The Del Amitri Concert, August 7, 1997 by Kelli Smith

Hey everybody,

I was able to get down to the Atlanta show on the 7th and it was really fun. I finally got to meet Teresa and Doug in person which was great. Their photo albums are amazing and it was fun to watch them snapping away during the show. I can’t wait to see the pictures. I also got to meet the greatest Delfan Bobbi Richardson and several other I&P subscribers so that was great!!

Jackopierce opened… they performed a great set but I’ve always thought they were boring. My brother’s band used to play with them about three years ago and I’ve never understood the appeal. They are incredibly nice people though and I give them all the credit in the world because they’ve worked really hard to get where they are. They have an INCREDIBLY loyal fan base too and the crowd was probably half Jackopierce fans. I actually had to explain who Del Amitri was to some people outside the venue and convince them to stay and watch their set. Crazy!

The merchandise guy said I could leave a bunch of I&P subscription forms with him which was great (and then told Teresa that he’d take the leftovers to the next show… so that was nice). So, if any of you want me to send you a master copy of the form so you can make some for your shows… just let me know. (I’d make a bunch myself and send them to all of you but the postage on them gets so huge.)

I didn’t really pay much attention to the set list or the details of the show (I can’t even remember whether they were using that stage set that everyone has been talking about). My attention to detail has really been lost lately… the guys all looked great though… very stylish and “where it’s at” in my opinion. Justin’s hair is cool and Kris went blonde which I think looks great… Quinner’s blonde now too. It was a very normal show with a good selection of songs from all the albums. Real highlights for me were:
** “Driving with the Brakes On” (wow… this sounded so great and confirmed my thought that this is one of my favorite ballads)
** Kris (I love this guy, he has great energy on stage and seems like he’s having a blast… plus, his b-vocals are excellent – he’s very cute and charming too… could this be my hormones talking – did I just write that?)
** Andy was smiling and goofing around during a lot of the show
** Some of the new crew members were dancing and doing high kicks backstage during “Kiss This Thing Goodbye”

Lowlights:
** I still can’t understand a word Justin is saying when he’s onstage – I always feel like I’m missing out.
** “What I Think She Sees” is kind of thin live (Doug did you already say that? if so, I agree); and even live I still dislike the new arrangement of “Medicine”
** I don’t think “Sleep Instead of Teardrops” is high on the list of granted requests… keep me informed whether they play it live at any future shows… I’m dying to know if it’s as beautiful live.
** There were some really whacky fans at this show (maybe I just haven’t noticed them before). I.e. a woman that kept grabbing Justin’s hand and rubbing it and running her hand up and down his leg. This weirds me out but I asked him about it and he said he doesn’t even notice that kind of thing anymore… which is good I think. There was a whole group of women that every time Justin came over to their side of the stage they would start screaming. I find this really funny because I think I grew out of that stage after the Adam Ant “Strip” show I saw in the 8th grade.
** I’ve never really liked the whole encore idea… they played a pretty short set but they came back out for 3 encores (is that right Teresa or was it only two?)… that was great though.

All in all, a very entertaining show.

After show stuff:
We hung out and waited to go backstage which is always kind of uncomfortable. This turned out to be great though because I talked to Cary Pierce from Jackopierce for a few minutes (they’re doing great and love touring with the Dels) and surprise of all surprises, my friend Larry from A&M was there. He just signed the band MXPX and they had some stuff going on in Atlanta a few days before so he stayed in town to see JP and Dels. “Not Where It’s At” did not do well at radio or in testing, so they “called an audible,” in Larry’s words, and decided to move on.

There was some arguing at the label over what to do about the next single. The consensus was that they’ve never worked the ballads very well and want to try and break a ballad… so as of now they’re going to go with “What I Think She Sees” (for the record… big mistake in Kelli’s opinion but hey, who listens to me).

So… after all that we went backstage and talked to the guys for awhile. I talked to Kris to tell him that he “rocks.” He seemed to appreciate the compliment. I explained to Andy about the letter in I&P that supposedly started a real rumour that he got married. He said he’d heard there was a rumour but thought it was funny. He said, with a straight face, that the band was worried that with that rumour speading around that their female fan base would drop in half because they’d know Andy was unavailable. He said he’s not worried if we print lies, he just doesn’t want us to print the truth!! Funny guy, and he doesn’t appear to be bored anymore.

Okay… now Justin… this guy is so charming and nice. The only real reason I wanted to go backstage was to ask if he’d judge the lyric writing contest we announced in the last issue. He said he’s be happy to do it which is so cool for whoever wins!

The haircut: I told him that I’d had about 10 e-mails with the scoop on his haircut right after the first show in NYC. He thought that was funny and said he did it because he just wanted a change.

Kelli : )

Written by Kelli Smith