NESP Forum

Pretrip from Margaux:

Amy, Linda S and I will be enjoying the shows in Myrtle Beach and Asheville. I'm sure we'll have lots of stories. But if you don't want us to share the surprises of the concert, we'll try to be good.

Amy and I have vowed that we won't read any recaps from this week's shows, so that we can be total Taylor Solo Tour virgins.

We will be wearing our purple Mardi Gras beads, representing NESP on the road. I guess the idea has caught on! I personally scored more beads tonight, I had to drink two margaritas at a Mardi Gras party to earn them, but the sacrifice was well worth it. Anything for Taylor, I guess.

Notes from the road:
Amy and Peggy just called to say "hi". They got meet and greets and so did Linda They said the show was amazing. They went to the one in Myrtle Beach, and are heading to Asheville now.

Peggy printed out a copy of our T shirt design for the toss, and
TAYLOR SIGNED IT We'll be auctioning it off for Studio By The Tracks. Very cool NESP news!!

I'm sure they will have lots of stories to report when they get back on
Monday!!




Recap from Margaux
Myrtle Beach was Taylor's first "general admission" gig, and he came out and said it was his coolest gig ever. Which probably was true until last night in Asheville.

Supertramp was in sound check, but not in the show. He tagged Let's Get it On to "The Maze". Yes it works. On "Wherever I Lay My Hat" he tagged "Night Shift", and "Chain Gang". Between Asheville and Myrtle Beach he played every song from the CD except "Places I've Been". Other Taylor originals, not on the CD, during the two nights were "Heart and Soul", "Hell of a Day" -- with an audience sing along, Taylor was tickled to death! and "Hold On To Your Love", complete with that purring thing he does, which we decided must be a transferrable skill (Liz you do promise that Taylor does NOT read this board??) ......
The opening sequence in MB was Gonna Move/Heaven Knows/Maze with no break, which was HOT. The Right Place is amazing. Runaround is the last song before the encore. In Asheville, he's sung the verses to Runaround, he says "We got two minutes to play before we cut to a commercial break". Then a meaningful pause, and a mischevious grin. "NOT ANYMORE!' Break out the harp and go to church.

The song that slayed me though is "Compared to What" which is a 60s R+B/Jazz cover. It's about halfway through the set, beyond intense. Taylor took me way past church in this song. Not sure I can describe it.

Encore in Myrtle Beach was Takin it to the Streets, which makes me happy. Taylor should not give this song up, to me it's not an American Idol song, it's the song he picked to show off his stuff to American Idol.

Encore in Asheville was straight out of the pre-AI recordings: Naked in the Jungle/Dance to the Music/Take You Higher followed by Doobie Brothers Long Train Running ("Without Love, Where would you be now?"). Taylor could have gone on all night, and we understand he went off and did that someplace else.

At the MB meet and greet, I said we were really looking forward to seeing Taylor at Hampton Beach, the guy with Taylor says "The Casino!" (I wonder if they think it's a gambling casino). I gave Taylor a print of our Hampton Beach Mullet Toss, and have him sign one and tell him we want to auction it off for Studio by the Tracks. "My people!" says the other guy.

From AmyRebo:
Pure joy...that's how I would describe his face watching and listening to the crowd do the sing along on Hell of a Day. He made the band be quiet so he could hear us. And, we sounded pretty good! He let us go on for quite a while.

After the show, Margaux:

I posted my Myrtle Beach/Asheville concert and M+G recap in Tour Talk, but here's a cute story: After the Myrtle Beach show, Amy, our friend Andrea from Wisconsin, and I head to find someplace to eat, we find a Waffle House as we know Taylor's been seen at those. No luck, no buses.

In the morning, Amy and I start out for Asheville, stop at a Steak and Shake (comparable to Friendly's) for breakfast. Amy still has her House of Blues armband on. The waitress says, "Did you go to the concert? Taylor and his band ate here last night."

It figures! She wasn't working when they were in, but she told us she tried to look on the security tape to catch him.

In honor of the One-Year anniversary of my First Taylor Solo Show I dug up my recap from Myrtle Beach. It's funny - - - and I only wish I knew then what I know now!!!

This trip was so much more than about the music. It was a chance for me to take a leap in life that I haven't taken in a long time. Making plans to meet people that I've not ever met before many many miles from home. My mate on the road, Margaux, and I left for Charlotte, NC on Thursday, March 1st at approx 3:10 and was due to change planes at JFK and then continue on to Charlotte for arrival at 7:30. It would have been nice if that had happened. Our flight out of Portland, ME was on time. We were delayed at JFK due to horrible storms in the south. We finally arrived in Charlotte at about 10:30. We managed to keep ourselves entertained though due to JetBlue's DirecTV channels. Because of this, I managed to see Taylor on Dr. Phil in the afternoon and then watched the American Idol results show that evening. I kept trying to see everyone else's TVs in front of them and noticed a few watching Taylor and the good doctor chatting it up. Many more were tuned in to AI though...

So...10:30 arrival. We were expecting another friend (Andrea) in from WI. Her flight out of Minneapolis went to Atlanta and there she had to stay for 8 hours until they finally got her into Charlotte at approximately 10:45. However, her luggage was nowhere to be found. She filed a lost bag claim and was told they had no way of tracking where it had gone...if I were that incompetent at work, I would be fired. She was fearing the worst, but we were all so tired. We loaded up the rental car and headed off to find a townhouse belonging to Laura in the rain and wind. Amazingly enough, someone was watching over us and we made it there in record time. It was so great to meet everyone. Even Laura's hubby was waiting up for us (1 am at this point). We did chat for a bit about the days experiences, a little Taylor talk, loved on Chester the dog a bit and then decided if we wanted to have any energy for Myrtle Beach we'd best try to get some sleep. Friday was going to be a huge day...bigger than I anticipated!

Friday started out well. I woke and discovered that Andrea's bag had arrived at Charlotte airport so she & Laura had taken off to go retrieve it. We checked email and found that Margaux had won a meet & greet. Taylor's fan site apparently hates my name as I don't get emails and can't get onto the site period. I showered, dressed and eventually we left to head for the beach. It's about a 3 hour drive...took us a bit longer as we had to wait for a HUGE train. That's something I haven't had to do in AGES!

Cell phone started ringing about half way there. There were several ladies in the beach area that were waiting to meet for lunch at the House of Blues around 2pm. I spoke with AgingHippie and she informed me she had won a meet & greet. I explained that Margaux had won one too but I never get emails from the site. Ever. But I would check the box office 'just in case'. These are my other co-horts in planning the National Soul Patrol Convention "Party for the Patrol". We arrived at the beach house shortly before 2 to drop our stuff and make a quick 'costume' change (so glad I did!).

We followed our beach expert to the House of Blues and pulled right in behind the now infamous (well to the soul patrol at least) maroon bus. We casually walked out behind the HoB to see what was taking place and did get to see the band enter the building. We waited for a few minutes but we're really not the 'stalker' type so we headed inside to meet up with the other ladies for lunch. When I meet Taylor I don't want to do it inhaling bus fumes. ()

Inside were several ladies (Carole, Aronna, Linda (AgingHippie) & hubby, Betty & hubby) waiting to meet me and the others arriving with me. Linda grabbed me and says 'I'm going to pick up my meet & greet pass and you're going to just check and see if you might.' She actually told me that if she could, she would give me hers because she's just enjoying what she is doing and doesn't feel it necessary to meet him. (which I thought was generous)

Box office: Linda gets her meet & greet pass and says "Could you please check and see if Amy has one as she hasn't had internet access for a couple of days" The girl asks for my full name, turns and thumbs through a stack of envelopes, turns back to me and says "Do you have a picture ID with you?" My mouth just drops...and I say "You're kidding me right?" and she shows me the envelope. Somehow I manage to pull my license out of my wallet and hand it to her. She gives me my badge and my sticker for my shirt to wear in.

I return to the lunch group and tell them what just happened and they all hug me. Andrea & I start brainstorming for something to say to him. (some appropriate, some not) I'm basically shaking...and unable to eat much. I knew I would react that way but it's just enough time to gather my thoughts and settle my nerves down. 5:30 is the magic time to arrive by the ticket window to head up into the green room. Before this, we stand outside and can hear the soundcheck/rehearsal. We heard Give Me Tonight (which I knew he had not done yet on this tour) and a Supertramp cover (which I later find out he does at the Gray Eagle).

5:30 arrives!

Meet & Greet time!

This will probably be the shortest section of the re-cap, because I flat out don't recall most of it.

We were herded into a line and of course, no one wanted to go first. We got our first glimpse of the inside of the House of Blues as we were taken inside, upstairs and to a hall that ran behind the stage area. I was about 6th in line, behind the two other ladies from New England. Standing in the hallway I could hear him talking and I had that moment when your breath catches in your throat and you have to swallow really hard. I was determined to get through this and not make a fool of myself. After all, how many months had I waited for this moment!?! As I got closer I could see him seated at a table signing other items. He was wearing the shirt he wore on Martha Stewart, the army green one with a t-shirt underneath.

AgingHippie went first in our New England trio. She presented him with a Harmony for the Soul convention t-shirt (which are really cool by the way) and talked to him about that end of things. Margaux went before me and had him sign her CD and told him about the fundraiser taking place in NH. She showed him our t-shirt design for the Mullet Toss and explained that the money would be going to Studio By The Tracks. Both he and the gentleman seated behind him seemed impressed. Then it was my turn.

The first thing I remember him saying was "Hello Dear, how are you?"

And I could speak! I said "I'm fine, how are you?"

He asked for my name and repeated it as he signed the front of the cd and the disc itself. I explained that I had flown down from Maine to see this show and that we had heard the soundcheck and it sounded great. I have no idea what he said to me at that point (definite TIBO) I had also brought my Harmony t-shirt and I explained that I was part of the convention committee and would he sign that for me as well. To which he said "cool, yeah sure". Then, the gentleman (Bill - which I totally did not remember!!! ) was saying lean in for a picture...the camera flashed and I think I heard "Thanks for coming" and it was over. I don't even remember walking out the hall. The next thing I remember was AgingHippie & Margaux waiting for me by the railing of the balcony above the stage. We came back downstairs to meet up with Andrea and get in line for the show. I think it was then that I had an Oh.My.God. moment when I showed her the photo we had taken. The picture came out so good which made me oh so very happy. I left my Meet & Greet sticker on all night and it turned out to be a good conversation starter. (not that you really need that at one of Taylor's shows...just talking about him to anyone will get the ball rolling.)

After the meet & greet and coming back down to earth (a short trip let me tell you) we lined up for the show. Thankfully we had eaten lunch and were able to enter the "pass the line" line. This was a line different from the "Crash the Barricade buffet" line. I assumed that the buffet people would be let in to the show first, then us, then the poor souls in the line that snaked its way around the building and out into the parking lot. This line was a very good mix of young, old, men, women. We had the security wand run over us (which I think the young man doing it was having a little TOO much fun) and he commented "No cameras, please, or at least don't use your flash." Hmmmmm...I wondered what that was going to mean. No one had a camera with them, but there were many cell phones going in. The metal detector never even picked mine up that was securely in my pants pocket.

Surprisingly, our line was let in first so we were probably part of the first 100 or so to enter the building. We went right to the front to stake our claim and were about 5 people deep from the stage. My friend Andrea says, "Look how close we are the microphone". My anxiety was running high. I was ready for after American Idol Taylor to be on that stage. I chatted with some of the people around me that had no clue what was about to take place. I know a lot of them were expecting AI Taylor. They asked about my meet & greet sticker. I explained to them about the Ray Charles doll on the stage and how it's going to travel from city to city.

8pm, The Greyhounds took the stage. They were very good, very uptempo and very thankful to be there. They had pretty good interaction with the crowd (responding to the girls that thought the drummer was "hawt"). Their approximately 45 minute set was entertaining but I did hear some "Come on Taylor" comments behind me and one young girl near me started yawning. I didn't care...the anticipation was building and I would have stood there all night waiting.

Shortly after 9 the headliner took the stage. "Ladies & Gentleman, Taylor Hicks!" The crowd went crazy. The band was tight. My heart was leaping to see him enter the stage. The switch flipped on and the performer Taylor was in front of me...15 feet in front of me. He opened seamlessly with Gonna Move, Heaven Knows and The Maze. Very uptempo, hot rocking numbers to get the crowd rolling. The Myrtle Beach crowd was amazing. Several near me did not know the words and 2 girls in front of me kept shrugging their shoulders (and one said to her friend at one point, all I can hear is her and gestured towards me...OOOPS! No apology here!) but it didn't affect their enthusiasm. The Let's Get It On tag caught me a little off guard and I probably screamed a little...how can you not with the facial expressions he gives you. The most memorable song, to me, was Hell of a Day. The crowd started singing along and he told the band to quiet down. The look on his face during that moment was pure joy. He had just said this was the coolest gig he had ever done and the first House of Blues he had ever performed at. And now, the crowd was singing along to a virtually unknown song to the rest of the world. Pretty good for an artist that was struggling to make ends meet a little over a year ago. That's a photograph I have in my head that I'll carry with me always. (and he added Tupelo Honey! very cool!)

Compared to What was Taylor on a mission to prove a point. He succeeded. I'm not sure if he was ready to bury those "Is Taylor an American Idol flop" naysayers or just blow the doors off the place so the concert-goers could bury them for him. This song was absolutely incredible. No words to describe it and when you've all seen him do it for yourselves, you'll completely understand. It transcended all that I expected to see from him in one song.

He nailed Just to Feel That Way. I think he has to do the other songs to warm his voice up and that was fine with me. Heart & Soul was great; I love the Brown-Eyed Handsome Man tag. (Might he do the WHOLE song at some point!?!) Wherever I Lay My Hat was great, more audience participation and joy on his face. Young Turks was a surprise (I didn't read set-lists prior to seeing this show). He does this in almost rap fashion and how he keeps breathing while doing this is beyond me! I love it and hope he does it continually for others to see. The Right Place was loved by the crowd. I love how he slows with his hand in his pocket to help keep him still. I wish the nay-saying crowd could take a listen to that number. The Runaround was hot...no other words for it...the crowd loved it (complete with hand gestures for "all I get from you is your runaround"). Harp FINALLY showed up and it was on fire! Taylor leaves the stage (I see Ted with his video camera...behind the scenes footage!) and returns shortly to perform Taking It To the Streets. He owns this song. I think the AI folks were happy to see this. I just think he owns it, AI or not. The harp was hot...he even tossed it to the stage floor as though it were. It was a great performance.

OK...show over...time to move out of the House. That proves difficult for some when you've been on your feet for about 3 hours (or more!).

My Carpy Cell Phone Pics - but at least you can see the House of Blues logo clearly





And my lovely little meet & greet photo -

God Bless this person whoever they are! Love that little dance he does when he turns his back to the crowd!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTdROlke4kY

Thats a really,really good picture of you guys together.Nice recap it was fun to read, its funny because I can feel your butterflies .

Amy - it was such a joy to read this and enjoy the excitement! After a whole year and many concerts, it is always so thrilling to read these accounts! Thanks!

Things that make me smile, reading my recaps ..

Evidence that NESP can take full responsibility for inventing the term "Transferrable Skill".

The Heaven Knows/Maze segue only got hotter through the tour, peaking at Cohasset - AND WE WERE THERE.

I'm sure that the first ever "Compared to What" will always be one of my top 10 Taylor moments. Remembering this gets me through all the cheap-shot naysayers, cause I can think "They never saw THIS" and "Let's see your Idol do THAT."

Of course the other guy was Bill, but no one had introduced us yet.

Went hunting for something else in my folders earlier this afternoon and looky what I found !
Not sure why is is where it is but I was thrilled to find it - - am now wondering if I have Ashville tucked away too ......

And before I forget - think the Myrtle Beach HOB crowd hung on to the record for the most Chain Gang call and reponds - I said 6 but my DH said he counted 7.

No One does a set list like Basenji ..... it makes me sick that the Spring show cellcert archives with the "color commentary" are lost

OK thats hillarious! Good find AH