Portland Concert Review (6/8)The “baby” stamp on the inside of my left wrist may have long worn off, but the memories of last Friday’s concert certainly have not. The Portland, Oregon show on June 8th was my first time seeing Elliott Yamin live in concert – solo, that is. I could have never anticipated how much this man improved over the months that spanned between finishing the Idols Live Tour in the summer of 2006 and the beginning of his own tour this year.
That’s not to say he wasn’t impressive in his performances with the other Idols – he was one of my favorite performers – but what he showed the crowd of several hundred in the Roseland Theater was pure magic. Passion. Strength. Confidence. The list of adjectives I could use to describe Elliott’s performances is endless. His live show is something you really have to see for yourself.
But until you get that chance, enjoy my recap of the day, starting at around 2pm.
My mom (aka, concert “partner in crime”/ “cool mom”) and I left our house at about 7am, arriving at the venue at around 2pm. There are few things that cause me to get out of bed at 5:30am with such excitement – but concerts comprise most of those things.
We met up with Misty, Amanda, and her mom, Jackie, who had been waiting by the busses since around noon. They had been hanging out with the band members, who I did not yet know, but was about to do so very quickly!
Not long after our arrival, the keyboard player, Aaron, came out to hang with us. I introduced myself and got a picture with him (such a hottie!). He hung out with us quite a bit throughout the day – definitely a really cool, laid back guy.
For the rest of the time before we lined up, the four of us just hung out by the bus and chatted with the band members. A couple times, we saw Elliott in the window of the bus, from which he smiled and waved at us. Someone mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well, so he spent a lot of time inside resting.
At some point during the (very hot) afternoon, I met Oliver, one of Elliott’s guitar players (who looks very much like Chris Richardson – you’re right, Nicole!). I called Nicole and gave Oliver the phone, because she had hung out with him at two other Elliott shows. He remembered her and they talked for a bit. I was glad to do that for a friend, she was excited to hear that he remembered her!
Several times during our wait, we checked around the other side of the building to see if anyone had lined up yet. We were worried that since we obviously couldn’t be in two places at once, people would get ahead of us in the line. My wonderful mother agreed to save our spot in the front of the line (in exchange for an iced coffee), which put our minds at ease quite a bit.
After Elliott and the band finished soundcheck (which the lucky people in line were able to hear pretty clearly!), Elliott finally came out to meet us! By that time, our group of four had expanded to around ten or so, but Elliott still took the time to sign autographs for, take pictures with, and talk to the dozen fans hanging by the busses. Initially, he was behind the gate, but I came up and showed him the picture of us (him behind the fence, me in front, in a stupid pit) I had brought from the Idols Tour, and I was like “Oh no Elliott, this can’t happen again…you’ve gotta come out from behind there.” He laughed and said he would, thank goodness!
When it was my turn, Elliott and I chatted for a little while, took a picture together, and he signed my CD and picture from the Idols Tour. I joked that it was nice to finally be able to meet him without a fence between the two of us. I think he remembered me a little after I showed him the picture of us, but I can’t be sure. I told him that I was “the one with Misty”, and that seemed to jog his memory because Misty is one of his biggest supporters. He gave me a hug (he’s an awesome hugger, and it’s perfect because he’s so close to my height!) and was on his way. Elliott is one of the nicest Idols I’ve ever met – so humble, obliging, generous…here I go with those adjectives again… ;)
Shortly after Elliott left for a store with some band and crew members, I called my buddy Becca, who had just arrived at the venue. She and her mom came around the back to meet up with me (and with hopes of meeting Elliott, too), but although Elliott said he’d be back, after not long he disappeared around the other side of the building and we didn’t see him again. I was bummed that Becca couldn’t meet him, but hopefully it’ll happen next time.
I joined everyone in line about a half hour before the doors opened. During that time, I met and chatted with a lot of great E-trainers and other awesome Elliott fans. That’s one of my favorite parts of the concert experience – meeting new people. I had a great time with everyone (forgive me for not naming everyone), so if you’re one of those people, please feel free to send me a message! I’d love to reconnect!
The doors opened only a few minutes late, and those of us early birds and the rest ran right up to the front row center! I’m telling you guys, getting there early can seem like a hassle, but it’s so worth it. After we had our space reserved, I went to the bathroom and to get a really cute Elliott t-shirt (one of the black ones, it says ‘Elliott Yamin’ and ‘Sing like Yamin it!’ in a circle).
The first 20 minutes or so after the doors opened, not many people were showing up in the crowd. I was worried that the turnout would be low, but when it was time for Josh Hoge to perform, the place was full! Woo hoo!
I didn’t know what to expect from Josh, since I’d only heard one song of his (“360”) on Misty’s iPod before the show, but MAN was I blown away. That man sings with more passion than I’ve seen from just about anyone. He infused so much soul, grit, and rawness into his vocals, and his songs were very unique and VERY entertaining. Beyond that, he had a hilarious and loveable personality. He interacted with the audience a lot, talking about everything from his MySpace obsession (“I could make a blog about you…”) to his man crush on Elliott (which reminded me so much of Cake – Chris Richardson and Blake Lewis from American Idol 6). During his last song, he came in front of the mic and sang without it, right on the edge of the stage, and that was goosebump-inducing amazing! I went back to the merchandise table right after his performances to buy his CD – an incredibly easy decision.
Between sets, with the help of an Etrainer standing to my right, I changed from the t-shirt I wore to the concert to my Elliott shirt. It was a rather humorous display, watching me decide whether to take off my shirt in the middle of the crowd, and then attempting it while keeping my other shirt on…it’s quite a difficult process, let me tell you. :lol:
Because most of you already know the set list or could look it up (and I can’t remember it exactly myself), I’m just going to mention the highlights of Elliott’s set (even though the whole THING was a highlight, really!). In no particular order:
- Before “One Word”, he started to talk about the song, and about the one word that he had in his mind to describe a girl, to which all of us in the front row yelled “AMAZING!”, and he was like… “that’s a good one to use, yes…” :lol:
- It was Oliver’s birthday, and the whole audience (and Elliott!) sang Happy Birthday to him (Misty started it!).
- “Train Wreck”. Period. It’s my favorite, so obviously it was a highlight for me.
- During “Wait For You”, everyone sang along, which Elliott seemed really excited to see!
- “Living For The City”, his duet with Josh, was ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. (Taylor, eat your heart out…) Those two were meant to sing together, seriously. We noticed the words were taped to the front center speaker, but neither of them seemed to need them.
- His encore song, “A Song For You”, was, in a word, captivating. He LOVES that song, and the result is a heartfelt, inspiring performance. Probably his best of the night.
After the show, I snagged one of Elliott’s water bottles for Misty, and took the other for myself. It even had a little bit of water left in it (ooh la la…). :P
My mom and I hung around inside the venue, hoping to meet Josh. There was a line forming around the merchandise table, but then we were all ushered back into the room where we stood for the concert and told to form a single file line…and then that line was reversed in the other direction, so those of us in the front ended up in the back. It was a huge mess. We thought we were waiting for Josh, but then we saw him walk somewhere else, so we realized it was really for Elliott! Score!
I still wanted to meet Josh, so while we were waiting, my mom found him and brought him over! He signed my CD and we got a picture together. He was a really fun, nice guy, and I told him that I hope he’ll come back to the area again. :)
It wasn’t too long until we reached the front of the line and it was our turn to meet Elliott! My mom and I agreed that we needed to take an “Elliott sandwich” picture, with her and I on either side of him. When Elliott saw me, he said “Hey again!” (Hehe!), and I handed him my ticket for him to autograph. I told him he did an amazing job, and that I was incredibly proud of him. I said that he and Chris were by far my favorites from Season 5, and that their duet on the Idols Tour was one of my favorite parts of the show, to which he replied “I miss singing with that guy!”. Yay for Chrelliott love. <3
We got our picture with him (his great curly hair touching mine and everything!), and my mom and I both gave him a peck on the cheek! He was all cute and bashful about it, it was adorable. After one last hug (he smelled really good!), we headed outside to join the others, who were waiting by the busses.
As if what we’d already experienced wasn’t enough, Elliott came out after his meet & greet inside to meet with everyone outside! What a generous, obliging guy, huh? You can tell he LOVES his fans!
Since I had already met him twice in the day, I let everyone else go before I said hello again. He didn’t come out from behind the gate this time, but instead stuck his head through a gap at the end. This made for some really cute pictures, people kneeling down or leaning back in front of him and his head sticking out on top. So funny!
I came up after everyone else and had him sign the water bottle I took from the stage, since I didn’t really have anything else left (haha). We took one of the funny Elliott’s-head-above-fan’s-head through the fence pictures, and that wrapped up my amazing Elliott day!
Hope you enjoyed reading! I am in the process of uploading all of my 100+ pictures
here. :)
---
And you lurkers I hung out with in the front row (you know who you are), I'll be hurt if you don't come out to make a comment or two! ;)