Samantha Explosion (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sammyh) wrote,@ 2003-06-05 02:55:00 |
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| Current music: | "Doin' Fine", Jewel |
Jewel madness
From a letter I started writing to my friend Ing: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Okay, enough of that. So, I got to see Jewel tonight! It's Wal-Mart stockholders week and everyone goes nuts around this time - there's heaps of things to do, people (shareholders and the like) come in from all over the world, the company goes crazy with all of these events and such. Much money spent on making the shareholders happy. One of these things is two free concerts for shareholders and associates - anyone with a name badge and discount card can get in. So of course Nathan and I were there. When he told me a week or so ago that Jewel was playing the Wal-Mart concert I was kind of all, "Shut. UP." He told me and I said, "What?" and he repeated himself; I said, "What?" and he repeated himself and... well, you can see where that went. I couldn't believe my ears so I had to get him to keep telling me. It seemed too weird and coincidental; my fandom was reaching another zenith because of "Intuition" and the impending release of "0304" and the influx of JeweLink emails in my inbox, and then - a FREE Jewel concert just dropped in my lap. I didn't believe it and almost refused to until I was right there and she was singing.
So, we had to park all the way out in the middle of nowhere - the only car in an unused parking lot by a baseball diamond near the University of Arkansas (the concert was at the Bud Walton Arena on campus), and a bit of a trek away from anywhere, but we needed the walk (it was sort of a time-out for me - I had a strange temper flare this afternoon, which is entirely too ugly to get into here). We got in and were able to pick out seats anywhere - no assigned seating, which made it a bit of a free for all, but also meant we could wrangle our way into decent seats if we wanted to push past people. We ended up at the edge of a row of seats, not too far and not too close, with a clump of English people behind us (representatives of Asda, a Wal-Mart affiliate store in the UK) and to our right, very loud and very cheerful Mexican Wal-Mart-ians (who successfully ignited a wave around the entire stadium - they were awesome, so infectious and cute). We sat for a while watching the festivities... various groups from around the world did the Wal-Mart chant (gimme a W, gimme an A, etc., where the hyphen is referred to as a "squigglie" and accompanied with an eager butt wiggle), there were some people throwing around a beach ball... it was a really great atmosphere actually, given that in its raw state, it's really a corporate gathering. Loose and relaxed and with music, but still the core remains with capitalism.
After a while the lights dimmed and a man introduced Jewel, first by saying something like "her career has been going strong for ten years" and then everyone started cheering. Despite myself - I haven't been to many concerts and generally approach such things in a slightly detached fashion - I was completely overwhelmed and started screaming and clapping. I think I now have a bit of an understanding how those little teenyboppers with their boy bands feel - they lose themselves to girlish screeching out of pure excitement. I've never had that before. And it felt pretty awesome to let go, really.
(Out of everyone reading this I'm most sure that modernfaerie isn't laughing at me right now :-P )
Anyway, here's some highlights, plus set list...
The set:
"Hands"
"Standing Still"
"Leave the Lights On" (from "0304")
"Intuition" (from "0304")
"2 Become 1" (from "0304")
"You Were Meant For Me"
(Untitled yodelling song)
"Foolish Games"
"Life Uncommon"
"Who Will Save Your Soul"
Jewel is a very cute woman - and funny, too. She came out in a cute blue top and a stripey yellow/orange skirt, and heels, and the ensemble worked on her. Her electric guitar was green and sparkly and the acoustic just like a regular blonde wood acoustic. At one time while she was talking, she turned around and saw herself on one of the many big screens around the place and said, "Oh my God, my face is huge." She made a J.Lo joke... something about being mistaken for her all the time, as long as she doesn't turn around. She was just very cute with her joking comments and did a little bit of "0304" promotion but that's to be expected. She also cried at one point, she seemed overwhelmed by the applause and screaming... not sad crying, just kind of like "oh my God, you guys" kind of tearing up. It got quiet while she was playing the introduction to one song (can't remember which) and this guy in the crowd yelled out slowly - "YOU - ARE - SMOK-IN'" - everyone laughed, including her, it was hilarious. (And she really was.) When she was playing the intro to "You Were Meant For Me", she kept interrupting herself to talk, which whipped the crowd into a frenzy since it's her most well-known song. She would play a bit, then say something like, "What do you want me to play?" and threw out a few song titles, not her own... one was pretty funny but I can't remember what it was. (Just call me Dory.) Anyway, when she played that one and she got to one of the last rounds of the chorus, she asked if everyone knew it and if they wanted to sing along, and naturally we complied, but it was cute cos after she said that, she said a bit more forcefully, "Sing it" and everyone laughed. I know I sang along. "Who Will Save Your Soul" became a bit of a band jam, and it was very fun and well done - Jewel and her main guitarist did a bit of a call-and-response bit, which sounded pretty awesome.
It was just so, so cool. (Excuse me, I sound a little Babysitter's Club narrative-ish here.) After her set came Brooks and Dunn but, although a country fan, I only know one of their songs and so we just wandered around, trying to find backstage - which was restricted to those with passes. So we went outside and hung out with the few guys who were chilling by the tour buses. I saw most of Jewel's band come out, but no sign of her until about two hours later - yeah, we waited the whole time. I talked to a little girl who wanted to meet her/get an autograph... she said she was born in Alaska and wanted to be just like Jewel, it was very cute. She couldn't remember the title of her favourite Jewel song and mentioned a couple of lyrics and I told her it was "You Were Meant For Me" and she said, "Oh! Thankyou."
Anyway, we didn't get to meet/get autographs or pictures, but we were about within ten feet of her when she was swept into her tour bus by her management (and the sharp-dressed guy I'll refer to as her "door-guy"; I'm not sure who he actually was, but he served the function). I will now admit, in an embarrassed fashion, that after many false alarms - small blondes exiting from the backstage door - when she finally arrived out there and oh my God you guys it was really her I screamed/yelped. Yeah, I'm a dork. But my lone sound of excitement soon got swallowed in a group cheer and a smattering of applause so I didn't have to feel too stupid for very long. She's very lovely in person with a pretty smile. I took one picture but it didn't turn out so great. Two people managed to wrangle autographs - this one woman with a baseball who actually went so far as to knock on the tour bus door (she hadn't even waited all that time with the rest of us), and was told to wait for a while. When the door-guy came out, he took her baseball in and the denim jacket of the guy who'd been waiting out there the whole time and had the rest of the band's autographs on it too. When the door-guy emerged with signed items in hand, I approached him with my notebook and pen but he said - with a hint of remorse - "Sorry, no, she's done." Well, okay! But... the whole experience was free - not a ticket to be purchased, no strings attached - and so if I had gotten to meet her it would have been the Biggest Bonus of My Lifetime. I don't think I'm ready for that, yet.
Anyway, if you got this far, first: my aplogies for the rambling, and second: I hope you're not about to consider rejecting me as a friend because I am a massive dork who accidentally screamed at the sight of one of her favourite musicians. :-P And third: some pictures. Pretty dodgy quality but, nonetheless, here they are:
Aftewards we went to Denny's, and we were served by Bessie, The Most Excellent Waitress Known to Man. I got the Moons Over My Hammy with egg beaters instead of actual eggs, plus only one kind of cheese, and seasoned fries. Eh, you cut the fat where you can. Anyway. We also tried our damndest to get a Blue's Clues clock toy out of the toy strategy game machine thingy. The manager actually helped us out - she's pretty much an expert at it. She got it into position for us and even tried to get it for us twice, but to no avail - it just didn't want us to own it. Oh well. She is determined to get it out and told us if we come back tomorrow and it's there on the counter, we can have it. Sweet!
And now I must play majhonng like a fiend. Goodnight!
