NESP Forum

Millersville recaps & pics

Lori B's recap

I am sooo sorry I didn't post this earlier-- RW stuff took over for a while, but I'm glad to say I think I can manage both without too much trouble, from now on.....maybe  Ok here goes...


Knowing this was the last show with most of the band, I was anticipating the show, and driving to Diane's on Thursday night...so that we could leave Friday to meet in Pa. with some other friends who were coming in for this show. My drive to Long Island was going well, until I hit the coast of Ct. on 95 ...I swear that state has it out for me ~ everytime I travel thru there, it's a total disaster, and this time was no different. I hit not only 1 monsoon, but 3 on the drive down....finally the third time, I pulled over in a rest stop and called Diane to tell her I would be later than I thought ....and it turned out to be a +5 hour trip...GAH!

The next morining we met up with another friend, and headed down to Pa. We all thought we were going to be the last one's there, but as it turns out, we got there first! It was nice to be able to greet all our friends as they arrived, and Friday night was a total blast ~ everyone talking, cheersing, hugs and kisses...it was just wonderful to finally meet most of this group in person (this was an SOS gathering)

The next day, we headed to the hotel that we would be staying at for the night- got into our rooms, and freshened up for the concert. There were LOTS of SP'ers in the hotel from a LOT of different fan boards, so also that was nice to match the names to the faces. Our group had a conference room that we all had dinner in, and yet more arrived from our group ....but one of us was now amongst the missing...LindaJ from England! Turns out Linda had a M & G with Taylor, and so did one of the other ladies...so they went over to the venue for their meeting. Diane had previously arranged with a reporter an interview for Linda, and she also went to the venue to interview Taylor and some other SP'ers after they had talked earlier in the day . The reporter was so intrigued by what she'd already seen and herd, that she HAD to go see for herself what this phenomina was all about ~ I'm thinking she got it
Eventually, we make our way to the venue @ Millersville Campus ~ on entering, of course we see Stephen and say hello. It is in that hallway that I meet in person Teri (Cynter) for the first time !! Gah- she is cute as a button ! It was wonderful to see all the different people I've met along the way and say hello to all of them again. I decided to go find my seat, because I also had another friend sitting close to me that I've been waiting to see for months ~ my friend Kimberly and her DH. As I run over for a hug, our dear Flowerpot is also sitting right in front of her ...more people filing in now, and I hear my name being called from every direction !!! I really had no idea how many people I've met over this journey the past few months, and it was really cool to see LOTS of you there, and to meet those of you in person that I hadn't before. I see some of my friends in the bleachers, and go over to say hi, and then I see Lisa (Wmarine) calling to me from the floor! I'll tell ya, I never got as many hugs ANYWHERE like I did that night ~ it was AWESOME. As it turns out, Sandy (Dreamin) , Wanda (Laurensilk) and Teri are sitting in the row right behind me...I know Mandy (Ragsqueen) was close there too, and Lisa, and who I figured out much later (like almost the end of the concert) was Robyn (Shadow Stroker) were right behind them.... I saw PTD in the 2nd row as well, but never got to talk to her..I'm sure I'm missing some of you-- feel free to speak-out!
Soooo after the many hugs and greetings.. the show was about to start (after the whole AI alumni/student contest) And Soul Finger starts: everyone gets up to dance and STAYS up dancing the whole show!! Part way thru the show, I realize I'm not the only one clapping..I turn to Sandy, and she's right there with me!! A Clapping Posse! I clap, dance, sing and generally have a great time at the concerts...usually no one around me is clapping as heartily as I am, so that was nice to have

Here's the set list:

Gonna Move
Give Me Tonight
Heart and Soul > Brown-eyed Handsome Man
Just to Feel That Way
My Friend
The Deal
Wherever I Lay My Hat
Soul Thing
Heaven Knows > * With “Give Up the Funk” (Parliament) tease The Maze
The Runaround With “Big Boss Man” (Jimmy Reed) tease
The Right Place

Encores :

Hope She’ll Be Happier
Take the Long Way Home

There were sooo many great moments in this set, at this venue, which I'm sure most of you have read already, but I just can't help myself... The call and response with Brian and Taylor that night was phenomenol! I swear I herd gasps, and people stopped breathing. We got to 'rush' the stage for the encores....and the Happier intro with the one eye was funny as heck! TTLWH ...no words ............

And Taylor's words after he left the stage : Thank you guys ~ see y'all later .... not a dry eye in the house. The way he entered our lives, is the way he exited ~ pure genius

Have a wonderful rest Taylor ~ we'll be waiting on the other side  


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Peace, Lori

Marcy's recap

Hi all,
I am finally coming down a little bit from the WHOOO!!!!! WHAT A WEEKEND......WHAT A KICK ASS CONCERT......WHAT A MAN!!!!!

I may have to do this recap in sections as I am having big time problems with my lovely computer....

A crisp sunny Lancaster day just like I pictured it.....A warm invitig hotel filled with lots of familiar faces gathering to celebrate a very special man and we all knew it would be a concert to remember....

more to follow......

We had a buffet lunch at the beautiful Willow Valley Inn....lots of catching up and Taylor talk. Back to the hotel to get ready for my M&G!!!!. On to Millersville University....beautiful campus.....Homecoming weekend....very cool.

After arriving at the gym we were taken upstairs to a classroom for our meeting with Taylor. There is only one word for him Saturday night, well maybe two, ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!! He was soooooo relaxed and happy when we spoke....he looked so refreshed and bright eyed. We spoke for awhile.....he sat back in his chair with his arms crossed...we laughed.....what a beautiful memory!! Talking to him is like putting on a pair of warm cozy slippers.....so comfortable. There are a couple of pics on the Boogie Board.....As soon as I can I will post them and more here.....just need a little instruction.

The concert was fantastic. Taylor bolted on the stage landing in a "surfer stance" with arms outstretched and a big grin on his face.....that smile hardly left his face the entire concert....more to follow.

As you probably know by now Felix wasn't there and he was missed but I thought the drummer who filled in for him was really good. His name is Randy (or Randy Meister as Tay called him) and he just got off tour with Five for Fighting.....Taylor did Long Way Home as his last number.....did a back and forth with Brian....mindblowing!! Of course he boogied with Josh....He acknowledged a woman who came all the way from England as well as the NESP (yes!) his mid atlantic fans....he thanked all of us.....and lots of us were there from all over the country...His first encore, Happier with Him was amazing....the expressions were priceless....one of those times he goes inside himself and becomes the song. Right before he sang someone shouted out that their mother loved him!! In a few seconds he said that he thought of something really funny to say but wouldn't.....we prompted him to say it but he said "No" as only he can....with that devil look on his face!

We all rushed the stage when he did "Long Way Home"....looking up at him playing the harp....he makes that harp cry....and me too. He left the stage playing.....it was a sad moment but hopefully it won't be long before we see him again. Like I told him, after a much needed rest. He told me that he will try his best to do an acoustic gig sometime in the future.....yes!!

Brian, boogie, Josh, Randy and Loren hung around after and we got to say Hi and thank them again for a fabulous tour!! After we went round back and saw the man himself again....he was chatting and signing autographs....he went back in, donned a ski cap and came back out again!! Awesome!!

We had a big after party and it was really fun.....After breakfast the next morning we said our goodbyes....What a ride it has been.....eight months of non-stop fantastic music, fun and great people....can't wait till the next tour. A big shout out to all of the wonderful women I shared this adventure with! See you soon.....

MaryBeth's recap

Well I dont have pics but those are sweet! Heres my recap. Left Sat morn alone because my friend backed out on me but thats ok I definately needed tha alone time. So on my way through CT what do I hear on the radio... Want Ads which is an awesome tag and I'll never like it any other way. Sorry Honey Cones. So now this I see as a good omen. I had a great ride and got there in about 5 1/2 hrs. So I go to the hotel and watch ' A Time To Kill ' and there is a scene where they show a hotel or motel in the movie and I cant believe what its called...Bill Will hotel can you believe that? Another good omen. Now I call my friend Leora from hq and we'll meet up in the parking lot of the gymnasium. I can get to PA but somehow cant find this friggin gym lol. So now its getting late and Leora calls and says she cant find a 6 pack of beer you have to buy a case and the beer cans are the small ones so then I tell her I'll se her inside when she gets here. I go in and see Stephen and say hello for a few and then check out my seat. Which I need to thank Judy from hq for because it was front row center! Lots of famillar faces...Lori and Diane and others. Im really bad at names but at least 10 to 12 from the NE area. They do the Vile Idol which is ok but I want Taylor we all did at this point. So Soul Finger comes on and everyone is up. It was the whole band except for the drummer. I have a funny story about him but I'll save that for later. Some security guy tries to make us sit but I just look at him and then shake my head no as did others so finally he gave up.
Finally here he comes to Gonna Move and he sounds awesome. Of course. Smiling havin a good time. Im sure you've seen the vids on the boggie so I wont go into it except to say I was so glad I went. The solos by each band member was incredible and Im soory to say that there werent as many young ppl there as Id hoped. Im sure by now you've heard about the shout out How friggin cool is that! WOOOOOOO! The encores left me speechless. Just beautiful. Now for the drummer story. The song was LWH and you know how at the beginning there is lots of drums and then Taylor does the harp well this guy started the song you know its like 2 or 3 times well this guy takes the opportunity to keep soloing at the beginning part and Taylor and Loren were cracking up. Just when you thought he was done he did it again so now its like 6 times and the band is laughing hard now and then the guy throws the stick in the air after the solo and more laughing and finally Taylor says something 'OK enough of him' omg it was priceless. Oh yeah for the encores we of course rush the stage and Lori and I are really close. When he finally gets to start long way home Lori and I are singing and there was a Taylor Brian duel! WOOOO HOOOO! I heard somewhere that he cut 2 songs because of the drummer but I dont if true. Lori got a set list so maybe she will put it up. Got to say hi to Al an Brian and I guess outside Taylor was going to sign stuff but I didnt know where. I later found out it was in the back but didnt make it there which was ok because someone said there was a couple of ppl being fiesty. Dont know the truth so Im choosing my words carefully. Everyone went out after but I took full advantage of my hotel alone time where I could sleep late and just chill. Im not a loner but because of being a single mom I always have the kiddies. So now I feel refreshed and it as soooo worth ever hour in the car. M

My Millersville recap:  You don't need to include it or edit where you need to, cause it's long (as usual!)

Thursday night, Lori drove through 3 monsoons from Massachusetts to get to my house. Bright and early Friday morning, Lori and I drive to Addie's house and off we went to Amish Country.  Addie has a Garmin and I argued with the damn thing all the way down to Mary's house, but we got there!  I had one bag, Addie had one bag and Lori had approximately 2,057 bags.we stayed overnight at a friend from SOS's house and had a great dinner with 13 of us.

As we drove through Newark, Delaware and the Univ of Delaware, we saw The Sign.  We always see A Sign.  Here is the Millersville's  Sign:



Friday
On the way to Lancaster:  What a beautiful day, sunny and about 70 degrees.  We saw lots of Amish in the fields (using gas weed whackers??????), saw their buggies and we did get a quick glimpse of several Amish people around tables in a farm yard having a picnic.  The farms are so neat and clean.  I missed seeing the laundry stretched from the roof to the yard, but the other SOS car saw it.









AND OF COURSE!! Would a Taylor concert be complete without the ubiquitous Waffle House?  Do you think the Waffle House people are wondering why so many woman are snapping pictures of their franchises this year?

One of our friends at SOS, LindaJ is from England and we arranged to get her a M&G with Taylor.  Mary had won a M&G , but wasn't going to go.  We convinced her to go and do the M&G with Linda, which delighted Linda!  Suddenly my cell phone rings.  For over a week, I had been calling every newspaper and television station within 100 miles of Lancaster to tell them about this lovely woman that had come all the way from England to see Taylor Hicks.  No one called me back.  At about the last minute, this really nice woman from the Lancaster Sunday News, Suzanne Cassidy,  calls and wants to speak to us.  She asked me many excellent questions about the fans, the music and our feelings about Taylor.  The whole room was helping me answer the questions and we talked about how we are all intelligent professional woman and talked about the music. So she asks me the question.....how many concerts have you been to..... When I said...well...25, she gasped and decided to come to the concert to see Taylor for herself!   Then I gave her to Linda and it turns out Suzanne once lived in the same area of England that Linda does!  When we talked to Suzanne, we really stressed that the reason we all come to many concerts was the magic of Taylor's music and performances, but also because our fansite has become a family that loves and supports each other.

After the article came out, we were disappointed that it was more about the "obsessive" aspects than the music and family aspects, but what can you do - it was press.


FRONT PAGE




FRONT PAGE OF SECTION B




ARTICLE

We all get in various cars and it's off to find Millersville University (easy) and Pucillo Gymnasium (not so easy).

(Carsick, I have throw up experience #1 of the weekend.)

Linda and Mary tell us all about the M&G and they are on top of the world!



It's time!!!!






Before the concert, Wonder was able to give the Ringmaster of the Soul Circus hat to Boogie to give to Taylor. I was involved in a project where we collected positive press from newspapers and online media from all over the country about Taylor from June-September. We put it in a looseleaf folder with sections for Concerts, Book, Appearances, CD, etc. and gave it to Boogie and Josh to give to Taylor. I told them about Linda coming from England and hoped that Taylor might give her a shout out from the stage. They said that you never know....maybe he would. :D

I ran around greeting friends from the various boards that I have met over the course of the last year. How enjoyable it is to see these friends at Taylor concerts!

The concert:

Everyone has already talked about how enjoyable this concert was. Taylor was happy, laid back and playful. He paced the stage back and forth constantly and made it harder than ever to get good photos! The lighting director was on some type of very effective LSD and the mist and colored lighting were something to really groove on. The seats Mary got for us were fantastic. Musically it was good and for me, it was one of the most enjoyable, maybe because of the wonderful company around me. Blues rubbed my back nearly the entire concert, which had a definite effect on the videos I was taking, but it was worth it. :D

the planned setlist:



the actual setlist:


Gonna Move
Give Me Tonight
Heart and Soul
- Brown Eyed Handsome Man ( Chuck Berry )
Just To Feel That Way
My Friend
The Deal
Wherever I Lay My Hat
Soul Thing
Heaven Knows
- What'd I Say ( Ray Charles )
-Give Up the Funk (Parliament) - this is the song with the "they're laughing at ya" lyric
The Maze
The Runaround
- Big Boss Man ( Jimmy Reed )
The Right Place

Encore:
Happier With Him ( Bill Withers )
Take The Long Way Home ( Supertramp )

The concert:

When we sat down in our seats, I was in the second row behind a mountain of a man - at least 300 pounds, but thankfully he never stood up.

Some people complained that the band was not as tight as usual and they may have been right - they only did 3 concerts in 6 weeks, but I just never notice that stuff. I thought they were great.

Loren had some nice piano solos - more than usual and one beautiful bluesy solo on "Soul Thing".

Brian's sax was spectacular and the dueling sax/harp on "The Right Place" and "Long Way Home" was achingly exciting and beautiful.

Josh and Boogie were terrific on "Heart and Soul"

Some pics:

Gonna Move:

Give Me Tonight:

Just to Feel That Way:





Harp: