TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Joliet, IL

“Friends” by Diane

Four of us road-tripped from Michigan to Joliet, Illinois for this concert. We stayed in Harrah’s Casino Hotel for two days of girl fun. I thoroughly enjoyed this concert in the gorgeous and ornately restored Rialto Theater. Hearing “Run, Baby, Run” in person for the first time was a special treat! Later, we would find out that Taylor was sick again, but you would never know it from the show he put on.

I feel blessed to have found such special friends to share Taylor adventures and concerts with. Some friendships have gone a different way and some have become true and lifelong friends. No matter how our lives have changed, I love you all, my friends.

Photo and video by Diane

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Columbus OH

“You Might Wanna Hear My Organ” – by ForeverTaylor

This Columbus show ranks in my top 5 of Taylor concerts that I’ve seen. The sound was great, the crowd was rockin’, and Taylor was really into it! There was a general admission section in the front and then, on a slightly elevated section behind the general admission, were seats. The seats were a waste of space, seriously, because EVERYONE was standing…it was great!! Large groups of college students right up by the stage were jumpin’ up and down in unison with their hands in the air….a group of them had Team Soul Patrol written on their t-shirts with magic marker! HA!
Taylor’s energy was off the charts. He was feeding off the crowd. His vocals were spot on…..as evidenced by the audio recording that we were blessed with from “Dewey”. I took those audio files from the entire concert, put it on a CD, and relived that night countless times. Out of all of my Taylor CDs, THAT is the CD that has gotten the most play.

video by ForeverTaylor

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Royal Oak, MI

“Hats on Main Street” by Diane

The local fans near Royal Oak planned lots of fun for us! There was a trip to a blues bar the night before Taylor’s concert and a makeover at Neiman Marcus for me the day of the concert to introduce this old hippie girl to makeup! What a fun girls weekend we had! Many of us stayed in the same hotel and about 40 fans met at a local restaurant before the concert. The fans had this idea for everyone to bring a ball cap for Taylor from their locality and we had about 25 caps! We placed them all on the front of the stage. Taylor didn’t react to them during the concert, but after the concert, Loren Gold took them all into the bus.

Since Bob Seger is from the Detroit area, we were all expecting to hear “Hollywood Nights.” When Taylor came out for the encore with his guitar and the stool, we all wondered – which Seger song would he sing? “Main Street” it was!

Photos and video by Diane

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks at Penn’s Peak, PA

“Gonna Move” – by ruhappytoseeme
All I remember was Taylor was great, of course, and the views from Penn’s Peak were amazing. I saw him after that, at the Bloomsburg Fair and I have to say people got up and danced there much more than at Penn’s Peak! What I remember the most about Penn’s Peak was Taylor was, as always, on fire! The band was great. And I managed to see Taylor after the show – he signed autographs and I’m a bit ashamed to say I was so star struck, I didn’t say a word to him or even get a autograph! I just stood there, frozen. He was right in front of me and I froze

video by ruhappytoseeme

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks plays the Beacon Theater, New York City

“Energy” by Diane

I was so excited about Taylor coming to my hometown! Friends from all over the country came to NY for this concert. My friend Tina from Birmingham came to stay a couple of days at my home. Our plan was to go to the Beacon and then fly out to Detroit and Joliet for those concerts, meeting up with friends there. It was going to be a full week’s vacation of friendship and Taylor concerts. But first, we were there to see Taylor at the legendary Beacon Theater!

From the instant the music started, 2500 people jumped to their feet and never sat down. This is where we first saw the infamous “fertility dance” during “Medicated Goo.” My personal favorite moment was at the end of “The Runaround” when Taylor looked out and up at the crowd and acknowledged us with an wide arc of his arm and the greatest smile on his face I have ever seen. As he exited the stage, I watched him as he did a little spin of happiness in the wings.

There is a reason why The Beacon Theater concert is considered one of Taylor’s best! Just watch EJ’s video and drink in the joy and energy that is Taylor Hicks!

Video by EJ – Photo by Diane

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Alexandria, VA – Part II

“Run, Baby, Run” before they arrest you! – by EJ

The Birchmere has a policy that there is to be no noise or applause from the audience when the musicians were playing- just polite applause at the end of each number. Everyone has to stay in their seats, too. This policy drove Taylor crazy, and he tried harder and harder to get the audience to rebel. Finally before he played Runaround as an encore, he told the audience to go ahead and get up on their feet and dance, and if the venue didn’t like it they could come and arrest HIM. Needless to say, that was all the encouragement we needed…

video by EJ

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Alexandria, VA

“Compared to What!” – by Juliegr

Since I hadn’t gone to see Taylor Hicks when he was in the area with the AI tour, I was determined to see as many of his solo tour concerts as possible. I already had tickets to the Baltimore concert in April but when ReallyGia asked me if I wanted tickets to the Birchmere, I immediately accepted. We had a table directly in front of the stage and the excitement was overpowering.

C2W: Taylor started banging on the cowbell and I was immediately swept up into the beat and energy of the song. Felix, Boogie, Josh, Brian Less, and Brian Gallagher were extensions of Taylor’s persona, the music drew this listener in and all other sounds and people just vanished. What a performance — when I got home (really the next day), I searched the internet for another performance of Compared to What. The ones I found didn’t even begin to compare to Taylor’s performance at the Birchmere. That statement holds true today about any other song Taylor performs — he is the best!

video by reallygia

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Atlantic City, NJ

“Burning Harp in Atlantic City” by Diane

I wasn’t going to go to Atlantic City. I had seen two Taylor Hicks concerts the previous week. But after hearing about how terrific Philadelphia was, I decided to check out what seats were left and found a third row ticket off the aisle. We were going! We arranged to get a room right at the Borgata and make it easy on ourselves. The hotel was gorgeous.

The concert was wonderful. There were two very pretty young blondes sitting in front of me who turned around half way through the concert and asked me if I knew Taylor. I said I didn’t know him at all and they jumped up and down screaming, “Then he is looking at us!!”

After the concert, Taylor and the band were spotted relaxing in the hotel casino and bars, gambling and walking around, mingling with fans in an easy, natural manner. Driving home the next day in a howling rainstorm on the Garden State Parkway after 3 hours sleep wasn’t so bad. We still had big grins on our faces!

This harp intro to “Long Way Home” was a real treat. When I found that Denise had captured it with her incredible camera, my smile got even bigger!

Video by dg00001 – Photo by Diane
Click on the box of arrows for full screen – you’ll be glad you did!

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Lancaster, PA

Medicated Bongos by Breeezzy

In Lancaster, when I saw the tour buses, I screamed like a 16 yr old girl, shaking and so excited. I did have a meet n greet before the show. It was a very short meet n greet but he was very nice and just took my breath away….I had a hard time remembering what even happened. I can’t even remember how his hand felt in mine. Taylor’s show was amazing….he gave off so much energy and gave us a great performance. 5th row center were great seats!

video by breeezzy

And another, because the tag on this one is perfect for Easter.

video by Melissa D

TWO YEARS AGO TODAY – Taylor Hicks in Philadelphia, PA

The City of Brotherly Love Gets Up and Dances with Taylor- by 4Tay

I loved this show for 3 reasons: A meet and greet, dancing fans and a great musical connection with the audience.

The Tower Theater show in Philadelphia was my third show of Taylor’s solo tour. It was a cold day in Philly as 4 other fans and I waited outside for our meet and greet. With only 5 in the meet and greet, I was able to meet Taylor again and have the time to just talk to him. A fan brought him warm-ups and we watched while he tried them on. And, this is when I really noticed how small and handsome Taylor is up close. Wearing a light purple crinkly shirt, Taylor looked elegant and relaxed.

I told Taylor that Philly was glad to have him in town and the dancing would start as soon as he hit the stage and I was right. As he ran down the steps to leave, he said ‘Cool.’

“Soul Finger” started, Taylor entered and the front of the theater became a sea of fans on their feet dancing to the music. Taylor looked and sounded fantastic and because the crowd was so in to the music, for me, it was vocally the best of my three shows (Tampa and Westbury).

Josh was on fire on “Heart and Soul.” He had what seemed like a ten minute solo. Taylor also sang Somehow which I haven’t heard many times in the ten tour shows I went to. Small children brought large, handmade paper flowers for Taylor and when the show began, the ushers brought a lot of the children to the front row seats that were empty. The lighting made for some great video while he played the harp

Of the three memorable moments at the Tower, the audience connection really began here. And it continues still.

photo and video by 4Tay