Sweet Charlotte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kq1OJqInaY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCB-Z4baMWY

I made it to Charlotte with just a few airline delays along the way (a plane on the runway delayed the landing of my flight to Detroit so I just barely made my connection, and in Charlotte there were runway delays due to a swarm of bees!!!). I sampled the wares at the local Heist Brewery (my beer was good but the short rib sliders were to die for!) for lunch, then had time for a brief nap before it was amphitheatre time.

Since in Cincinnati it seemed like a mile walk between my parking lot and the venue (which was especially hard after the very hot concert), this time I splurged on Premium Parking closer to the entrance to the venue grounds. Although the tickets said gates open at 6:00, we had to stand in line a good while longer (someone said "That's Carolina time..." My seat was better than I expected. Although I was in row U, I was not 21 rows behind the pit as I expected, but rather just 11. I guess they removed 10 rows to make the pit. Here is LBT's Your Side of the Bed 

Although it was in the 80"s, not the 90's, the setting sun was behind the open amphitheatre and shining in, baking everyone until hAlfway through Little Big Town's set. I thought it would cool off after sunset, but so many people and the still, humid air still made for a very sweaty night. Thank heavens for the giant Ipod-lookalike personal fan that I can hang around my neck that I found in Walgreen's clearance basket years ago.

Brian made a surprise visit to my aisle before the show, apparently guiding several friends or family members to seats 2 rows in front of me! And the row immediately in front of me were winners in Keith's 12 Shows, 12 Winners, 12 Friends Contest (don't know if I have that title right), so I guess my seat was close to the "special" region : ) During the break before KU, I tapped on the shoulder of a gal in that row who I had noticed had a backstage pass on. Iasked her what it was like this year. She said "Just about 2 minutes long" (I'm guessing it was a little longer than that but you know how those minutes with Keith fly by). "He asked us our names and then we lined up for our photo and then it was over." I'm guessing that may be the case at most of these summer venues, but maybe that will change once we get to the arena part of the tour. But she also showed me what they got as part of their "Twelve Shows, Twelve Winners" prize: a special Keith Urban teeshirt with the names of each of the 12 people attending!! Pretty nice!! A KU shirt with your personal name on the back instead of concert venues!

Although this venue has a nice slant to the floor to improve viewing, I still had to contend with "tall dude heads, waving arms, and the people in my row going on beer runs, so my videotaping was curtailed. This venue had an interesting message displayed on the back of every 5th seat Is someone ruining your concert experience? Text us at ____ about the problem"!  (I didn't think I could complain about heads : )  ).  One nice thing about my row however: I was sitting next to a young couple and they guy caught on earlyon that I was a big KU fan and graciously urged me out to the aisle each time Keith left stage. Although I headed out several times, I never successfully intersected Keith's path, but I appreciate my row-mates being such good sports.

Besides the rosy, roasting sunset, things were a bit rosy on stage as well, with half of LBT dressed in coral shirts, as well as Chris M., while Jerry had on reddish pants and donned his red glasses during the evening (Anyone know why he sometimes wears glasses and other times does not? A fashion statement?)

Loved the ganjo intro again and it is really fun to seeing Jerry really rocking it as the first band member to join keith. I also loved the extended guitar play after Sweer Thing, part of which I was able to capture on film. I was also able to get almost all of I Told You So before those darn heads intervened.

After that Keith chatted, saying "We made it! And so far the rain is no where in sight! We'd like to thank the Dave Matthews Band for absorbing all the rain last night!" Then he paused a moment to look at the signs in the audience. The one that caught his attention was a big bedsheet sign saying "This is my first concert! Come see me!" Initially the holders did not have it fully extended and so Keith guessed, jokingly, that it was going to say "This is the first bedroom sheet I wrote on" But once he read the actual message he DID go see her (she was not to far from the lefthand stage) and gave her a hug. When he returned to stage he commented "You don't see many concert virgins these days...." (haha).
Keith also said someone had told him that the last time they played this amphitheater was 2001 or 2002! "We opened for some up and coming artist named Kenny Chesney. Not sure what became of him, but he was cool." (hee hee)

Tonight I had a closer view of Little Big Town's return to stage during You Gonna Fly -- great!
But I didn't catch Dustin's return for Kiss a Girl but noticed Keith's grin as Dustin tried to hit the high notes . I'm not sure where the camera guys were located tonight, but we got some interesting closeups straight now the fretwork of Keith's guitar as he played.

There was no extra cover song on the piano tonight and Keith's cover out on the satellite stage remained the same, although he did add another "We won't be fooled again!" at the end of his satellite stage Better Life.  The one little change was Danny's solo : Fun's Some Nights.

I thought about trying to head out to the small stage or out when Keith did You Look Good in My Shirt, but it seemed that fences kept us under-the roofers in, just like they kept the lawn people out of the amphitheater.  Keith did say some thank yous to the crowd tonight but didn't dally quite as long with hand slaps and autographs (although once again someone got their tiny daughter up on stage for a photo). As I was leaving the amphitheater I saw the bus and motorcycle trailer already heading out a special driveway. Sweet dreams Keith!

PS Ran into quite a few Monkey buddies tonight as I have at each show. Kind of amazing we find each other in the crowds considering that we are not all sitting close together like last our!

Videos and clips to come....