First of all, I'd like to thank Donna Jo and Brian for giving me some helpful hints on getting to meet Kellie. It worked!!!!!!
Concert pictures and videos will be up sometime soon. They are most all just the jumbo tron. This was no Queen Creek unfortunately but she rocked!!!
Now...onto the story!
Well my day started at 7:00 am. I woke up took a shower and put on the Kellie t-shirt I had made that said "Kellie Pickler Southern Sweetness since 1986" and was ecstatic for the day ahead. We left at about 9:00, and embarked on the 1 hour and 25 minute journey ahead of us. Except we had a few "pit-stops". First dropping my sister off at my cousin's house. Then we went to Wal-Mart to get some concert neccesities in "Kellie's honor" my mom joked.
Then we finally got on the road, on the way to Florence. I had been counting all the days to this day and was finally happy when it had come. We couldn't get there soon enough! I had also found on Tuesday (the concert was Saturday) that we would be meeting Kellie!!
When we got into Florence, it was still cloudy and there were Country Thunder signs everywhere, along with the occasional, "JAIL HERE. DO NOT STOP FOR HITCH HIKERS" sign. I saw the KNIX and KMLE cars and there was a huge line to the dirt road leading to Canyon Moon Ranch, "The Home of Country Thunder".
Now this was my first time at Country Thunder, I'm not sure if you guys have been there but I'm just saying it's absouletely HUGE! I mean loads of people just went there for socializing. It's all outside, there's little kiosks everywhere and it's like a tiny shopping center out there.
Well, after several struggles trying to find the parking lot, we figured to park where all the other cars were: in the grass with the horse stable bar things. It was funny it was out in the middle of nowhere. By this time my mom wished she had brought the truck!
We first went up to the call window, our camp chairs on our back, my Kellie scrapbook binder and Kelliebean Newsletter in my hand along with my trusty camera. The man said the meet and greets weren't there, but another lady came up to us and said they'll 99% be inside the area, at the yellow tent by the stage.
So into Country Thunder! First when we walk in, people are everywhere! There's cowboy hats being sold, all this fun stuff. I was enjoying myself already! First I bought a program (it was just a newspaper program, but hey it was cool, and it came with a bandana!) then we found our way to the main stage. We found the place where we were going to call home for the next few hours and put our camp chairs there. Then we went off to explore as the first act I wanted to see (Chuck Wicks) wasn't on till awhile.
My mom had as much fun as me! We stopped almost everywhere to look at jewelry or tee shirts. I got a Country Thunder t-shirt, and then we walked over to the artist merchandise stand. Kellie's merch wasn't out yet, but Chuck Wicks's and Bucky's were. I decided I didn't want anything so we made our way to the yellow tent. No meet and greets!
Chuck Wicks was great. If you’re a Brad Paisley fan, come catch him and Brad on tour. A lot of people thought he should have been later on that day. Unfortunately he was only on for a half an hour instead of an hour, much to the audiences’ complaints. He sang “Stealing Cinderella”, “All I Ever Wanted”, “The Easy Part”, “Mine All Mine”, “Man of the House”, “The World” by Brad Paisley, and “If We Loved” I think. He did an autograph line, but they cut off line before we could meet him, but I did get his autographed picture.
Next up was Luke Bryan. We missed part of his set while in Chuck’s autograph line. But I know he sang “Baby’s on the Way”, “Good Directions”, “All My Friends Say”, “We Rode in Trucks”, “I’ll Stay Me”, “First Love Song”, “You Make Me Want To” and “Pick-Up Man” at least. He was good too! He and Chuck sounded a lot like the CD.
We stayed in our seats between Luke Bryan and Bucky Covington. Bucky opened up with one of my favorite songs by him called “American Friday Night”. His identical brother Rocky was his drummer! Everyone thought Bucky was drumming next to us! Anyways I know he sang an Elvis cover, “Empty Handed”, “A Different World”, his new single “I’ll Walk”, “It’s Good to Be Us”, “The Bible and the Belt” and “I’m Good”.
Bucky was pretty good but his vocal mixing was not good his microphone volume needed to be up, he was jumping around and stuff. In his intro video the interviewer asked if he was going to talk to Kellie Pickler and he was joking around saying “She’ll probably hunt me down.” It was funny!
After Bucky we got up to check the call window again and the yellow tent. Still no meet and greets and we were to meet Kellie in 3 hours! Harry Luge went on stage but we went to look around a bit more. We finally got some food tickets and I got a quesadilla and my mom got some Indian frybread. I’m not sure if it’s like this at every Country Thunder, but if the food at the Arizona Country Thunder were to go into the market, Taco Bell would have some competition. Or at least with the quesadillas. I also got some funnel cake, that was good! We hung out at the table a while, then finally got up to walk past the KMLE and KNIX tents. More people were here by now. A lot of people didn’t come till later that night. Then finally it was still cloudy, but the sun was setting a bit. It was really beautiful outside. We went past the merchandise and Billy Ray, Kellie and Dierk Bentley’s merchandise was up. Heartland was on stage. I was disappointed. Kellie didn’t have very many things to choose from. There was the blue t-shirt with her face on it and the Red High Heel t-shirt. There was also the autographed CD and then the Santa Baby single cover picture and the black leather jacket picture. I didn’t get anything because I had both those pictures, but I still like to look at that stuff.
We watched the last few song of Heartland’s set then before Billy Ray Cyrus went on, we went over to the entrance to backstage and asked about our meet and greets right at the tent by the entrance. The lady said she’ll just write us our meet and greets because they hadn’t given her any, and the radio was even asking. It’s good we were assertive or else we wouldn’t have gotten our meet and greets!
There’s a picture of me, all smiles and nerves with my Kellie scrapbook that a few Kelliebeans and I made and then a copy of the Kelliebean Newsletter. That’s really how I was! I wanted to be toward the end, so we wouldn’t be rushed, but my mom said it’d be better to be toward the front so we would definitely get to meet her. They also asked all radio people to move to the back of the line too. Surprisingly, there were a lot of people at the meet and greet. I think that’s because there’s a lot of people who got them via the radio stations.
Well by this time it was around 7:35. Kellie went on at 8:30. A man came out with a VIP necklace and led through the gates. There were some tents set up here and there, then some tour busses. I couldn’t pick out which one was Kellie’s because they all looked the same. They stopped at a white tent with one end cut off, and then and a flap leading to it. They stopped us there. We were waiting for a while and then I saw Kellie! She looked amazing, she walked into another tent right by ours were she did a KNIX interview for before she went onstage. I then saw her exit the tent and got a video this time! I was ecstatic. We were second or third in line. Kellie walked in the white tent where there was a fan and a line. Unfortunately they said only one autograph and one picture though. An employee (not Wes) was there to take pictures for the people. I also believe there was a bodyguard. The couples in front of us were so kind. I could tell they were big Kellie fans! They gave her a vanilla candle, which she liked then they took a picture and got her autograph.
I’m surprised I could even walk into the tent! I was nervous! She was standing there, there was no table or anything! So I walked in and said, “Hi my name is Carson.” she said hi back, and I already was freaking out! Then I asked her if she knew about Kelliefans and she answered yes with a smile. I told her and few Kelliebeans and I made her this scrapbook and I gave it to her. She looked at the cover and smiled and said, “Oh this is for me!” I smiled and then also gave her the Kelliebeans Newsletter, saying this is the first ever Kelliebeans Newsletter. “Wow! That’s awesome!” she looked at the cover, and then her bodyguard took the scrapbook and newsletter so she wouldn’t have to carry them through the entire meet and greet line. I told her I had been to three concerts and have never gotten my CD signed and she said it was about time with a laugh. She then asked me if my name began with a K or a C, and I was just so happy she remembered my name! She autographed my CD “Blessings Carson!” and then her official autograph heart signature. The person taking pictures then took the picture of Kellie and me. He asked my mom if she wanted in too, so she got in another picture of all three of us. It was cool because we got two pictures!
It was dark when we exited the tent, starstruck and so happy! It was so cool, but since it was dark we couldn’t find our seats! Thankfully after walking a while, the lady next to us who was a big American Idol fan and we had talked to her, told us where we were sitting. Billy Ray Cyrus was playing. You can tell he loves performing. He said it a million times. He changed his guitar a lot, and interacted with the crowd. I did not know he had so many fans! Although many people kept yelling, “Where’s Miley!” Anyways, his final song was meant to be “Achy Breaky Heart”. But then, he decided to do an encore. Then another encore. Then three encores. The whole time he was aware of it, saying “Oh the stage manager is biting his nails right now, but how about another one?” and that was swell and all except Kellie was supposed to be on after him! Finally a man came on to say, “How great was Billy Ray?” and everyone chanted and clapped, but Billy walked around ranting a little, but then got off stage.
Kellie’s set took a long time to get too. She went on about an hour after she was supposed to, around 9:30 instead of 8:30. She opened up with Gotta Keep Moving, then went right into “Things That Never Cross a Man’s Mind” with a little introduction. I could tell she was rushing a little to make up for the lost time. She then sang “One of the Guys” saying, “Us women have a lot to do! We don’t just roll out of bed looking like this. It takes a lot of work, yeah?” and of course she said, “You have to pick the right outfit and the shoes to go with it.” She finished with, “Sometimes it’s a lot more fun to be one of the guys.” After the fun “One of the Guys” she sang “My Angel” with a heartwarming introduction that I was able to capture on video. It was cute because she said, “This one’s about Grandma Pickler” and it was sweet hearing that. After “My Angel” she went right into “Walkin’ After Midnight”. “Ya’ll love the classics, yeah?” she breathily said after the song. She then introduced “Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You” and sang it flawlessly. She then went onto “Stand by Your Man”. Then the familiar beat of “9 to 5” began. She then introduced her whole band. It was funny because when she introduced her band members, she would say their names then say, “Everyone say hi Joe!” or what the band members’ name was. No one in our area really said hi except my mom and me! She then talked about working her butt off at Sonic and how she spilled the soda and how she was a huge Dolly Parton fan. Then she broke into “9 to 5” with a big cheer from the whole crowd. She then started talking about her sad relationship with her mother with lots of “Awwwwws” from the crowd. Kellie also talked about songwriting and how she admired country music for how truthful it is. She then started singing “I Wonder” with lots of back-up singers, I might add. Kellie then started talking about how she wasn’t good at picking out men. She says if she was in a room with one hundred men, and 99 were good and loving and the greatest…she would walk out with that one looser. And she said, “When that one looser breaks up with you…and he will…. Don’t cry…put on your make-up, get dressed, and kick him to curb in your red high heels”. Everyone sang along to “Red High Heels” and after she finished, she thanked everybody, and told them to check out her merchandise, and then she amazing set was over!
I was still starstruck! I was kind of disappointed about her not singing any new songs, probably because her set was cut short. Dierks Bentley went on the time he was supposed to go on, so I thought her set was kind of rushed. But she was flawless. Her voice was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G that night and she looked “hot”. LOL!
Her full setlist was this:
1. Gotta Keep Moving
2. Things That Never Cross A Man’s Mind
3. One of the Guys
4. My Angel
5. Walkin’ After Midnight
6. Didn’t You Know How Much I Loved You
7. Stand By Your Man
8. 9 to 5
9. I Wonder
10. Red High Heels
It was a great night! Meeting Kellie really changed my life. And I thought I was a Kellie nut before…I was wrong!
And finally…the picture you’ve all been waiting for….
Before meet and greets…
The stage…
