Star Spangled Celebration, Shelby Farms, Memphis, TN
July 4, 2003
By Here!

Hoosier, Janie, her boyfriend Brian (hope I spelled that right) and I meet up in an Exxon parking lot in Memphis and head off the Shelby Farms where the concert is to be held. Had to walk almost literally a mile to get from parking to the concert area. The stage was set about 7 feet high, and after some discussion about vantage point for optimal photography, we decided to can that idea and stake out a place right down front where the stage created shade. Turned out to be a good plan, because I got some good video clips that I’ll work on posting as soon as I am done with this.

BTW, Hoosier, Janie and Brian are great people to hang out with on a long, hot, day at a never-ending "oh my ears, my ears" concert. Hoosier calls herself a "grandma type" but I could only wish my grandma had half her energy and interest! Janie is just a wild woman and she can be the one to give you the "lustful" version of the event.

The bands started at 3:00 and the early ones ranged from 80's band leftover guitar rock to 90's leftover guitar rock to ‘‘00 guitar rock wannabes (are you seeing a trend here?). At 6:30, SixPenceNoneTheRicher came on, and we finally heard from someone with a little professional polish. What was interesting, though, was that even through this band, the crowd was appreciative but not enthusiastic. No one was standing, really. No screams. The lead singer for SixPence had a couple of fans in the audience who were vocal, but that was about it. We were able to keep our space in front of the stage and stay seated there all throughout these sets.

It all changed during the set change after SixPence. All of a sudden, we were surrounded by girls but also teen boys. It seems there was a little confusion about who was next, Justin or a punk band that I think was called ShyTown. The girls were there for one, the boys for the other. I in fact had been getting a bit worried as the day progressed, because I saw so many teen boys and didn’t know how Justin was going to fit with the rest of the bill.

Then, some of the girls up front started jumping, screaming, and waving at someone off the stage right. Yep, there was the hair, sticking out around some equipment in the way. The announcers come out and announce Justin and he walks out, and the volume goes through the roof!

He sang three songs, OHTM, UM, and Sorry. Went pretty much right into the first song. They had his mike too low, so the beginning of OHTM was very hard to hear. He finally caught the stage manager’s attention, but apparently something else wasn’t right because he took his ear piece out. But, he didn’t miss a beat, or a note, and did the rest of the set without it.

The contrast between Justin’s performance and the rest was just striking. Not just because of the screams, but because of the way he handled himself on the stage. I’m not telling those of you who’ve seen him anything different than you already know. Even SixPence, which has had a couple of hit records, has a singer who basically just stands there and occasionally does a bit of "helium arm" (you know, looks like there are helium balloons tied to her arms that lift them up and her hands flutter a little). Justin, by contrast, spent all his time at the very front of the stage. You can see it all in the video clips. It was like we had spent the day having energy thrown at us by the other performers who didn’t care where it landed, but with Justin, the circuit was closed and he drew as much energy back from us as he gave.

He sounded great. Voice was strong, threw in a few movements, though was confined by the fact he stayed at the front of the stage. For the most part, I’ll let the video clips speak for themselves. I notice on the clips that there were a few teenage boys near me talking and laughing during the performance, but you know what, I don’t remember hearing them! (If I had, I would have told them to shut up.) The power of a performer to mesmerize you, I guess. He looked good, though was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. My god, it was over 90 degrees out there! As others have been, I was struck by how much trimmer he is in person than on TV.

I have a bit of constructive criticism: Justin, stop being so darn nice! After one song, he thanked the "guys" for putting up with him. After UM, he said he hoped he hadn’t put us to sleep with it. After the fact, I realized he was probably anticipating that a number of the people in front were there to see the punk band, but so what? I’m not sure the people in the back necessarily got the reference. So, just do your thing––don’t worry about pleasing everyone!

Okay, back on track. He finished Sorry, to more screams throughout, and then made a quick exit, but not before being his usual gracious self and thanking the staff and everyone at the concert. I commented that it felt like a hit and run performance. It will be great when he can do his full set and have a band backing him up. Still, the crowd overall was huge, and perhaps there were people there introduced to him for the first time. We were too close to know how the rest of the crowd reacted, but the strength of the reaction from those down front was pretty impressive (were you listening, radio guys??).

Before going to Memphis, I had TCE send me about 100-150 postcards, and we made up about 30 Pick Its. We started handing them out before the set, and you can see some in my video clips, but they really took off just after he finished singing.

There was an area just off to the left with a tent where the bands had been signing autographs and tying to sell their CDs. A few people were over there when the other bands were done. When Justin finished, however, there was a mass exodus. It was cute to see all the shapes and sizes of people lined up. Obviously, teenaged girls and pre-teen girls, but also girls who couldn't have been more than 5 or 6, several (ahem) "mature" women, and even several young boys. Some fathers were even there to help their kids get autographs. We handed out postcards left and right, which turned out to be a great thing on which to get an autograph. There were postcards everywhere! I became famous as "the postcard lady," lol.

It took forever for Justin to come out, because the back stage folks first kept him occupied and then he went back up on stage to help select the winner of a drawing. I got a clip of that, too, as a "bonus" video. Again, when the crowd saw him up on stage waiting to go on for the drawing, they started screaming for him and he would turn and wave. I got a couple of really bad pictures of this.

Finally, he went down and started signing. He started on one side of a tent, and after about half and hour or longer there, he went down to another spot and signed again for quite a while. He had two security guards who were helping, one holding a light and the other gathering postcards, CDs, even frisbees, for Justin to sign. Janie and Hoosier both got autographs, so they are happy campers. I enjoyed just watching him interact with the crowd. He has such joy in his face. I don’t think anyone who wanted an autograph got turned away last.

Besides Janie and Hoosier, we met several other Justin fans. We saw Rosemadder and Grailseeker from the World, and SchiziodAmanda and kiristywoods, who run Justinhasit. We also met a woman from St. Louis who runs a website called "Justin Case You Want More Justin." She drove all the way down that morning, and was going to turn around and drive home that night (5+ hours) to attend a wedding the next day. Hooray for other obsessed fans! She'll have some pictures up soon, too. Hoosier spoke with another woman, who was from Memphis, I think. A lot of interest in the House and the World was expressed!

In any event, it was worth the torture even for just those three songs. On the way home, I was listening to FM 100, and heard the DJ talking about the event. She said Justin was "sooooooo nice" and that they really enjoyed having him there.

Thanks to Hoosier and Janie and Brian and especially Justin for a great Fourth of July!