Bergen NJ will never be the same!

Englewood, NJ

Bergen Performing Arts

8/9/07

This will go down as my best show ever! I think I fell in love with Rick all over again. We had an opening act that I am not quite sure fit the bill. A younger local girl. She sang a couple of songs but no one seemed to be very into her and she brought a rapper out for the last song, not sure what that was all about. Anyway, I finally got to see the new intro video montage. All I have to say is that needs to be available on DVD somewhere. It started at the very beginning of his career and went through too today!

Intro

Rick actually walked out on stage as the video was still playing and then launched into Who Killed R&R. Then came Will I and I just knew it was going to be a good set list (see below). I lucked out the day tickets went on sale and had a front row seat so I can tell you first hand about the drop off the stage into the orchestra pit. It was about 5' wide and went down a full floor level. There was no railing in front of the stage like we had on the other side so I was a little worried but Rick knew his limits. lol I can tell you there a lot of picks down there. He kept trying to throw them but couldn't quite make it to us. I had to throw the pink roses that Julia had brought on to the stage and thankfully they made it and didn't go into the black hole. lol And he did sit down on the edge once to play for a minute or two.

Bath tub time!

He jammed a little but and normally he would launch into Red House but he left it out and since I am not a big fan of it I was happy to hear the bath tub version of Gloria. He had us sing the first few letters. He did get "heckled" during it. Yes, I am now the Mother of the kid that heckled Rick. LOL Julia was singing DTTS during just about every song (lol) and he caught her when the music during Gloria got lower. I gave him an embarrassed look. But during Gloria when he tells all the girls to raise their right hand, well Julia raised hers too and he told her "Your way to young for that Sister! put your hand down" She didn't get it (good thing lol) He talked about GH, about playing a guy who is pretending to play someone else etc. And while soakin he was watching a show about some Dr's. lol And he also commented about Sam on GH. "whats up with that chick Sam? How many times can she be shot" LOL

DTTS

DTTS was next and this is where it gets good for me. Rick had played off Julia all night and when he came over to the stairs for victims for DTTS I let her go the few seats over to stand there by the steps. He had a few people sing. Then he decided that since his birthday was coming up, and that he would be in Australia for it, we needed to sing Happy Birthday to him. Which we did. When he was done he looked down and saw Julia standing there. He asked her if she wanted to go on stage, um, yeah. Silly question. lol He also brought another little girl about 9 or 10 years old with them. They got up there and he asked both girls their names. He had them do a little wiggle dance and then had the older girl sing, then Julia. He asked Julia if she was nervous, and she just nodded. He got down on his knees for her and she just belted it out. A kiss & hug followed and he returned her to me.

On with the show

The Medley came next, which I always love. Especially the JG teaser, which I believe he made a face as to say, not happening yet. And the crowd of course went wild. After that he got ready to "come out there". The usual Brokeback Mtn moment and off he went. He came right out into the audience for Love Somebody and didn't walk around the stage first as he sometimes does. He came right to our front row, where he played at the end for a few minutes and them moved on to the seat right next to me. A friend held him up pretty good although he does tend to push the limits LOL. And I had a hand on his leg and the other hand on Julia as the crowd tends to converge on him when he gets into the audience. He played most of Love Somebody right there with us and then moved back a few rows for My Generation. He grabbed a cell phone and then called Bruce (kinda ironic don't you think?) He did answer. He was a little confused but Rick did have a conversation with him about pizza & beer. No Jesus Saves, straight to Human Touch. He didn't seem to venture to far back into the audience. He made his way back to us and on to the stage. Jessie's Girl of course was the last song. And Julia had just fallen asleep as he ended it so I got to really enjoy the encore! Rick introduced the band and off they went.

Encore

The two song encore was back!!!!! Its been a long time since I have had one of those. They walked back on stage and launched into Wasted! I love all the SDAA stuff and its so nice to see it making its way back into the set lists. Then we got his "party song" and then the show was over! I just want to add a thanks to everyone that helped to make this a very special show for me!