It all started when my friend Alyssa and I got out of the car at 8 to get on the WAY longer than expected line for Natalie….and right away I said, "damn Alyssa how cool would it be if Brian (fellow FHC member Frogger197 who we were meeting) was all the way up front and we could cut! Well right then the guy in front of me turns around…."jaime?" yep…that was pretty cool. He is awesome by the way, and a cutie!
So me brian alyssa and brian's friend dannis (the mannis) waited on line….and waited….and waited….(are we walking around the block?…oooh nice garbage dump! Beef JERKY? Give some to natalie!) and waited….then finally at like 10 we were let in, and we got to SIT IN THE LAST ROW OF seats which meant that everyone after us stood!
Okay heres the scene. VERY VERY small room with like 100 people there, we were in the 5th row I believe out of like 5, and we were about 20 feet from NATALIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Now for WHAT YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO HEAR! the fun begins....enter NATALIE:
She came out and said "hello…." Then looked around… and said "and … WELCOOOMEEE" with this really funny cute look like gesturing to the room. She was wearing a gray skirt suit thing and she looked absolutely GORGEOUS, I never even saw pictures where she looked this good. She made the demigoddess look like a pig. And her hair was…so great..it was half up kind of but it was low and loose and you couldn't see a hairthing, it was pinned I guess….gorgeous. the room was very small and the stage was not risen, it was the same level as the rest of us, so we were pretty much like "in with the band" as the host, not David Byrne, said. There was a candle on each corner on a large brassish pretty thing. And "strategically placed" towels we have no idea why, on the floor I think. Cameras EVERYWHERE. Did I mention tiny room? I LOVE HER!!!
Okay from here on in it is going to be like the set list (out of order) and random comments I wrote down and remembered, but bear with me its hard to do this out of order, and this shall be lengthy (for all of you who DEMANDED a long detailed report, this is EXACTLY what you are about it to get…) our seats were in the middle of the way she was facing, so it was perfect (because she really did not face the other ways often)
BREAK YOUR HEART
-she just kind of breathed and launched into this, the first song. It was the full version with no lines taken out, it was great, and Gabriel sang the back up. No N'dea, oh well, but it was great.
WONDER
-she sat at the piano for this and she said "okay you guys I am going to be relaxed and very laid back or else ill be uptight and that would be good for nobody" and played a few chords and started the song a little before we knew what it was, and she said "ooh I like this tempo" and snapped her fingers and hummed what she had just played, asked for the piano to be lowered, then the band went right into it, it was wonderful, I love her!
I think it was after wonder, but sometime in the beginning when sound was being fixed or something she said "hello how was your day" to some woman in the front row and the woman answered and they talked a little it was funny, and the woman said she had work and she runs websites, natalie kept asking more questions then she SAT ON THE WOMANS LAP! Haha! We all cracked up, and she went to ask the guy now sitting next to her about his day and apparently he made a face or something because she goes, in like a guy voice, "noooo don't talk to meeeee"
FROZEN CHARLOTTE-she said it was her first time performing this song live with the band which I think is really awesome. She said this then said "no pressure!" Before she started, she was standing at the mic and Yungchen Llamo walked up to her and she was like "whoa! A ghost! Umm…this woman is yungchen llamo and she will be performing in our next song, after this one!……wow she really scared me" then she introduced Susan McHugh (spelling?) and it was funny because she goes" next I would like to introduce a good friend of mine, la;;ghjhrah;wierf" and she like mumbled and gibberished and laughed at herself and made funny faces, then shes like"I guess I should do that again" and she introduced susan who was phenomenal. The song was marvelous and I cried hysterically. I love the whole band. So much!
FROZEN CHARLOTTE-she asked what time it is and when someone replied that it was 1030 she said "whoa you guys are really in for it, I am a perfectionist" she said to susan" no it wasn't you it was me, I had a thing" and she touched like her throat, oh yeah she was coughing a lot also between songs and all. and they did the song again. Perfectly. Wow.
EFFIGY-I really don't think this song was here, but who cares. I know it was #6 but I also know she said "can I do these when I want to? If I want to do 7 now can I?" and basically she messed around with the set list a whole bunch. Okay yungchen came out and they did the song, it was good.
EFFIGY-yup, again! And this time…yikes, there was feedback and weird noise and squeaks and natalie was like "lalalalla" saying that's what she heard in the feedback and going "ooooooo" making the noise and then she goes "youre all going to dieeeeeee" and it was so funny because she said that's the subliminal message she was hearing! Yikes natalie! Haha! Oh and she kept asking if it was okay to repeat a song and saying "well you've got nowhere to go!"
EFFIGY-she kept false starting it, well maybe once, and she goes"im an eff.. I cant get the pitch now…"and then they played it once more for good measure because this is everyone's favorite song! Haha! Well it was really great this time and when she says "over me" it was powerful. She did a lot of belting this performance, in every song where it fit but more than on the cd.
WONDERWALL-it was a fun song! I knew every word somehow and she was dancing and snapping her fingers and…oh yeah….looking great and singing like an ANGEL! Don't remember much more about this one…oh after it she said, "do I have to speak between songs?"(because there were pauses and stuff)…and someone yelled "if you want to" so she said,"oh so theres no penalty if I don't? (pause) well I do not dare talk about this next song or else ill never begin"
RIVER
-what a powerful performance this was…she sang the song so so SO wonderfully and she looked so into it the whole time, really mad at who she was singing to (vulture's candor your casual slander) and by the end of it where she should have said "oh the loss and pain of it crime and the shame of it" she said "such a nightmare raving.." and so when it was really time for the right line she said "from himself from himself" softly and then leaned on the mic stand and put her head into her arms and stayed still, I think she was crying, it was so sad I was HYSTERICAL at this point, seeing her like that… after the music ended she began to speak, I don't remember what, and she said "I have to take a break" and walked off choked up…
COUGH OF ARABI
-I don't know if this is how you spell it or anything, but what I DO know is that it was the best song of the night, and …oh my god it was just so amazing. Susan sang for this one which makes me wonder if it was earlier, well I don't know… but it was so so great I was mesmerized, when you see this on tv you will die it is so good, they belt and they sing and its great. Natalie said it is her favorite song ever written.
COUGH OF ARABI
-so when she wanted to do it over she said "is it okay if we do that one again? Well its my favorite song ever written so I certainly don't mind" she said there was a "communal forgetfullness as to what the words are" for the song. The redo was just as wonderful and I guess better than the first one, and I knew a lot of the words by then too…wow what a great song…im running low on memory sorry everyone
IN THE GHETTO-I truly have no idea exactly when she sang this but she said "this is a tribute to one of the greatest humanitarians…(then she said in a funny voice) Elvissss" and giggled, she giggled and laughed a lot, even when we had no idea what she said, or even If it wasn't funny, she just loves that I guess! But every time she laughed I got the chills…imagine how many times I thought "this is the only place in the world I want to be" wow. Anyways it was a good song with gabriel on backing vocals like he usually is and all, she did the high parts well, I love when she does that high stuff. And before this song or after im not sure, she was SO funny, she goes "where's the camera? Im not talking if there's no camera… No Cam-e-ra , no talk-y" it was so funny! She said it like a few times, "no cam-er-a no talk-y" it was SO cute in like some accent.
WHEN THEY RING THE GOLDEN BELLS-this was so great and she said " I want to do this one now because I want to hear Susan sing again" and who can blame her! She said a lot about this song…she said that she learned it from Reverend ____ ( I don't remember) back in the 1920s and laughed, and she said she discovered the song from some tape and marveled on the time breach. Then she said that on the tapes the man (she corrected herself, she said oops, the REVEREND) sang it like this and she goes "there's a landddd beyondddd the riverrrr" in this really scruffy really funny like weird oldish voice and she laughed and we all laughed and she said "but I managed to see through all that" and so she did the song. Also she said that someone named Dion___had really written it a while before that in late 19th Century she thinks it's a man but doesn't know and that that is all she really knows about the song. She said that she heard a rumor that it was used in the old south for funerals and she was like "does anyone know if that's true? Or anything else? Does anybody know about this song?" she waited but everyone either didn't answer or said "I don't know" so she said, " oh you don't know? Well if anyone has any more information about the song, see me after the show" and she made the cutest little face after that like "yeah you wish:" it was funny.
After this song there was a long pause for equipment or something so natalie asked susan to sing an irish folk song, and she did, it was lovely and pretty short but it was so pretty, I don't remember it exactly but that it was about a lover leaving and turning away from them, it seemed like beloved wife to me and sad, but it was so pretty.
WELL….i don't remember but there was another elvis song she said I CANT believe I cant remember SORRY GUYS! When and if I remember ill let you all know.
WONDER - after the second to last song she was like " we have one or two to go" and I was so sad b/c I wanted to stay there forever. And then she said goodnight then she said that she had to do Wonder again. So she put back on the jacket that she took off after her River emotional break (she had like a black tight tee shirt for the rest of the show) and sat and sang Wonder. Way to end with a bang! Then she was like "is it over? Whose in charge here? Anybody know? Okay its over! Goodnight everybody you can all go home now! Thank you for your patience" and the lights all came on………..and THENNNNNN
Then we MET N A T A L I E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-here's how…
Okay so brian starts getting up and heading to where she was because, remember, she was on level and really close. So we walk and I was hanging onto his sleeve in case he really got through…and then…she was there…right next to me signing peoples stuff. Her back was kind of towards me and the candle was there and me and alyssa took little pieces of wax and waited then she signed brians stuff (he was a little choked up it was cute) and then she turned to me and I couldn't breathe let alone speak! I held up the flat brian brought for me (I love you for that brian!) and said meekly "could you maybe sign this?" and she had a permanent fat smelly marker and she said sure and she asked my name and I said jaime and she asked me to spell it so I did, and she spelled it right then corrected it (making it wrong!) then she was like oops! She gave me kind of this curious look, because I was staring at her but when she looked at me I looked away because I couldn't look her in the eye so I did look at her and she smiled and asked if we liked the show, then she signed alyssas ticket stub and laughed because alyssa was like "ugh sorry I only have this …STUB" wow natalie was amazing and nice even though I only said like hardly anything to her, and I wore ballet slippers I was pretty much the same height as her she must have been wearing heals…she had reddish lipstick. And amazing eyes. I was close enough to see her makeup, her foundation you know? Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Wow…..she signed my name (on the ophelia couch part of it) and then Natalie below it underlined.
Then I turned and alyssa goes "isnt that him?" and it was peter! With one person by him! Then I saw SUSAN! Whoa! So we went to susan because she wasn't too busy and I made alyssa keep an eye on peter and we spoke to susan for a little and she spelled my name right and said "jaime" like the french way and kept saying it it was so cute, we were like"you are so amazing" and she said "aww you are so sweet!" and she asked all about if we liked it and how were our seats and all, she talked to us for so long I love her. She Is amazing AND super nice! I love her!she signed it "to jaime - all the best --- susan"
Then peter! I said "hi peter!" in this like high stupid voice and he said "hey how are you?" and I said can you sign this and held up the pen and he said whats your name and I said jaime and he held out his hand and said "im peter" and I said "I know!" ( I mean I did address him that way! Haha I love him…) and we talked about stuff too for a long while and he signed my flat "to jaime-much love--- peter" MUCH LOVE!! OH MY GOD!!! I LOVE HIM!!
Then we were getting kicked out and someone said "if you wanna hang out go to rehearsal room A" turns out that was CRAP because natalie was like escorted out or something anyway, and we tried to get into that "room" by saying we had to go to the bathroom then some guy was like "I told you the bathroom is THAT way nice try" it was funny…..
Well that's really all. I mean…………WOW!!!!!!
I hope you all liked the post, thank you for listening to me go on! I love you all, I love natalie, I love peter and I love susan. Peter is so cute in real life, too. Hehe
BYE!