My review

Time to introduce myself: I'm Katie Lynne, aka Spaceeggy Katie to members on Support-System mailing list. (There's too many Katies on the list!) I live in Orlando, Florida and flew up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and met with another Support member, Craig King.

Craig and I left Milwaukee at about 12:30pm or so cuz we were bored and had nothing else to do. We got to University of Chicago around 2:30pm and finding a place to park was quite difficult. Not only to mention we had a little surprising encounter during our search for a parking space, something I wouldn't dare repeat, unless Craig wants to mention it.

Mandel Hall is beautiful, we got there around 3pm and of course, we had more time to kill. We played some card games and I suggested we look for the back door since we spotted the bus outside on the street. The bus is gold with red and white stripes under the windows with a trailer carrying their instruments. This was THE bus I said and knew it had to be, kinda obvious in some ways.

Went back into the Hall and were still the first ones there. Craig was being a little sleepyhead trying to take a nap and I did everything I could to keep him awake by being annoying. (I even started singing Alanis Morissette's Ironic!) I was too excited to even try to take a nap. We heard parts of the sound check and saw two girls take in a birthday cake for Liz.

The excitement didn't start till around 6:30pm when shirts came in and a line was formed. I was the first one in line!

Shirt info:
White baby tee with the EIG cover on front in a small square, medium and large.
Grey tank top with the EIG dancers, one size only, medium.
Red shirt with Liz's name on front and WCSE on the back and a yellow circle under EGG. All sizes?
$20 each.

There were a few disadvantages with being the first one in line like constantly getting hit by the door whenever a MAB staff member came in and out. The best part was somewhere between 7 and 7:30pm, the door opened and I found myself standing in front of Liz's guitarist, Buddy Judge! Without giving it a second thought, I said hello to him, he smiled and then walked out through the crowd unnoticed. Liz's backup singer, Janet Rains, also came out shortly after Buddy and Craig and I weren't quite sure if it was her. We figured it was after she came back. She has beautiful auburn brown hair I think and had little braids in it.

At 7:30pm, the doors opened and they were putting wristbands on the first 150 people for the pit area. Silly me walked past them cuz usually wristbands to me mean, "Yes! I'd like to drink!" I went back to get one, but it really didn't matter if I had one or not. They never checked my back pack either, which was quite odd.

David Mead and his band were ok. David reminded me of one of the guys from That Thing You Do! movie. Hairdo, it was the hairdo.

Liz came on around 9:15 I think, wearing a red skirt with a white halter tank top and had those "cruel shoes" on. She is so beautiful in person!

She must have made eye contact with me numerous times during the show because I was directly in front of her, slightly to her left, singing along with the songs. The first time she made eye contact with me was during her opening, Chopsticks.

Here's the set list she played:

Chopsticks
Fuck and Run
Johnny Feelgood
Mesmerizing
Cinco de Mayo
Flower
Firewalker
Never Said
6'1"
Go On Ahead
Uncle Alvarez
Don't Apologize
Polyester Bride
Supernova
White Chocolate Space Egg

Encore:

Perfect World
Stratford-on-Guy
Divorce Song

The two new songs, Firewalker and Don't Apologize, are really cool rock songs! I loved how she introduced Flower, "This song has gotten me into a lot of trouble." She stood at the microphone with her hands behind her back like a little innocent girl. As the song went on, she started to loosen up, smiling and cracking up. When she said, "This song is a personal one from my new album White Chocolate," I automatically knew it was Go On Ahead. She played this very beautifully, starting the song as a solo and then the band joined in.

Everybody played very well. During one song, Buddy and the keyboardist, Jaren Brung, were swinging back and forth, really enjoying themselves. Mario on the drums brought a lot of excitement to the whole show. You really couldn't hear Janet that much on backup vocals and same thing goes for keyboards on a few songs. The spinning glitter ball over the stage brought a cool effect during WCSE.

I had too much fun being there, singing along to every song I knew. I was only able to get four pictures during the show cuz the security guy was being a meanie and told us to not take any. grr! He was a real jerk, he even told the press people to leave after the fourth or fifth song too! One of the press people gave her a bouquet of flowers and Liz took some out and threw them to the audience.

As Liz was about to start the encore, the audience sang happy birthday to Liz while Janet brought out a cake. This was one of the best moments of the show. There were a few people who requested Blood Keeper and Craig and I pitched in on the request. Liz's take on that (quote provided by: Allison): "Blood what? Hey, this is really weird, some people have access to songs that never even left the studio. Someone must be in there with a microphone. But, that's a good thing, because I can't remember anything, so as long as someone has a record of it.... "
She then gave us thumbs up. Keep requesting this song and maybe she'll put it on her next album!

Perfect World was the first song in the encore and this is the best I've ever heard her play it. My highlight during the show was making the last eye contact with Liz during Divorce Song and making her smile. She must have smiled after seeing me sing along. I couldn't believe it! Liz Phair looking at me with this big smile on her face! The show ended and before the band left, Mario threw his drumsticks to the audience and Craig caught one!

The lights came on and we hung around of course. I saw one girl go on the stage to get the set list and I asked her to get one for me. She kindly did, I couldn't thank her enough. We went to the backstage door to wait and see if we'd be lucky to meet someone, especially Liz. There was a group of people there talking with David Mead and his band, but Craig and I kept to ourselves. While we were waiting, the crew started boarding the trailer with the instruments from Liz's band. So many boxes with Liz's name on it were set right behind me since I was sitting on the grass. After about an hour's wait, it was only me, Craig and some guy from the Guyville mailing list. Buddy was the first one to come out and I said hello again, congratulating him for the great show. I didn't get a chance to say more since he was in a hurry to get to the bus. A few moments later, Liz came out!

There was a Grand Jeep Cherokee parked near the door and she put her things in there. I noticed a baby seat in the back, so it probably was the family car or something. I actually met her after telling her I wanted to wish her a happy birthday and that I made a bear for her. I gave her the bear and she said, "Oh how sweet. Thank you, it's really cute." I got her to sign the set list and got my picture taken with her. She's so sweet! I took Craig's picture with Liz and she left for the bus with Jaren, stumbling in those "cruel shoes." :(

Janet came out looking for Liz and asked me if she had already headed for the bus. I said yes and asked if I could get a picture taken with her. She was very nice.

Although my meeting with Liz was very brief, I was really happy. It really made my night, probably one of the best moments in my life. After going to this concert, I'd have to say I'm glad I was able to see her in her hometown.

Many thanks to:
Craig for taking me to the concert. You're too kind! ();)
Numerous people who have said they believed in me. You know who you are!
Julia, for clearing up on the band members' names.