Churchill Downs
Louisville, KY
November 5, 2005
Review By: Cole
Since this was our last Patty show of the year, we wanted to make the most of it. So, Friday before the show, Tammie and I both left work early. My bosses at work always know if I'm off- it's because it's Patty. When I was walking out the door, the owner stopped and said "Are you leaving?" and my boss laughed and said "Girl are you crazy? Patty Loveless is within like a 600 mile radius- of course Nicole is leaving!"
Tammie had a couple friends that were driving up as well to go see Lee Greenwood the next night, so we all met up around my house, and then went out to eat. Afterwards, we headed on the road to Louisville! Once we got into the city, we pulled out our trusty (or so we thought) Mapquest directions to guide us to our hotel. 30 minutes later...we were on the phone to the hotel trying to find out where we were! When I explained to the girl on the line where we were she said, "Oh you went the wrong way!". So...we can no longer swear by Mapquest, because they were totally off on our directions this time around!
Saturday morning, we got up around 7:00 and got to Churchill Downs at 10:00, one hour before the gates actually opened. There was a $2.00 track admission- and the concert was included in that. So, in my opinion, for that price, the entire state of Kentucky should have showed up for the show! When we went in and got in line, our new friend "Myers" handed Tammie and I two season ticket holder passes-- meaning we got in free & had special seating for the races. We weren't overly concerned with the seating, since we were more interested in setting our chairs up in the infield.
When we got back to the infield, we found this little tent containg the "Chili Cook Off" and then not too far from that was the stage. There was a huge banner displaying that some dude name Sulcer Evans was going on at 1:30, and Patty would be on at 4:30. The forecast was calling for rain- so we were hoping that Patty would be our good luck charm and keep the rain away until the night!
We set up our chairs front and center. There was a small fence in front of the stage, and so we sat our chairs in front of those, and had a small space in front of us, so we had leg room, etc. Tammie's friends Darrell and Tonia had seen Patty for the first time the weekend prior - and loved the show so much, that Saturday morning they decided to drive up to Kentucky and join us for the concert! They joined us not long after the gates opened at 11, and we spent the morning chatting and wondering what the crowd was going to be like. We went and sat in the bleachers and watched one of the horse races, which was kinda neat, because we had never seen anything like it.
When Sulcer Evans came on, we decided to enter the "cook-off". I'm not a chili girl, so I followed them around and took photos of them trying the various chili. When we went back out and watched Sulcer for a short while, we were somewhat confused when he left the stage and came back...only to realize that every 30-45 minutes, a race would go on! The band would have to stop the show, leave the stage, and come back after the horses raced! Tammie and Darrell bought racing programs and we checked the times on the other races. There were a few while Patty was on, and we were wondering if Patty would have to stop her show too!
As the crowd grew a little larger, we noticed that they were all pretty rowdy. As time passed--they got worse. We noticed quite a few of them holding alcohol- and making numerous trips to the alcohol cart. Unfortunately- alcohol was being served as early as 11:00 that morning, so it gave much of the crowd a lot of time to get drunk before Patty came on. We left our chairs a few time to wander around, and every time we came back- someone was standing RIGHT next to our chairs, and their kids were in front of them. When we sat down, a woman pushed her daughter up between Tammie and I. I looked at Tammie and said, "I know she's just a kid and all, but that crap is going to stop when Patty comes on!". Unfortunately, it was only a sign of things to come.
Around 4:00, the crowd picked up more since it was close to Patty's time. They kept inching up behind us, and we kept having to move our chairs just so we had room to sit. I couldn't sit back fully because people were letting their kids lean in on everyone's chairs. Some of these kids- their parents were nowhere around. I was getting a tad annoyed, mainly because I work in a preschool & the kids safety is a huge issue at our school. People wonder why there are so many kidnappings every year...
Patty came onstage not long after 4:30, and everyone went crazy. She didn't do an acoustic set this show- but she still did "My Old Friend the Blues", which we were thrilled about! Patty looked great, and seemed full of energy!!! As I said- she didn't do her acoustic set, so in the place of that, we got a few "extras"- "Halfway Down", "On Down the Line". Patty was so animated during the whole show. During "On Down the Line", in the middle of the song, as she was breaking to let the band play a little more of the song she said "Oh Get on Me!". Tammie and I burst out laughing the second she said it and Deanie looked at her and just laughed. It was so funny.
Right before "Dreaming My Dreams", Patty announced she had just been told that she had 5 minutes until the race, and then she would have to break and come back. I could not believe that the headliner had to do that too! As Patty started into "Dreaming My Dreams", she quickly dedicated it to Waylon. Tammie, Darrell, Tonia and I just listened in bliss- it sounded PERFECT! That is until we heard, "HEY...I'M DRUNK! I'M AT THE PATTY LOVELESS CONCERT!!" coming from behind us. We turned around to see a lady directly behind Tammie, leaning somewhat into her chair, talking on her cell phone. When I say she was shouting into it- I am NOT exaggerating. Even Kylie could hear her onstage! She kept on shouting into the phone going, "NO! PATTY LOVELESS! DO YOU WANT TO HEAR HER?? LET ME PUT YOU ON SPEAKERPHONE!". She put her friend on speakerphone and held it up high into the air, and it was quiet for a moment, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. But, before the song was over we heard, "CAN YOU HEAR HER?? DO YOU WANT TO HEAR PATTY LOVELESS??". Tammie turned around and said "Well we sure do!!". The woman hung up not long after, and luckily for us, she left after that song. When the song was over, I looked at Tammie and said "Well damn...normally I LIKE to hear that song live!"
Patty was only offstage for a few short moments before she popped back on- totally unannounced! The band had already walked back out and set up, but Patty kinda snuck up and said she was going to continue the show.
Unfortunately, the drunk cell phone lady was not our only mishap with the audience. At one point after "Halfway Down", we noticed a little bit of commotion at the end of our row- and saw that a drunk guy had moved in front of two older women at the end of the front row. The second he did it, an elderly lady- we guessed around 80, started shaking her head no, and gently swatted him on the leg to get rid of him. He leaned down and said something and left. Tammie gave her the thumbs up, and the lady just grinned from ear to ear. Then, when Patty started into "My Old Friend the Blues", I was having a really hard time hearing her because the people around us kept talking. I was so frustrated, and said "SHUT UP!!" a couple times-- I kept telling Tammie that if they didn't shut up soon, I didn't have the patience to deal with it and I was going to get up and sit in the back. They quieted down after a moment, thank goodness! However, after the song, a little boy came up and stood right in front of me. I was already frustrated- his parents were no where around, and he was totally blocking my view. I just kept my mouth shut, trying to be nice for the time being. However, once a completely drunk guy came up, cup full of beer in his hand and stood in front of me, I spoke up loudly and said "NO WAY--- I CANNOT SEE HER!" Completely trashed, he looked at me, patted my arm, sloshed his beer around going, "Ok sweetie, I'm sorry!" I looked at Tammie and scooted my chair over so he wouldn't spill his beer on me.
Prior to the show, Tammie and I had talked about how much we wanted to hear "On Your Way Home". When Shayne taped the set lists down, I zoomed in and snapped a photo of it and we checked and saw "Here I Am" on the list. We were both so bummed when we saw it, instantly thinking that "OYWH" wouldn't be included. But...Patty must have been reading our minds that morning because to our delight- she did BOTH songs! When she started into "OYWH", Tammie and I both just stared in amazement!
After OYWH, we stood up to give her a Standing O, and since the crowd wouldn't stop moving forward towards us, we decided not to sit back down & stood for "Blame" & "Elvis". During "Blame", I got so tickled...after we did our sing along...she finished the song, and then Patty suddenly goes "I NEED TO HEAR YOU DO THAT ONE MORE TIME!"--beaming from ear to ear, she was so into it! Everyone sang it one more time- and the band kept playing it, thinking Patty would finish the song again, and Tammie and I were singing that part as well. But, nope Patty said "ONE MORE TIME!", and came in front of us, leading the pack once more- stomping her foot. I looked at Tammie afterwards and said, "Girl she was stomping the hell out of her boot!". After everyone sang it the last time, she shouted "OH YOU GOT IT!", with a big grin on her face.
They closed the show with "Elvis", and we became sad since it was the one song we wanted to hear so much this year...and it would be our last time hearing it this year. She was so animated- doing her "fig leaf" and "champagne" motions. When it got to the right part, our group shouted "C'MON PATTY GET IT TOGETHER!" and she said "well alll righty then!". At the end of the song, the band came to the middle of the stage, and we became sad, knowing it was over. A drunk woman tapped my shoulder and said "HEY! SHE CAN HEAR YOU! YOU KNOW THAT SONG SHE SINGS "YOU LEARNED THAT FROM ME"...ASK HER TO SING IT". I stared at her and wanted to say "Get lost and get your artists straight!"---I was really agitated with the crowd at this point, and annoyed she was bugging me while I was trying to get my last bit of Patty in for the year, so I looked at her and said "Her show is OVER, she's not going to do anything else" and turned around.
Patty and the Band took their bows, and she looked over at Tammie and I and mouthed "Thanks for Coming!" and then, to our disappointment- walked off the stage.
We were so anxious to get away from the crowd and say our last goodbyes to the band, so we packed up immediately and headed to the bus. They had a 5 am flight to catch the next morning, so we didn't keep anyone too long. I said my goodbye and got my hug from Jimmy, and we spent time with Kylie, and then left them alone to get ready to head to Nashville.
Tammie, Darrell, Tonia and I headed out to Ruby Tuesdays & then to our hotel to play the longest card game ever. We all agreed...the crowd was absolutely awful, and we couldn't frequent enough how rude the folks around us were, but we just couldn't get over how amazing Patty was. In the end, that outweighed the crappy crowd and we were so happy to see her & get a last show in. But- I can assure you- I don't really intend on returning to that place for that ever again! I wish I understood what makes one go to a concert by someone that has that much talent, and that much emotion in her voice---and ruin it all by getting drunk and upsetting those around you & not remembering the show the next morning. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose, but once the crowd around me starts being that rude & disrespectful towards her...I start to get agitated!
Thanks to Patty, David, Deanie, Martin, Jimmy, Troy, Pete, Kylie, Guthrie, (and Marcia in June!), Shayne, Tony, Danny, "E-Rock" & Emory for a wonderful & very memorable tour 2005!
And...thanks to Tammie, Darrell, Tonia, Penny, "Mama", Fiesty Grandma, Deuce, Mime & Mane for providing so much entertainment & fun during Lousiville (and Tonia, for the beautiful serenades!)
