I posted earlier that I got to meet Russell around 2:45 outside the Whitaker Center. I thought that was perhaps the closest I would get to Elliott tonight. After all, I've been so lucky in the past. I was so wrong . . .

I picked up my girlfriend and my neighbor and her 11-year old granddaughter, Maggie, at 6:30 and headed downtown. Walking up to the Whitaker Center, I saw itslate (Carole) and her son Danny, WeloveUElliott (Doreen) and her family, and Robyns and her family. They had gotten to meet Elliott at the bus, but thought that he had gone inside. Maggie and I went around the corner to check, and no one was standing near the bus. But as we walked further up the street, I recognized Sway coming toward us. So, we stopped and talked to him for a little bit. He's going to be putting out an album sometime next year. I told him that he could count on the E-Train to help with his sales. I kiddingly asked him about the Brittenum Twins, and he laughed and said what we saw on TV was an exact telling of the type of guys they were.

We went back into the Whitaker, and after stopping at the concession stand to buy t-shirts and the circle pin, we went to our seats (2nd row). It was a packed house, but kind of quiet. There were all ages there. And many more guys who looked to be in their 20s than I had seen at Elliott's other concerts.

The lights dim and a man in a suit walks onto the stage. He's there to welcome us and to tell us of other events coming up at the Whitaker. I know this guy; I've worked with him on some events in the city. He's the guy in charge of booking all the acts at the Whitaker. He (his name is Steve, by the way) does his spiel, and walks to the side to allow the DJs from KISS 99.3 to do their thing. He looks out and sees me and gives me a wave. I pantomine to him "can you get me backstage?" He mouths back "I don't think so". I put my hands together like I'm praying, and mouth "please?". He mouths back to check with him a little later.

Okay, so the DJs are done and Josh comes out on stage. His hair is darker than I remember from the show in Lancaster months ago. He starts to banter with the crowd, but he's not getting much of a response. He keeps it up though, and slowly he's pulling everyone in. He is absolutely hysterical. The hoots and hollars are very slow to begin, but they're definitely getting louder and louder. He has improved so much. I absolutely loved him. Cannot wait to hear what he has in store for us with his CD.

So Josh is done and the house lights come up. I look over to Maggie and say, are you ready to see if we can get backstage. She gets up and we go in search of Steve.

More to come . . .

Maggie and I walk out of the theater and we see Steve standing in the lobby. He was talking to some man, so we just moved over to the side and waited. When they were finished, Steve looked to me and I said, "so, do you think you can get us backstage to see Elliott?" He wasn't sure, but since he had to go backstage anyway, he told us to come with him. He asks us to wait for a few minutes, while he goes to check on something, then he comes back and leads us through the "no admittance door". Immediately, we ran into Josh. We talked for a little while and then I told him I was from E-Train and thanked him for what he posted about Mike. He talked again about how inspired he was by Mike, and especially about his sense of humor.

So Josh then went out to meet his fans and we continued toward the back stage area. There we ran into Aaron. He is totally adorable! We talked about how much fun he has on stage and he told me that he gets so much pleasure out of hearing Elliott sing night after night. He said that he will never tire of it, and how much it means to him to have Elliott's friendship. He pulled Maggie over when he saw I was holding a camera and asked her if she wanted a picture. Then he went back to the dressing room area.

Meanwhile, Steve was talking to John, Elliott's road manager, about Maggie and I and asked if it would be possible for us to have a minute with Elliott. John came over and I told him that I had met Elliott before, was a member of E-train and was hoping that Maggie would be able to get an autograph. He said that he was sure that was possible and went back to the dressing rooms. After another few minutes, all of the guys from The Last Goodnight came out of the dressing rooms and saw us standing there. They came over to us and introduced themselves. They are really, really, really nice guys. I was touched by how they started talking to Maggie. We asked if they would take a picture, said sure, and surrounded Maggie, pointing their fingers at her. I counted down to the picture, took it, and then said, "Oh, I should have said, I'm ready to take 'pictures of you'." They groaned and I said, 'Oh, you've probably heard that a hundred times, haven't you?" They said that they had. They left then to get on stage.

Steve went to check on something, which left Maggie and I all alone. We could hear The Last Goodnight begin their set, and I kidded Maggie that we should go out there with them and just stand in the background. Her grandmother by now was surely wondering what had happened to us, and she woulld be shocked to see us on stage. But reason got the better of us, and we stayed where we were.

Steve came back and said that Elliott was on the bus talking on his cellphone, but would be in shortly. A few minutes later, we heard some voices, and then all of a sudden, Elliott was there! He was all bundled up in a heavy sweater and a woolen cap pulled down over his ears. But there were these curls sticking out over his forehead, and he looked amazing. Once again, I was shocked about how short he is. I went over and he shook my hand. I reintroduced myself and then introduced Maggie. He called her sweetheart, and I think she melted. I took a picture of them and then he signed her CD. He looked back at me and I told him that I was from E-train and I wanted to thank him for visiting with Amanda and spending so much time with Mike in Hagerstown. He got closer to me, put his hand on my arm, and said, "How is Mike?" I told him that he was having some stomach problems and was going to have some testing done. That's when he asked me to tell Mike that he was praying for him and that he and the band would say a prayer before they went on. He asked me if they knew what was wrong with him, and I told him that it may be Chron's. He then said that his bass player has Chron's.

We talked a little more, and he was looking at me so intently and starting to move over to my one side. I realized that he was moving his head so he could hear what I was saying, and I was doing the same thing, but it was to his bad side. I told him then that I, too, was deaf in my right ear, and here we were the two of us moving our heads around so our good ears were turned toward each other. He got very concerned and asked me how I lost my hearing. I told him and he said that we had something in common - we knew how each other felt when we talked to others and couldn't hear them very well.

We talked a little more, and then he had to go. But before he did, I got a hug, and then Maggie got a hug. He thanked us again for coming and wished us well.

I will add more in the morning. I have to get some sleep.

Edited because some of my words were running together - that's what happens when you're tired!

Very nice, detailed recap. Thanks, cfans!

Kudos to Steve for getting you backstage. ;p

Glad you and Maggie were able to meet Elliott, cfans. I'm looking forward to reading more of your recap about Harrisburg!

Great Recap...cannot wait for the rest !!

Nice post cfans.

Great recap.

what a great re cap. Thanks for sharing

awww you didn't have to use your alone time with Elliott to talk about me.

It is so nice to know that people are thinking about and praying for you. Thank you cfans and everyone else on the etrain for being my friends.

great recap--thanks for posting

Thanks cfans! A wonderful recap. I never tire of hearing about Elliott's kind, humble spirit. Josh as well, and it seems TLG are also kindhearted. This group must impress the heck out of the people who operate the venues. Can't wait to read the rest.

Awesome so far, can't wait for the rest. Congrats on meeting Elliott.

FWIW I had like 2 security people at the MD Theater remark how nice and genuine they were. One of the guys was not all too fond of Taylor Hicks.

Awesome recap...but how dare you get tired and not finish...an Etrainer's work is never done!!

( :rotfl: )

great recap! Looking forward to reading the continuation. :)

cfans, I'm glad I finally got to hear the details. You painted a very nice picture :) Very nice recap. Elliott is just so wonderful and thoughtful. I'm happy to hear you also made the day for your friends grand-daughter. Etrain members love to share the love.

I got to hear Elliott's entire set over the telephone. The sound was muffled at times and the screaming sure was loud but it was such fun to experience the excitement. Many thanks to itslate for making one of her extra tickets available to my friend from Delaware.

Cfans, itslates, weloveuelliott, Robyns and the others who were there: We'll be waiting for more details, lots of pictures, and, hopefully, some videos.

My recap continued . . .

A couple of things I had forgotten to mention. Aaron told me to say hi to Harleywoman. I said, "Don't you mean "Harleygirl". He laughed so hard and said, "yeah, that's what I call her sometimes; sorry". I told him not to be sorry, that she seems to like it and now some of us are even doing it.

And I asked Elliott how he was feeling. This was right after he came out to see us. He was all hunched up, with his hands in his pockets, like he was really cold. He told me that he was "okay, but feeling a little bad". He was sniffling a little. You wouldn't know it once he was on the stage, though!

We saw the radio DJs come through on their way out as we were talking to the Last Goodnight. (They didn't stay for Elliott.) Steve thanked them and I called out, "Can you please put 'One Word' in rotation?" The one smiled at me and said that he would. Hopefully, he was being honest.

So, Maggie and I are on our way out of the backstage area, and we ran into Trey, Josh's guitarplayer. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but wow, what a nice guy. He was wearing a pin with Josh's homepage address on it. He told us that he is having the time of his life and that his is the best job in the world.

We get to our seats and The Last Goodnight is in full swing. I'm not really paying much attention because I haven't come down to earth yet. But I'm soon pulled back when they start singing "Pictures of You". Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. That was freaking incredible! I love this song, but to hear it up close live is something you just have to experience. The crowd, which up to now wasn't giving them their all, exploded. I literally got chills from it. Their last song, while not in the same league as Pictures, was pretty darn good too. They left the stage to thunderous applause.

So now for Elliott. This wasn't my first concert, so I knew what I was in for. Nope, wrong again. I just don't have the words. To me, he may just be the greatest singer ever. I don't know where he gets the energy. He was on fire. Whitaker set up three rows of chairs in the orchestra pit area directly in front of the stage and a great many of these people were on their feet dancing the entire time. There were two ladies who appeared to be in their early twenties right in front of Elliott who never stopped dancing the entire set. I think they even danced when he was talking :rotfl:

Because it's a theater, the acoustics are really good at the Whitaker. You could clearly hear everything Elliott was saying, and every word to every song. Maybe that's why this is my favorite performance yet. "Free" was totally out of this world. And you are so right, Mike, "Moving On" has to be his next single, especially based on the reaction of the crowd. Every once in a while, a female would yell out "I (or we) love you Elliott". He would respond with "I love you too". Well, one time a guy yelled it. :rotfl: No reaction from Elliott though.

I had almost asked Elliott earlier if he was going to sing ASFY. I stopped myself though because I was afraid he would say no because of how he was feeling and didn't want to be disappointed throughout his set. But because he ran off the stage so quickly immediately after finishing "Moving On" and the house lights didn't come up, it was clear he was going to. Everyone in the staid little Sunoco Theater was up on their feet chanting "Elliott, Elliott, Elliott". It wasn't long before he was back with Joonie. He reintroduced him, Joonie started playing, and it was just magical. He changed "ten thousand people watching" to a "few hundred people watching". When it was over, I looked at Maggie and she told me that this was the best night of her life. Yeah, it was one of mine too.

My girlfriend who remembered Elliott "a little bit" from AI and listened to his CD once because I brought it over to her house and gave it to her, said "I really, really enjoyed that, but I wish he would have taken off his hat" :rotfl: I asked her if she would go to see him again, and she said "definitely". Now, I have one of the most unemotional friends in the history of the world. This is just the way she is, and it took me a long time to get used to it. But I know her very well, and she had surely given him her best praise. I said to her, "I was right about him, wasn't I" and she nodded and said, "yes you were".

We didn't stick around because Maggie had school the next day so I don't know if Elliott came out. I saw Josh mingling with the crowd. I said goodbye to my E-train friends, we took one last quick look around and then went out the doors and headed home.

I also forgot to add that I met Tiggergirl and her adorable little girl before the concert started. They were in the row in front of us and were up dancing a good deal of the time. I don't know if there were other E-trainers there as well, but if so, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you. I met someone who was sitting a few seats down from Tiggergirl who said she lurks here but hadn't yet joined. She plans on doing that soon. If you're here, "hi" - and please introduce yourself.

All in all, it was a great night, one for sure I will never, ever forget.

Oh, and Steve said that all the acts he books HAVE to be nice to him, but Elliott is truly a genuinely nice person. He even had me take a picture of him with him. It was with Maggie's disposable camera (all the pictures I took were with that camera - stupid me left mine at my seat). I asked Maggie for copies once she gets them developed, so I'll scan them in once I get them. Steve said he would definitely like to get Elliott back. I'll remind him every chance I get.

Thanks for the great recap! What a great night for you all!
Thanks for sharing.

Awesome reacap cfans!!! Love the backstage stories & it made my heart smile when you spoke about you & Elliott bonding over a hearing loss. I love it when a negative can find some positive. To hear Elliott sing the way he does, it is hard to remember he has ANY hearing loss.

Looking foward to the pics!

Thank you - loved all this great recap stuff!

That was me!!!! Me and my SIL were in the front row next to Carole, and we didn't sit the entire time!!! Last night was the best Elliott concert EVER!!!!!!! The night could not have been ANY better!!!!!!

We got there around 4, and got 2 backstage passes. It wasn't till almost 5 or so that we got to go in. We got to meet him inside the theater. He came out with his sweatpants and hoodie, and his LA baseball cap. They said we could do individual pictures and autographs. The first people went up, did they're thing, Then me and my SIL went up. I handed him a picture of us eith him from the Lancaster show back in May....he then says "can you all autograph this for me?" We both were like...huh? But laughed and we did. He said" I'm switching the roles this time" I told him he wasn't sounding too good, he said" yeah I'm a little stuffy, but I'll live!" all with a beautiful smile on his face! He signed both of our Christmas Cd covers, then signed 2 more pictures for my sister and my daughter. He was so nice! Then we got our picture taken.

After that we went to eat. Got back to the Witaker center. Found our seats...and watched Josh...WOW is all I have to say, he was amazing!!! Does anyome remember him asking if anyone was one there first date? That was me and my SIL that said yes! LOL After he sang, we went out to meet him. We talked to him for quite while, we never made it back in for the next band. We were to busy talking.

Once Elliott came out, the chairs were NO longer!!! We were up the ENTIRE time!!! It was us and 2 girls behind us. Elliott was on FIRE!!! His performance has unbelieveable!!! he got a few eye shots and smiles from him, and also from Sway and Aaron. I love Aaron...he always looks like he is having SO much fun!!!! The night was perfect, and so was Elliott.

After the show we were talking with Robyn, then went out to the lobby, we got to talk to Aaron for a bit, then went to the bathroom. Then we heard screaming, that's when Elliott came out. we stood there for a bit, and then left, as we were waling out, Josh was heading out, and we were laughing about something we were talking about, and he told us they were heading to a bar down the road if we wanted to come, we did.

The night was great! I hope our dancing didn't piss anyone off, but if it did, OH WELL! LOL we had the best night ever!!!!

We can't wait till Monday....we will be at Allentown!

Heere's our picture with Elliott!

Beautiful recaps! Thank you!

I loved that you were up dancing. You made Elliott so happy. He kept looking at you guys and grinning from ear to ear.

Wow - your picture is really really good. I'm glad to hear that Elliott came out afterwards. I want the whole world to meet him and know the kind of guy he is.

Cfans, what a wonderful experience for the three of you. I really felt like I was there with you!! Two more days and hopefully I will experience the same thing. As many times as I've see him, each time gets better and better. Now, this time, I definitely hope to meet him in person as I really feel it may be one of my last chances. Thank you so much for sharing. :1word:

Great recaps ladies! posttime, I'm looking forward to Sunday also. I shook hands with Elliott during his CD signing in Richmond back in March but no pictures were allowed and they were really rushing us through because of the long line. Would love to get a picture with him this time around.

thanks for the rest of the recap, Cfans....lovely!!!

Great picture lovinelliottinpa!! Thanks for sharing and dancing for Elliott!!

I'm happy all of you had a great time!!!

Great recaps!!! Wow, you know, I'm continually impressed w/ how genuinely nice and respectful Elliott and all the gang are. Everywhere they go they'll make loyal fans out everyone who sees and /or meets them, djs and concert promoters everywhere. It isn't the first time we've heard venue staff say they didn't like Taylor...too bad really.

Hey etrainers,

I wanted to add to the recap. My daughter Alexa and I arrived around 5:30 and walked through the Strawberry Square. We spotted the bus on third street and I asked her if she wanted to go down to see it. BTW Alexa is 7. We went down and the door was closed but we took pictures of each other in front of the bus anyway just for the scrapbook.

We hung around and a service person came and delivered water, but no-one came out other than that.

We decided to go around to the front and see what the Kiss FM DJ was doing. We were hanging around the lobby and he was doing some live stuff but no-one was coming in. I remembered earlier him saying he was going to talk to Elliott sometime after 5 p.m. but at this point, I figured that they did the interview in the bus and didn't think much about it.

My dd was getting bored so we went to look at the wall mural on the wall near the bathrooms about 100 yds away. I knew some of the names on the list and we were trying to find them to kill time. We started looking at some of the animal paintings on the wall and I guess I wasn't paying attention because my dd says, Mom, I think that was Elliott that just went out the door. I was like, no way, he wouldn't come in here. So we went back over to the windows to wait and starting talking about how we couldn't wait for the concert. Alexa kept saying that she was sure that was Elliott and these two other girls said yeah he was just here and did a quick interview with Kiss FM 99.3. See we got our pictures taken with him. I asked if they were e-trainers and the one girl said she was (Teacher4Elliott). Is was good to meet them both.

OK --so now I am kicking myself for being such a bad fan. How could I be so inattentive. I am usually more observant. Anyway, this was my first experience with concerts and I don't know the protocol and all the good spots to meet the starts, but I am sure learning. From now on, I am sticking with cfans and itslate, they seem to have the E-dar.

We were able to get our Elliott T's and then it was time to go sit down. Cfans recap was right on spot. I enjoyed Josh but the crowd was slow to accept him. I liked most of The Last Goodnight songs. Pictures of You and the love song (can't remember the name) was especially good.

We did go out between sets and my dd got her picture taken with Josh & Trey (his guitarist whom she thought was really cute). We also tried to get the LGN autographs and pictures but it was pretty mobbed after their set and we didn't want to miss one minute of Elliott's performance.

Elliott's performance was E-mazing. That is definitely the best concert that I have ever been too. I liked the small forum. It felt like we were all family enjoying our "Sons" performance. I don't know how else to explain it. My dd and I did get up and dance somewhat. Mainly because the 2 girls in the 2nd row didn't sit down and to get good pictures of Elliot, you had to stand to get over their heads.

I got to meet cfans, itslate and weloveuelliot and their respective families & guests. I also met two ladies who sat in front of me. One was from Richmond and her sister or sister-in-law from Harrisburg. The Richmond lady had won lunch with Elliott from a radio station in Richmond and was too star struck and didn't know what to say. She, like most of us, is obsessed with Elliott. Neither of them were active etrainers (the Richmond lady was in the beginning after he won idol but hadn't been back). They both were Elliott myspace buddies, though.

I told them to come back and join us again. So if you ladies are on, welcome and introduce yourself.

After the concert we went back to the lobby as my dd wanted to get Elliott to sign our CD's and get a picture. I wasn't sure we would even see him so we got in line to get some LGN autographs. We got one or two and my dd said she was tired. So I said lets just wait around a little while longer. She sat down on a bench and all of a sudden we heard a loud cheer.

It was Elliott. We jumped up and started following to where he was walking. He ended up at the Merch table by his merchandise behind the table. It was like a cattle call and we were all trying to get up there. We somehow pushed our way through the crowd and made it up front. My dd presented the jacket covers and he said "Hi Sweetheart how are you!" I think she melted and I was just -- "Wow". We had Elliott autograph our CD and Xmas CD and then I said can I get your picture with her. He said sure and he leaned over the table and put his arm around her. I snapped the picture with my cell phone and my dd said "thank you". I was just in awe of seeing him that close and I said "thank you and it was nice meeting you" (duh where that came from is beyond me). I just didn't know what to say. He looked at me and smiled and said "Thank you very much". At that point I should have handed her the phone and got in a picture with him as well but again I was just in awe. Those baby blues and that smile just made me melt. :thud: (BTW I agree with cfans -- I didn't realize he was so short - but he is just so adorable). We got out of line as there were many people wanting to see Elliott and my dd was tired.

It was a magical night. I am still kicking myself about missing him earlier when there was only 3-4 people in the lobby and we could have had him all to ourselves. (I don't think I'll ever forgive myself).

Hopefully he will come back to the Whitaker Center (cfans keep working on Steve). I'll be much smarter next time. I'll bring my "good" camera with plenty of batteries (my camera died halfway into Elliott's set -- again dumb fan forget the extra set of batteries).

I am away from my home but will post the few pics we took later this weekend.

Take care all and it was great to meet all my fellow e-trainers!!!

:elliottelliott: :elliottelliott:

Tiggergirl

A couple of things I had forgotten to mention. Aaron told me to say hi to Harleywoman. I said, "Don't you mean "Harleygirl". He laughed so hard and said, "yeah, that's what I call her sometimes; sorry". I told him not to be sorry, that she seems to like it and now some of us are even doing it.


:rotfl: Thanks for that Cfans. Monday night when I saw him, he called me Harleywoman, Harleylady, and I don't know what else. He's such a sweetheart.

Loved your recap.

thanks for the recap tiggergirl!! I'm happy your daughter got a picture with Elliott!!

Tiggergirl I am so happy that you decided to stick around and you and Alexa got to meet Elliott. And believe me - we're all stuck by the "stupid fairy" when we meet him. No matter how much we plan and rehearse what we're going to say, it all goes out the window when we see him up close and personal. I didn't even think to get a picture with him and I was holding a camera in my hand!

This is a memory that you and Alexa will cherish forever.

Thanks, tiggergirl--great recap--believe me, we ARE all obsessed and in a fog when it comes to E--don't feel alone! Glad you and your daughter finally got to meet him! Hooray for you!

Yep, I'm still in a fog about it. :awe: It was such a totally awesome experience.

I am telling everyone that will listen my story (still kicking myself for missing him the first time - I don't think I'll ever get over that one).

It is so nice to find people that can relate.

:etrain: :rocker:

These have to be some of the best recaps EVER!! Forget it, ALL Elliott show recaps are amazing, ONE, because they are about an Elliott show and TWO, because the recaps are from US!!! I swear I could make a living reading recaps all day and NEVER get tired of em, and say I had the best job in the WORLD!! I am so happy for ALL of you!!

xo

Great recaps, everybody! Thank you for sharing!

Loved ALL the recaps. Wish I could have been there (my hometown).

CFANS<
Okay you are in charge of the recaps for Monday! Such attention to detail! My brain kind of turns to mush!
I can't wait till Monday, see you then!
C

And let me add, Chloe with her gift of gab and lucky horseshoe, (wherever she keeps it lol), and her wonderful sharing Elliott heart , has made it possible for cfans and myself to meet up with her in Allentown for that private concert! You are just too wonderful for words!!!


My short and not as articulate recap to follow...

My 12 yo son and I, got to Harrisburg about 4:30ish. Cfans had called to tell me the radio station was giving away meet and greets in the lobby, to head there first, so we did. The DJ said they were all gone boo hoo. So off we went around the corner to the bus (which cfans also told me where it was), to see what was happening.

I saw robyns there with 2 of her boys, so I ran up and grabbed a hug. We talked for just a few minutes and BINGO Elliott came walking up from the far street corner, in his black hoodie. It was hard to tell it was him, but robyns had seen him earlier. I was toting around a small gift for him, and was ever so happy to see him. Robyn said a few words to him... I gave him the gift, He thanked me for the gift, tapping me on the shoulder. and can't believe I actually had the guts to ask for a hug. I am way too shy lol. I took a great picture of robyn and her family with Elliott... hope she'll post it soon. I really can't tell you how Elliott looked, because I was too busy trying not to trip all over my words like I have in the past :rotfl: I hung around with Robyn for just a little while, and all the guys started coming in and out of the bus. I really didn't say anything to the band, robyn was so good about it and I had gotten real shy again. Then Sway came out, and I managed to say a little to him. He asked if I had seen this tour, and I said no, just the first leg, this was my first and I was anxious to hear him sing with Elliott, and I was. My batteries, of course went dead on my camera, and robyn was nice enough to take a picture of me, Dan and Sway. I did however have 2 spare sets of batteries, just no time to load them! tiggergirl, wish you would have mentioned it to me when I saw you, I had enough to go around.

second meet with elliott to come...