Fanzine:Atlanta 2 11/18/07
I was able to meet some really nice SC.net members and TPT.com members. Wearing the watermelon shirt from policerule was great because people were coming up to me after the concert to introduce themselves because I was easy to spot in a crowd.
I told a few people around me about the flag just to prepare them. I'm tall so it was great to be able to see over folks. A few rows ahead of me was someone about my height so I kept having to look around her to be able to see Stewart until she moved a couple of songs into the show. After that, I had a clear line of sight. I was in the 10th row & his drums were directly in front of me.
After Stewart hit the gong, Andy came out blazing on "Message In A Bottle" and the crowd went nuts. My seat was next to a TPT member who was a lot of fun. We were singing, dancing and jumping around most of the night.
Sting sounded good to me. I saw him use his throat spray a couple of times at the start & then he threw it over his shoulder. During "Roxanne", he let the audience sing part of a verse & then he jumped back in. The crowd was so loud and it was such a huge sing along. The entire audience was singing it. Sting was holding notes for a long time. I saw Andy look at him. He was probably making sure Sting was still breathing. "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" sent the crowd into a wild frenzy. Everyone was up on their feet for that one. Sting was interacting with all 3 sides of the audience at various points during the night. "Walking In Your Footsteps" has been rocked up and I like the change.
Andy was phenomenal. There was a lot of interaction between Sting & Andy. I saw Andy smile and laugh a few times. I like "Reggatta de Blanc" a lot. When Andy was working a solo, a couple of times I saw him tilt his head back & really feel it. His solos were awesome. After the bow, Andy ran back out to the front of the stage with his camera & snapped a few photos of the audience.
Stewart was all over the drums & played great. I did notice that Jeff was out there twice making adjustments to Stewart's drums. When Stewart was off to the side, he was pointing to the crowd at intervals as Sting was singing. I wanted to yell at Sting, "Stop, Stewart's not ready" because Sting just started into the next song without checking to see if the guys were with him but Stewart jumped back onto the drums right when he needed to start playing so I don't think Sting nor Andy ever noticed. "Wrapped Around Your Finger" was great. I thought I saw a small part of Stewart's finger cymbals go flying off towards the edge of the stage during the song. I thought that was what it was or if not, something small and flashy caught my eye. Sticks were a flying. He made sure to throw them far enough back so as not to hit his head. I noticed that he threw some back when he was leaving the percussion stage as he was going back to his drum kit when one of them came this close to hitting the gong. That would have been cool if it had hit it though. He was twirling sticks in the air all night. Mighty talented.
Most of the people around me were into it. There was this one guy in the row behind me a few people over who would yell, "King Of Pain, King Of Pain" really loud after each song was done. I tried telling him a few times to wait until the encore but I think he was oblivious to what I was saying so I just let him keep yelling after each song.
Security was really strict with cameras & made people put them away as soon as they were spotted. I had just gotten mine out of my coat when Fiction Plane started & security told me to put it away immediately. Ok, you only have to tell me once. I think they were stricter with folks that were closer to the stage. I had heard that Sting didn't like the flash bulbs from Saturday night in his face which is why security was strict with us on Sunday night. I would not want flash bulbs going off in my face all night either. I was glad Dive was able to get some video. She shot some video of me holding the Flag and Stewart's reaction after "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". She actually caught me in one of the rare moments of calm during the night. Thanks for the video, Dive. The Flag spent most of its time neatly folded over the seat back in front of me. I tried to be courteous and not wave it too often. One time I noticed that Stewart looked a little sideways at me. It took me a second or two to realize what he was trying to tell me and then I noticed that I had the Flag sideways. Oops, I corrected it quickly. It's a good thing I didn't have it upside down or Stewart would have had to have done a handstand to see it.
I had a great time in Atlanta. The Flag & I did some sightseeing on Monday before it was time to head to the airport.
Thanks for the opportunity to be a flag bearer, DM.
Thank you for the Flag points, Stewart. I had so much fun waving the Flag and the concert was great!
