American Idol is one of my shows. The variety of music that has been on the show this season has drawn me in. My favorites from the beginning were Casey, James, and Scotty. Scotty is the only one of the three who remains. An added bonus is that he comes from Garner, North Carolina – about 30 minutes from Benson. Scotty was coming back to his hometown for a quick concert. One of my students could talk of nothing else all week. “Are you going, Mrs. Victor?”
I had been contemplating attending ever since I found out about it. I really wanted to go, but I didn’t want to go alone. While I rocked Third Eye Blind with complete strangers, I wasn’t up to it a second week in a row. Scotty’s trip home was all over the radios, television, and newspapers all week. It didn’t matter the genre of the show – sports, news, rock, country….all were talking about Garner’s moment of fame. The question was, would I be there?
Saturday morning had me up bright and early. I bought the paper and read all about Scotty’s schedule for the day. I wasn’t really interested in his radio interview or visit to the local grocery store. What I wanted to see was the concert. Throughout the morning, I asked my family if they wanted to attend with me. I asked Tony if he wanted to go. He was not into the 30,000 predicted to attend. I asked Sana. She was not into standing around for three hours before hearing him sing. When I asked Patti, she replied she wasn’t dressed. I made a comment about being bummed I didn’t have anyone to go with. Within five minutes, Patti was dressed and ready to head out the door.
Of course, I had no idea how to get to Lake Benson. Rarely am I able to navigate to my destination without the aid of my GPS. Today was no different. We followed every turn given to us. And ended up at the edge of a lake in a very exclusive neighborhood. No signs of a concert. The GPS was no good to us. It was time to ask for directions. It was then we learned about a shuttle bus that would take us to and from the concert. The last time the caddy was in a field was when we were lost in a tobacco field at Christmastime. Today we drove in a field on purpose before making our way to the end of the line to wait for our shuttle.
Our waiting began. An hour to get to the shuttle. Standing room only on the bus before beginning our battle through the crowds.
Patti was determined to get as close to the stage as we could. She led the way and got us about 20 feet from the stage. We stood in the hot sun snapping pictures and making friends with those around us. We danced and sang along with a warm-up band. A woman behind us tried to stop people from getting in front of her. (Apparently, she has never been to a general admission concert before.) And then it was time for the parade. Which didn’t matter a hill of beans to us as we couldn’t see it. Patti was hot and thirsty. I looked at the masses behind us and questioned if she could make it without a drink for the next two hours. Thirty minutes before Scotty was to come on stage, I knew I had to let her go get water. Unfortunately, every stand she went to had sold out of water. She made her way back with a Pepsi in hand.
An hour later Scotty’s guitar teacher took the stage with his band. Another good time of singing and dancing as we awaited the headliner. We were ready for Scotty to be introduced – except he wasn’t.
Instead his pastor took the stage. I would have to say that this was the first secular concert I attended that was opened in prayer.
And then Scotty took the stage singing the song of my favorite American Idol performance so far – Gone. He was rocking it and having a great time up on stage. Next came The River. I couldn’t help but think of the Garth Brooks concert I took Sean to 15 years ago. His next song brought tears to my eyes. As he sung Letters from Home all I could think of was Sean. It has been a crazy week and I have not written him a single letter. Nothing like a reminder from listening to a 17 year old sing a song. I was more than ready for ‘baby lock the door and turn the lights down low’ Scotty’s theme song on the show.
Shortly after the song began, Scotty seemed to lose his composure a bit and the lady behind us was screaming, “IT’S JOSH TURNER! IT’S JOSH TURNER!” Josh Turner wrote and recorded the song he had been singing. The concert took a new turn. The joy on Scotty’s face when he realized he was going to be singing with his idol brought a smile to my face.
Their duet sounded polished and professional even though they had never sung together before. The music of Long Black Train brought memories of Josh Leach from OCS to mind. In 8th grade he had chosen that song to represent who he was on our Rock Your Classroom CD. The afternoon of song was concluded with the song In Color.
A picture’s worth a thousand words
But you can’t see what those shades of gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color
But you can’t see what those shades of gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color
Patti and I have memories and pictures of a day filled with music, joy, faith, love, and the beauty of doing what you love. So what we had to wait in lines or that it was super hot. The rain came and cooled us off as we stood in line to go home. If I ever have the opportunity to see Scotty McCreery in concert again, I would go in a heartbeat. He is a genuine person who puts on one heck of a show.
And to think I almost didn’t go.
You got much closer than we did and we got there at noon! But it was fun even if we couldn't really see anything! Thanks for the post of pictures!!
ReplyDelete