I was going to write a few brief thoughts about last night's Jingle Jam and put it in News and Updates, but the more I kept thinking about it, the longer I realized this is going to be and I should claim its rightful place here. I'll try to edit as I go along.This was a far cry from all of your more personal experiences but I thought everyone would be interested to read about a diffferent kind of venue for Elliott.
First I give credit to georgiafan for being so quick to tell you about the unexpected radio interview and to itslate for capturing it on audio. "Mad props" to them, borrowing from E's words when he gratefully thanked the radio station and gave "mad props to star 94" for all their support and for inviting him to their Jingle Jam. I was very impressed how he handled a crowd of this size and talked to the audience.
He came across wonderfully over the radio as I was driving to the concert, and 2 of Atl's chattiest and highly popular drivetime dj's Cindy and Ray said enough to praise and admire him even after the interview. I was locked in traffic after coming from work and picking up my husband, and getting pretty frantic that I would be missing Elliott's set, since he was the first to go on and the sole reason why I was going to the concert in the first place. Anyway, I did make it on time running madly, bumping into the masses of young teens, leaving hubby behind to catch up. As I passed by 2 dj's, they did ask who I came to see. It wasn't time for a long chat, but I had to seize the moment and told them about how much I enjoy E's music and love hearing them play his latest song (subtle I am...request, hint,hint). They both said Elliott gets their support and that he's an awesome person and singer. That alone made it well worth going!!
We actually got to our seats early enough because there was about 20 minutes of dj's craziness and holiday related film scenes before and between acts. Our seats were on the 2nd rung of a u-shaped arena, center, not the best seats but not the worst either. I guess I'm spoiled because nothing compares to standing in the front row at the Asheville show. It helped to have the large screens (and to see E
at all those views ) :awe:

I was so happy to see that the audience was FULL of appreciation for him, very receptive cheering and singing mostly to the song they knew best, WFY. There was plenty of loud cheering and singing to some of the other songs as well. It did feel good that so many in the audience, esp the young girls were familiar with the other songs on the cd.
Not since I was a teenager have I seen so many preteens and teens, largely female, gathered in one place, along with the mostly mid-aged adults accompanying them, including myself, teenager at heart. I was talking for a long time to a dad in front of me who brought his Jonas Bros-obsessed daughters, and he assumed that we were there with our daughter, but I proudly told him that I came just to hear Elliott. That was right after E's performance, and he said, "Boy, he can really sing. He put on a great show! My wife and I liked his voice and his family story that season on AI." I could go on because he had a lot to say about season5 and how they need to return to the back stories to make people care about the singers next season. Although I agreed, back stories notwithstanding, I refrained from telling him how it would take many many seasons to find another person equal to Elliott.

~~~~more to come, still have to write about E's show....

Loving it! It's great to hear about the Elliott love when he is the opening, opening act of a much bigger show!

loving your recap already!!!!

Great recap so far, Tulee. I'm so glad that you went to the concert. I only wanted to see Elliott also and I probably would not have made it to the Gwinnett Arena in time (since he was opening) so I did not even bother trying to get tickets.

In normal concert configuration, the arena holds over 10,000 and it was sold out. Cool.

Can't wait for the rest of your recap.

Love, love it! More please. :elliottski:

Great recap...so far!

annnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddd......................
sounds fantastic so far!!!! :xmascheerleader:

Finally back.....sorry to leave you hanging but had to eat and take care of a headache that I may have got from the Jonas Bros, no, jk, also have this little problem typing....
... now where did I leave off....


It was an indescribable thrill for me to see him in such a large venue. He carried it off with such charisma and skill like he's been doing it for ages, either you have it or you don't, and he is only going to get better. The sound was exceptional, and his vocals were heard throughout the large arena. I've been to concerts where the band or orchestra totally drowned out the vocals and left feeeling disappointed. It was a perfect blending of music and vocals. All of his bandmembers were there, Sway also, and I got a kick out of seeing them at various times on the screens. They sounded amazing, nothing else to say, except if you saw the photos, I thought he looked gorgeous from my seat and the photos prove it. Had to add that. The opening song of the night was Alright and it quickly brought the audience to their feet, and I keep reading people mentioning their favorite version of WFY. Everyone has an opinion, but I have to say that this actually had to be the best I heard. The way he embellished it with soulful runs and his phrasing brought it to another level. He was obviously caught up in the audience's reaction and gave it all his soul. I just wish there was a recording of this live performance.

I'm really grateful that he had this opportunity to make close ties with the radio station. Also pleased that he was well received, not that I had any doubts, but this was a concert aimed at the current crop of tween-age superstars - the Jonas Bros, Avril, and Colbie Caillat. His voice is on an entirely different level IMO and I had to know firsthand that he was appreciated. I was actually going to leave after E but curiosity got the better of me and I stayed to hear the others. I'm not making comparisons, each act is so different. You can't compare the audience reactions of the Jonas Bros to any performer when you have girls screaming at their every gesture. If I had been more aware of Colbie's songs, I may have enjoyed her set more because I tend to pay close attention to lyrics of songs, and she seemed to have some interesting music, but her soft, wispy voice was not suited for this venue, and it was hard to hear. I went for something to eat and missed - ? -most of the Jonas Bros. The sound from the audience was deafening as I mentioned, and it was better not to be so close as I'm just getting over an ear infection, lol. Avril was her spunky self, but I hear her so much because I HAVE TO when I'm reuesting for E, that I decided to call it a night and left after her second song. My husband was more than happy to oblige. Maybe if I could go back a few -ahhh,just a few- decades, I may have been one of her fans, never know for certain.

Just to add, one of the female dj's, Shannon, had some fun re Elliott after he finished by apologizing to Elliott for walking in on him while he was in his boxer shorts. It drew the expected crazy response from the girls.

If I had to find faults, it was that Elliott's set was too short but that's because I wanted to only hear him. Avril had the longest set at 1 hour and that's understandable with all of her hits. Also, I really wanted him to sing one of the original holiday songs, Warm Me up would have made my night!
The other problem was the merchandise table because there was nothing of Elliott's there. Of course I asked about it and was told that, "they didn't bring any." I'm simply reporting because it really doesn't matter in the scheme of things, Elliott was great, better than held his own ..................and out of 5 thumbs up for the first performance in a large venue of his that I've seen (excluding the AI tour ) ...........................I will give him...........
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: and 3/4 (just to make some room for improvement)

Tulee,
Thanks so much for sharing this with us!

Sounds like Elliott gave it his all just like he always does. Thanks for a great recap.

Thanks so much Tulee! That was a wonderful recap and I'm so happy to hear how well he was received. Glad the tweens love him, too....although I'm sure there were many there just for him, like you! I love hearing how great he sounded in a big arena. Nice to know Sway was there. I miss those guys!!

Thanks for a great recap. I really enjoyed reading it!

:hapiholidays:

Thanks for the recap. I was really curious about the crowd demographics and reactions, so I really appreciated all the detail!

Great recap Tulee. No surprises, we KNEW he would be great! Did they have a jumbotron? Would love to see him on one of those! Oh wait, we did, at the AI concerts! But to know he was there on his own power....well just WOW! :xmascheerleader: :xmascheerleader:

Great recap, Tulee, thank you so much. It's wonderful hearing how much love he got from such a large audience. He's making his own way now and I'm sure that his fans will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. I just hope that we will still be able to see him in the smaller venues too.

You must have been so proud of him up there!

Wonderful recap. Had to laugh at you leaving your rating 1/4 star short to leave room for improvement. But the surprising thing is, just when we think that we can't get any better, darned if he doesn't.

Thanks so much everyone for your nice replys ! :)

And I guess the 3 large screens were jumbotrons, the kind they have in concert arenas of this size....it was HD, that's for sure!!

I know how hard it is to make a 7:00 show with the traffic, georgiafan, I was trying to keep calm driving but if I had missed him, I would have surely broke down in the parking lot!