|
Jeff in Bakersfield, CA
July 27th, 2003
Main
On July 27th, 2003, Jeff sang in concert as
the special guest of Jim Brickman in Bakersfield, CA. I attended the
concert with my friend, Ruby, and my parents.
Before the show:
I had been anticipating this show ever since I found out about it and
bought tix. By the time the day arrived, I was so excited I could
hardly contain myself. Honestly you would have thought I was on
crack or something... I couldn't sit still! So, we got to the
theater about an hour before the show was to begin. Outside was a
booth from the radio station. I stopped and got a picture there!
When we walked in the door, I spotted the merchandise table where Jeff
goodies were being sold. I bought 4 of his CDs and each came with a
free 8x10 photograph of Jeff. After that we went to find our seats.
I had PIT Row 2, seats 19 & 20 and my parents' seats were further back in
the theater. The seats were awesome... so close! It was so hot
in the theater though, which only added to my feelings of nauseated
excitement. From my seats I spotted Melody, whom I had been looking
forward to meeting, from the 98 Degrees Message Board. I introduced
myself and we chatted a bit. Mel's a sweetie :) Then, I got
back to my seat and waited for the show to begin.
The Show:
The show started about 10 minutes late. The radio station people
came out and introduced the show. Then, Jim Brickman came out.
He played a few songs on the piano that were just beautiful and chatted
with the audience. He was very entertaining and likeable. He
then brought out special guest Annie Cochran. She sang a song then
did a duet Jeff. I nearly fainted when he came on stage, it was
really bad lol. I was just so excited. He sounded so good, and
you could actually hear him! (As opposed to at 98 Degrees concerts where
all you can hear is girls screaming) The song he sang with Annie was
called "Destiny." Jeff also looked great! He had on black
slacks and a nice white dress shirt - yummy! Jim did a few more
songs by himself, and some with Annie, and Jeff came out and sang one by
himself called "The Love of My Life." This was beautiful too [both
of those songs were Jim Brickman songs]. It was incredible to hear
him sing with the piano accompaniment. During a few of the songs, I
swear Jeff was looking straight at me - okay, I know he probably wasn't
because the performers can't see into the audience from the stage, but I
can dream, right?! I was in heaven for those few seconds!
Then, there was an intermission.
During the intermission the audience could go fill out sheets with
questions or requests for the performers to be answered during the
'question and answer' period of the show. So Ruby and I went and
filled out some sheets. I asked a question for Jeff: Please do
"Because of You" with the microphone dance! :) After that, Ruby and
I went back to our seats. Melody had found Briana, also a fan from
the 98 Degrees message board, and we all introduced ourselves, chatted,
and took pictures. Mel and Briana are very sweet ladies and I cannot
wait to see them again at other events!
Once the show started again, Jim played some
more, and Jeff came out and did two more songs. Now he was wearing a
maroon dress shirt and black slacks, still hottt! He sang another
Jim Brickman song called "Peace" which again was lovely. Jeff is so
talented, and so is Jim! They sound incredible together. And
they really seemed to get along great, they were very entertaining while
chatting between songs! The next song that Jeff sang was "Whisper
That Way." This version was so beautiful because Jim played the
piano during it, while Jeff sang. Since I'd had a copy of the CD for
a few months, I knew the words and sang along. Again, I swear Jeff
was looking straight at me while singing, but he probably couldn't even
see anyone in the audience. I will continue to dream! lol.
During the 'question and answer' part of the
show, which was right after the intermission, a question came up asking
Jeff to sing "The Hardest Thing." Apparently he wasn't ready to come
out because he had a bag of popcorn in his hand and his white shirt was
unbuttoned and open (yeah, a verrry nice look on Jeff!). So, Jeff
sang a little a cappella "THT" and it was great! He asked the
audience to sing along if they knew it so of course I did :) Then,
he left the stage...
At the end there was an encore and Jeff did
the last part of a song with Annie. I think the song was called
"Simple Things" and is Jim's latest single. Then, the concert ended.
After the Show:
I had passes for the meet and greet part of the show, so me, Ruby, and my
parents stayed afterwards with a group of about 20 Jim Brickman fans.
Briana and Melody stayed also, hoping to get to meet Jeff even though they
didn't have passes. So they brought out the performers and had them
line up against the wall, while the fans walked by and got stuff signed.
First, I got to meet Jim Brickman. I had him sign a postcard
promoting the show. Then, I met Annie Cochran. She was very
nice, and I also had her sign my postcard. Then, I was in line to
meet Jeff! I was so excited, he was just feet away, I could hardly
believe it! I was introduced to Jeff and he totally knew who he was
and thanked me for helping. He said that he wanted to do the
microphone dance but there was no mic stand so he couldn't! He did
some of the moves right there, so cute! Ruby said we probably knew
the dance by heart, and Jeff asked us to do it! I said "no, no, no"
lol I was so out of it I couldn't have tied a shoe let alone do the
microphone dance in front of Jeff Timmons! Ruby said she couldn't
because she has a ruptured disc in her back, and Jeff responded that he
also has one. Then, Jeff asked me what I had for him. I asked
him to sign a 8x10 photo that I got earlier that evening. He also
signed the poster that I brought - the Cheerios poster with him on 1 side
and 98º on the other. He was amused because it was such an old
picture and that it was from Cheerios! I also asked him to sign the
postcard that Jim and Annie had signed. Jeff thanked me again, and I
asked for a hug and got a picture. I don't really remember
everything that happened because I was so excited. It was wonderful
though. Jeff is such a sweetheart. He is an incredible man.
Here are my pictures:
Me and Jeff
Thank you, Melody for
taking these two pictures!
Ruby, Jeff, and Me.
 |
