Last night was Idina's concert in Union, New Jersey and it was the BEST CONCERT EVER!!!!! I got there WAY, WAY, WAY, WAY early, so I stood outside the stage door, and I was able to her her do the soundcheck and everything. (Even the soundcheck sounded AMAZING!!!!) While I was standing out there (hoping she would come out), her Tour Manager, Deb, came outside and asked me if there was anything she could help me with (which was great because I had drawn a picture for Idina and I wanted to give it to her),so she introduced herself, and then I told her about the drawing and asked her if there was any way I could get it to her. So, she said that she would take it and give it to Idina. I was sooooo happy! Between then and the concert time I met a few more people like one of the stagehands, Jimmy her drummer, and this other really nice lady who I didn't catch her name, but I think she was important.
SO when it was time for the concert to start, I went inside, bought one of her new Fall Tour T-shirts, and found my way to my seat (third row!!). Then the lights dimmed and the concert began. The opener was Chris Mann and he was great. He was a really good singer and his songs were really catchy. My favorite song of his was "New York Time". That was a really good song! Once he finished, there was like a ten minute break (so they could get the stage set up for Idina).
Then SHE CAME OUT and everyone was screaming like crazy!!!!! She opened up with "Don't Let Me Down" which was awesome!!!!!!! (although she repeated the first verse which I don't think anybody notced).
Then, I was SO happy because she sang "Here" (my absoloute FAVORITE song). It was sooooooooooooooo great. It was really funny when she had the audience sing along with the "uh" at the end. Then, after she performed that, she said that the floor was too slippery and she wanted her "big biker boots", so while she was waiting for Deb to get those, she borrowed Uggs from a girl who sat in the row in front of me, and put them on!!!! It was HILARIOUS!!!!:-)
Then, she sang "You're A Heartbreaker" which was phenominal. Next came "Where Do I Begin". After that she did the whole "Devorah" and "Rise Up" set. (Which by the way, gets better and better every time!!!!!!!!) This time, she didn't do the WHOLE wedding singer thing, but she did talk about it a little and she sang "Sweet Embracable You".
Next came "No Day But Today" where of course EVERYONE went wild. It was so awesome because she came running out into the audience and was coming up to people and singing with them. She came up to the guy in front of me and she was singing with him - right in front of him (which meant that she was like a FOOT AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!). That was great!
Then she sang "Brave" which c'mon how could that be bad!! ;-)
Then, MY FAVORITE PART OF THE WHOLE CONCERT was when she sang "I Feel Everything". She sang it the normal way first, and then she told us this story about how she got into a fight with Taye and she was in the shower really angry when she wrote this song. And then she sang the orginal version of it which was like hard rock and awesome!!! I LOVED it! (But she told us that the record company thought it was to angry so she toned it down a bit).
After that, she began to talk about the election and how it is so cool that we are now a part of history. So she sang "I Stand" (better than ever if I may say so myself), which then lead in to "Stand Up For Your Rights" which had everyone standing up and clapping. After that, she sang a Ricki Lee Jones song that I never heard of called "I Will Miss Your Company". That was pretty good. Next she sang "Forever".
And then she started talking about how she loves it when she gets gifts from people (wink wink) and then sang "For Good" accapella. It was wonderful hearing her voice just by itself like that was just so amazing.
Then as her "finale", she sang a "Gorgeous". Then she left the stage and everyone was cheering louder than you could imagine. Thankfully, she came back on stage and sang a song with Fannie and Molly (her background singers) called (I think) "Kiss From A Rose" That song just sounded plain AWESOME!!!!! Then to wrap things up, she had everybody cheering with "Defying Gravity". It was AMAZING! Especially the "AaaaAaaAaahhhhhh!!!!" at the end. The concert was great! :-)
After the concert, I went running to the Stage Door. I was one of the first people there, but then the security guards came and told us that we need to move behind the fence because they were going to bring the Tour Bus there to load up all the equipment from the show. After standing there for a while, that nice lady that I met earlier came outside and told me that since I had been waiting there so long, that she couldn't get me backstage but she she said that I could come to the front of the line and be the first to meet Idina. I guess that she had told Idina and the band about me because all of the band members kept coming up to me and saying "don't move!", "just stay right there!", "don't let anyone take your spot!", and "she's coming real soon!". It was so cool! I also got to meet Chris Mann and he signed my playbill.
After waiting a while, Idina came out! She said, "Where's the young one?" Deb pointed out me to her, and she came right over to me!!!!!!!! She came up and GAVE ME A HUG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then she signed my playbill (and by the way, she didn't even need to ask my name! She already knew it!!!!!!!!!!) and took a picture with me!!! It was amazing! I felt like the luckiest kid in the world! Idina is so nice a beautiful.
It was an amazing night. I was so glad I got to be there. And for those of you who couldn't come to this concert, I strongly suggest that you buy tickets to an upcoming concert. Idina is amazing, and it is so worth any amount of money to get the tickets!
**** UNION, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 9th 2008*****