THE ROOF IS ON FIRE AMANDA MARSHALL CONCERT REVIEW+ Wohoee I like to call this picture Amanda and the two blockheads. Click here to see me and KrissybackstagewithAmanda hwritten by the siteowner in case you were wondering:)
MACEWAN HALL, CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA THURSDAY MARCH 14th, SHOW 8PM
Ok, before you begin, have a look over at your scrollbar>> and notice how tiny it is. Yeah. That's how long this review is, so don't say you weren't warned;)
Amanda Marshall's concert March 14 was by far the best concert I have ever been to, and I know it will be very hard to top. I hope you enjoy the following review...
I'm going to start off with some background, just so some things make sense later on. First of all, I attended the concert with Krissy, otherwise known as Krissy82 on the messageboard, and co-owner of the website The Electric Blue Amanda Room, with me was my friend Chris, and Krissy brought along her friend Roxanne and sister Michelle. Krissy and I from the beginning (months before the concert hehe) had been looking forward to this concert. We fully intended on being front row, having a blast, and trying to stalk, and if possible, meet Amanda Marshall herself after the show. Well, the Monday before the concert (which was on Thursday), we started seriously thinking about how the frack we could meet her..because that was our ultimate goal:) We had used all of our other options..so we decided the best way (besides holding people hostage) would be to make some signs with our requests for Amanda to see...and maybe that would work. SO we did..and some of them we're kinda funny..I'm sure we would have made Amanda laugh. Anyway, wanted to share a few of the ones we came up with...
The Gypsy in me needs to roam backstage
If you want to make Amanda laugh
Tell her your plans
Cause that won't take you to backstage land
By the time the concert was over
Amanda let us come backstage
(where were my friends to see me?)
Are you game?
That's cool, just tell us when we can come backstage
We'll feel stupid but then we could hangout
Can't you read?
'Cause it's written all over my sign
Says we love ya can we come backstage
Luckily however, we didn't have to rely on those to get us back. On Wednesday, the day before the concert, I received a phone call ...I (long story short haha) wrote an email on Tuesday to a contact we had gotten through Sony Music, and explained my situation, along with a request for backstage passes. So, when I answered the phone, it was none other than the person from Sony. To my absolute shock, he said he could get me and guest backstage to meet Amanda. As you can imagine, I was ecstatic...So, the sign idea was tossed out, but all for the best. Now onto Thursday
Before the concert:
So..I got about 4 hours of sleep the night before, but as soon as the adrenaline starts pumping you forget about it. I arrived at Mac Hall about an hour and fifteen minutes later than I told Krissy I'd be there..a few complications in the plan haha.. Anyway I headed into Mac Hall..made it to the top of the stairs, of which Krissy would be waiting at the bottom haha..they usually have it blocked off, but it wasn't up yet so there were millions of people walking around on the stairs and around it, poor Krissy had been sitting there since 2:30..yikes. Anyway, I saw her shirt I knew she'd be wearing, and headed down the stairs.. I stood infront of her trying to say hi but there were tons of people walking around everywhere and it was hard to get in haha, but eventually I made it and said something like 'Hi, are you Krissy?' So, I said I was sorry I was late..blahblahblah..and then I sat down which was a big mistake cause people were tripping allover me. At that time, you could hear soundcheck going on in the background..very cool. So..we sat around for a while, my friend Graham came up, talked for a bit, he remarked he was supposed to get tickets a week ago for this show..what an idiot haha..I wonder if he ended up going haha. Anywho, we sat around for a while, then the Student University (SU) people came around and started setting up for the concert. This must have been around 5. I got kicked out of my lovely spot on the corner and went to sit on the stairs next to Krissy, while the guys put up barracades and stuff. I was getting excited haha. So...I think around then, somebody else came in line..there were two girls behind us..they were saying we would all control front row..something about rugby moves..anyway.
So I was supposed to leave and get my friend at 6..and at about 5:45 we decided we should make our signs. I got out the markers, and we decided to put 'We Run Fan Websites' on one of the signs, and the titles and addresses of them on another. At the bottom of the second one we put 'We're having a phun-philled time' hahaha..if you don't get that read Amanda's current open-letter hehe. We also put our messageboard names (Partyonwayne and Krissy82) on the back. It was funny making the signs, people passing by I think we're looking at us haha..how embarrasing. Oh well, a fan's gotta do what a fan's gotta do..SO after I finished mine, I grabbed my watch out of my bag and saw that it was 6:42. HOLY #$%#%#$%...I told Krissy I had to leave..and I ducked under the rope and ran up the stairs. When I got to my car I started freaking out, I had planned to be back at the venue at 6:45 in case they opened the doors early..and it was already that time. So, basically, driving conditions were very bad, and I got really lost..so we didn't make it back to Mac Hall until 7:30. When we got back in what I saw was NOT a good sign. They had already opened the doors..a LONG time ago, and the huge line infront of us wasn't moving at all... I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. I had waited for this concert for 2 years and I wasn't freaking going to let this happen. I started rambling to Chris about this all, and I think he realized at that point what a fan I was. So they made us go through the huge line to 'mandatory coat and bagcheck' which we found out later really had no purpose and was designed to MAKE ME MAD haha.. But we complied and stood in the line for about 15 minutes, but it felt more like 10 years...the night's going great so far, right? haha...So when we FINALLY got up to coat check I asked the lady if I had to check my bag she's like 'Oh no, that's okay'. So I looked at her with...a look... and Chris and I angrily headed for the doors. When we got in the venue, it was much more empty than I thought it was be. I left out a small sigh of relief and told Chris to follow me, I was getting up there to front row and nobody was getting in my way haha. So, luckily, OH so luckily, there were only about 5 or 10 'tight' rows if you know what I mean. So I walked kind of slowly..pretending I was meeting someone at the front, which I was, and said 'excuse me-sorry' as I went by people. We made it to about the second row on the left when we encountered trouble. A lady in her 30s with a little daughter by her side, said 'Oh no. You are not getting by here' I turned to her prepared for this and started my rant that I had rehearsed in my head while waiting in line hahaha..the speech went over well, and the lady got this really sweet look on her face and said 'Oh no, dear, I'm sorry. I thought you were going to stand in front of her, oh no, that's okay'. So I smiled and thanked her and said I hope she enjoyed the show (amanda fans are the nicest!) and I snuck over to stage right, inbetween 1st and 2nd row. I was so shocked that I was getting away with this..people were moving aside, some gave me looks but I didn't pay attention to them..I began to look for Krissy but I couldn't see her...I started calling out 'Krissy!' so people would know that I had someone up there and I wasn't budging, and finally I saw the girls that were sitting behind us. I asked them if they knew where she was and then what I was saying finally rang a bell I guess haha and they said 'OH. She's right behind me' so I looked and she was THANK GOD. I waved at her and called her name again as I snuck by more people..people were so nice. Thank you to anyone in Calgary who let me by that might be reading this haha. I yelled Krissy once more and she saw me and PHEW I made it! I was so upset...can you imagine I would be so dumb as to let this all happen...aargh. Anyway, I was determined to get up there, I wasn't settling for anything less than front row, there was just no way. So I snuck inbetween Krissy and her friend Roxanne, and got introduced to her sister Michelle, who was standing behind us the whole time. They were all very nice.
When I was driving around lost trying to find my friend I think I entered another state..you know where you get all panicky and you start over-reacting to everything? haha, well, that was me from 6:45 till about midnight when I got home haha...'my alter ego took over..' heheh. Oh well. It all worked out in the end:)
SO it was about 7:45 at that time..we entertained ourselves by looking at what we could see of the stage that wasn't covered up...it was really cool, they had a grafitti background with scribblings of all of Amanda's songs, it looked really good;) In the back they had about three towers, and between them were white sheets where they would flash things with the lights on them...what else...we also had our signs up on the stage and my board name, Party-on-wayne was face up hehe. I was excited:) Anyway, at 8:10 Jordy Birch's DJ came onstage to the little mini-stage they had set up, and Jordy followed. He looked almost like Marilyn Manson at first, I'm not sure why haha. He was wearing a white dress shirt with a blue tie, and over that his trademark tight sweater..also black. His pants were black and he had kinda brown ducky shoes hehe. Sorry, when you're that close you notice the shoes. We were kind of halfway inbetween where the rhythm guitarist and Amanda stood..so Jordy came on and grabbed a guitar and started playing a song I didn't know, and then his big hit Moola Moola, which got the crowd a little bit interested. He was okay, the fact that he was playing his guitar made him more credible..but..yeah. I think we were all just waiting for Amanda to come onstage. But he was nice, and his songs weren't that bad, I've seen worse haha. There was somebody in the middle who I guess was really into it..he was like 'Hey! You know the songs! Thank-you!' Funny. Then to finish up, he played El Camino, and then Rock'n'roll Karma last.. he then put his guitar down, and said he knew Amanda was going 'to rock the house' and to have fun..then as he stepped back from the mike..I didn't really realize this at first..I thought he was looking at me, but it's hard to tell sometimes..anyway he looked right at me and grinned..pointed at my sign, and did this eye-thing, if you've seen Meet The Parents (heheh) it's the thing Robert DeNiro does to Ben Stiller when he says 'I'm watching you', anyway, he did that, pointed at me again, and laughed. I was like..whaaa?? Krissy's sister then behind me said..Look! he's talking about your sign..and I was like OH! I looked back at him and he was watching me and he laughed again, then waved to everybody and left. It was funny. I was an idiot. I guess he thought I was trying to make a joke with the partyonwayne thing.
So..then some oldies music with some cool beats came on, the lights went up a bit..and we knew Amanda was next. The techies and roadies came out to take down Jordy's stuff, and made sure Amanda's was all ready. The rhythm guitarist had quite an extensive pedal board..it was cool to be that close and watch what was going on. I asked Krissy at that point if she could see if the pics in the mike stand were custom designed or anything,,but we were both too far away. I think Krissy then asked something about the pics..and the techie who was working on the board shook his head and left. 10 seconds later though he reappeared, grabbed a green pic from the stand, looked at me and slid it across. Wohoo! With a surprised look on my face I yelled out 'thanks!' and he smiled..I then looked at it hoping to see 'the voice inside' or something, but it was just a plain old Jim Dunlop haha. Oh well, I'm still keepin' it hehe. I offered it to Krissy but she said I could keep it.. I feel bad about that though cause she asked about it (if you want it you can have it, okay? I'll mail it to ya or something:)) So then..it was waiting..and more waiting. The same techie came out and squatted on the far right, close enough for us to hear. He told us that Amanda decided this afternoon against barracades, she wanted the people to be close (we were right up against the stage, so close I could pat Amanda's shoe hahaha)..so he told us we had to remove any waterbottles etc, only arms were allowed on the stage haha...he also said not to touch her shoe as she went by..you know, the light's in her face and she can't see very well haha. We moved our signs off the stage and squeezed them between us and the stage. They then brought out guitars, tested them, people cheered..we could hear the drums behind the big curtain..ahh, the anticipation. About 15 minutes into the wait however, something terrible happened. All of the sudden, *just* before Amanda would have come onstage, the lights went up and lights above the doors started flashing and a bell started whistling. It was a fire alarm. Everyone looked around incredulously, we couldn't believe this was happening. An automated voice came over the loudspeakers that said 'The fire alarm has sounded. Everyone must evacuate the building.' At this point, I was ready to break something. I had just begun to calm down, but now, this had to happen. The security guys all around the building started to stand up from where they were..looking around wondering what the heck was going on. Nobody knew. The people backstage were like ..'What the ??'. So of course, nobody moved. If we had to evacuate the building, chances are we would lose our front row centre-ish spot..one that we had waited and worked hard for. It wasn't fair. Michelle behind us said she bet it was someone who was way in the back that pulled it..and wanted a better spot...she was like, "I'll be so upset if you guys lose your spot, you've been looking forward to this concert for so long!" No kidding. This was not a time to mess with me haha. But, word had gotten around by now I guess..the SU and venue security stood up on barracades and on the stage and with their hands cupped began shouting for everyone to evacuate. Some guy beside us said he wasn't leaving until the band was. Everyone started booing and looked really upset. But security was herding people out, and the back of the audience started to filter..things didn't look good. But then, 20 minutes later, BOOM the lights stopped flashing, the noise went off, and people ran. We turned around again and PHEW stood in exactly the same spot, but closer to the centre. Roxanne was on the far left, infront of the mike, Krissy next to her, then me, Chris, and Michelle behind us. SO the music came back up, and the disgruntled crowd let out a sigh of relief. Firemen and EMS at that point came up to the stage haha..they were told false alarm, go away, the crowd needs Amanda haha. Or atleast that's what I would have said. So..with the music going...we began to think about the upcoming show...wahooo. About 2 songs later...the lights dimmed. People went nuts.....and a few more minutes later, they went even darker. This was it! :)
The concert:
A loop started playing...and flashlights came on from the sides of the stage...the band entered. I guess I can start with what they were all wearing.
The lead guitarist had a blue t-shirt with 'Limp Bizkit' on it, the bongo guy hehe (he's so funny) had on that sailor hat, umm and I couldn't really see what else. I forget what the drummer was wearing..umm the keyboardist had a blue shirt with 'London' and something else. The bassist had a blue toque on, a loose tye-dyed shirt and my shoes..Adidas sneakers with blue stripes, and he had blue jeans. The rhythm guy had cool patterned jeans, and oh dear I don't remember his shirt. But he did have a cowbot hat on:) Oops, forgot her backup singers. The one on the left had a black jacket, with a red t-shirt on, and jeans. The other one had a purple t-shirt with a person's face on it, and jeans, along with some adidas shoes. Wohoo, gotta love adidas shoes.
So back to the show..after the loop had started, and the band found their places, the loop faded slightly and Eric on keyboards began the four chords for 'Ride'. People started cheering once they recognized it...and then a spotlight came on to the right...the crowd went nuts. Amanda appeared and ran out on the stage...She was wearing a grey hat, her hair back in a single ponytail, wearing a white tanktop with two banana bunches on it..it read Keep Your Bananas Off My Melons hahaha..she had light checkerboard jeans, a silver bracelet on her right arm, the red belt she wore in the SMA music vid (wow I'm a fan:)) and those killer black, tiny shoes she wears. I think before she even sang a note she yelled out 'We're gonna light this place on fire!!' hahaha. She paced around the stage the left side of the stage and began singing. Right away I noticed how TINY she is. There's really just no other word for it!! I think she was about 5'2 and sooo incredibly skinny. She was like a board, a stick...her knees, I could have put my hand around them and have my fingers touch, you know? She looks strong and healthy though haha, so I guess it's okay;) I immediately turned to Chris and commented on her tinyness haha, he's like..Yeah..She's not so bad looking either hahahahaa. He was right..she was flawless haha, both singing and lookswise. So, Ride was awesome. The first couple of minutes she was up on stage someone gave her a fork with some crud on it, of all things. She grabbed it thinking it was something cool, looked at it, and seeing what it was gave it a weird look and threw it on the ground, where it hit the drum base. When Ride ended, Amanda quickly put in 'The roof, the roof is on fire' to many laughs, and then launched into Dizzy. Without any music at all, she sang 'I like salsa with my pancakes baby' and stopped. People laughed and cheered, recognizing the song. She started up again with 'I like to vacuum when I'm in the nude', more cheers. Then the band came in and song really launched. At this time Krissy turned to me and said when should we put up the signs..we thought before that it would be best within the first couple of songs...soo we waited just a bit more... After Dizzy, Amanda said Hello to Calgary..she was glad to be back here again, and tonight was all about stories. New stories, old stories. She pointed to herself, 'my story..' then out in the crowd..'and your story, your story, and your story too..here's an older story, maybe you'll recognize it'..and then it was Fall From Grace, very cool, her voice was really good in this song. So Fall From Grace ended and Amanda did the intro for 'The Voice Inside' Too funny. The bass guitarist and I think the drums started off providing a melodic beat while Amanda began the intro 'I think..maybe, just maybe..I might be in love'..to which people cheered. She then went on to talk about her boyfriend..saying that her friends didn't get it, cause he was so different from her. He was quiet, into reading and writing poetry, foreign films haha, and incredibly smart too. I think some guys were yelling out stuff like "what a geek!" jokingly haha, Amanda thought it was pretty funny. The crowd the whole night was very interactive, yelling stuff out alll the time making Amanda and the band laugh. I couldn't always hear what people were yelling unfortunately though;)..I was watching Rob's face for reaction as she was talking about him, but he was pretty secretive and just kept playing the bass line;) She also went on to say that her parents didn't like him cause he was a bit older than her and he was..'Trouble' haha, but Amanda went on to say..'but everybody knows.. they're allll trouble' the audience loved it. The scary orchestra intro took over from the guitars, and Amanda and her vocalists were doing a cool dance thing haha. Her backup singers were singing 'Genuissss'...'Genuissss'..then it really started haha. Krissy and I then decided we should go for the signs. Because we were so squished we could only hold up one sign at a time, so Krissy got the 'We Run Fan Websites' out, and held it angled up on the stage..So she began singing, and started to travel around the stage...she was walking towards us, and looked down and saw the sign. I was like 'oh nooo' haha She came and stood right in front of us.. and she read it, paused for minute, raised her eyebrows and nodded her head, and moved on to the other end of the stage. I should mention that she never once made eye contact with me haha..not even when we had the signs, ahh! She didn't seem to look at the front row at all. Oh well. So by now the rest of the band had seen we were holding something up...Stacie looked right at me and gave me this huge grin, it was so funny. I smiled back but looked away after a few seconds, I'm weird like that with eye contact from peoples up on stage haha. I don't know if Stuart (the rythym guitarist) saw our sign..he probably did, but he didn't make too much eye contact with me. Whenever he did he looked mad or something hahaha. Rob (the bassist) leaned forward as he was playing and strained to see what we were holding, saw it and smiled. Oh dear. So sign one was done...and it was my turn to hold the second one with our website's names on it..ack. I grabbed it, and *I think* I held it during this song. Amanda came back again, and this time....soooooo funny. I'll never forget the look on her face. She came back and saw that we had another sign and smiled and came to stand infront of us to read it. She stood there for about 30 seconds (which seemed like a really long time) and read it from beginning to end..she furrowed her brow and read everything, with an almost confused look on her face..her head was going back and forth from everything I had written on there. I was like..why is she taking so long? uh oh..I tried to write it big haha. Anyway, she finished, pointed at the sign and smiled I think, then she picked up the mike and got back into the song. hahahaa. I was thinking, that was priceless haha. So I enjoyed that:) For the end of The Voice Inside, she did, one of the many cool changes to her songs, a thing where she slowed it all down and made the crowd laugh saying 'genYASSS'...very funny. The audience was hollering as Amanda would sing the line, she'd laugh and sing 'GenYASS' again hehe. Amanda was hilarious throughout the whole night.
The next song was probably my favorite of the night..Shades of Grey. They totally changed it up, making it sound completely different, it was amazing. You kind of got a view on how new songs come out haha...hey, who knows, it might be a song on the next record haha. The chorus was really repetitive, and sounded like it was in a completely different key..'shades of grey..we're all just...shades of grey'..it's amazing, I loved it needless to say;) As I had kind of memorized the set list, I was expecting to hear Double Agent next...but the cool intro for Red Magic Marker started instead, and the 'Yo, manda, come on'..so they did Red Magic Marker which also sounded very good. Stuart broke a string on his 12-string guitar haha, his techie offered to come out and fix it, but he waved him away and tuned it to make up for it haha.
And then my second favorite song..Double Agent. I love that loop. I think I screamed loudest then and for the encore. They had police lights strewn across the stage, and when she said 'Betcha never get stopped by the police', the music stopped and the lights flashed, very cool. If you've ever seen Double Agent live on tv..at the bridge when they do the side steps, the rest of the band didn't do it, but Rob and Stuart got that going, except they only went one way and Stuart almost walked into an amp... So funny.
Then, probably the most true to it's original sound was Believe In You, which sounded great..I love it when Amanda spazzes out and shakes all over the place..she did that a couple of times, and her backup singers especially got a kick out of it. I remember that her band had A LOT of fun on the stage. Especially Stuart hehe....
The stools then came out..the lead guitarist sat on our side, and Amanda took a spot in the center. The rest of the band left the stage...so Amanda started off by saying that this was a special song 'cause it was one of the first ones she had ever written. She was sitting in the basement at one of her friend's houses and she 'picked up a guitar that she knew she couldn't play'..and out this song came, with her basically hitting two strings. She then went on to say that she was at home one day watching Rock'n'Roll Jeopardy, and the Dixie Chicks were on..and the question was 'what is the name of the current tour Leanne Rhimes is on?' and the answer was Sitting On Top Of The World of course, and Amanda's like Hey!!! That's MY SONG! My upside-down, wrong way, two-string song!! So, you know you've made it big, it's not the fine guys or the nice cars, but when you're on Rock'n'Roll Jeopardy. So he's going to play it much like I learned it, but he'll play it correctly. So the lead guy began, and it sounded really good. Nice and simple, people started clapping their hands to the beat..it was really sweet. Her voice also got a chance to go off a little;) Next was Marry Me, which also sounded reallllly good. The lead guitarist was replaced with the rythym, and Rob came up to sit on Amanda's right. Amanda said before they started that her fly was open the last time she did this song so she had to quickly check, and she said feel free to check yours as well;) hahaha.. They launched into the song..it sounds really good live, if you ask me, that should be the version on the cd. When they finished some guy in the crowd yelled "I WILL!!!' hahaha, the band and Amanda cracked up. She then gave the two guitarists high fives. They both then got up, and Amanda said 'Where are my girls'..the backup singers came up to sit next to her, and Amanda talked about the song Colleen. She was saying something about girlfriends and how we watch Oprah together and bake cookies and stuff haha, but I don't remember how she put it haha. But Amanda did say 'everyone knows that girls are just the best of friends..they're your friend, they're your friend..and then, they're NOT.' .. Colleen started up..it sounded great too. I might as well stop saying that 'cause all of her songs were great live, of course;) It was really funny..the lead guitarist and Rob in the back started swaying to the music and kicking their feet out to the beat, tooo funny, they were laughing and having a good time, and they eventually got Stuart's attention and he joined in too.
The next song to follow was the hilarious Brand New Beau. Amanda began the intro for this song (it was atleast a couple of minutes long)...' Being a girl like myself, I travel a lot. So, when the time comes, I must sadly kiss my foreign film loving boyfriend goodbye and get on the plane (everyone awwed here:)) but this time, Well, ya'll know what I'm talking about living here in Calgary, there was a snowstorm, and the announcer came on and said we regret to announce but this flight has been cancelled. So I get ready to go home..I grab my bags, get a ride back, walk up to the apartment, up the stairs, open the door, and it's dark. She was very theatricial here, lots of dramatic pauses haha, so she continues after the audiences goes 'ohhh'..'and it smells good, like flowers good. And there's candles. And there's wine.' At this point the audience goes OHHH ..Amanda continues 'And I'm thinking how do he know! So I walk to the back of the apartment towards the bedroom..and I nudge the door open with my foot'... a girl in the audience finally figured it out I guess and then yelled out "He's cheating on you!!!" really loud and EVERYONE broke up laughing. Amanda turns away from the mike laughing, and comes back saying "Wow! Ya think!! You're our most perceptive audience member this week!!" and everyone's laughing so hard...'So he's in bed with somebody else..and, how do I put this nicely, someone without breasts.' Of course everyone's cracking up ..'Not that there's anything wrong with that, but you know....it would have been NICE TO KNOW before..It would have been nice to know..' so Brand New Beau starts. It sounded very cool;)
Next to follow was the huge hit Everybody's Got A Story..and everybody was into it;) Somebody to the right of me and farther back was tring to give her some tulips with a note attached to it the whole song, but she didn't seem to see the outstreched hand. Finally, the person gave up and tossed the flowers on the stage, when Amanda walked back she saw them on the floor, picked them up and threw them across the stage, where they landed stage right behind some equipment.. she was probably leaving the stage there.
So, sadly, the last song before the encore started up...the opening thing for Birmingham began, it was really cool to watch the blues thing Stuart was doing..this song was probably about 10 minutes long, Amanda flipped out right infront of us and leaned back really far doing some crazy stuff. Chris commented that was his favorite song of the night, and after it was over said that he liked the show!! I was like YAY!!! Anyway, she threw bits and pieces of Survivor (which sounded awesome), Bills Bills Bills, Hit em up style (sounded very good), I'm like a bird (she puts nelly to shame, as hard as it is to do that), Bye Bye Bye (very cool) and something else which I recognized but I don't remember what it's called. Then..she was done..she said she would love to come back as often as we'll have her blahblahblah thank you haha, and then she ran off the stage, pinching Stuart's butt as she went haha..I saw her run to one of the tech guys, he reached out his hand to give her high-five, she was coming up to slap it, but grabbed his hand and pulled him behind some equipment. I don't know what was going on, I hope she was okay. After the band left the stage and people were clapping and cheering etc, someone ran out with a flashlight to center stage and looked in the crowd..then they moved over to the other side where a SU guy was..I dunno what happened:( So hopefully everything was okay.
Well, at this point, the lights on the background started flashing 'Amanda' and people were yelling and screaming and clapping, I could feel my voice going. The band came back out, and the backup singers started singing 'Indian Summer...Indian Summer'....wohooo!!! Then Amanda came back out smiling and launched in Dark Horse..sigh:)When that was over, she thanked us again, and turned around to grab a drink from the drum set...on the background screen there was an outline of a guy on the phone..and you could hear the ringing intro for Sunday Morning After, followed by a girl's outline (noooo last song) the crowd was so loud I couldn't really tell what was playing, then all of the sudden the guitar started up and the song was starting. Amanda's band would do this jumping thing during the song, it was cool. And near the very end, I don't know where I was looking, but all of the sudden EVERYBODY on the stage ran up to the outskirt, Rob almost stepped on my hand. It scared the crap out of me, anyway, it was funny. So...at the end, Amanda motioned to her band on the right, we all clapped and cheered, and then the people on her left...they all then came up to the front and stood in a line, ready to take a bow...Stuart was 2nd last on the left, and Rob and somebody else (I forget who) picked him up and turned him over, he almost did a complete flip, it was funny. You could tell he was goofy hehe. And that was it. Everyone waved and took a bow, and they left the stage to a roaring crowd, it was an AMAZING concert
And now the time came...the lights went back up, and Krissy and I turned to each other and started wondering about backstage. Our Sony contact had told us to meet him by the soundboards, so we headed back to the roped off section to look for him. Neither of us could see the jacket he told us he'd be wearing... and I was a little upset haha, cause I knew right away it wasn't going to be easy to find him. And it wasn't. We spent about 20 minutes wandering around the venue looking for the people we were told to find. Finally, someone told us to wait by this door and he'd send our contact to us when he found him, I'm like "You sure?!!" haha. But, about 2 minutes later, the doors opened, we turned around, and it was the person we'd been told to look for. He looked a little confused like he didn't know why he had been called here haha, I walked up to him and introduced myself, he was like "Oh! You're Andrea, Nice to meet you Andrea" Yay! .."So it's..uhh you and a guest, right?" and I said right, me and Krissy..so he smiled and motioned for us to come with him, we followed him, he ushered us into this room..he was extremely nice. I was really impressed with him haha, and so grateful. So Krissy walked around to one of the tables and sat down...I was like thank god..I'm so tirreed.. By that time it was 11:15 or so...yikes:) So we sat down and had a look around..there were about 20 other people in the room..all contest winners or with the record label I guess...I saw Kenny B from the radio sitting across from us, he was getting up to move the table next to us, and I pointed him out to Krissy, he saw me point and he's like "Hey guys! How are you doing..." hahaha...ooops, shouldn't point next time. So the guys moved some tables around..the few people there were just standing around chatting. Um, what else, we were the youngest ones there, almost everyone else was in their 30s or 40s. I'm not exactly sure who all of these people were haha... but anyway, it was a very comfortable atmosphere, no screaming backstreet boys teenage girls anywhere, everyone was just chilling haha. So then Krissy and I saw that there was a table with drinks AHH so we ran over to get a couple haha. So we walked over to this one guy and reached for a water bottle, he's like NO. And pointed like a caveman, making a sound at the other table with a different brand of water...okaaayy haha. So we had the cheaper stuff, you know, Evian haha. We stood there kind of looking around (see below for a diagram of the place..I didn't take any pictures cause I was scared to death someone would shoot me or something)..Then we just kinda stood around staring off into space cause we were both so drained. I wish I had started to think about something intelligent to say to Amanda Marshall, but of course I didn't. So while I was spaced out, the two guys in charge of the whole thing I guess were saying she's going to come in..everyone was still talking and not really noticing what was going on, then at one point, Krissy beside me said Holy Sh$t..I quickly looked over and it was Amanda, she had just walked in, and was smiling, shaking hands of some Sony people. She stayed at the far end of the room..and it got a little quiet all of the sudden haha. Amanda was then instructed to stand infront of this white wall, and she stood next to some people, about 5 for the first time, for a picture. She then shook their hands as they left..then a couple more people...she signed a cd book..took a picture, and then another group with a picture..etcetc. That's all that really happened. This funny lady who was talking to us was like " I wonder what happens to those pictures. Do we ever get them? Or are they going on the cover of cosmo or something?" hahaha. So then..after about 5 minutes, the Sony guy came up to us, and like a talent show or something said "Ok, you're up next" hahaha. Krissy and I were kinda like "whaaa? ummm" but we slowly put our drinks down and followed him. Then it all seemed like a dream or something, as cheesy as that sounds haha:) So Krissy was walking ahead of me, following Sony (I don't want to use his real name incase of a problem with that haha), and he was holding a couple of sheets of paper and looking at them said, Okay, you're Andrea? Andrea, right? to Krissy, and she said No..I'm Krissy, and He goes Oh, Krissy, okay, and he turned around to me and said And you're Andrea..and I said yes. So the 5 or 10 ft walk seemed like forever to get over to Amanda, but then suddenly we were there. Sony said "Okay, Amanda, this is Krissy.." Amanda smiled and offered her hand to shake Krissy's..Krissy said Hi and Amanda said "Hi Krissy" Krissy stepped to Amanda's left and I came up, and Sony said to Amanda "And this is Andrea" I walked up and said "Hi, nice to meet you" or something. I probably just said garheaekrjaek. Anywho, Amanda smiled, shook my hand and said "Hi Andrea" I think but I was so shellshocked I didn't really hear what she said (oh yeah, in case you wanted to know, Amanda has a very normal hand. It's not abnormally small, or big. It also wasn't sweaty or really cold;) Just in case you wanted to know:)) So, we were there, and at this point we all turned to the Sony guy when he said "Now..Andrea, Andrea you do..well you run, tell Amanda what you have.." and I think I gave him this shocked look, and I glanced at Amanda (I couldn't look her in the eye for some reason) and said "Oh, I have uh a website", and I quickly pointed to Krissy and said "And she does too actually" (I really hope she understood we had a fan website, not a website about Dobermans or Computer games or something).. and Amanda looked at me and then at Krissy when I said the last bit and uggghh I can't remember exactly what happened here cause I actually just talked to Amanda Marshall but she said "Oh, cool" For sure haha. I laughed and Sony said "Yeah, yes you wrote me this great email.." and I froze thinking PLEASE DO NOT READ THAT OUTLOUD hahaha, cause, well, that would be embarassing. ...so I talked to the Sony guy for a bit, and I had turned my attention away from Amanda at that point (ahh!), but I knew that she and Krissy were talking..reading Krissy's review on her website, she said that..Amanda looks over, says something, what i have no clue but i'm like yea, Krissy and Garry... She's like Krissy and Garry... "we wrote you before." So she tilts her head back and squints "uhhh no i cant remember but if you wrote me, i read it for sure" cool beans!!...haha anyway, then the camera guy was like ARGH I want to take a picture so all of the sudden we all turn to the camera remembering he's there haha. So I was really out of it and I just kind of turned and stood there, and I think I was a couple of inches away from Amanda..so Amanda schooched in beside me and we all smiled and they took the picture. Okay looking at this picture now, first of all, I'm shocked I'm actually looking at the camera hahahaha I was sooo out of it. I wasn't nervous or anything, just in a different state I guess haha. I'm also surprised to see that I was kind of far away from her, I think I was scared of her hahaha. Seriously. And I didn't realize she had her arm out haha, maybe she was balancing against the wall. AND I'm glad that she was real smiling with us, because the other pictures, we were watching her pose and it was pretty fake. Then again it must be a drain meeting all of those people every night. Luckily when we met her there weren't a lot of people at all, and it wasn't rushed with me and Krissy whatsoever, the Sony guy was right there too which was a really good thing, cause let me tell you, if he hadn't of been there i'd be like UHHHH hi. picture *click*. bye!. So anywho that picture cracks me up. It's actual proof that I met her YAY hahaha. So we then turned to her and smiled and then she saw the poster in my hand, and she points to it and says "Want me to sign that poster for you before you go?" My jaw dropped open (I totally forgot about it, and was shocked she offered) so I said "Oh! Sure! That would be great" She smiled and kinda stood there kind of slanted back...I grabbed my poster and realized I forgot to take off the ten million elastics I had on it..wtjhsoduiyf. So I started rolling the stupid elastics, and got one off. It took me forever. So I'm standing struggling with these son of a elastics, and Amanda's like two inches away from me and she started laughing. She made a joke, but I don't remember what it was. I laughed anyway, and continued trying to get the frigging things off. She was really cool though, she didn't make me feel like I had to rush, she was just like, you having fun there? haha. So I finally got them all off and I kind of handed the poster to her/she took it, she unrolled it reallly quickly..I was like WOah! How did you do that, you're a professional poster-unwrapper or something (i'm sorry i'm tired) anyway, I just remember she was good at it hahahahaha. So she put the poster against the wall, I put my hands up against the poster to hold it flat but she didn't really need any help, like I said, she's a professional...the Sony person then said 'Do you have a Sharpie Amanda?" she responded "Yup"..she was very laidback..a little quiet almost. So she took her marker in her hand and wrote on it "TO ANDREA!" and then below, a little heart, and her signature Amanda Marshall. She took her time, and dotted the end of the ll's haha, and kinda stood back and looked at it making sure it was alright haha, then she turned and handed it to me with kind of a half-smile and I said thank you very much or something...I don't know if she responded...and then Krissy handed her an envelope of letters she had...Amanda stretched her hand out looking a little confused and Krissy said It was a bunch of letters and stuff..Amanda's eyes opened really wide and she exclaimed, "Oh! Thank you! Awesome, very cool, thanks" and she was nodding and smiled..I don't remember exactly what happened, but she seemed pumped to get them. Krissy smiled, I smiled, and we said goodbye and walked away...and that was it. We kinda hung around for a biit longer, but there wasn't too much to do or see really. Amanda, after taking pics with 2 more people went over to the table infront of us and got to work signing about 20 posters for radio stations and such...the Sony people would give her a name, she would autograph The Voice Inside Tour 2002 poster..and that was that. She then talked to the Sony guys for maybe 1 more minute, then they started walking to the door..Amanda then turned to everyone and smiled and waved in the air saying "Bye everyone!" By that time a lot of people had left..but everyone else shouted out Bye to her, then she was gone.
And that WAS that!! :) I had such a great time..it was an amazing experience not only to see her in concert, but in 'real life' too...she was a very cool person. She didn't make you feel intimidated or nervous....she was very polite and very friendly...I was surprised she remembered my name when she signed my poster...It was awesome. I had a great time at the show, as you can tell, and the FOUR HOURS I've spent writing this review show you how much I enjoyed myself haha..just had to share it with you all. And hey, if you read it all, congratulations. I'm sure you know some things about me you probably didn't want to know too. Anyway..................Amanda Marshall rocks. She really does.....and I would like to say a special thanks to the people at Sony for taking care of Krissy and I, you have been awesome, and we really appreciate all of your efforts.
This has been a concert to go down in history that's for sure...........I'll remember it for a long time.
And if you haven't yet, get out and see Amanda live! Nothing beats it..................
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