The Del Amitri Concert, March 2, 1996
Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1996 13:33:27 +0500
Place: World Mardi Gras, Charlotte NC
by Diana Fry

It's around six-thirty A.M. Sunday morning and I got home from the Dels concert about an hour ago. It was FABULOUS! and just put the concert at Tech to shame!
We got to the World Mardi Gras, a mall in Charlotte, about 20 minutes before the doors were supposed to open. The Dels were practicing "the ones that you love" and we watched them for a few minutes through the glass doors until a fire alarm went off in the building. After about 15-20 minutes the fire department showed up and O.Ked the building; soon afterwards we were let in. A little excitement.
Josh Clayton Felt didn't come on till about 45 minutes later. They were really cool, and I'll probably get their album, but there were a whole lot of drunk guys screaming and groping me and my friend Shannon, so we just wanted the Dels to come on so we wouldn't have to think about these annoying people.
Eventually the Dels came on. Justin was wearing the same cool pants he had on at the last concert, and John was wearing the same outfit exactly. They played their hearts out, and since I'd made an effort to learn all the songs that I didn't know, I enjoyed it a lot more. Justin seemed much happier at the turnout than at Tech and you could tell. They played (in this order):
  1. The ones that you love
  2. Just like a man :-)
  3. When I want you
  4. Always the last to know
  5. Here and Now
  6. One thing left to do
  7. Medicine
  8. Roll to me
  9. Crashing Down
  10. Hatful of Rain
  11. Start with me
  12. Stone Cold Sober
  13. Being somebody else
  14. Gone Ded Train (thanks Mike G.)
  15. Kiss this thing goodbye
  16. Be my downfall -- in the middle Justin started singing "Like a Virgin" (?!)
It was so great! After it was over (about 1:45 A.M.), one of the stage hand guys got the play list for me off the floor, and I got ready to go. But just then Ashley came out and signed my playlist and offered to take it back to get the other guys to sign it. Meanwhile this large bouncer-type is telling us, "Let's make our way toward the exit, folks, I want to go to bed." We ignored him for a while, then when he kept saying how he needed to go to bed, I just said, "Oh, wah. We have three hours of driving ahead of us." When he heard that we were going back to Blacksburg that night, he was quiet for a second, then said, "O.K. Go on back." He let us backstage! I didn't know who to talk to first. I got my playlist from Ashley and went around getting autographs. Iain as always was very nice. I asked him why they never played "Nothing Ever Happens" anymore, and he said that it was a bit hit in Britain and they got tired of playing it -- just like how they're tired of playing "Roll to me" every night now. Andy told me that Justin used to sing "Like a Virgin" in "Downfall" all the time, but it had been years since. I asked Ashley what kind of mood Justin was in and he said, "Fair good, I think" so I went up and asked him for his autograph and started gushing about how great he was and how sorry I was about the Tech concert. He smiled and said, "Yes, that was a pretty shitty venue. Our agent's in trouble about that one." After a few minutes of chatter, when scantily-clad girls started to come up to him, I got up the nerve to say, "Justin, can I have a hug?" He said, "Of course you can," and let me tell you, I have never felt leather as soft as his jacket! He is delicious. Anyway, they were all in such a good mood that it was one of the best night of my life, despite the fact that the sun will be rising soon and I haven't slept yet.

:-) Diana

Written by Diana Fry