Headline: Voiceless in Nashville – based on a true story (“voiceless” credit to the fab aussieb)
First, it was SO great to meet all of the RBers in NashVegas. Thanks everyone for being nice to me even if you couldn’t hear me LOL. And also thanks to everyone that has provided their wonderful recaps – there isn’t that much more for me to add, but then I’ve never been short for words LOL. So here I go with my second recap …
This was night two of the best INXS weekend I could imagine. It’s hard to start this recap as the weekend is all one big blur. I admit I had the ultimate BSC weekend – 3 concerts in a row (Memphis, Nashville, Cincy), 2 M&Gs (yikes!) and 2 cross-state trips with RBers. So if my facts are a bit mixed up from one night to the next, please forgive me!
W.A.T.T. and I started our BSC road trip to Nashville from Memphis fairly early and had a fun time talking all things BINXS – even posted a couple things on RB while we were driving (well, W.A.T.T. posted while I drove to be technical). So we make it to Nashville and connect with the “early birds” as coined by ems to “do” lunch. aussieb was totally right - I couldn’t say much (or at least be heard much) as my voice was completely gone from singing and yelling at the concert in Memphis. Thanks, adan, for at least attempting to listen to me as I sat next to you LOL. It was great (trying) to talk to you all – QRB, adan, W.A.T.T., aussieb, numbers, ems, beinghuman.
So next up is the Tootsies meet-up, where more RBers appear – as b4beth can attest, I’m horrible at forgetting people on lists, so I’m not even going to try to mention everyone. But it was fun hanging out on the patio with all of you. It was a riot trying to talk to y’all and get blank stares since y’all couldn’t hear me LOL. Seriously, I wish my voice had been full strength, I would have loved to chat more with each and every one of you.
One thing of note – I forgot my sign at the hotel room, luckily to walk back was only a block. On my way back to Tootsie’s I spotted drumtech having a smoke and said hi. Really nice guy.
M&G
The whole concept of the M&G was making me nervous, so I was really glad there were 7 or 8 of us going together. Plus I met 2 other really nice BSC women there too. W.A.T.T. and I were part of the contingent that got lost from the others on the way to the M&G (something about mii and a shoe mishap I understand?). But eventually we partly found out were we were supposed to go and Jeffrey (the M&G guy) came back looking for us too. So we made it to the M&G *whew*
After all of the rules have been stated for the M&G, the band – yes THE WHOLE BAND – comes into the room. I was almost in the middle of the line, so when the guys were starting at one each or another, a few of them were meeting up right in front of me. There was a funny moment when both Kirk and Garry were in front of both W.AT.T. and I. Garry turns to Kirk and says: I’m Garry. How do you do? (shakes hands with Kirk). Definitely chuckle-worthy.W.A.T.T. and I had been joking around that she could be my interpreter – telling the BINXS that I lost my voice in Memphis singing along with them. So I decided to go along with that theme, not wanting to be too gushy… The first one to come by to say hi was Jon. As soon as I open my mouth, it is apparent that I practically have no voice, so I say to Jon “I lost my voice singing along at the concert last night.” Jon asked me if I was wearing blue at last night’s concert. I totally blank out for a second on what I was wearing the night before – then remember that it was blue! A blue top with a black shrug that is… so I answer yes. (However, since then I remember CFI was wearing a more bright blue top, so he probably was remembering her, not me LOL, though we were both in the first row.)
Up next is JD. I start out again… “I lost my voice singing along with you at the concert last night…” (Obviously not original at this point, but oh well.) He tells W.A.T.T. and me that the set list will be different than the night before. So that was cool, to know that ahead of time.
Up comes Tim. “I lost my voice singing along in Memphis…” Then Kirk. “I lost my voice singing along…” LOL Thank goodness none of them heard what I was saying to the others, they’d think I don’t have an original bone in my body. So when Kirk is there, Garry walks up, I’m saying to Kirk “yes, you might remember my sign” as I was standing close to him with it the night before (yes, I’m an idiot, talking about my little “THANK YOU INXS” sign LOL – It’s not like it was flashy like mii’s!) So I lean down to get it where it is propped up against the wall and show it to him. He says “Do you want me to sign the back?” I pause – as I had decided that I wasn’t going to ask for any autographs, but then I say sure, here you can sign the front. He says “no, I think the back is better. [pause] Unless you don’t want me to?” I’m like no, no, go ahead, thank you. (Feeling like an idiot again)
Then Garry. “I lost my voice…” Garry says, “Better you than us…” Hee, hee. Andrew is last “I lost…”
So the signing is over and now we wait for pictures. I was the last one of the RBers to get my picture taken, so I had fun watching the rest of them. Andrew and inzane standing next to each other was a riot. aussieb was trying to whip up the BINXS into a fun picture. ems bent her knees to be a little shorter – man I wish I had that problem, ems :-); mii ended up blocking some of Garry LOL.
My turn comes, I walk up and stand in the middle of the band. I’m short, so I’m not blocking anyone. Before the picture is taken, JD (who is at one end) leans into the rest of the band and says “She lost her voice in Memphis singing along with us.” BUSTED LOL! Someone else (don’t know who, maybe Kirk) said from behind me, “yes, we heard.” Oh, well, it was funny.
After the picture, I turn back to all of the band and say, “Thanks, guys.” JD leans forward before I leave and says to me “Thank you so much.” Awww, he’s so sweet. He didn't need to say anything more to me and he did *swoon* I get a signed CD liner as I leave and that is that.
Concert
For Memphis, I said that to me the concert was “destiny fulfilled dripping from each note.” At this concert, I felt that coursing through my body again. It felt so right, so pure, so fun, so naughty – it was the best feeling in the world (with your pants on of course (tm Tim Farriss)). It was not a fluke in Memphis that JD appeared to have completely arrived – he is a rockstar now, comfortable in his skin, a master of the stage, a presence that commands your attention. He melds with the rest of the band beautifully – and INXS is complete *sigh* I felt honored and privileged to be able to see this in person again – musical nirvana.
The energy of this concert was amazing. The boys were on, the crowd, although apparently not sold out, was in a frenzy and it seemed completely full, the sound in the Ryman was incredible. JD was jumping all over the place, in place, off the risers. It was so cool to look around and see so many people I ”knew” up at the front with me – a true classic RB moment.
We start out with 6 RBers in a row in the 2nd pit row – mii, me, Precision 57, inzane, emswazzu, beinghuman. But 30 seconds into Suicide Blonde, most of us had scattered LOL. The 2 BSC girls from the M&G were sitting directly in front of me, and I had asked them ahead of time if they were okay with me coming around to stand behind them in row 1 ½. They said sure, so off I went – thanks girls! inzane followed so he is right beside me, mii went off somewhere more to the right as did Precision 57. I’m enjoying the concert but after a few songs I decided to go back to the 2nd row as the way the speakers were situated right at the stage edge was blocking a lot of my view from so close (did I mention that I’m short?). So I moved back to the 2nd row where there was lots of room (4 seats worth at times) to dance and party as the concert continues in full gear, and I have a more complete view of the stage. Interestingly, I had more eye contact with JD and the band when standing back a little farther (as compared to my front row experience the night before – although I had one great JD eye-contact moment in Memphis). Eventually when ems and beinghuman moved up to row 1 ½, I was dead center for the encore. Cool, cool seats. Plus I had a perfect view to see sooner inching her way farther up and up and up LOL.
As JD had indicated, the set list was changed up. The first difference that I recall was GTT being moved up from the encore. It started with JD sitting on the stairs to the drumkit, his head resting on one arm that was across his legs, his other arm outstretched toward Melody, palm out toward her, as in a symbol of homage. Just before he is to start singing, he gets up and walks to the middle of stage. He forms the tip of a triangle with the two back-up singers. The stage is very dark for this song, he sings and you can hear the emotion of the song coursing through you. Then when the lyrics of the song are over, JD dropped down behind the mic stand and lowered his hand, holding his hands up as in prayer. Then at a crescendo of the music, he slowly straightened up (still kneeling) and moved with the music, almost withering with his head back. Then he almost curled into a ball behind the stand again, his hands held on his head as if overwhelmed by emotion. At the end of the song, he slowly moved up the stand and stood while the music concluded. I found GTT to be much more powerful in Nashville then Memphis, don’t know what the difference was, just that it really struck more of a chord with me and the emotion rolling off the stage seemed more poignant.
Loved how they moved right into Amazing Grace after GTT, worked better than the night before. Also love how JD seemed so into it, and his hand movements as if directing (like a conductor) the verse.
I can’t tell y’all how much I loved Elegantly Wasted. JD was all over the stage and the band was grooving and having fun. It was beautifuk to watch!
At one point (ok, yes I took some notes during the concert LOL, although I can’t figure out what I meant by some of them!), JD held his hands as if in prayer in Hungry, I think at the point where Jon holds his sticks up in an “X.” This song, in the instrumental part, is where JD starts to non-verbally thank the audience and go OMG.
NLYG is next and they had so much fun when JD chased Kirk around with the Tazmanian Devil shirt. Thanks, Whiplash Lover, for providing the shirt for that bit of levity.
One of the (JD) highlights during NYT was that during the phrase “makes me sweat” he slide his leg slowly along one of the speakers *thud* before kind of sitting on it.
During WYN, JD went over to Andrew and the two of them had a good long stare at each other during the song, very intense. It was in this song that JD gestured for everyone to move up. Don’t think security let them, though.
In Kick, he lowered his head for the front row (and row 1 ½ *giggles* sooner), to give him a hair fuck.
Pretty Vegas was rocking, the whole place was exploding with noise. At the end of this song, several of us RBers plus others I saw/heard, tried to get a good IN-X-S chant going. But the crowd noise was just too loud for it to really be heard. But thanks, all, for giving it a try!
For the encore, JD came back out in his asshat, with a lit cigarette. He hadn’t done that during the encore in Memphis.
In the encore, JD told about the band riding along in their buses in the U.S., watching the trees and the American farmland go by. He said that music helps them express things when then don’t know the words to express it otherwise (or something like that – it was a lot more eloquent than my notes).
What can I say? I loved the concert, loved meeting up with the RBers before and after the concert, it was an awesome night in NashVegas. The power of the BINXS was in the air, the joy from the band and the fans cumulating til I almost couldn’t breath. Night 2 of my BSC weekend was over, but the emotions were building inside me from seeing this awesome band – so sweet and humble and funny in person – so engrossing and powerful on stage. What more can be said? I couldn’t wait ‘til Cincinnati to do it all over again, yet I didn’t want to get to Cincy for I knew it would be over almost before it began.
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