JMC in Quincy IL!

{I promise.. there is a bit of scrapbooking related topic in this post.... it's just near the end.. LOL}

The show was awesome.. Patrick wasn't feeling well, and he decided to stay home. so Rhi and I went by ourselves.

Before we went, we stopped at Hobby Lobby {I needed a new chain for my necklace, cos I broke it the other day}, and saw some cool silver letter charms - so Rhi and I made JMC charm bracelets. I want to add a charm for each show we go to {which means she needs 4 and I need 6}

The concert was sponsored by the fire department, as a fundraiser for several charities. The local radio station (WCOY) was there doing a live broadcast before the show - we went early and hung out with them for a bit. Everything was fine until Brian turned to me and said "You wouldn't mind if I stuck this (the microphone) in your face would you?"  I said "no.... But i might stutter!" He laughed and said "no problem, Kayla does that all the time!" {Brian and Kayla do the morning show}.  so I was on the radio.. LOL

After that we went back to the car to get Rhi's sweatshirt - I was on the phone telling my mom about the radio thing. Well, we had parked in the back by the bus  and I looked over, and there was Jason! Told my mom "omg, I have to go, it's jason" and hung up lol. { and YES, I said "OMG" }But I wasn't quick enough to get a photo {they were got in a car and went to get something to eat before the show}. On the way in, we stopped at the merchandise booth, got new 8x10s and a new pink t-shirt for Rhi.

The opening band {the Well Hungarians} were pretty good too - they do their own songs, but also covers - and the last song they played tonight was the Devil Went Down to Georgia - it was really awesome. Dueling fiddle and electric guitar, it was great. We bought a CD and were able to meet the band and have them autograph it. {And I told the fiddle player he was awesome. he denied it LOL}

Then back in for Jason - we stayed in our seats for the first three songs - there was a pit in the front, fairly low, so we weren't going to head up to the stage.. He made some very nice comments about Quincy, even said how much it was like where he was from in NC.  During one of the songs, he took his phone out to take pics to tweet {yes, while singing!}, so between songs he said "in case you were wondering.. " and said that he wasn't checking email or taking a call or anything, but he was taking pics to post on twitter and gave out the URL - then said "I'm the one writing stupid stuff all the time!" It got really quiet, and I said "Not all the time!!" LOL and he heard me! and said " ' not all the time"? What's THAT supposed to mean?" and laughed.

A little bit later, he commented a bit about his name - said that when he was little, the only time he was called Jason Michael Carroll was when he was in trouble. But when they talking about what name to go by, he though Jason Michael Carroll sounded like a great country name - but he wasn't thinking about how long it would take when signing autographs. Said that he thought he should have chosen a name like Garth. Or Bob.  But then he thought about the opening of the show "Ladies and Gentleman, Welcome to the stage - BOB!" Which had everybody cracking up!

After that, Rhi started asking if she could get closer to the stage because she wanted him to sign her shirt, and I wasn't going to {because several people had said the artists usually will sign things after the show} - so we went up and asked the the gal at the merchandise table if he would be doing that, and she said no, because they needed to be in NC by 7am.  So I told Rhi we could go down to try to get autographs after all. LOL Of course, at the time we decided to go down there, Jason had headed up one of the aisles and was signing autographs there.. we headed in that direction, and got pretty close to him, but then he went back to the stage.. DD was a little discouraged, because she wanted him to sign her shirt, but we went back to where we were standing before.

 Jason sang a couple of other songs too - he always comments about how country he makes them sound, no matter what kind of music they are originally. He always mentions Aerosmith, because they were one of his big influences, so I thought he would since Angel, but he didn't. He sang Take it on the Run, He Stopped Loving Her Today {after commenting about how religious Quincy must be, since everything had closed down early for easter!} and Friends in Low Places {commenting that he knew the original artist would have no problem with him singing that song here!}

He was singing Where I'm From while out in the audience, and he said that it was rather amazing how great the audience was singing along - he didn't know if those near the stage could hear it, but that he wanted to try something. So he started the chorus again, but then stopped singing so just the audience was singing. It was very cool. {Jason has said before that is one of his favorite things, when the audience sings his songs back to him.}

 Jason made the comment again about requests and putting them on a 20 dollar bill, which made me laugh {though he didn't mention the thirsty band fund this time}. Someone sent up an envelope with a request for Jason to play a song for someone that had planned to attend the show, but who died yesterday. He asked them which song - and they asked for something he didn't know {I didn't hear the title}. Somebody suggested Purple Rain, which made him laugh.  I think the person didn't know Jason's music very well, because then they said for him to just pick one. Several of us suggested Tears, but instead he sang Let It Rain. Which is not a song he does often in concert - mainly because of the falsetto part in the chorus - it's hard on his deep voice to  sing that high every night.

Came close a couple of times, but thought we were going to miss out this time, because he couldn't see her. So a couple of gals in front of me {one I used to work with, one I didn't know} offered to let her sit on their shoulders so she would be tall enough to hold her shirt up to stage level. And finally, during the last song, he took it {holding her hand with the shirt and singing to her first} and signing it. She was thrilled.

I had taken my Chasin Jason layout {the three-fold one} hoping to get a meet and greet {Unsuccessfully}, and had been holding it up so he would sign it. He not only signed it - he held it up so people could see the CHASIN JASON {which made a bunch of the girls scream} then opened it up, looked at it, and held it up while he was still singing so everyone else could see it too!  It was sooo awesome!! When he gave it back to me he said it was really cool. Totally made my night!

The only bummer was that I had tweeted him a couple of days ago, asking if he would play Stray (which is my favorite JMC song), and he said he probably would... but he didn't. When I tweeted about the show tonight, mentioning that, but that I was still happy, cos he signed my scrapbook page, he tweeted back and apologized, and said he forgot. I told him it was ok, i forgive him.  He had sung a couple of other songs that are some of my favorites, including Let It Rain, so i wasn't completely disappointed..

The only thing I am rather disappointed with is how many of the photos didn't turn out well. I try not to use the flash for a couple of reasons - one - the flash on my camera is really bright, and two - you have to be really close for the flash to even do anything. The other shows I have been to were outside, so there was a lot of natural light at the beginning, and pretty decent lighting during the show. This show - part of the lights were set up ON the stage, instead of IN FRONT of the stage - which meant about half the time, they were performing in the dark. Not ideal for low light camera shots without a tripod {especially with how much Jason moves on the stage!}