Great Night in Green Bay

It has been a wonderful night for all who went to Green Bay Concert #2 and an extra special night for me. I am having to type this with just my left hand so as not to wipe any of the essence of Keith off the right one : )!! But more about that later.

My sister, who I am trying desperately to infect with urbanitis, accompanied me up north to the world of Cheeseheads. We did pass a couple cheeseries (is that a word?) and a volkswagon painted like a cheese on our journey. Things are different here – funny turn lanes, 3 wheel bicycle cabs, and other cultural distinctions I noticed during our trip. But the Resch Center is a nice venue – no nosebleed seats, and, as usual, the catwalk extended way farther than the venue seating chart has suggested, making many folks happy. There was a good crowd for the second night in town – not absolutely sold out (the far end of the arena had empty seats) - but everywhere else appeared to be full. And like Iowa, there were no sitters in Wisconsin – the entire arena seemed to be on their feet for Keith’s full performance.

The Wreckers changed their set tonight. The first 2 songs they sang I had not heard before – one was about “Different Church, Same Songs” but I don’t recall the other. They also performed Tennessee tonight, which they have been omitting lately, instead of “Cigarettes”. There was a little onstage performance flirtation between Jessica and Jason. My only complaint was that their sound seemed to be turned up quite high, so my ears were ringing by the time they finished their set.

It seemed like it took a little longer for the crew to set up for Keith tonight, or maybe I was just extra anxious. But in fact the whole audience seemed infused with an electric anticipation. Several times there were screams or excited “its starting” murmurs running through the crowd long before the heart began to grow on the video screen – so much so that periodically people would stand up and look around to see if they were missing some beginning that others were seeing. Kind of reminded me of the vibe in the crowds the year that Kenny Chesney began his shows with a surprise rising out of the floor in the center of the arena. Tonight it felt like people were just wired, expecting that Keith might surprise them in a similar way.

For the first time I was seated immediately next to the catwalk in row P. Oh my what seats those were!! Since it was my first time next to the guardrail surrounding the catwalk I started out the evening by checking it out. Could I shove that rail any closer to the walk? Nope – it is one sturdy fence! Can I climb on the rail to get a little higher? Yes! Nicely the vertical bars are spaced a foot’s width apart and a horizontal bar near the bottom (which I could stand on, if precariously) would get me up another 8 or 9 inches. Could I reach the catwalk? Yes – but just close to the edge. I was ready to make the most of my position!

Keith was wearing his favorite shirt with the tiny holes in the shoulder and some scrumptious jeans, smudged with what looked like brown dirt down the legs, but fitting oh so well. He said he was happy to be in Green Bay for a second night, that they had had a great time cycling through the beautiful countryside, and he loved riding in the state that manufactures Harleys.

The setlist was the usual but tonight, in particular, I was happy to be able to predict most of his ventures down the catwalk. When they made their first trip down the walk (is that at the end of Faster Car?) I hopped up on my perch as they were about to return to stage, stuck out my arm, and YES – got a slap/squeeze from Keith!! I was so tickled – jumped down and just kind of held out that hand, grinning, for my sister to see ( and she is laughing at me – probably looked something like a kid proudly holding out that first bloody lose tooth that finally came out!)

I never realized just how much “traffic” there is in that little space between the catwalk and the guardrail. Cameramen and staff people are scooting up and down that path throughout the evening. I first noticed that when a crouching staff person crept up along side me with a microphone stand, paused until the right moment, and then lifted it to the catwalk right in front of me. OMG !! I was exactly at the spot that Keith was going to perform ROS. I turned to my sister in amazement, explaining “He’s going to sing right here!!” I couldn’t reach him in the center of the catwalk but, my god, were my eyes touching him all over. Wonderful song, wonderful sight, I was torn about whether or not to let my camera come between us at that intimate moment. I was so shook up my voice wavered and cracked when I was trying to do my best when he asked us to sing. I could feel the beats when he drummed the ROS rhythm on the body of his guitar during the last chorus. I felt that I was living (in a positive way) a bit of Roberta Flack’s song (“ I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the sound, I felt he found my board posts, and read each one out loud” ) .

Time for the set on the small stage. Keith thanked Wisconsin for making them feel so welcome and then confessed that, he doesn’t know why, but he is feeling particularly nervous and a little off balance tonight. Well, you certainly couldn’t see any “nerves” in his performance tonight!! It was so cute though– when Keith said he was nervous Chris McHugh got up from his drums, walked around the edge of the stage and gave Keith a big hug! Keith thanked him for “helping to re-center his chi.” Lol Perhaps Keith was feeling a bit off because it was darn hot in the arena. He asked us all if we thought it felt like it was 96 inside and said that it was so humid he thought it might rain inside the Resch Center! I felt bad for him – he is always both “hott” and “sweaty, hot” but tonight he was totally dripping. By the end of the show he was waving the front edge of his shirt up and down trying to cool his belly (just should have taken the whole shirt off!!) When he introduced Chris McHugh today Chris had sparkly aluminum-y antennae on and Keith could not help but laugh and make some soft comment (something like "and here’s Chris McHugh in silver ears"). He briefly read and joked about a sign (Kiss me- my husband says its okay), saying he first thought it said he should kiss her husband. He laughed at, pointed to and otherwise acknowledged other signs I couldn’t see and also complimented some audience members on the teeshirts they had made. At the end of ITYS I knew they would be heading back to the mainstage, so once again I jumped up and reached up as high as I could. My spot on the runway must have just matched Keith’s stride because – hallelujah – he once again slapped my hand as he went by!! A double dose of Keith contact, what a night!!

He once again did the I Can’t Stop Loving You guitar solo from the rising piano pedestal, gracefully leaping down afterwards to then sing Tonight I Wanna Cry. He did a very nice fairly long piano introduction before getting to the song itself. I’m not sure if the camera shots during TIWC were different tonight or my close encounters with Keith just cranked up my awareness to an even higher than usual level, but tonight I was mesmerized by the video screen close-ups of his lips brushing, caressing and pressing against the head of that microphone for the longest time as he sang those sad lyrics. I could not look away. Whew – it is not just the arena temperature making it hot in there!!

During WWWBM I once again felt cameramen creeping by me next to the catwalk, just as Keith was getting us all to sing along. I looked up at Keith and he is briefly backed (on the video screen) by a picture of me singing. Those sneaky camera guys!

Another Wisconsin difference – virtually no cell phone lights!! Us Monkeys or experienced concert goers in the crowd got ours out and tried to prompt the rest of the audience with absolutely no success. And it was not that folks weren’t cheering and screaming and clapping uproariously – they were – just no phones. This was obvious to Keith when he came out for the encore so even though it took a while for the crowd to stop screaming he did not bring up the topic of a cell phone wave tonight. I wonder if that was also the case at the first Green Bay show?? I missed the wave, especially since I had told my sister to expect that fun interaction.

There once again was a big band ending to GIRTT, with Brad Rice doing a bit of a guitar solo. In Better Life Keith made one last trip to my row P spot on the catwalk (thank you sweet prince!) I tried to pass him a Violet Crumble bar that I had brought along (with my “I’m Sweet On You” poster) but no luck. Or should I say no more luck, because I was definitely blessed with good fortune during tonight’s great show. Now I have to figure out how to take a shower without washing the Keith off my hand..........