OK folks,...... I've said it before and God willing will have the chance to say it again...."Every performance gets better and better!!!"
Tonight in Milwaukee, Shania was in excellent form. I really enjoyed this concert. The song set is the same list as posted in other threads....nothing new in that regard....The only difference was this time instead of JD Blair doing a solo drum percussion bit to divert attention from Shania sneaking into the audience to sing TWIM, Hardy did a light piano style solo instead.
Shania looked really really happy tonight.....even though she always looks Up!, tonight she was in special form. Really gave a fabulous performance.
Wardrobe:
Opening - Green Bay Packers jersey
Midshow- Yellow/white body glove and the leathery black pants with jippers/chains
Encore - Milwaukee Bucks Basketball jersey.
During She's not just a pretty face, the stage crew down in the pits between the top center and the outter ovals were all wearing spooky looking halloween masks which cracked Shania up. She obviously didn't expect their little practical joke and yet when she went to explain it to the audience, they had taken off the masks and acted like they didn't know what she was talking about....very funny
This arena was not completely sold out as the upper nosebleed sections at the ends of the oval stage were only half full but the floor, mid-section were sold out. The major part of the upper nosebleed section along the length of both long sides of the oval were also full with spectators. However, this crowd was into this concert bigtime! very loud and participated well.
The venue was very open to letting cameras in and picture taking but were quite restrictive on allowing gifts of any percieveable kind, like flowers getting past the turnstiles. Don't know whether the rumor I heard is accurate but something apherently happened the night before in Minneapolis that must have spooked the security because they worked hard to keep autographing during the concert to a minimum. And this is the first concert since the first in Hamilton where the only audience member on stage was the Kids Cafe raffle ticket holder. No children interviews and no lucky poster people pulled up on stage this time....it seems they intended to keep the public off and away from the stage, though front row people did get autographs. Shania did refer to a crew member nicknamed "Chainsaw" that she wanted to recognize because it was brought to her attention that he has purchased Kids Cafe tix at every show...however when Shania wanted him to come on stage, Chainsaw was nowhere to be found.
A few personal highlights for me:
1) I had a 4th row isle seat on the floor mid stage and only a few paces away from the stage edge...Could see really well. Was able to sneak a couple of signatures when security was looking the other way.
2) I made what I think was a really clever sign that 100% got Shania's attention and a heart melting reaction. When she saw it she actually looked back and forth between the sign and my eyes at least three times in a row and gave me the biggest smile and placed her hand over her heart taking in a breath while seemingly making an "Ahhhhh"
Not gonna give the whole sign idea away yet cuz i'm gonna try to talk my wife into letting me go to the St. Louis concert and wanna try using it again..I have a feeling if there wasn't a security issue, it would have worked better than my sign did in Indy
3) While Shania was singing SNJAPF I happened to look over my shoulder and standing right behind me was Shania's sister Carrie with a couple of other concert staffers......When I saw her, I turned my sign around to show her and she started giggling, elbowed the two security people with her, pointed to the sign and then Carrie actually gave me a High-5. That was really cool.
4) Carrie stayed in my area for about the next three songs and what was fun was to watch her sing every word like every other fans was doing until she took off with her clipboard and workcrew to some other place.
5) I got several really big smiles from Shania during this concert tonight.
6) I made a CD with three songs on it to give as a gift to Shania. Wasn't able to hand it to her directly but after the concert I ran into Hardy, and asked him if he'd give it to Shania...he took it and said he would Woo hoo !!!! I wonder if she'll write to me...(included my family address with the note I placed in the CD case)
7) Hung outside of the arena for a while after the concert with a few fans and Brent Barkus came out and spoke with the 5 of us for about 15 minutes. Somethings he told me I can't post here. (sorry) I asked if he knows whether a concert is scheduled for Timmins next summer and he said he doesn't know. The band only knows to this point (as of 10/29) the schedule until March 5th. The band is also eager to know more about the venues and dates for spring/summer 2004. He said he will update his diary on his webpage tomorrow and post more pictures soon. He said some of the band will not perform at the NBC Thanksgiving special being taped on Nov. 3 in Nashville but indicated he is scheduled to be there. All of the band will be on stage with Shania at the CMA's.
So thats about it...What a blast it has been. Unless I can talk my better half into lettting me to go to St. Louis, I've about max'ed out my $ limit for a while.
Ci'e la vie
PS: Chris, I got the calendars for you