It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about an Alan Jackson concert. Not that we haven’t been attending them on a regular basis, but life has been so busy the last couple years with kids in college and exchange students from China and Japan, and family illnesses that I just haven’t found time to write a review of a show.
However, I had to take time out today because we just had such a fantastic night and I wanted to share it with everyone here on Alan’s fan club site. First I need to lead up to this incredible evening with a little ‘back story’.
Paul and I came down to Ocean City, New Jersey Saturday night for a much needed vacation. We got here a couple days late because my sister had been in the hospital and we almost had to cancel our plans. Luckily she was released and we were able to salvage some of our vacation before I need to get back to teaching in the new school year. Our three kids were not going to be able to come as they all had work schedules that would not allow them to take the time off. First time in 25 years we’ve come to the shore without at least one of them, so it definitely felt a little weird. Anyway, at the last minute Rachel was able to get a day off and decided to drive down at midnight last night and spend today with us.
In the meantime, we were watching and trying to get a couple tickets to Alan’s show in Atlantic City. We’d been checking regularly for the last month or so, knowing he’d be performing just a few towns away while we were on vacation, but we didn’t have any luck. We were even going to have Adrianne and Paula come down and stay overnight with us if we could get some tickets.
As of 4pm today, still nothing.
Suddenly around 5pm we see ‘4 tickets’ available. Row EE (5th row) floor center. I try to get the price. Of course I have to create a user-id and password. The 5 minutes they allow you is ticking down. By the time I get officially logged in there are only 2 tickets left. I try to purchase the two tickets and it says I can immediately download and print the tickets. Well, I am on vacation at a beach house we rented and I didn’t THINK to bring a printer with me. So I start running around asking neighbors on the street who are outside if anyone has a printer. NOPE, they are all pretty much just here for the week. One suggests a Starbucks about 10 blocks away. I called them and they said no they don’t have a printer for public use. But when I explained to the manager that we needed to print tickets to a show that started in a few hours, he said we could come there, and use his office printer. But now I have to see if the tickets are even available because of course more than 5 minutes have gone by.
Luckily, two seats are still available, so I buy them and then Paul and I rush to the Starbucks with my computer still open to the page that says ‘print tickets’. It took a bit to get the tickets to my computer and then emailed so the manager could print them from his computer, but it all worked out. Now though we have the dilemma of 2 tickets, 3 people. Paul says for Rachel and me to go. It is just about her birthday and she hasn’t seen Alan in almost a year (her birthday last year with 2 of our exchange students up in New York). She is also going to China in October to study for 3 ½ months so he wanted her to see Alan before she leaves.
Now being a last minute thing, we do not have her bitty baby doll at the shore. We do not have our G O O D T I M E letters at the shore. No hat or boots or anything to hold up for Alan to sign. No camera to take pictures. And the show is in a couple hours. But, I HAD to have those letters. (No time to do a 4+ hour turnaround for bitty baby though). Paul and I run to a local CVS and buy poster board and Crayola Markers. We dash back to our house and the three of us frantically start drawing and coloring in the eight letters with different color markers. They turned out really G O O D!
Next we make a sign that says ‘Grown-up Little Bitty Girl’ with arrows pointing down towards Rachel. This is the first time in 17 years she will be going to a show without her bitty baby doll. Rachel used to always get up on the screen with her bitty baby when she was little and she still holds her up at every concert during the song even though she’s now in college. Alan has signed her numerous times over the years.
We quickly shower, and since Rachel had only brought one change of clothes she ended up wearing my ‘cowboy’ shirt and her denim shorts to the show. Out the door we went without even eating dinner. Paul drove, dropped us off at the casino and told us to have a great time.
The venue is small and intimate. Rachel has never been to a venue like that before. The front row is literally at the stage. We are 5th row center. Incredible seats. The venue has an interactive screen that says the show will start in 18 minutes. I dash out to call Paul and figure out where we will meet after the show and low and behold he is in the lobby area waiting to enter the venue too. Someone had offered him an extra seat because their friend couldn’t make it. He is not sitting with us but he can enjoy the show too! How lucky is that?
Rachel and I have our signs ready and we start talking to the two ladies next to us to see if they can help hold up some of the letters when Alan sings Good Time. Rachel and I figure we’ll do the G O O D and ask them to do the T I M E so we start off on the right beat. We tell them the song is usually towards the end of the show and so we put the letters away and anticipate Alan coming out (with now 3 minutes to go).
The lights go dark a couple minutes later. The stage is covered by a big screen of some sort. It opens and there are Alan and the Strayhorns and instead of Gone Country, we hear the beginning strains of ….wait for it…. Good Time. Rachel and I grab the bag with the letters and get them out and quickly pass the right ones to the ladies to our left. No time to double check to make sure they are in the right order because it’s almost time to hold them up. Luckily they were right and we get on the big screen behind Alan. He comments on the fact that we have them. We were on the screen a second time as well when he repeats the line and I think we were the only people in the audience with letters this time. Still can’t believe he played it first and that we almost weren’t ready for it after all that work to color them. LOL
Alan and the Strayhorns sounded fantastic tonight. After Good Time came Tooth, Livin’ on Love, Who’s Cheatin Who, Blues Man and then Little Bitty. Just wanted to say there were some great instrumental solos by the Strayhorns before Who’s Cheatin and Little Bitty and during Blues Man. They are all such talented musicians. We stood up during the first chorus of Little Bitty and held up our signs that pointed to Rachel. There were not any ‘pretty little girls’ in the audience at the casino, so Rachel made it up on the big screen with her signs!! It’s been a long time since she was the ‘Little Bitty’ girl on the screen. Monty saw us and waved to us towards the end of the song.
After Little Bitty, Alan talked a little bit about his Daddy Gene and what inspired him to write Drive, which of course is the next song he sang. After that was Where Were You. Alan received a long standing ovation at the end of that song. Next we got to see old video of Alan talking about an old jukebox and Roger telling him ‘Don’t Rock the Jukebox’.
One of my favorite parts of the show came next. The stools came out and Alan and some of the band members sat down closer to the audience. Alan talked about his first number one hit. He also mentioned he had a song released before that one that didn’t go very far on the charts. We knew he was talking about Blue Blooded Woman. We Rothrocks like that song very much. (Maybe you should re-release it Alan).
Anyway he sang his first number one song ‘Here in the Real World'. I still remember the first time I heard that song. My oldest son Chris was a baby and I was coming home from food shopping and this song came on the radio as I was getting close to home. I had to sit in the car and listen to the entire song. I was captivated. The DJ rattled off the name of the song and artist. I ran in the house and yelled out to Paul, “I just heard this incredible song on the radio. I KNOW it’s going to be a #1 song.” He asked me what it was and I said I think it’s called “Here in the Real World” and he says who sings it, and I said I don’t remember the artist’s name. Little did I know how much a part of our lives Alan Jackson’s music would be for the next 25 years. I’d never forget his name again.
Rachel and I tried yelling out a couple times for Alan to please play Chasin That Neon Rainbow.
Suddenly he starts talking about this radio and how it will be displayed at the exhibit of his 25 years in country music and next thing we know he is singing it! We stood up and sang and cheered. That song means so much to us as it was Chris’ favorite song as a baby and he sang it all the time. We hoped that Alan heard us request it and that’s why he was singing it. (Later we saw the play list and it was NOT listed on there). If that song was really played for us, THANK YOU SO MUCH ALAN.
After Neon Rainbow, he sang Pop-a-Top and then Monty donned his Zac Brown hat and they sang As She’s Walking Away. What a great, great duet. Anyone ever notice one of the first lines in that song is ‘I Don’t Even Know Her Name'
During this segment, people were going up to the stage and snapping pictures, and selfies with Alan in the background. Security kept trying to get people to sit down, but at one point Alan actually said out loud he was fine with people coming up the stage and having a good time and dancing etc.
There was a great solo by Joey on piano and then Alan sang Remember When. Then it was of course 5’oclock somewhere, oh yea right there in Atlantic City. Rachel and I decided to go up and try to get a picture with her little cell phone, but there were too many people. We decided to try to stay near the stage because Chattahoochee was next. As people took their selfies and left we managed to get right up front. There were only two little aisles where you could get to the stage so we were lucky to get a spot.
We stayed at the stage for Where I Come From (another Rothrock favorite which Rachel picked to go #1 the day the album was released). Alan was shaking people’s hands during the concert at times, and he shook both mine and Rachel’s hand towards the end of the show. We saw pictures of Philadelphia teams and New York teams on the screen. We of course cheered for the Phila teams. There was footage of places in Margate, New Jersey, where I spent every summer as a kid, including pictures of Lucy the Elephant. (Look her up on the internet….it’s a cool story). Then Alan was thanking everyone for coming and left the stage. He waved to us as he was leaving.
A minute or so later he was back out with the Strayhorns to sing Mercury Blues. Normally Rachel would be holding up her Bitty Baby doll at this point. But she was back home in Kennett Square, PA, nowhere to be seen. We were trying to see if we had anything for him to sign, but we couldn’t find the sharpie. He came over to our side a couple times but without a sharpie we didn’t know what to do. Then he got a sharpie from his manager and went to the other side of the stage to start signing. He signed for a long time. When he came near us again, I held up my little purple purse that I had gotten for the beach and he signed that. Rachel held up a $10 bill which he also signed. She wants to give it to her boss who likes Alan and was kind enough to let her switch work days so she could come down the shore for a day. Too soon Alan was saying goodbye again and another incredible show came to an end.
After the show we took pictures with Roger. However, the lady who took the picture of all of us never had time to exchange emails with us, so I don’t know if we will get to see the pictures unless she reads this and posts it on the forums. We were trying to get a playlist or t-shirt after the show because of this being for Rachel’s birthday. Alan’s manager was kind enough to go find her a playlist. And then Monty was able to get her one of the extra shirts that Alan did not throw during the show. Thanks to both of you for helping to make this concert extra special for Rachel. We briefly talked about Alan’s show next week in Hershey with Jimmy Buffet. We do not have tickets to that show (YET, LOL), as it’s our last day of vacation, but we are thinking of driving right to Hershey from the shore and seeing if we can find a way to enjoy that show as well. It would be incredible to hear them sing together, especially one of our favorites “Boats to Build”.
In closing, I’d just like to say thank you again to Alan Jackson and the Strayhorns for giving us another incredible evening of music and fun. Alan had mentioned he played in Atlantic City eleven times. I believe we were at all of those shows over the years, even before fan club seating was in place. Here’s to at least another eleven and hopefully another 25 years of music to enjoy!
Hope Rothrock
300+ shows and still counting
P.S. For anyone who knows us and is wondering about Matt: He just graduated from Shenandoah University and Conservatory with a Bachelor in Music and a major in Music Production and Recording Technology. So now not only can he play and sing, he can also record and produce music!
