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PART II:

Now it is time to wait. It’s about 38 days till the concert. Although I try to think about other things to make the time go faster, each day I am getting more anxious. Finally, it’s Thursday, September 25th. It’s Noon. Terry and I are off for Ottawa. We get to Newport, New Hampshire, 8 miles from the Canadian Border in Quebec. It’s about ½ way. That night the Hamilton Concert crosses my mind. I hope she did well. It would have been kind of neat to have been there since it was her opening night of the Tour. The only other time that chance occurred for me was when I had 5th row seats for Elvis’ first night. Then he died the day before. Bummer!! It’s Friday and we get a good start. We are in Ottawa by 1:30 p.m. to stay with friends. Now it’s getting tense. It’s tomorrow night. I know it will be great. Chris e-mailed me and said, “if you think you’re a fan now, just wait till after the show!” By gosh he was right!

Now it’s Saturday. The women have gone to the Mall to shop. Us guys go to the Ottawa Aviation Museum. It’s a great place and I buy some friends back home some tee shirts. But I seem to be so occupied that I get the guy a large-youth tee instead of a large adult. I don’t discover this until we get all back to the house. We still have a couple of hours before the ladies get back from shopping, so we go back to the Museum and make the exchange. Now it is getting very close to crunch-time. The girls are back and we go to dinner at a local pub just 5 minutes from the Corel Centre. My anticipation is growing. With the concert in the Round, it can hold just about 20,000. EEKs!!

It is near 6:00 p.m. when we step up to the door. It is beginning to rain quite a lot. On the way, there are the usual ticket scalpers asking if we need tickets? No, pal got mine! People are selling pictures of Shania all over outside. They don’t seem to bear any connection to the show. The lobby is so packed that it takes a while to get inside out of the weather. Terry has never been to anything this big. She is impressed very much. We stand there for what seems “forever and for always” but it is only for about ½ an hour. By the time we get inside it is almost show time for Emerson Drive. I am thinking about looking for Sue [Skategirl], butTerry is amazed as am I at how close we are to the stage. Later I find out Roger found Sue. So that was good. She tells me I should go up and get some pictures before it starts. I procrastinate and miss it because E/D starts a few minutes early as they did in Hamilton. They are good, except loud and sometimes distorted and I am thinking: “no, please Shania don’t be that loud and hard to make out.” E/D’s ½ hour seems to pass by quickly and then they pick up their gear and head off the stage. Now we have just a few minutes to wait. My anticipation is humungous now. I can’t think about anything but what’s going to happen in just a few minutes. What will she sing? What will the show be like? Am I overrating her? Who are these guys climbing up rope ladders and what’s their story. Then I realize they are working on lighting. Man I really am messed up. I should know that!!!! Now a big white cloth tubing comes down over the center of the stage. There is one seat to the left of us by the isle, #14. A fairly elderly lady comes in with a cane. She looks like she can hardly walk. She says: “young man, do you mind if I leave my cane under your seat and mine?” I said “no problem.”