Date:    Wed, 23 Oct 1997 2:52:35 -0400
From:    Andi <ablipman@SAS.UPENN.EDU>
Subject: We sang w/ IG! (& a review of Lehigh...)--LONG!!!

My best friend & roommate, Jess, & I are writing this review together, 
b/c both of us have so much stuff to say.  We wanted to try to tell this 
together, so we'll try to let you know who's writing what.  First of all, 
last night's show was *amazing*!  We would have posted last night, but we 
were dead tired by the time we got home, & I had to study for a midterm, 
which I had today.  Even if we hadn't gotten to go up on stage & sing 
(which we'll discuss later!), it was a really cool show.  We were 5th row 
center, & for a lot of the show, everyone in the first 4 rows was 
sitting, & everyone else was standing, so no heads were blocking our 
view.  In general, I thought most people stood at the faster songs & sat 
during the slower songs, but some people just sat the whole time.  People 
also got more into the big Emily sing-alongs, & sat for SYS & SB.  I 
tried to be respectful & sit when people behind me were sitting though.  
Anyway, here's the setlist, w/ my random comments thrown in:

Secure Yourself
Caramia
Shame on You
Least Complicated
Everything In Its Own Time
Shed Your Skin (w/ the opening hip-hop drum loop from the CD played at 
the beginning & a cool new verse at the end)
Get Out the Map
Three Hits
Leeds (on a keyboard...before it, Emily started playing that song you 
play w/ your fist when you first start learning how to play piano & said 
something about liking to act silly every so often.  Also, Jess & I tried 
to sing Ulali's part, & we could hear a few other audience members 
attempting to sing too, but it was pretty quiet)
Redemption Song (w/ E on keyboard & A on guitar...I *love* this song!  It 
was the first time I heard it live, & it's beautiful!)
Land of Canaan
Virginia Woolf
Scooter Boys (A went crazy, jumping around & strumming her guitar so hard 
I was surprised she didn't break a string)
Tried to be True (A messed up in the middle & said, "Whoa!")
Galileo (everyone was singing so loudly and at the "maybe you squandered 
big bucks" line, they stopped singing and playing altogether to let the 
audience sing alone!)

Encore:
Love Will Come to You
Chickenman (w/ a long Dave Ellison harmonica solo, the Mr. Buzzard verse, 
& a little SOC)
Closer to Fine (story to follow! :)

Okay, it's Jess now. Andi basically summed everything up pretty well. I 
thought Amy was the smiliest I have ever seen her. She was just so happy 
and that made me even happier :) I wanted to stand more than Andi did, 
but she really didn't want to piss anyone off, so I guess that was the 
right thing to do. I was really psyched to hear Love Will Come to You and 
Virginia Woolf; I'd been hoping to hear at least one of the two. Andi and 
I couldn't remember which song it was, but on one (I think towards the 
end) Emily did this new high harmony thing to some song that was very 
different. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? They weren't very 
chatty in general but they did make a few comments. We thought it was 
really cute when Emily said before EIIOT, "This is a very beautiful 
area...it smells good." She also said something like, "let's turn on the 
house lights so we can see what you guys look like."  

So Andi and I decided we wanted to make a sign so we could get ourselves 
up on stage, so we asked our roommate Jen to make a sign for us since 
we're not very artistic. She made us this beautiful yellow sign w/ 
rainbow letters that said, "Can we sing w/ y'all?" We were really excited 
and thought we had a pretty good chance of getting up there with such 
good seats. We held up the signs a lot in the beginning and we weren't 
sure if they saw them cuz they made no acknowledgment, but I thought they 
were looking at us. Between Love Will Come to You and Chickenman we held 
it up again and Amy kinda pointed at us so we started to get really 
nervous and excited. Chickenman was the longest song ever and I just had 
such butterlies in my stomach. Finally, it ended and Amy went to call up 
Teri Binion and then said, "Where are the singers?" We raised our hands, 
as did other random girls around us, and started moving out. There were 
all these girls in the aisle and Andi tells me I just shoved everyone out 
of the way and booked up there. The security guards weren't letting us 
up, but A & E were like, "no, help them up!" Emily looked right at me, 
and was like "hi!" I didn't know what to do with myself!

Okay, it's Andi again.  A couple of nights ago at Wake Forest, my friend, 
Randi was called up on stage to sing w/ A&E (she said she's going to type 
up her story & send it to me so I can post it to the list for her), so it 
was just too exciting & strange that the same thing happened to us!  I 
think A&E are just suckers for signs, b/c they seem to call up anyone who 
asks nicely!  Anyway, after Jess pushed aside all the girls standing in 
the aisle, & the security guards helped us up, I went up & stood next to 
Sara Lee, & Jess stood between Emily and me.  Emily asked us our names, & 
we told her, & then she asked if we went to Lehigh, & Jess disappointed 
her by telling her that we went to Penn.  Then she said into the mic, 
"This is Jess...and, uh, Andi, & they're going to sing w/ us."  
(Actually, we don't even remember her saying that, but everyone says that 
she did.)  A&E just kept looking back at us & smiling!  So I decided that 
I would make some small talk w/ Sara.  First she said to us, "So, do you 
sing the whole song?"  I thought she was asking if we knew the whole 
song, & I was like, "Yeah!"  But then I realized that she was asking if 
we sang just the harmony (like she does) or everything.  And then she 
said, "That's great!"  So I looked out into the crowd of about 2600 
people, & I said to Sara, "Wow...there are a lot of people out there!"  
And she smiled & said, "Yeah, you get used to it."  

It's Jess again. Like I said, I didn't know what to do with myself and 
Andi went right to Sara's mic. I guess I just wanted to be closer to A & 
E so I stood closer to E and away from Andi. Also, this man came up to us 
before the song started and gave us tambourines. I remembered that, but 
Andi said she just looked down and it was in her hand :) There were 
definitely a lot of people out there, but I didn't really feel all that 
self-conscious or anything since all I was thinking was, "oh my god, 
they're right there!" I just danced and sang and tried to shake my 
tambourine with the beat through the whole song. A & E just kept looking 
at us and smiling so big; it was the coolest thing! I don't think there's 
anything else specific to tell during the song except it was an 
absolutely amazing experience and I wish everyone could experience it. 
When the song ended, Emily left the stage really quickly and Amy walked 
up to us and I guess she gave me a handshake type thing but I don't 
really remember. I should've hugged her, but I guess I was just shy. I 
should've said something to, but I couldn't think of anything to say and 
nothing came out of my mouth, just a big silly smile on my face.

Andi again...so yeah, I didn't remember getting the tambourine, but I 
just looked down & it was in my hand!  And then I started thinking about 
how a)I rarely dance (I hate going to parties where people are 
dancing...I only really dance at IG concerts when lots of people are 
dancing too), & here I am dancing in front of an arena of people, b)I 
hate singing in public b/c it makes me really nervous, & Jess, two of our 
other friends, & I sang CTF in high school at this chorus awards thing, & 
I was so nervous then, & here I was singing in front of lots of 
people...of course, I wasn't singing into the mic, so no one could really 
hear me, & c)I had no clue how to play a tambourine, so I just kind of 
shook it & banged it against my leg.  And despite all these things, it 
was the most fun thing ever!  I was so nervous that I barely even felt 
nervous, & so many things were happening at once, & A&E were smiling at 
us, & the crowd looked so happy & excited & when the crowd sang on "we 
stand up for the lookout" & the lights went up, I just looked out & felt 
so happy.  I was told that I had a really dopey smile on my face the 
whole time.  So after Amy shook Jess's hand, she walked over to me, & I 
wasn't sure if she was going to hug me or shake my hand or what, so I 
just stood there, & I was so nervous to be so close to her, & she just 
took my arm & shook it, & then put her arm around me in a handshake-hug 
kind of motion.  Then we didn't know how to get off the stage, & Jerry, 
Sara, & Emily had already left, & Amy made a little motion that we could 
follow her backstage, but being the stupid fools that we are, we just 
jumped down off the stage.  We kicked ourselves for that later, but we 
were not thinking about anything at the time!

Jess again...damn this is a long post, sorry :) but I hope everyone reads 
it! Right when we got off the stage these girls walked up to us and 
started hugging us and were like, "we just wanna say that we talked to 
you!" They were all so excited to talk to us, it was just so funny. This 
woman who we don't know walked up to us and said she took a picture of us 
and would send us a copy if we gave her our addresses (if you're out 
there, e-mail us and maybe we can trade for a pic of A & E from during 
the concert). Andi started writing them, but she said she couldn't write 
them cuz she was shaking so much, so I did it. When we were outside, 
Karen from the list also came up to us and said she took a picture of us 
and also said she would send us a copy. We can't wait to get them! Also, 
we kinda waited around to see if we could get a pick or setlist, but 
Sulli wasn't giving anything out. Supposedly, she stopped doing that cuz 
fights have broken out in the past over them. 

Andi again...I thought about taking a setlist when I was onstage, but it 
was taped down, so I felt bad.  So then we went outside and waited 
outside the stage door, but these big mean security guards kept telling 
us to back up.  We hoped that A&E would see us holding our sign when they 
came out & autograph it or something, but they just walked right into 
their bus.  Jen Lucero tried to tell the security guard that we sang w/ 
them & Amy told us to wait for her outside the stage door, so he went 
inside & then came back & told us that the manager said they weren't 
talking to anyone.  He & the other security guard then littered 2 pieces 
of paper on the ground.  (I picked them up. :)  We waited around for a 
while, but nothing too exciting happened.  Oh, they couldn't get their 
bus out of the little parking lot they had parked in...that was kinda funny!

So, did anyone boot this show?  They weren't checking bags at all, & I 
would die to have a copy of Emily saying my name!  While I'm asking for 
boots, I would also love a copy of PNC Bank Arts Center (Holmdel, NJ 
6/5/97) or Wake Forest from the other night...please e-mail me if you 
have any of them!  I will offer my first born for these boots! :)

Extra special thanks goes to Stephanie, who drove us to Lehigh, & was 
just so cool, even though we got a little lost b/c they changed the name 
of the highway we were supposed to take on the way there, & we got lost 
somewhere in North Philly on the way home, we didn't mind...we were just 
glad to get a ride!  Also, thanks to Jen for hanging out w/ us after the 
show & trying to calm us down.  And a special hello to Marci & her 
roommate (whose name I forget now) & Karen, cool listees we met.

If you actually read this whole thing, e-mail us & let us know what you 
thought of it! :)

Love,
a very excited Andi & Jess

  *************************************************************************
                       Andrea Lipman and Jessica Schraub
              ablipman@sas.upenn.edu and jschraub@sas.upenn.edu
  http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~ablipman and http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jschraub

             "The less I seek my source for some definitive
                 The closer I am to fine."-Emily Saliers

                "It feels so funny to be free."-Amy Ray
  *************************************************************************