Fanzine:Atlanta 2 11/18/07
Greetings everyone. I made it back to Indianapolis. I was able to meet some really nice SC.net folks and TPT.com folks. Wearing the watermelon shirt was great because TPT folks also know about it so they 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 5'10" 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 sight line. 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. I was lucky that my seat was next to a TPT member because she really got into it and she 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", I heard his voice crack once & then later when he was going to sing a verse, I couldn't figure out if he was trying to sing and no words came out or if he forgot the words but he did the right thing & let the audience sing it for him & then he jumped back in. I don't think the audience ever noticed because 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 looking at him and he was probably making sure Sting was still breathing. "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" sent the crowd into a 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 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.
Stewart was all over the drums & played great. I did notice that Jeff was out there twice. Once with Stewart off to Andy's side and another time with Stewart still at his 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 flying through the air. Sticks were a flying. He made sure to throw them far enough back so as not to hit his noggin. I did notice that he threw some back when he was leaving the percussion stage & going back down to his drum kit where 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 and he 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.
They were 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 didn't hear about how Sting didn't like the flash bulbs from Saturday night in his face until after the concert. I can't blame him. I would not want flash bulbs going off in my face all night either. Although I was glad Dive was able to get some video. Thanks Dive for the video of the Flag point after "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"! You actually caught me in one of the few calmer moments of the night. I saw that someone posted and wondered how many fingers Stewart had up? At the end of her video, Stewart has his entire hand up to say 5 points. I also saw another Flag point at the end of the stewartkicksroxanne video. I think I ended up with 7 or 8 points. For the most part, 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 did notice 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. At the end after the bows, everyone had their hands in the air & I knew I would never get the Flag high enough so he could see it over all of the arms in front of me. My TPT friend noticed the dilemma. She took one edge of it while I took the other & we jumped up and down in unison. It worked. He spotted it.
Thanks for the shirt, policerule. It rocked.
Thanks for the video, Dive.
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!
