We went to the GM booth to register for the evening’s backstage meet and greet passes. Why stop a good thing, right?
What are the chances? Eventually I’ll be disappointed, right?
Things get sort of hazy at this point. Jen had a problem getting a bag in the venue. She made that track back to the car along. I
know, good friend, right? She didn’t enjoy tailgating as much as I did. When she got into the venue, I had a nice drink waiting
for her. That place had some very good strawberry margaritas. I’m not a margarita person, but it was hot and that drink had
lots of crushed ice in it, plus some tequila. It was very good. I think I’ll go back there just for that margarita. Well, when
Kenny’s there again, definitely.
We saw most of Phil’s show this night. I think we sat down during the first song. He was terrific once again. The crowd
seemed to be more pumped up tonight that it had been last night in Hershey. Then Jamie did her set. She did a fine job also.
That song Frantic really is a good one for her. Once again, she dedicated it to the single mothers in the audience.
Drum roll please. That guy in the gray shirt came out again to announce the evenings’ winners of the backstage passes.
Would you believe, he didn’t call my name? It was a little shocking at first, but I got over it really quickly when I realized that
my friend Jen was jumping up and down. Apparently, they had called her name as one of the winners.
So here we are, Ally, Jen, Judy, and Sue, waiting to go backstage to meet and to greet Kenny. What a thrill, two nights in a row.
We didn’t run into any band members while waiting to go backstage this time. I’ll tell you this, though, Montage is a
much better and cleaner venue that the Hershey Park Pavilion. That’s all I’m saying about that. In one word the
Pavilion, YUCK!!!!
We were told we were in the first group, but since we were trailing behind, we wound up being the last group, yeah. Let’s
see what did I say to Kenny at this meeting. Oh, I told him that I enjoyed his show last night. That got a smile from him. Heâ
€™s just too sweet in person. It really makes it worthwhile putting so much time and effort into a “concertâ€� when the
person you go to see is such a down-to-earth, good, sweet person. Since the previous night Sue and I had let Judy and Jen stand
next to Kenny, they let us stand next to him tonight. Aren’t they the best? I was the most relaxed backstage this time. Must
have been all that tailgating.
When we were done with the picture, we should have just left and gone back to our seats. There was something else to do, and I
sure hope we didn’t get anyone in trouble. After all we are just fans. Clayton came walking into the tent where we were
taking our picture with Kenny. We all went right over to him and took pictures with him. Now, if you ever won a GM backstage
pass. They tell you to put your camera away before you go back there. You are not permitted to take any pictures with Kenny
with your camera. There is to be only one picture taken, and that is taken by GM and then later posted at their website. Well,
here we are pulling out our cameras. I can’t believe that David Farmer didn’t come over and say something. I think the
only reason nothing was said was that Kenny left the tent area. He was done with meet and greet stuff for the night. At one
point, I could see Clayton’s eyes looking past us, as if someone was saying something to him about what we were doing. It
didn’t take that long, but it was fun.
Since, I thought we were done, I started walking out of the tent area. As soon as I did, I had three people telling me to hurry up
and walk this way, towards the exit. As I walked towards the exit, Jamie O’neal passed me. I said Hi and so did she. She
seemed nice. Anyway, so here I am back inside the venue, and my friends are no longer with me. I didn’t know where they
were, but there no way I was getting back where they were, so I went to my seat to enjoy Montgomery Gentry. I got there just
as they were singing the first of those two new songs from their unreleased album. When I sat down, I sat in Jen’s seat, so
that I wouldn’t have to get up when she finally came back. As it turns out, they were taking pictures with Jamie O’Neal.
My loss I guess.
When T-Roy sang the same new song that he sang the previous night, he didn’t go over the words. There were quite a few
fans in the audience who knew the words to that chorus. I’m sure most of them were at both shows just like us. They did a
great job once again. Troy’s daughter came out on stage and played an acoustic guitar for the last song, Hillbilly Shoes. She
did a fine job. Those boys really had the crowd pumped this night. We all knew it wouldn’t be long before Kenny would be
out on stage.
Kenny did a marvelous job this second night. He was really pumped. Must have been my comment to him backstage, that I
enjoyed his show the previous night? Anyway, our seats were much better for the Scranton show than they were for the Hershey
show. For both shows, we were fifth row. Fifth row in Hershey was extended past the left side of the stage. I mostly watched
the show from the big huge screen in front of me. At the Scranton show, the first three rows weren’t as long as the rest of the
rows. So, I only had one person sitting in front of me. Not that it matters how many people you have sitting in front of you, but
it gives you better access to the stage when the time comes. Since we were trapped in our seats at the Hershey venue, we werenâ
€™t going to miss out on being at the stage for the second show.
Oh, I forgot to mention this. I had said that after the meet and greet I took Jen’s seat. Well, after Kenny came out on stage,
and the person who was now sitting next to me, finally stood on her feet, I noticed something. She looked like Holly Gleason.
You might remember her from the CMT show Total Release that they did on Kenny Chesney. She’s his publicist. She
looked just like her. Since I didn’t notice this until Kenny was already on stage, I was not striking up a conversation at this
point. I may have bumped a few more times than necessary trying to make some eye contact. You know, to tell her that I’m
sorry for consistently bumping her. If it was she, I’m sure she told him that the girls next to her really enjoyed his show. As
if he couldn’t tell that we enjoyed his show. So I never did talk to her. I’m thinking it’s a good thing that I didn’t
strike up a conversation with her. I hate to bring up that magazine thing again, and I do blame it all on her..
So, he did all those songs again. We never get tired or bored of those songs. It’s just such an experience every time he
performs them. We did the usual with the cameras. I managed to only take 7 rolls of pictures, but that’s because my camera
broke. That’s another story, and I have already gone on way too much. Each song was excellent. Kenny sounded very good.
Both nights he wore clothing that I had never seen him perform in. So every show was indeed different for me. Let’s just
hope the streak continues in August when Kenny makes his way back up to the Northeast one last time for this tour.
When he was almost done with I Lost It; Kenny made his way over to our side of the stage. He did his usual posing thing. Just
standing there, you know that thing that we love that the critics always cut him down with. Those critics just don’t get it. At
this point, feeling quite brave, amid all the screaming and yelling and clapping I yell at him, while pointing you better do it
tonight. Coincidence or night, I don’t know, I don’t see how he heard me, but he smiled and did that tongue thing with his
hand on his hips. It was a great moment. All I could do was laugh. I was having a great weekend. So, he did that Conway
Twitty song. Good thing, I hate to think about all that driving, the price of the hotel rooms, the price of my upgrades and no
Twitty. He did an excellent job, of course, with that song. He is such a great entertainer. He’s got my vote for the acmâ
€™s. Just wish 90 % of my income was from the country music industry. Unfortunately, 90 % of my income goes towards the
country music industry. Oh well, some day I’ll get that straightened out.
If you don’t know what song comes next, you better get your butt to a show really soon. How Forever Feels is next. At
this point, the security crew let the people sitting in the front rows go up by the stage. Now Jen and have gotten very good at
climbing those seats. I mean very good. We went over so easily. It was great. I was laughing at the security guy right by our
seats as he was preparing for the mad rush. It was truly funny the look on his face. The anticipation of being squished by so
many females.
Kenny and the band did a great job on How Forever Feels. They all get so into it. Then they leave the stage. Then they come
back, but not before that tractor starts to rev. They do the tractor song. That song just gets better every time. Then it’s time
for the Georgia Satellites song, but not before Clayton does his big guitar solo. Once again, with Kenny egging him on, Clayton
sings, alone. It’s a Van Halen song and I can’t remember which one. All this is going on while Nick and Jim pick up
electric guitars and jam with the rest of the guys. Tim does that head-bobbing thing that he does so well. Unfortunately, Sean
and Wyatt are sort of stuck, but the rest of the guys have a great time at this point in the show. Even Steve makes his way up to
the front of the stage. After that song, they go right into Jack and Diane.
Then it’s over. That’s it after all the counting down. It ends just like that. Not before I got another autograph. I had
printed up the GM picture from the Trenton show, which I had cropped out everyone but Kenny and me. He signed it for me,
and I got a big smile. Naturally he got a big smile back.
That still wasn’t it. Of course, we had to do some more tailgating after the show. We saw Tim Holt again. He was a
passenger in one those carts that they drive around in at the venues. To me it looked like Mark Tamberino driving, but Judy
thought it was Darryl. I really didn’t get a good look, but I definitely did see Tim Holt. We asked for a ride. All they did was
laugh. No free rides for us. After about an hour, the traffic down the mountain finally cleared up. At this point we were nicely
asked to leave. So we did. We went looking for a bar. Eventually we found one. It was there that I met my new friend Jack. So
now I can say that I have a friend in Pennsylvania
It was truly an awesome weekend. I can’t believe the fun we had. The people we met, even Jack. The pictures we took.
The autographs we all got. The shows we got to see. Even that rollercoaster, Comet, that I didn’t like one bit. All of this
thanks to Kenny. If we didn’t want to see him in concert so bad, we never would have been there. So, thanks Kenny. Canâ
€™t wait to see you again in Albany at the end of August.