My Austin Report: all my videos have been posted and can be viewed at either youtube or gofish. Posting for the videos can be found under my other posting "My Elliott video" There are no close ups and the video shot at Antones is basically audio because it was dark and unfortunately you can't see much, but the audio is pretty good. My video camera saves video files to .avi so you may need Windows Media Player.

Highlights – seeing Elliott four times pre-concert, and then at the after-party at Antones when he sang "I Believe to My Soul" and "A House is not a Home". He also did some fun jamming with Chris, Buckey and L*M*B*O. Another highlight was when I got my picture taken with both Ace and Taylor, plus I got Taylor's autograph. Biggest Disappointment – not getting the opportunity to get my picture taken with Elliott or get his autograph.

We arrived at the south side of the Frank Erwin Center (the concert site) many hours before the concert in hopes of seeing Elliott, and hopefully some of the others. As we walked over we saw a small group of people standing around at the top of the stairs, and then we saw the tour bus, and the equipment trucks down in a trucking pit next to the Center. Just as we walked up Elliott and Chris came off the bus. I immediately screamed to Elliott and he gave a backwards wave, then went into the Center. During our long, hot wait Ace came up to visit us, and I got my picture taken with him; Taylor also came up. He autographed Soul Patrol tshirts and had pictures taken…I got his autograph and my picture taken with him!

After seeing Elliott twice, I decided that I was going to hold my position watching the door that Elliott had disappeared into no matter what. Luckily my persistence paid off when Elliott comes out again. I yelled and he waved again, but still did not come up to where we were waiting in the 97 degree heat hoping to get just a brief moment to talk to him. A little bit later JP arrived in a PT Cruiser. Elliott came out to the cruiser, got in and sat in the car with her. Unfortunately he never did have time to come up and greet his fans, but he had time for JP – I was genuinely disappointed that he didn't have time for his fans.

The concert was great. It was typical of all the other concert recaps except for each of them acknowledging that they were in Austin, Texas, but the same dialogues as reported from other concert recaps. Not much diversity or spontaneity, they stuck very close to the same venue throughout the entire concert. The sound quality was not the greatest and there was some obvious canned help.

Mandisa was a great start to the show. She was awesome, fantastic, amusing and quite soulful in her own right with that powerful voice! She is a fabulous singer and performer, and she also has such a beautiful stage presence.

Just as he had done on the stairs before the concert, Ace interacted wonderfully with the crowd. I really enjoyed his duet with Mandisa and I loved his absolutely cheesy performance of Father Figure…his throbbing chest on the big screen was hilariously sexy!

Lisa is a fabulous singer and her talents are impressive. Paris was non-stop, bouncy and exhausted me with her aerobics - she left me breathless just watching her! Bucky is very, very sweet and I really enjoyed his solid performances - his duet with Kellie was the highlight of the first set. Kellie was cutesy and funny. She made the same jokes, and sounded a bit flat and was somewhat low on volume.

Intermission was painful from the waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally the lights were down and a huge amount of energy erupts as Chris hits the stage. "Wanted Dead or Alive" was fantastic and yet I was unable to concentrate because I am waiting and waiting. Then Chris begins "Savin Me" and the entire placed exploded with such a huge volume of screaming that we couldn't hear Elliott signing! "Moody's Mood For Love" was absolutely heavenly to drown in, and "Trouble" was fun and spunky…then Elliott was finished way too soon.

The guys dedicated "Patience" to the families of 911 and simply put, it was outstanding, especially when they finished it a cappella. Kat was still overdressed but barefoot and she honestly seemed to be overwhelmed by all of the quite obvious juvenile, little girl screams for her. Taylor did his entrance from the back singing "Jailhouse Rock" which we could barely hear over the screams, and his entire set was fun and bursting with energy.

My favorite part of the evening was the after-party at Antones. L*M*B*O sounded fabulous and really seemed to be having a great time from the beginning of their first set, throughout the night to their last set. Simply put, they were awesome. Brian Less has magical, flying fingers and delightfully scratchy, deep vocals. Sam Gunderson was brilliant, his guitar playing mesmerizing. Mitch Jones was a solid asset, and Zippy Dieterich seemed to have so much fun just playing drums; he seemed to be keep the entire band focused.

I promise you that no one will be disappointed at an after-party if all they get to hear is L*M*B*O. Luckily for us at Antones Taylor arrived and performed with the band for the second set. I have to say that Tay with L*M*B*O was so much better than AI ever allowed him to be. He played his harmonica and was just fantasic! At the end of the set Tay said good night and thanked everyone for their support. When he left so did a lot of the crowd. We had been told that Elliott had announced he would be at Antones and I was determined to stay until he showed up and performed, or they closed Antones.

During L*M*B*O's third set Chris, arrived upstairs in the VIP Lounge, soon followed by Ellliott, Ace, and Buckey. Their arrivals created quite a distraction which I felt was pretty unfair to L*M*B*O. At the break, they started setting up four microphones and then I knew we would be rewarded for our patience, dedication and perseverance.

When the last set started Elliott came onto the stage. He sang "I Believe to My Soul" and "A House is Not a Home", he then performed with Chris and Buckey, left the stage and disappeared. He seemed to have a great time performing with L*M*B*O, then he was gone too quickly!

Ace then came out and introduced Bluu, a previous American Idol contestant. Ace did "Butterflies" a cappella, and also one of his original songs. Ace is going to going to do quite well in the music world. He has such great presence, loves his fans and has such a fantastic voice. Bluu then sang "A House is not a Home", also a cappella, definitely not as well as Elliott had sung it earlier! Then it was definitely time to head home to San Antonio – Monday at work a few hours later was a bit difficult, but I am proud to say that I made it through the entire day without falling asleep at my desk!

Thanks for posting about your concert experience and the great recap, Sandy! It was great you got to see LiMBO and the idols afterward, sorry you didn't get more E time, though. I hope Elliott has them with him at the State Fair (well, LiMBO, anyway).

:)

ThanX musicmovesme...I am a bit behind on getting my report in but life and work got seriously in the way after being in such delightful heaven, plus I wanted to be sure my recap contained everything!

Here are my lists of all the videos from the AI concert and the after-party at Antones, Austin, TX on Sept. 10, 2006:

www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8C726EF86AFC1CB2
www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2B11F0AC389E48B0

Elliott Yamin - AI Performances: www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=CE9DD88853140151

Elliott - after-party at Antones, Austin, TX: http://www.gofish.com/player.gfp?gfid=30-1051046

Taylor Hicks & LiMBO at after-party at Antones, Austin, TX: www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2B11F0AC389E48B0

Awesome! Thanks for the links to the vids!

Thanks for a wonderfully written recap, Sandy!! I'm glad you persevered on waiting for Elliott...I would have been totally bummed if he didn't show up!! He specifically told us in Dallas that he was going to be in Antone's...and you also knew this even before he confirmed it. Anyway, thanks for all the vids as well!!

ThanX for your patience...hmmmmm, sounds like a really good song...and you wonderful feedback!

Oh, Sandy--that was such an amazing story-and enjoyed your videos--but did I miss your pics? Hope to see them too! Sounds like you had a wonderful time--so frustrating not to meet E! We're mostly all in that state of unrequited affection, at this point--I was totally frustrated in Birmingham, too! But hope springs eternal! LOL :bounce:

I will post my pictures as soon as I have them developed. I appreciate everyone's patience...

ThanX!