Concert Reviews
State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ
June 27, 2003
The show was not till 8 o'clock but my daughter and I got there at about 7:10. It is only about 20 minutes from where I live. They didn't let people into the theater until 7:30. As usual most of the people were in their mid-forties. My daughter said she felt weird because she was one of only a few teens with their moms.
After they let us in at 7:30, we sat in anticipation of seeing DC. One thing that disappointed me was that they sold nothing at all; no T- shirts or programs. Last year when I went to the Paper Mill playhouse they sold programs. It might just have been the venue. Oh well, I'll have to order the T-shirt over the internet.
The theater was pretty full and our seats were pretty good too, although we were not close enough to shake hands. As usual the band played for a few minutes before he came on and they were great. They have a brand new girl drummer who was very good. she was pretty young but she played great. Everyone was talking about her after the show.
They introduced David and everyone went wild. He came out in his black jeans and a metallic red shirt. He opened with 'Heartbeat'. I think he opens most of his concerts with this song from what I've seen and heard. He came out very energetic considering that it had been about 97 degrees all day in the middle of a horrible heat wave that we are still having. I can not remember all the songs he sang in order but I know which ones he sang. After Heartbeat he talked to us about being from NJ and being back here and being so hot and that you really sweat being in NJ. Pretty good coming from a guy who makes his home now in Florida.
After that he sang Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque . The other songs he did were I Woke Up in Love This Morning, Cherish, Rock Me Baby, I Saw Her Standing There, a blues song that I did not know the name of, Summer days, Come on Get Happy, I'll Meet You Halfway, No Bridge, Hollywood Nights and I Think I Love You. I did not like the way he did Come On Get Happy. It was a little too bouncy for me.
After a couple of songs he started telling us that he was pretty punchy from coming here. He said they spent all day flying from Florida to San Diego the day before and after the concert in San Diego they took the red eye and flew all night to get here. He said they were really tired and hot. I think it was poor booking to book a concert the night before you have to fly five or six hours to get here the next day.
He went on to say that the night before they played outside at San Diego it was 57 and freezing and the next day here it was 97 and humid. They were worried they were going to get sick.
You could tell they were all tired and hot especially David. The sweat was dripping off of him. He kept wiping his face with this white towel that people kept hoping he would throw out so some one could have it. If he did I think it might have caused a riot.
My daughter was embarrassed because everyone got up and was dancing in the isles. It was so much fun. You can just feel the energy coming off of David into the audience. I know a lot of things are not going to be in order but I am writing as I think of things. My daughter was embarrassed but she was really impressed with the way David talked and interacted with the audience.
Someone gave him the cover of the Life Magazine to autograph and he did. I have that copy of the magazine; I got it for Mothers Day. I put it in a frame so nothing happens to it and I hung it in our spare room. Anyway sorry to get off track. A lot of people gave him things to sign but he signed a few and said if he did this all night he would not have time to sing. I did not think to even bring anything to get signed, probably because I thought I was going to get a program. They said the reason for this was because he did not want any of the autographed items sold on ebay. I can understand that.
During the first half of the show, I think it was Summer Days but I'm not 100% sure, a girl put her daughter on the stage by David. She was four and David sang to her. It was so cute. He told her she was beautiful; she was a blue eyed blond. He asked her name and if she wanted to be in show business and she said no. He also joked around and asked her mother if the little girl had a father. The girl's mother said yes. He said she looks so much like my neice it's frightening. He joked with the mother and said are you sure I'm not her father. He finished singing to her and talked about the concert in Atlantic City the next night. That one was probably a little better because they had time to sleep, eat and rest from the last two nights. Some people were of course going to that concert too. I was envious, I wished I had gone to that one too.
After that, there was an intermission. I was surprised because the last concert I went to he played straight through and from what I hear most of the other concerts are like that too. This time as I said before they were really tired and David by this time was really sweaty. Everyone joked that he was probably taking a nap. It was a 15 minute intermission but I think it was more like 20.
He came out for the second half with a bright yellow long sleeved shirt. He opened the show with I think, I Woke up in Love This Morning. After he did the first song , his back-up singer gave him a letter to read.
He started to read it and the whole place went quiet. It was from a girl's husband who said that the whole family was in a head on collision. Everyone in the car had non life threatening injuries but her. I forget what her name was. Well, as he started to read this most people in the audience started to get teary eyed, as did my daughter and I. She was in intensive care for four months and they did not know if she was going to make it or not. After that she went to Kessler Institute here in Nj. It's the same one Chris Reeve was in. The doctors told her family that they should talk to her and to play music that she likes to hear and was familiar with. They played David's music over and over again to the point where that was all the staff heard. But he said little by little she started to come out of it and got better. They wanted to thank him. The whole place started clapping for him and the girl. It was really touching. The girl and her sister-in-law went to the front and took a picture with him. They asked if he would autograph a poster they had of him. It had to be five feet tall. It was the Cherish album cover. He asked what her name was and had to ask how to spell Michelle because there is like 90 ways to spell Michelle he said.
Every one clapped after that again and he talked about 9-11 again and no one should take anything in life for granted, the big or the small things. He also talked about performing and feeling people love him was what it was all about, that he truly felt that way. About how you could feel it in the air.
Next I couldn't hear what song someone wanted him to do next but, he said three times that the band did not know the song and that he would have to do it another time. He did a few more songs and talked about his other concert again and told everyone to come. He ended as usual by saying that he had one song that he would sing till the day he dies which is ITILY. He thanked everyone and said God bless you like he always does. This is what I like about him. He said goodbye and the band went off. A couple of minutes later he came back out with the first shirt he had on because the second one was so sweaty you could not believe. It looked like he was out in the rain. For the encore he did Hollywood Nights which was great. He said goodbye and the lights came up.
I was on such a high that nothing could bring me down that night. We went outside before we went to the parking garage to see if we could see him. We could not. There was only one exit behind the theater but I think he went out right away. It's really funny to still see people waiting outside to see him like we were twelve again. My daughter and I went to eat after the concert and we met two women who were in the first row. They did not get an autograph but they got to shake hands. Jokingly I said can I touch your hand. After dinner I went home and collapsed into bed. I think my daughter was afraid to admit that she was impressed with him and the concert. I was on a high for about 3 days I can't wait for the next one.
Laura
