I shot video of the whole concert, and it turned out pretty darned well if I say so myself. We watched it in the car on the way back to Memphis. I am now officially off the deep end into my bout with Nessaholism and I need help. It was everything I ever hoped it would be! That, even tho so much seemed to go wrong for me.
First, we left off about a half-hour behind schedule, but we made it up easily since I had a radar detector in my car and we got into a jet stream of traffic that was enjoying travel in the 85-to-95 MPH range. There were several "oh shit! 8O " moments along the way, however, but we arrived in one piece right on time (about 4:40).
We were all hungry (me, my sister, my cousin, and a longtime friend) so we ate at the Mexican restaurant right next to the Exit/In. A line had already begun to form before we got our food, so I ate quickly, paid my share, and got outside. I was so worried that I wasn't going to get a good place inside!
I had my video camera with me, and I spied Vanessa doing a soundcheck on "Private Radio" and later doing a meet-and-greet on her bus. It was about 6:20 when they finally started letting people in and I picked up my ticket and headed in with my sister. (The other two were further back, but they found us.)
I found a great spot right up against the stage on my left where I had a very good view of the piano keyboard and an excellent view of the Rhodes that she played "Fuck It", I mean "C'est la Vie" on. Ari Hest played first, and while I'm not a fan, I think he did a really good job. The crowd was tame, but they readily showed their appreciation.
Vanessa came out and performed, and it was just wonderful. Her setlist is posted above, and I'll try to transcribe some of what she said later. I absolutely loved her transitions from song to song, how she would run through her chromatics and talk about her songs and tell stories, talking while she was playing an extended intro and then having to stop momentarily to use her hands to express herself! It was so totally live Vanessa, with the valve turned all the way open!
Of course her dirty mouth flew open a few times. She dropped a GD bomb on VH1, immediately saying she was kidding, and offered her translation of "C'est la Vie" that I'm not going to retype, and called out to solid waste when she flubbed a lyric in "Swindler".
After she finished her performance and disappeared backstage, my sister and I hung around for a while till we heard that if we wanted autographs we needed to go wait by the bus out front. So I waited out there with a few others for about 20 to 30 minutes in 40-something-degree weather till she got changed and whatever else and came to the door and signed stuff for all of us, inlcluding my 'Be not Nobody' cassette that I've had for over two years. "I didn't know they made these!" she said to me, and I explained how we got it from Poland because I didn't have a CD player at the time. "Well, hurray for Polish people!" She smiled and signed it "Peace, VaCrlt" in a silver marker. (Picture to come soon.)
We walked across the street to the car, and as we pulled off I beepity-beeped at the bus and we made a loop through downtown to see a couple of sights and take some pictures and we hit I-40 for Memphis. We just got here about 40 minutes ago, and I'm dead-ass tired. I hope to be able to extract the audio as soon as I get a replacement computer at home, and also the video I will make nice and neat and fit it onto an 80-minute VCD that I'll be glad to make a copy for anyone who wants one for only the cost of the envelope, postage, and disc. Stay tuned!
