Nov 13 2009 Marion, IL Concert Review

I guess I'll just try to do this as take-by-take as possible.

My mom and I left our house in southwestern Kentucky at about 2:30 and got to Marion right around 5:00. The doors of the Civic Center didn't open until 6:00, so for about 30 minutes, we sat in the truck and waited, then at around 5:30, people started gathering at the doors, so my mom and I got out of the truck and went to wait at the front doors for them to open. I'm just going to throw this out there-- for those who think Billy hardly has any fans left and doesn't have any hardcore fans, they are completely wrong. While I was waiting for the Civic Center to open, this couple walked up, a man and an elderly lady, and they both had on Billy shirts and the man had a ton of button pins on with Billy's face on them. He was wearing the 2007 BGF.com shirt. The woman had on a shirt with the One Voice Cover on it, Billy's name, and flyers from the =29 tour Billy did with Jessica Andrews and the 2006 Boston Pops Christmas concerts.

Anyway, at about 10 til, Steve Hornbeak came out of the front doors, and came up to my mom and me, hugged us, then talked to us about how great this show was going to be. After he talked to us for a few, he spotted another guy he knew and went over and talked to him.

Finally, when they opened the doors a little after 6:00, we went in, got our onstage tickets and went onstage and got out seats. As soon as I got to my seat, Billy walked across the back of the stage carrying a bag, so that was the first glimpse I caught of him that night. As we waited for the concert to begin, I met Hawaii, another fan named Suzy, and Melissa who all had front row onstage seats like I did.

Once the show started, Steve, who was also the Master of Ceremonies, did a brief intro then opened. He sang some of his songs such as "Seeds" (about his deceased parents who planted seeds of God's Word within him at a young age), "I Got Jesus", and he even did a medley of about 3 popular songs.

After Steve, Ashley Hatfield came out. She did a Faith Hill cover, "Blue" by LeAnne Rimes, "Sweet Dreams" by Patsy Cline, and I believe 1 or 2 more covers that I can't remember off the top of my head.
While Steve and Ashley were performing, Billy kept appearing behind the curtains doing silly things like holding his cell phone in the air and swaying back and forth, being the goofball he is. lol.

After Ashley performed, the show had a surprise. Angela Bacari came out and performed. And may I say, she did absolutely fabulous, especially since she had just gotten over pneumonia. After Angela sang, Billy presented her with this huge display-frame thing with all 6 of his CD covers and discs and a huge new picture of him in the middle. It also had a sentimental engraving on a plaque, but I cannot remember what it said. My mom got a picture of it, so when I upload pictures, I will definitely let you all see what that looked like.

After all that, there was a 20 minute intermission, and during that break is when all of us with onstage seats got our VIP meet and greet backstage with Billy. The meet and greet was pretty laid back. There was no strict security or anything. The fans simply formed a line and we went in and out without any problems. The only people back there were Billy, Angela, and a photographer guy, and Steve was back there for like 2 minutes then left. Billy, of course, did really well with all of his fans. When he was meeting a child, he'd get down on their level and mingle with them. One of Melissa's friends had MD, and Billy got down on her level and they took pictures and he signed a photo for her. Hawaii was in line in front of me. She got Billy to sign 8 CD covers and got to talk to him. I was so happy for her since this could possibly be her first and last time ever meeting him since she's a resident of China. When I got to him, we just talked about how tired we both were, he asked how school was going for me, and we talked about how well his career is starting to take off. I had him sign two 12 inch by 12 inch record flats of "One Voice" and "Dare to Dream" and 8X10"s of him when he was younger.

After the intermission, the show picked back up with Billy performing. He opened with "I've Changed" directly followed by "She's Everything You Want". I was really delighted to hear him go back to "Dare to Dream". I can't remember the particular order, but some more of his new songs that he performed were "It's My Life," "This Time", "She Ain't Mine," "I Don't Wanna Go Back," "Honky Tonk Parade," "I Know," and "She Wanted More.". When he did "She Wanted More," he didn't do the ending where it goes "I tried to tell her, I tried to say I love you", and I wish he had have done that because it's my favorite part of the whole song, but I remember at Copper Kettle he told me that was a hard song gto perform live since it has that break and people always clap at the wrong time haha. Billy did some stripped down performances of "One Voice" and "Oklahoma" where it was only acoustic guitar and drums. That was really good because it allowed his vocals to show. Then he told the story of his late grandmother and he sang the traditional hymn "How Great Thou Art" in honor of her. And let me tell y'all....that performance was so emotional and he did absolutely awesome! He started out a capella, then gradually more and more instruments were added, and by the end the whole band was playing. He really brought down the house with that song. When he ended, he did so with "Cryin" and he performed it last night like he'd never done it before. With acoustic guitar only (maybe drums too, I can't remember) he sang, then towards the end, he did something incredible, He had the guitar player sofen up and he put down the mic. Then with no mic and only soft guitar music, be started belting the rest of the song. His voice soared out through the entire auditorium. I must say, it was the most amazing ending to a concert I've ever heard.

Afterwards, I went out and bought a picture from Billy's merchandising booth. I was going to get one of the cool new BG shirts, but the only sizes they had left were way too big for me, so I didn't get one. He signed the picture for me, asked me what I thought about the show, thanked me for coming, and hugged me, and that is what topped the night. There were so many people in that autograph line....I think almost everyone who bought a ticket was in line to buy stuff and get him to sign it. While it wasn't a sold-out show, it looked to me like most seats were filled and not a single person did not enjoy himself or herself. People of all different colors, countries, and ages were there. It's amazing how many people different people were united because of Billy last night!

Pictures will come later. I'm typing this review during little breaks during this photoshoot I'm doing today, so if there are errors, just overlook them lol.

Also...I forgot to mention
He also sang "I Will" and "Hey Little Suzie." Then he and Ashley did "I'm Almost Over Getting Over You" as a duet. As they finished singing, they did a little dance to the music and Billy spun Ashley around. It was so cute.

So he did a song off every album except "Heartsongs".

[b]that was seriously an amazing concert! I had the best time ever! the backstage meet and greet was seriously amazing! It was by far the best Billy concert I have ever been to!
I got some amazing pictures too!

This is the best review I've read yet!

Glad everyone had fun.
I enjoyed reading all about it.

Thanks guys.