Thursday

We caught the shuttle to downtown about 8:30 this morning. It was one of the few times we didn't have to wait very long for it. After several more stops we were finally on our way. Becky and her mom were sitting in front of us and we started talking - yeah, I know, imagine that. This was her second year at the festival and I was glad to meet someone to show us the ropes, so to speak. We hung around with them for a couple of hours before going off to explore on our own. On the way to Riverfront (main daytime stage) Cari and I were snapping pictures left and right. These cardboard cutouts were just begging for us to pose with them.

There was a long line to get into Riverfront park. The Judds were already playing by the time we got in, but we did see most of their show. Wynonna announced that they are going to be touring again in the fall. This will be their first tour in ten years! The photo line that is supposed to go by the front of the stage was a joke - nobody moved. And it was hot - really hot. The good and bad news about that is that today was forecast to be the coolest of the four day festival. That's really not good for me. You know how I am about heat - and humidity. UGH! Not good.

There was about a 15 minute lag to reset the stage for Clay Walker's performance. Cari and I were thrilled when we discovered he would be here. We haven't seen him in years - I'm thinking it was the late 90's when we saw him at the Hampton Coliseum. His new cd came out Tuesday (6/8) - of course we love it. Seeing so many people sing his old hits was wonderful!

 Love and Theft took the stage next. To be honest, we just discovered this group a couple of weeks ago. We don't listen to the radio very often so we miss the new artists quite often unless we just happen across them. After going to iTunes and listening to their cd, we knew we wanted to see them. I'm thinking they are quickly going to become one of our favorites.

It was getting to close to lunch-time so we headed to the Convention Center where Fan Fair Hall was being held, hoping they'd have food - plus it was air-conditioned! On the way there we heard Jaron (and the Long Road to Love) on Chevy stage, so we stopped. He closed with his new single, "Pray for You." I can't even begin to imagine his delight when the crowd sang the chorus. It was pretty cool. Finally we made our to the Convention Center where we discovered, to our dismay, about the only food they had to offer was Quiznos. Ugh. One of the security guards made our day when she said there was a Panera right across the street, so we turned right around and out the door again. LOL It was after 1pm by then and we were pretty hungry.

Even though I really like to eat at local dives and joints when I travel, sometimes a familiar "face" is pretty comforting. That's exactly how Cari and I felt about Panera at that point. We lucked out on getting a table (it was majorly crowded) and thoroughly enjoyed sitting in a cool, comfortable environment for lunch. Rested and tummies full we headed back over to FFH for the second time. Not really sure what we'd find, it was like a treasure hunt looking for "stars" signing autographs. I have to confess, it was pretty cool. We had a ball snapping photos real stars and cardboard cutouts. Everyone was handing out free stuff and we loaded up on all kinds of paraphernalia - including new music! Just what we need, more new artists and new cds to buy.

 Kix Brooks

The Judds

Ty Herndon

Jo Dee Messina

Farm Boy

Mindy McCready

Diamond Rio

Reba

Love and Theft

Mark Wills

Danny Gokey

Jason Aldean

Done with FFH for the day we left the Convention Center and spotted a Starbucks next door. Exhausted and with aching feet we made a bee line for a frappucino! I'd been wanting to buy one of their plastic refillable cold cups and decided this was the perfect time. It was SO good! And sitting down on those comfortable couches ... man it was heaven!

By now it was time to figure out what we're doing for dinner. Jack's BBQ was suggested for lunch so we thought we try it for dinner since we ended up at Panera for lunch. The line was out the door - so we kept walking to find something else. Well all the lines were out the doors, so we ended up going back to Jack's. It took about 45 minutes to get our food but it was worth the wait. And that Blue Moon was the perfect thing to wash down that BBQ.

Once again rested and full, we made our way back to the Convention Center to stand in line for the shuttle ... and stand in line, and stand in line, and stand in line ... We saw very few buses in the hour we stood there, and a couple of those went on by us because they were already full. By 7:35 we're starting to think we may need to take a taxi to the stadium or we'd miss the opening performance by Danny. Others were starting to get the same idea so flagging down a taxi wasn't as easy as you may think. After about 10 minutes we managed to get one to stop and went in with a group of four to split the fare. We made it to LP around 7:50, just in time to find out seats before the Oakridge Boys sang the national anthem. Melissa Peterman (host of CMT's "The Singing Bee" and Reba's BFF on her show) was our emcee for the night. The crowd roared when informed that every artist was performing for free and that all proceeds were going to Flood Relief. This was the first time in the festival's history it was sold out. How cool is that?

Of course Danny was awesome and we're so happy for him. He sang our favorite songs off the album and it just made Cari's day. If she didn't see anyone else tonight, she could go home happy. 

Alan Jackson was up next. I have always been a fan of Alan the man, but his music doesn't move me like it does some. Don't get me wrong, I do like some of his stuff but am not crazy about all of it. He was so funny though. I don't think I've ever seen him share so much personal stuff and so relaxed on stage before. He'd sing a song and then tell a story, sing another one that would lead into another story. It was moving to see the gratitude he still has for the fans after 20 years. "I'm honored to still be a part of the festival," he told us. At some point he got up to get another guitar (or something - I can't remember) and said, "Whew! It's hotter than a hoochie coochie out here!" I think we laughed for 5 minutes over that one. Most memorable line of the night! Alan was enjoying himself so much that he really didn't want to leave the stage. There was a 30 minute window for each artist, plus the stage had to be changed in between each one. Alan was up there for at least 45 minutes ...

 ... then it was Tim's turn. The last time we saw Tim we weren't impressed. Maybe he just had an off night that night. He certainly wasn't in good form. His energy level wasn't high at all and I remember thinking that what he was giving us that night was no more than you can hear on his albums. Well he was pumped up tonight. He opened with "Where the Green Grass Grows," and the fans almost drowned him out. It was so very cool! He, too, didn't want to leave the stage and went over. Ask anyone if they cared, I think not!

Jason Aldean was next on the line-up and whenever we've seen him in the past he's been a high energy performer. Tonight was no different and the fans were delighted to welcome him and sing to the top of their lungs with him. I know I've used this word way too much in this post but it was awesome!!

Excitement escalated with the anticipation of Lady Antebellum coming on! Their latest single, "Need You Now," really took of on the charts and propelled them as favorites on numerous iPods. I've been a Lady A fan since their first release, "I Run to You," but the first time I saw the video for "Need You Now" I loved it! They did an acoustic version of this at a flood relief fund-raiser at the Ryman that was aired on GAC and it was incredible! Other hits performed included, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," "American Honey," and "Our Kind of Love."

Surprised with a beautiful display of fireworks between Lady A's set and Carrie Underwood taking the stage, Cari and I had our cameras out attempting to capture the bursts of color. Cari managed to capture the one below that depicts a smiley face, although it looks a bit evil here - LOL:

It was nearly midnight by the time Carrie took the stage. You'd never know it by her performance, she was fabulous and pumped up! As much as we completely enjoyed her, Cari and I were too tired to get up and dance, clap and sing. We both pretty much sat in our seats and sang softly. You could tell we weren't alone in our exhaustion because as I looked around that's what most of us were doing. I saw Carrie soon after she won American Idol years ago and can saw without hesitation her stage presence has improved dramatically - and her voice? Wow ... It was about 12:30am when she took her final bow - and we were dragging.

The stadium had already started to empty out before Carrie's performance just because it was so late, but the majority of us hung in there. It took us another hour before catching a shuttle back to our room and we were starving. Between the heat, lack of food and just being exhausted we weren't feeling great. The hotel didn't have much to choose from in their "market" either - candy, chips, drinks and hot pockets. It was Thursday night at 1:45; I knew we wouldn't find anything open for delivery but called several places anyway. We ended up back down in the lobby getting hot pockets just to put something in our stomachs. When you're that hungry just about anything is better than nothing. It was 3am before we got to bed. Talk about a huge kick-off to the four-day festival!

... and tomorrow is another day!