We actually made it to our seat for the start of Kellie Coffey’s set. We were 13th row center stage for this one.
The seats weren’t bad, but they had us packed in like sardines. Much like the Hershey show in June. That’s not
very comfortable. There was no room to walk in and out of the rows. At one point, when we were trying to get back to
our seats, there was more room by walking on the actual seats. So that’s what we did. Luckily, I didn’t fall and
neither did Jen. We listened to Kellie sing three songs when we decided that we had enough, besides we saw the jogger
from the night before and we wanted to say hi. So, we got up to check out the place. The jogger disappeared, so we went
looking for food instead. While we were eating, we finally found one of our other friends, who had disappeared a few
hours earlier. For some reason I got left in charge of her.
Well, Carolyn from GM, took the stage to announce the winners for the evening’s meet and greet passes. Would
you believe she called my name? I know what you’re thinking, but I have no clue what it is. So, three of us made
our way over to the winner’s spot. Carolyn looked at me as said, “haven’t you won before?� So, I
answered, “I may have won, once�. Then I told her, she’s just thinking of Wednesday night in Albany when I
said hello to her. That’s why my face looks familiar. It wasn’t because it’s on her website so much. There
were only three winners that night. Since there were so few, I thought maybe I could get away with having an extra
guest. My one friend had never met Kenny or gotten an autograph before. I didn’t want to have to chose between her
and Jen, and I absolutely needed to see Kenny. Naturally, Carolyn said no. So, then I got stuck choosing between the
two. That part really stunk. So, I left poor Jen behind, but I made it up to her later.
So, we head back stage to see Kenny. We were the last ones to meet him that night. He was in a good mood. I finally
had him autograph the picture of him with Steven. While he’s signing, I’m talking. I told him that I gave him
shirt at the show in Albany and he gave it to Tim. He said, “I did?â€� And I said, “Yeah, you did, well this oneâ
€™s for you, you keep it.â€� He opened it up and looked at it and laughed right away. Well, I’m still waiting for my
new picture with him to be uploaded at the GM site, but I’m sure I got a smile.
Once again, I enjoyed Phil’s part of the concert that I got to see. I got back to my seat just in time to see him
perform Athen’s Grease. Phil just puts so much into his shows. He also has a good band supporting him. Then
Kenny came on. It was at this point that Jen and I started to feel so exhausted from so much excitement over the past two
days. We could hardly stand anymore, and Kenny was only on his fourth song. All we could think about was the fact that
we weren’t getting any sleep that night. We were driving straight to New York City, as was Kenny, band, and some
crew members, right after the show so that we could make it there in time for the taping of the Today Show. Still, we did
enjoy his show. How could you not? He is such an awesome entertainer, Kenny that is, and he has a truly terrific band.
There is so much talent on that stage every night.
Well, we knew it had to come to an end, and as soon as it did, we headed for our cars to start the long drive Southeast to
New York City. We had been driving for about an hour. We were driving in two cars. Two people in each car. Everyone
was so tired. Then, it started to rain. I was a passenger in my friend’s car, while Jen was driving my car. My driver,
being really close to home at this point, realized that she just couldn’t make it any longer. She had been doing
nothing but driving since Tuesday. Not only had she gone to the Albany, Holmdel, and Syracuse shows with us, she had
also met a friend at the Manchester show on Tuesday. So, she was done. We stopped so that I could get back in my car,
and so that she could go home. It was very sad leaving her there at that gas station. She really should have came to New
York City with us.
Somehow, I’m not sure how, it’s all a blurr, we made it to New York City. We had been so tired the whole ride
there, but once we got out of the car and started making our way to Rockefeller Plaza, we got energized. We waited only
a short while before they let us gather around the stage. There wasn’t as many people there as I thought there would
be, but it was a good crowd just the same. The guys came out for soundcheck shortly after we were allowed by the stage.
Naturally, I was on the right side of the stage. Go figure, it’s a habit of mine. You could see that the guys were all
tired, but they were moving, so that was good. My new friend, Tim Hensley, who I had talked to at that bar in Albany
noticed me in the crowd and said hello. He’s such a nice guy.
It was pretty cool being there for soundcheck. They checked out everyone’s instrument, mic, and ears. When they
had all that done, Kenny appeared on the stage. He didn’t look too tired. They actually practiced the three songs
they were to sing for the show. Before Kenny headed back to the dressing room, he walked around the stage and signed
lots of autographs. I got another one. Remember those signs from the Garden State Parkway advertising Kenny’s
show for the Holmdel show? Well, my one friend had Kenny sign the one I gave to her. You should have seen his face.
You know when you really take him by surprise, his eyes sort of pop out of his head, and he gets this really strange look
on his face. He had no idea what he was signing. It was pretty funny. I left mine in the car. After being awake for so
many hours, thinking about what I wanted him sign was not foremost in my mind.
Then Kenny and the guys left the stage to get dressed for the taping. At this point, some of the NBC staff started
running around. Apparently we were going to get hit with some rain. Actually not some rain, a lot of rain. So they were
busy putting canopies over the stage. They set them up very quickly. The guys came back out right after the NBC staff
had finished setting up the canopies. The guys were all neatly dressed now. They all looked good. Then there was some
more commotion. Someone at NBC decided it would be better to move the concert part of the show up a half hour, to
avoid the rain. So, they took the canopies down. It was actually quite entertaining. It was something to watch while we
waited for Kenny to take the stage again.
Well, finally, Kenny did start to make his way to the stage. Ya’ll should have been standing with me when he did. Iâ
€™m not sure how I made it through that, but somehow I did. Most of you, saw me on TV singing. I’m just glad that
the camera wasn’t on me when Kenny first came out dressed in that green/blue button down shirt. You would have
seen me drooling on TV. Talk about “Take My Breath Away�. He looked too fine. I wish I had pictures, but my
camera battery died at the Syracuse show, and stupid me didn’t have a spare. I had bought a new camera after the old
one broke during the Pennsylvania trip, and I didn’t know what type of battery it took, so I never bought an extra. I
know, really stupid. Anyway, Jen has really good pictures from the Today Show, but I don’t have copies of them yet.
So, I can’t share just yet, but I did see hers and they are really good. When I watched the tape of the show, it just
didn’t do justice to the way he looked that morning in person. He was hot. Okay, enough drooling.
When the people hosting the show interviewed Kenny, you couldn’t hear them. The only thing we were able to hear
was the music when they played. So, if the crowd didn’t react to something that was being said, that is why. We
definitely had a lot of fun while Kenny and the band played. I’ve lived just outside New York City all my life, and
until this year had never been to a live taping of a tv show. Now, thanks to Kenny, I’ve been to two in the past four
months. It was nice that Kenny wasn;t too sick for this show. Also, thanks to Kenny, I’ve been on TV. It was so nice
having my 15 minutes of fame. Thanks to everyone who called to tell me they saw me singing on TV. It’s a good
thing you couldn’t hear me. I was a little horse by that point.
After they were done with the concert part, all the guys hung around at signed autographs and took pictures with
everyone who wanted one. I am proud to say, that after 12 shows this year alone, that I have finally met each and every
member of Kenny’s band. I had them all sign pictures that I had taken at either the Wallingford show in March or
the Trenton show in April. They all seemed to like the pictures I had of them. Most of them even commented on how
much they liked the picture. Nick was the funniest. As soon as he saw that picture, he reacted right away. He said it was
a really good picture. He asked me what my name was, and he put my name on the picture. He was really cool. The
guys were all so nice, though. I know they were all tired. I was tired. It had been a long day and a half and most of it
with a hangover.
Hey, I can’t believe it, I’m almost at the end of this review. Just a few more things, I really had a good time with
all my friends that we traveled with. I enjoyed meeting some people that I hadn’t met yet, but that I’ve been
talking to for the past several months. It’s so hard to be able to spend as much time with everyone that you want to.
There was so much going on, so much to do, and so much to see. It was great seeing Renee, Adele, and Tammy again. It
was great to finally meet Sherrie and Ellen, and I’m so sorry that Amy and I couldn’t get together once again, but
at least we had some time in Nashville. Naturally, I’m looking forward to my next show on September 14, but that
one will also be sad. It will be the last one of the year for me. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the New Yearâ
€™s Eve show, if Kenny does have one. If you made it to the end of this, well, I hope I made you laugh, and I hope I
encouraged you to go and buy a ticket. You are guaranteed to have a great time at one of Kenny’s shows.
One last thing, I really hope he gets entertainer of the year. It will make it easier to rationalize my traveling all over
the east coast (used to be just the northeast before I bought the Virginia ticket) to see Kenny Chesney in concert.