This blog is divided into four parts, so if you are only interested in the concert, and don’t want to read about all the extra stuff, feel free to skip down!
Getting There
Saturday morning arrived, and I was ready to start on my adventure. I set two alarms but didn’t need the second one. I headed out to the airport only 15 minutes behind schedule. I had my radio on XM 16-The Highway and was hoping for a Sugarland song. As I approached the Whitestone Bridge toll plaza, “It Happens” came on …I read the bright lighted sign that said “E-Z Pass holders use outside lanes”. I went to an outside lane, and it was cash only! All I can say is “It Happens”, and thank goodness I had cash!
I arrived at the airport in plenty of time. I was able to get a seat assignment the night before, when I checked in, so that concern was a non-issue. Let me just say that La Guardia Airport should be re-named “Ghetto Airport”. It’s old and has a run-down feeling. There are not many places to get food or coffee. It’s so dimly lit you cannot read. And the chairs are packed in so tightly that you cannot walk down a row towing a suitcase. I grabbed a cup of coffee from a makeshift stand (currently under construction), and waited patiently for my flight.
The flight and arrival were uneventful. I have to give some shout-outs to the friendly New York based flight attendant who I followed from the parking lot all the way to Dallas, the kind rental car bus driver who thought he was older than me-he was forty J, and the sweet guy at Enterprise who gave me very good directions. Also, the employees at Enterprise were all interested in my big adventure, which made it more fun.
I was singing Tommy the TomTom’s praises as he effectively navigated me to the Hampton Inn. However, it was too early to check in, and I was hungry. Panera sounded good, and there is free internet there, so I plugged “Panera” into Tommy. Tommy dumped me at a big mall without a Panera In sight. Not cool, Tommy! I drove around the mall and decided to go in-Panera was inside. I was unable to go on-line there with my iPod, but I still had a good lunch. The new Thai salad is a little salty, if you ask me. But the natural chicken noodle soup was good. How can chicken noodle soup be unnatural?
After eating, I decided to wander around the mall a little. I was looking for shoes other than Ugg boots to wear to the concert, and I needed to go to the bathroom. Then I decided to get a manicure. I couldn’t have Jennifer seeing me with ugly nails! The lady at the nail salon tried to sell me everything under the sun-acrylic nails, French manicure, designs, she even asked if I wanted my eyebrows waxed (I had them done 2 days before)….all I wanted was a basic manicure!!!! She kind of rushed me out when I was done…
All of a sudden I wasn’t sure what I did with my jacket. Did I leave it in the car? At Panera? In the bathroom? At the nail salon? (Please don’t make me go back there!) I ran out to the car and there it was. I decided I’d had enough of the mall. I had not had a lot of sleep and was starting to feel a little overwhelmed. Then I couldn’t find the keys to the rental car. I started digging madly through my bag and guess what? The nail polish was not dry and the manicure was wrecked. I headed back to the hotel and a crazy Texas blond woman almost pulled out in front of me…Looking back, all this seems very insignificant, but at the time, I was getting pretty stressed out.
I checked in the hotel and tried to rest, but I was feeling worried about the meet and greet. I had no plan of what to say to Jennifer. I heard that it can be less awkward if you bring something, so I decided to write a little note to her. It was lame, but since I couldn’t bring organic CT grown maple syrup on the airplane, it was going to have to do. I showered and changed and headed to pick up my ticket.
The Meet and Greet
Tommy led me to the concert hall where I got my ticket, and then through the town center and out of town to the reception. I don’t know what I was expecting when the info said the reception was at the Diamond T Arena, but I was not expecting a horse/animal arena in the middle of nowhere-with a horse show in progress. I love horses-it made it all very fun and exciting!
I went into the reception room and gave my name…I guess I didn’t need a ticket to get in there, but I did feel confident that Tommy knew where the concert was being held and could get me back there. I was alone and didn’t know anybody, so it was a little awkward at first. There were chicken and beef fajitas and chips and guacamole-also beer and wine-but only one per person. I got a beef fajita and started munching on it. Halfway through, I thought that eating onions, garlic and spicy foods was probably not smart before wanting to make a good impression. Oh, well, I had breath mints.
I saw Joe walk in, and a big guy with a bigger beard who I knew had to be Mark, aka Ozark SugarTaz. I went over and introduced myself. After a few more minutes of awkwardness, we were all chatting like old friends. I met so many nice people-it was my first time to meet other Sugarland Fan Club members-Davey, Angie, Ashley, Jennifer, the other Mark (MAK) and others. Since I didn’t want my beer, Mark (mak) asked if he could have it….
Jack Ingram came in, and people lined up to meet him. None of us were that interested in meeting him, but MAK-Mark and I had never done a meet and greet before, and decided it would be good practice before we met Jennifer. I felt more relaxed as I saw they had a checklist, and it seemed like the event was very well organized and no one would get left out. Jack was really nice-I had seen him in concert a couple of times and we chatted about that.
Then Jennifer Nettles came in. We all cheered for her! She is just so cute! The 2 Marks and I got in line with Ashley and Jennifer-but then Ozark Mark convinced us to go to the back of the line-that JNett would be less rushed at the end-which I’m not convinced is true. She really seemed to spend as much time as people wanted with her. All of a sudden it was my turn. Remember, I had an agenda: Say hello, shake her hand, get a picture.
I walked up to her, shook her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Robin”
She said, “Hi, I’m Jennifer”
I asked if it was ok to hug her and she said yes, so I did. Wow.
I babbled on about how it was a really big deal to me to get to meet her and how much her music means to me. She was steering me around to get a picture. I gave her the card I wrote and told her I really wanted to bring the organic, CT grown maple syrup. “I would have loved that” she said. I explained about the plane and 3 oz of liquid…Somewhere in there someone dropped a beer bottle and it broke-which was a little distracting. Then we took a picture (I hope I look ok in it), and she thanked me for coming and supporting school music…I said something about it being important…
I regret I didn’t say something less generic. A fan-artist relationship is weird. I feel like I know her, at least in her professional life, but she doesn’t know me at all. She’s made a huge impression on me, yet I’m sure I made no impression on her. I wish I had told her that school music is VERY important to my family-my husband and I met in the school band. Or that I changed my job because of “Settling”. Or that if I ever get to meet her closer to home, I’ll bring the local organic syrup, and maybe some Nettle Meadow goat cheese, too. Anything but babbling about how much I like her music. I need to get over it-she’s probably my favorite artist of all time, I’m a fan, and I got to meet her. That’s amazing.
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| Jennifer Nettles and me! |
The Show
Mark, Mark and I hung out till the end of the meet & greet, which wasn’t too much longer. Mark (Mak) realized he forgot to tell her something, so he went back up. Then Jennifer got in a white van, we got in our cars, and we all headed over to the concert venue. We got there just as the show was about to start and my seat was right next to Ozark Mark’s!
Jack Ingram was quite good. He didn’t sing any hits-he said if we wanted to hear those, to go to a concert where he was with his band. But since this was an acoustic show, he could play what he wanted. I did know “Ava Adele” from the CD of his that I have, and I recognized a couple of other songs from when he was a guest DJ on XM. He told very entertaining stories about the songs as well.
Then it was Jennifer’s turn!!! We all stood up for her, but she encouraged everyone to sit and relax. She sang “Wide Open” and narrated what would be happening if she was performing it at a Sugarland concert. So funny! She also sang Baby Girl, Something More, Stay, Want To, All I Want To Do, Already Gone, Stuck Like Glue, The Incredible Machine (which was AMAZING as an acoustic song!), and Little Miss. She sat down at the piano and debuted 2 songs (yes it was the De-BUTT!). One was called “Done” and it was about being over a guy, but clearly the narrator wasn’t over him. She described it for a “Broken Heart”. Then she sang a song about a down-and-out clown, which had a vaudeville feeling. It was funny, but it’s hard for me to hear, process and remember lyrics, so I’ve got nothing to share. Maybe someone will post videos of these 2 songs and we can dissect the lyrics. She sang “Don’t Stop Believing” which she tagged onto “Something More”. For the encore, she sang “Jessie’s Girl” with Jack Ingram. I think I got all the songs… And I cannot begin to describe how great they sounded.
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| Jack Ingram and Jennifer Nettles |
There was a lot of banter, too-of course, I couldn’t catch all of it. But there was a story about getting “The Crud” from a three-year-old who picked his nose and ate it. She came out with a bottle of cough syrup with codeine in case she started coughing during the show. There was a story about how good things always happen to Jennifer (Scott Patton helped with this), a story about her grandmother’s drink. There was some jesting with the audience about singing a JNB song. (The audience was shouting out titles, but Jennifer said she couldn’t remember the lyrics-Scott, however, played a few bars of one on his guitar).
I really hope they put out a CD of this concert. It could be called “An Acoustic Evening with Jennifer Nettles III”. I would totally buy it. And I think other fans would, too. It would be a great way to raise money for Attic Community Playhouse.
Going Home
The show was over, and I said good-bye to my new friends and headed back to the hotel. I called my daughter and gave her a full report, as she had requested, and went to bed. The next morning there was Hampton Inn breakfast. Besides waffles, they also had biscuits and gravy. I had both. Can anyone say “carb-tastic”? I headed back to the airport. At the car rental, several employees asked about the concert. J It was fun to share with them! Everyone is so much friendlier in the south…the flight home was uneventful, and except for missing an exit and heading to Kennedy Airport instead of home, the drive home was, too.
Now it’s time to rest up until my next Sugar-venture. Though I’m not sure ANYTHING can top this concert.
