Concert Reviews
The Bradford PA show
October 21, 2006
Casino Hollywood. San Felipe, NM
The drive to Santa Fe was pretty nice, other than some snow flurries going through Southern Colorado. Once we hit New Mexico it was clear and sunny. It took us about 7 hours to get to Santa Fe, and the casino was 27 miles from there, so plenty of time to get ready. (The show was halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.) It was a total of 830 miles there and back home.
I called Joyce from my hotel and we decided to meet at the casino at 7 p.m. My husband wasn't planning on going to the show but the alternative was to have him gambling in the casino while I was watching David, and I thought that could be expensive LOL, so I talked him into coming in to watch the show. Our seats were front row, center (most excellent!) but Norm felt stupid sitting there so he ended up sitting at the very end of the front row on the right side. Us girls stayed in the center LOL. Nancy and Diana were right next to us. The stage was only about 3 feet high, yay!
Right before the show started, several people came out from backstage, who I guess had won a Meet & Greet from the radio station. Nancy came from backstage! So tell us Nancy, how'd you do it????? Nancy told us that David was sick, he had a sinus infection. About then, the music started up..TIME FOR THE SHOW!
Terri introduced him, and there he was, oh my, isn't he darling???? He grabbed his guitar and HUSH started. He looked very happy, in a very good mood, didn't seem to be affected too much by his sinus infection, although I could see his nose was a little red. During the show he had to keep wiping his nose or blowing it, the poor baby! He muddled through, quite nicely, I barely noticed he was sick, except for a few songs he couldn't do like Lying to Myself.
After HUSH he put his guitar down and walked directly to the edge of the stage and put his arms out like he wanted a hug, and he was directly in front of ME! I jumped up and he took my hand, then bent down and kissed my cheek, kept holding my hand, and then let go and went to the microphone for HEARTBEAT. Or maybe he did that after Heartbeat, God I don't know, I was just so happy that he came right to me!
Shortly thereafter, he started Echo Valley. I glanced at Joyce, who was getting her cell phone out LOL. Just a little pre-planning LOL! When he came to the "operator" part he held out his hand to Joyce like he already knew she'd be ready, and of course she was, he did his "give me Echo Valley 26809" bit and then Terri said her "sorry you have reached a disconnected decade" thing. Then David re-opened her phone and looked at the picture inside, which was Joyce & David at the Nashville M&G. He looked at Joyce and smiled and nodded his head in approval, and then pointed to himself, then her, as if to say "Hey this is a pic of you and me!" Awww it was so nice!
When David introduced "Point Me In the Direction of Albuquerque" he went on and on about how happy he was to finally be able to play that song in New Mexico. He said people everywhere, all over the world, love that song, even though they probably have no clue where Albuquerque is!!! He said "it could be in the Bahamas for all they know!" and then he said, in a really cheesy Japanese-style impression "Point Me In Direction of Albuquerque" and it just sounded hilarious!
When it was time for the acoustic part, David grabbed his guitar and the battery pack went flying & the batteries went across the stage. Oooops!!!! He looked helpless and Frank came to the rescue and handed him a different guitar. David kept telling the backstage technicians that he couldn't hear his guitar but I think it was just that his ears were all plugged.
When he sang "Hide Your Love Away", the audience got the usual instructions to shout HEY after "2, 3, 4." but one guy yelled HEY about 1 second too late, after everyone else, and Diana said "Was that Norm?" (and I asked Norm later if it was him and he said no!) Somehow I can't see Norm over there yelling out HEY. Although he did admit that he liked the show and David was very funny.
At one point David asked if there was a doctor in the audience, and someone yelled out "Steve get up there!" and then David tried to get "Steve" to come up but he wouldn't. Poor David had to frequently use his towels to blow his nose. I doubt anybody took the towels from this show..if they did, ewwwwww!
Lots of girls got kisses and a few people got autographs, but if you don't bring a Sharpie, he won't sign!
He started singing Cherish, which is Joyce's song to give the lei. She grabbed it but a guy and girl wanted a picture with David, so he came down these little stairs from the stage and sat down and then someone else came and took their picture, well this took up most of the song! He finally got back on stage and headed to Joyce, who was holding the lei up ready to go over David's head. He hugged and kissed her and then wore the lei for about 2 songs, most excellent! That lei smelled & looked so lovely, it was intertwined with tiny red rose buds.
When ITILY started, us 5 girls in the front immediately jumped up and stood at the very foot of the stage, because by now you know, if you don't, you'll be buried in a matter of seconds by everyone else! David made his way from one end to the other. When he got to me, he again put his arms out, and I threw my arms around his whole body and squeezed tight! His mouth and microphone were right at my ear and he didn't even back off.
I felt so connected to him at this show. More than ever before. He has really become so loving and grateful to his fans. His recognition of us is clear. All the trips to all the shows have paid off. BIG SIGH. I love him so.
After the show Norm said he really enjoyed seeing me have fun, and I think it was a good experience for him to see that I'm really not doing anything wrong and David really does respond to us girls like I always tell him, I'm not making it up!
Joyce and I usually wait for Terri to come out after the show and we chat a bit. This time Norm wanted a picture with Terri (he used to love Candace so much, he misses her LOL). Terri was most gracious as always and I'm sure it will be a wonderful picture.
It's 3 days later and I still can't stop thinking about how wonderful David was to us all.
