So at the last minute someone had tickets to see John Michael Montgomery tonight. With less than an hour to be ready and at the show, i accepted the offer. Thanks Mom and thanks for saving seats for me too. :).
Over 20 million record albums sold by an artist who came to Bettendorf, Iowa's Isle of Capri casino is pretty amazing in my book.
As usual with some of the biggest artist names out there, the crowd was pretty tame, er lame, as instructions were no dancing etc. during the show. Which being one level floor makes sense, as the first few VIP rows during shows there offer little protection from seeing anything but butts, when a makeshift dance floor is allowed right in front of the first row seats.
But still, being such a big show you would think there would have been a lot more noise and excitement.
There is one good thing about tame shows, being that older crowds can enjoy shows here without worrying about being trampled or body surfers being passed overhead...with the only excitement during a small rush to the front of the stage when gobs of guitar picks are tossed out to the crowd....
and two being that with a more relaxed atmosphere, it is a more personal touch as one can hear the entertainer, and the entertainer can interact with the crowd at a more down to earth level.
https://www.johnmichael.com/
The show started out and continued throughout with all hit songs, the excitement was there, some audience participation with karaoke fill in the song lines. so over all was a fun experience. There were special moments, not that i am saying the entire show wasnt special because it really was actually! But there were especially touching moments during the show that showed the true good qualities and good character of this performer and his band.
It was extremely quiet during the show when John Michael Montgomery introduced the band which is amazing as well! and then mentioned the loss of a dear friend Gordon Dillingham, just the night before. And still, with such a loss, the show went on. There were no words for such a moment, just sadness and knowing there were challenges the band faced with loss and grieving while also being there to entertain. Prayers go out to you all for peace in this extreme cold weather and rough time. The tribute song for this was a good choice.
As always many a great entertainer will honor our troops, service members, veterans to ensure they are remembered at each show. It was touching to hear Letters from home and honestly really hits a special place for many of us when we hear it, me included.
It was performed beautifully.
One of the best songs in my opinion was the one that Mr Montgomery said was on his album that could only be purchased at his shows, just before he sang it, he said it was the worst song on that album. If that was the worst song, I would have to say this would be one album not to be missed, as i am sorry i thought it was going to really be a bad song, lol and missed recording the first part of it. It was not bad at all. For someone who sold over 20 million records, never believe them when they tell you they have a bad song on an album cause chances are they are just full of it and the song is really pretty great.
Yes, someone actually stood up and proposed and the girl said yes, right in the aisle right in the middle of one of the best songs. In this instance, the cheers were not for the song so much as they were for the couple whom about interrupted the show, but it will make a great memory and is all for a good cause i believe. Life's a dance, you learn as you as stated by the one and only, John Michael Montgomery ;). love that you added a Good Luck to the couple after the song ended.
http://bettendorf.isleofcapricasinos.com/entertainment-events.html
which leads us to the annoying part of concerts, people with cell phones cameras and videos..my pet peeve being heads that bounce back and forth in front of my camera when i am attempting to record parts of the shows. will be the first to admit, i am a contributor to the little distractions, but what better way to share my experience than attempting to record it right? which leads me right
on to phones recording and movie studio on android...
On a separate note, i did attempt to use movie studio on my, yes, outdated android phone. and did manage to get a few clips of a few songs. I had not had time to buy and add a new sd memory card to my phone before the show on short notice to get there in time.
And what do ya know? my phone said low storage space, functions may not work correctly. great. i found movie studio in my phone and thought i would give it a try to see if the app would hold songs for me to record.
sure enough there is about a half hour worth in two movies i managed to record.
It does say export movie. Where does it export to? mp3 or 4 file. which i would think only works well if you have enough storage space on your phone, so off to the store tomorrow to get a new card that has more space than my full card i had removed.
then? we will see what happens!, worst part is the android phone does not zoom in well at all so no clear shots of faces, does not edit out bright stage lights, so again no clear anything except bright lights really...and of course, who knew you couldn't rotate and edit recorded clips? yes there are several sideways clips in my movie! which i guess is ok, if you truly could care less about looking at the sad video quality and only want to hear the music. THe best part is, we were in the same room with John Michael Montgomery for a couple hours and he was singing to us, well us and quite a few hundred more people too...that was amazing. Thank you for stopping to visit Iowa!
will attempt to add the video clips tomorrow..It may not be pretty but it is the next best thing to being there for me for those who couldnt make it to see the show. it is a nice memory, and something to show for my really sore arm from holding up the phone a bit too often...may just have to strap the phone to my forehead for future shows and push record... ;). just kidding...a tripod also may have helped...or better yet, i suggest just purchasing the album and a tshirt if you can make it to the next show!
oh and maybe a new phone...
thanks for stopping by my blog page~
