MORE NOTES, SOME OF WHICH MIGHT EVEN BE INTERESTING
SMALL TOWN GIRL GOES UPTOWN. This was a FREE concert that was part of the Food Lion Speed Street festival. The festival stretches out for several blocks, and about 400,000 people attend every year. There are three entertainment stages. Kellie was Friday's headliner, so she got the main stage at Trade and Tryon streets. This is considered the geographic center of "uptown" Charlotte. We're too uppity to have a mere "downtown" here. The Bank of America corporate headquarters occupies one fourth of the intersection. On a normal business day, the place is crawling with bankers in suits. But Friday night, it was all NASCAR and Kellie fans banking on seeing their favorites.
THE PICKLER PACK PACKED IN LIKE SARDINES. Lots of people gave up trying to see her because it was so packed:
Paid to Party: My NASCAR-filled weekend
At one point, a young guy who had had too much to drink passed out and fell over on me. I felt bad because by instinct I backed up when he started to stumble back toward me. His knees buckled a bit, and he tried to sit, but he hit the pavement hard with his butt. He passed out briefly, then went to get air and water (I hope.)
The crowd was much smaller the next night for Travis Tritt, according to some blog comments and people that I know.
MISSED CHANCE TO MEET KELLIE. While waiting for Kellie, a group led by an emcee nicknamed Motormouth Mike or something like that, kept doing stuff to keep us entertained. We saw more drivers, they had lots of contests and they threw out a bunch of Coca-Cola shirts.
At one point, they asked "who knows which drivers are part of the Coca-Cola racing family?" I knew the answers because all their numbers were on a banner right next to me. But I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to go up on stage with thousands of people looking at me and have to do something stupid. Plus I figured I would lose my place near the stage.
Bad move. Really bad move. All 13 people who answered got a meet-and-greet with Kellie!
SPEED CHANNEL INTERVIEW. I heard a little of Kellie's interview with WKKT on the way uptown, and got to see her Speed Channel interview. I didn't get any great photos from that, because I was at a bad angle, and they set up the stage so the crowd is behind the people being interviewed.
Kellie looked really cute in her Speed Channel cap. She was wearing a black Spandex outfit, and let me tell you, the girl's in amazing shape now. She could do an exercise DVD.
It was a funny interview. I like the part when Kellie was telling two-time Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip "Maybe you like to drive slow, but I don't" when she was talking about her Cadillac Escalade.
You could tell the Waltrips are Kellie fans. Michael seemed excited when they announced her name, and said something like "Wow! Pickler is here?!"
One thing I don't think was on TV: Michael Waltrip (I think) tried to sing "I Wonder" after the show. MW's a nice guy, but has no future in music.
SAW CLAY AND SHANNON, MISSED KASEY Because I left my cell phone at home, I didn't know that Shannon had left me a text message earlier until I was already down there. But I saw her up near the front with her family.
I was thinking the racing fans might leave after the Speed Channel show, so I went over and found Shannon. Then I went and changed batteries and the card in my camera because I was afraid it would die in the middle of the concert. Then I got back into the crowd, and the LONG long wait until Kellie's concert began. Hardly anyone left though, and the ones that did were replaced quickly.
I know there were other familiar faces there, but the only two Kellie Beans I saw for certain were Shannon and Clay. I saw Shannon right after the Speed Channel interview and talked to her after the concert also along with Clay.
I was looking for Kasey, and I bet she wasn't that far away from me during the show, but it was PACKED. I had talked to her once before at another concert here but didn't know who she was way back then. Because there were no seats, it was a bit crazy. Some day, we all need to get together for one of Kellie's concerts.
Here's a set list by album:
NEW SONGS
I Just Want Someone to Love Me
Rocks Instead of Rice
Don't You Know You're Beautiful
Best Days of Your Life
COVERS
Walking After Midnight
Stand By Your Man
STG SONGS
Gotta Keep Moving
One of the Guys
Things That Never Cross A Man's Mind
Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You
I Wonder
Small Town Girl
My Angel
Red High Heels
LOL but she has been amazing and I have been super lucky enough to meet her! That's an amazing, amazing set list! Wish I coulda been there, but it sounds very crowded!
