here's the link to them. Time Well Wasted tour pictures password if asked for it is bradpaisley. Also some of the pictures are out of order because it decided to give me one heck of a time while uploading them. A few of my favorite pictures
Lillie_Pawluk - October 31, 2005 08:41 PM (GMT)
Oh!!! Girl, I love your pics! Thanks for sharing them with us! Nice cape too!!! You are so creative! :D
Good Job!!! ;) :) :P
Good Job!!! ;) :) :P