Review by Rick (rickm811)

Hi, my name is Rick and I am a Sheryl-aholic. I admit it. I am addicted. In a good way tho. After enjoying a great tour opening night in Indy I headed south to Evansville, Indiana. Check-in time for the 5 star was 5:15 because, due to circumstances from the cancelled show in March, there was no soundcheck. To my surprise there were only 12 of us, making this the smallest 5 star I have experienced. It was pretty cool too. It made for an informal group and allowed us some liberties. It was fun meeting other Sheryl fans and once Stephanie, our wonderful ILAA guide, told the group I was at the show the night before I suddenly became the ‘veteran’ to ask questions. First order was to enjoy food and free drinks. Something about free drinks, ya know? It was fun meeting Marty from Illinois who was attending her first Sheryl show and boy was she excited! She has met some famous people but she was looking forward to meeting Sheryl and attending the show. She has a great taste for fashion and really wanted to somehow tell Sheryl she should consult with her about what she should wear when on stage. She wasn’t sure she would know what to say or IF she could even broach the subject. Since the group was small the decision was made by Stephanie and Sheryl to let us go back stage to meet Sheryl rather than have Sheryl come to us. Usually the meet and greet is done on stage right after soundcheck so this was different. We were lead back a hallway where we could see some dressing rooms (nobody was dressing) and taken to a large area where Sheryl and the band would be just before they go on stage. We turned the corner and we were greeted by Rex the dog! ILAA should consider taking group photos of us with Rex! He is so adorable. Sheryl had just returned from her run and was still in her jogging suit and had that hot and sweaty look. I mean that in a nice way. Chris Hudson, his son, Pam, and a few others were hanging around by the ping pong table. Apparently they enjoy lots of ping pong games on the road and actually travel with their own table. We all shook Sheryl’s hand and posed for a quick photo. Marty didn’t say a word to Sheryl about wardrobe consulting. Maybe another time. Afterwards, one of the women in our group said she was so excited because Sheryl stepped in to the line directly next to her and she couldn’t believe she was inches away from our favorite rocker.

Off we went back to our party room and received our tickets and then the raffle for prizes started. I thought because we had such a small group that everyone would be a winner. The night before we had 40 and Stephanie gave away lots of t-shirts and other Sheryl paraphernalia with the two top prizes being a signed Wildflower cd and the signed framed photo of Sheryl. But Stephanie informed us that each night the odds are the same of winning a prize. She drew five tickets with the final two for the top prizes. A man at another table said he was going to win the signed cd because that is what he wanted. Stephanie obliged. Then it was time for the grand prize drawing. As Stephanie was stirring the remaining stubs in her bag she said “I hope Rick wins” (I was winless in 5 previous 5 stars which is why she felt sorry for me) and voila! I too was a winner. What a surprise! We talked some more at our tables and it was fun listening to Stephanie talk about her brushes with famous people from other jobs. At one party there were quite a few celebrities and she said Tommy Lee actually hit on her! She was very impressed that Tommy Lee was trying to hit on her but she rebuffed his efforts. She said some hilarious things about why she couldn’t be with him.

It was now show time and we all headed to our seats. With such a small group we all had front row seats! Jack Ingram was the first bill again and he put on a good show. He was much more relaxed than the previous night and it showed. His set lasted 35 minutes and next up was Sheryl. As 8pm arrived we were all getting excited for the show to start. Soon we heard George Harrison’s What Is Life and we were moments away from Sheryl and the guys coming on stage. The woman next to me and I could see back to the hallway where we had met Sheryl earlier and soon saw Sheryl and Tim appear stage right. The audience came to their feet as soon as Sheryl came on stage and started cheering. Sheryl was wearing cream colored pants with brown flower designs on both legs and a sleeveless off white vest-like top (sorry, I am not good at describing women’s clothes!) I won’t list the set list as it’s posted on the main page of the web site under Tours but she opened again with Run Baby Run which she does so well. The audience was in to the opening of the show as we stood thru the first 3 numbers. Good is Good allowed us to rest our feet. Sheryl was even more relaxed for this show and was more talkative throughout. She said she was so glad to be there and was feeling really well and even said she was cancer free which drew a loud applause.

The first surprise of the evening was Leaving Las Vegas which wasn’t on the set list in Indy. We all know how she likes to talk thru parts of LLV and tonight was no different. She said she wanted audience participation so she told Peter and Tim to sing the backups that she wanted the audience to sing. Sheryl sang her part then she turned to Peter for him and Tim to sing. Peter was a bit awkward as Sheryl put the boys on the spot to perform but we got the hang of what she wanted and the audience sang along for the rest of the song. The sound for the whole show was very good, even sitting up front. Sheryl played and sang with a lot of energy. For some reason the mics were set up about 8 feet from the front of the stage so she wasn’t as close to us as the night before. A few times she and Peter would get close to the stage but the best was saved for last.

When Sheryl and the band finished A Change Would Do You Good they left the stage and the audience started cheering for the encore. After about 5 minutes you could sense the audience was getting a bit tired of clapping but the band returned for their three encore numbers. First two were Soak Up the Sun and Every Day Is A Winding Road. The audience was really in to both songs. I assumed the last song would be Safe & Sound which is what they played the night before but I knew something was up when her stage hand ran out and taped a lyrics sheet right in front of Sheryl’s microphone stand. I immediately thought they were going to do Real Gone, the theme song from the new Cars movie just released on Saturday. She sang Real Gone at soundcheck in Indy and she needed the lyrics to sing it. Then I heard the beginning of the song and the place went wild! It was Rock and Roll! I had been talking with the woman behind me before the show started and she said she had not seen Sheryl perform since she saw 6 shows in 2003 including BOTH shows in Kettering, OH which is where the C’mon C’mon DVD was taped. This woman was a hard core Sheryl fan as she has seen at least 40 shows in the last 12 years. She was really pumped to be in Evansville and when the band started playing Rock and Roll this woman started screaming at the top of her lungs she was so excited. The place was so loud and I could hear her over everything else. I looked back at her to make sure she was ok and she was holding her head and just screamed ‘this is Rock and Roll just like Kettering!!’ I’ve seen the DVD many times and Sheryl’s performance dancing on top of her piano is simply awesome. Here she was doing Rock and Roll right before my eyes. I didn’t care she wasn’t on top of the piano, mostly because several times she came right up to the edge of the stage literally 3 feet in front of me. She was all over the stage singing and dancing her heart out. Peter showed why he is one helluva guitar player. He was magnificent playing his guitar. Peter and Sheryl had such great synergy on this song as they would lean right up against each other as she belted out the words and Peter played his guitar like all of us peeps know how he does. He would lean in to her and she would lean in to him. They were totally in sync. Tim and Mike were doing their thing. Mike had a big smile on his face, pounding the keyboards with his hands, and Jeremy was drumming like a mad man and even Sheryl was cheering him on towards the end. If any of you have not experienced Rock and Roll live and are going to a Sheryl show (oh by the way, she dubbed this the Make Up Tour) I hope you get to experience this. It was simply off the charts. All I can say is Sheryl absolutely rocks.

I looked back at the woman behind me who had screamed almost thru the whole number and she was virtually in tears, she was so happy. Sheryl’s college friend Linda was there with her sisters and she said the Evansville show was better than the Indy show. Feeling exhausted it was time for the trek back to Indy. It doesn’t get much better than back to back Sheryl nights. My fix was in for my addiction. Thank you Sheryl and we are so glad you doing well and healthy!

Peace
Rick