When: May 20, 2003
Where: Tweeter Center, Mansfield MA
The Concert:
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Noah Hunt & Double Trouble opened the show for ZZ Top promptly at 7pm. The band won this crowd over after the first song. The audience didn't know the songs, (except Voodoo Chile) but they were still excited to see a guy rip on the guitar the way Kenny did. Justin and Sasha Rae knew all the songs and were on their feet the whole time! The large outdoor venue was still filling up as Kenny played on into the 45 minute set. Maybe a quarter of the arena was occupied but the KWSB performed like it was packed and as if they were going to sing all night long.
Kenny wore a black long sleeve button up shirt with blue jeans and Noah wore the black short sleeve shirt with the little silver hooks on the collar and light blue jeans with his black boots. Noah purred on "Shame Shame Shame," but in a different spot then usual, he banged his tambourine to the drum beat all night long. Because we were the only ones who stood up during their set and clapped and danced, I knew that Noah saw us, he smiled up at us a few times as we clapped along with his tambourine playing. He told me later, "I saw you guys!"
During the set, Noah stayed on stage for Kenny's guitar solos and had his arm around Tommy playfully. The only time Noah left the stage was during "While We Cry." Which was really beautiful, when it broke into the more up tempo rocking part, the crowd wildly applauded! And at the end, Noah left when the vocals of "Voodoo Chile" were finished. Kenny introduced the band and himself to the audience and they all received BIG CHEERS! He said the album should be out by the end of the year. There were no gimmicks, no stage set up like a big banner or anything.
The ZZ Top fans behind us said complimentary, "This is no opening act." After Kenny's set, those fans went to look for other seats because they thought we were going to stand and dance all night.
Kenny was well received by the ZZ Top fans with a standing ovation at the end of the show when they took their bow. The seated crowd jumped to their feet for a long applause!
The Setlist:
This was the set list of the 45 minutes they played. I wrote it down so I got it right this time. I was really psyched that KING BEE made it into the set!
1. Somehow, Somewhere, Someway
2. King's Highway
3. Shame, shame, shame
4. Blue on Black
5. Shotgun Blues
6. King Bee
7. While we Cry
8. Voodoo Chile
The Meet & Greet: Transcript section 1
The meet and greet took place during the Ted Nugent set, which worked out great too because this gave the band a lot of time to spend with us. The M&G took place in a very private courtyard, in the VIP section. While we were waiting, Rex walked right over to Sasha Rae and he asked her "Are you going to see Kenny again?" And she said "YUP! Then he asked "How did the pictures from the tour bus come out?" He turned to Bart and said "Remember her?" They both remembered Sasha Rae from the tour bus as it was only 4 day ago. I showed him the pictures, we had them printed out for Noah & Kenny to sign. Rex asked Sasha Rae in a teasing voice, "Who are these 2 ugly guys in this picture with this cute girl?" She laughed. He said "Make sure you tell them you're the cutest one in the picture!" LOL He was really nice and funny, that's how we ended up first in the line.
They let us in and we had to wait a few more minutes and that's when we first saw Jake! He was wearing an "All access photo ID PASS" around his neck. I was scared! He was intimidating at first. Rex says "Ol' Rex will take care of you, follow me."
He walked us down the winding path to the courtyard. Noah and Kenny came out first. Noah walked right over to me, we hugged warmly. I introduce Sasha Rae and then Justin. I showed him the pictures from the tour bus. I actually pulled out the one of Kenny first from my bag. Kenny was standing right next to Noah. Kenny had a cigarette and Noah had the sharpie. So Kenny says to Noah "I guess we're gonna have to tag team tonight, me first then you." (ha ha ha) No seriously there were kids in their presence so I let that go. :)
Everybody looked at the photos and Noah & Kenny said they came out great! They did. The photos were big and beautiful really nice quality. Noah asked me, "How did you like the show?" And he added, "It's so quick for us, we're not used to this." I said enthusiastically, "I loved it! We were the only people on our feet." He said " I know, I saw you!!"
Then Sasha Rae tells Kenny. "That was so cool how you played your guitar behind your head." And Noah adds, "Yeah that's amazing." Kenny told her, " It's hard, you gotta practice." I said to Kenny, "That's her favorite part." Sasha sadly says, "I'll never be able to do that..." So Kenny and Noah both say "Awe you never know." in an encouraging way. Justin wants to tell Kenny, "I'm learning how to play guitar" and Kenny says "Cool man, keep it up!" Then both Noah & Kenny signed the "Trouble is" album for Justin. I looked at Noah and said, "Can I take your picture with Justin?" And he eagerly replies "Sure." I looked down to turn on my camera and read the memory card, and Noah starts to pick Justin up and sit him on the black railing bar. Right now the guys are on one side of the rail and we are on the other. The bar is waist level. Kenny goes to help Noah and they both lift him up (he only weighs 80lbs LOL) and they put him on the rail. When I look through the camera lens, the four of them are all posed and ready for the picture that I thought was just going to be Justin and Noah! It was really cute! So... I took 2 shots, the first one came out a tiny bit blurry. Kenny then greeted with other fans. DT was not there yet while Noah and I continued to talk. He said, "I love the site man, but I haven't been able to look at it in a while because I didn't bring my lap top with me.." So I said casually "Check it out when you get home." We continued a conversation about some plans Noah was making and some people we both knew, exchanging stories. Then he laughed and said when he gets home he's gonna have 800 emails to answer "...all of them junk!"
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The Meet & Greet: Transcript section 2
There were about 6 other fans in the M&G and one was an old friend of Tommy's with her adult son. Noah came around the bar to see Jake, (Justin was playing with Jake) and Kenny came out too and walked under one of those tents and talked on his cell phone. DT arrived and were doing their M&G with Tommy's friend. Everyone was really relaxed in this group of fans. You could tell the band felt very comfortable. Two male fans wanted to get a picture of all four band members, so Noah went over to Kenny and tapped him on the shoulder. Kenny politely hung up his call and posed for the picture. After that, Sasha Rae wanted to take a picture of me and Noah. So Noah and I posed and Sasha Rae took a picture. She said to me "I'm not sure I got you in it."
I said to her, "Let me see it." The picture was disappearing as Noah went to look at it... I laughed and told her, "Go take another one and show it to us quick this time." And Noah said "Yeah those things are fast." Sasha Rae takes another one and runs back over to us and we look at it together and laugh at ourselves!. Sasha Rae saw Justin playing with Jake and they began to debate whether it was Kenny or Noah's dog because the dog was really affectionate with both Noah & Kenny. Noah and Kenny both had played with Jake and petted him. Sasha Rae says to Noah inquisitively, "Who's dog is that?"
He answers her, in a cute telling a little kid a story voice... "You wanna know who's dog that is? Alright then, I'll tell you about the story of this dog." Then he turns and points at the trucks in the parking lot. He says, "Do you see those big trucks over there? That's what they drive our equipment in and a guy who drives one of those trucks owns Jake. And we've had Jake on tour with us, since he was a baby. He's the sweetest dog."
I looked at the dog and replied to that comment, "I'm scared of him." Noah looked at me to be reassuring of the dog and Sasha's safety. I continued to explain, " I was bit by a dog when I was little. I have a dog too, but I'm a cat person.." Noah calmly knelt down to pet the dog and to plead his case. He looked at me and said, "Oh I understand, if a dog bit you when you were a child, of course.. but this dog would never hurt anyone, this dog loves everyone and he plays with toys too! " Noah stood up and threw an old raggedy ball, and the dog ran to get it.
Justin ran off to play with Jake. He was content to have met Kenny and Noah, and now he was off doing boy and dog things, just like at home. I let him play with the dog, but I did have to say no when he asked could he climb a tree. *Note* Before we left to attend this concert, everyone had to wait for Justin who climbed a tree with a camera to take a picture of baby birds that had hatched in a nest he discovered in one of his tree climbing adventures. He was so excited because the mama bird was out finding worms and the babies were waiting with their mouths opens. So needless to say Justin has a serious interest in animals and nature as well as music. * Sasha Rae stuck close to me because we both were sleeveless and the sun had went down, it was getting dark now.,. Noah says to her sweet and concerned, "It's getting cold out here, where's your coat?" Which prompted me to defend myself and I went on to tell the story that I had told the other fans in the M&G line when they asked the same question. I steadily replied, "Noah, she has the most beautiful pink sweater that I bought her to match with this dress. Especially to wear to the show to meet you guys and she left the sweater in the car." So Sasha says, "Yeah, then I can get a Kenny Wayne shirt to wear!" And Noah says, "Oh, okay then. That's a good excuse!" So Noah and I are leaning against the bar and we talked about how the meet & greet in Erie PA went. (Because where we were meeting here was so beautiful & in Erie they were in the basement) and Noah commented, "Oh yeah that was bad...." Then we talked for a long time about other things.
Later, I said to Sasha Rae, "Sasha what are you supposed to tell Noah?" And she said with a big smile on her face, "That I'm a Kenny Girl! and then the wink." Noah busted out with a laugh. I looked at Noah and said "Noah she rehearsed this whole line all day that she wanted to say to you since Erie." I turned to Sasha Rae and said, "Do it for Noah." She looked at Noah and said, "My mom built NoahHunt.org for your fans, but I'm really a Kenny Girl!" and then she did her little wink at him. LMFAO! And Noah cracked up again and said, "Now you're gonna have to add to your website a 'Kenny Girl Page'!" and I said "Oh no!' and put my hand over my face to hide. I added "It's so much work." and he said "No?" Sasha said "YEAH!"
So we thought M&G was over... so I hugged Noah goodbye and said "Thank you so much."
While I'm waiting for the others fans M&G to end, Sasha Rae says "What do we do now?" and I said, "We just watch them be fine." I saw Kenny fooling around playing with the dog and when someone asked for a picture, Kenny jumped up into Rex's arms and dangled both feet over them.. Kenny was like cradled in his arms and had this big ol' smile on his face! Very boyish and playful.
Sasha Rae was sitting down watching Justin playing with the dog and Noah taps her on the shoulder and says, "Sasha, that's the guy who drives our equipment and owns Jake." Then we all looked and this tall truck driver had his work boot rubbing on Jake's belly. After a few minutes the guy goes off and the dog comes back over. Justin is still playing with Jake's old ripped up blue ball. Noah kneels down to pet the dog again he said to us, "This dog is a Blue Heeler ... I have one, but this dog is mixed." I said "What's it mixed with? Doberman? Cuz look at the ears." And then I finally was convinced to pet him. It was then that I agreed with Noah and added, "Oh he is nice," and Noah says to me, "He looks like Doberman, doesn't he?" I asked him, while we petted the dog together, "And the blue is because of this grey color?" He answered, "Yes." "Is your dog all blue?" I inquired. He responded, "No. my dog is more brown."
Sasha Rae asks while we are petting Jake, "So you are making a new album?" Noah says with excitement, "Yeah, we've already been working on it!" *I took a picture while they were talking* He explained to Sasha Rae, "We're gonna finish it when we go back out to California, I think it's gonna be our best record yet." I came over and asked him, "Are you writing songs for it?" and Noah says "Yes yes I am!" and I said "Good, I'm glad because I love your songs, you are a great song writer... all except for that 'Pretty Bird'" and I laughed. I said "We always wondered what was that song about rabies and babies?...." Noah thought for a minute and he said, "Well, I don't know ...I was experimenting with some of that stuff , plus I was really just young then." His ego was intact. We're all sitting around the dog.... then Justin says to Noah out of the blue, "Where'd you get those cool boots man?" Justin thought he answered "Midway" and I could see the Harley Davidson logo signature (it's orange) I said excitedly, "Those are Harley Davidsons?!" and he said "YEAH!" and he pulled up his pant leg to show us! He pulled it up to his calf and the boots came up that high, they were motorcycle boots, (the ones with the silver buckles) *I think he must have been talking about the Atlanta Speedway when they performed at the Harley Davidson show last summer.* So we were all excited about these really cool boots Noah had on, and now Justin wanted a pair. Hope he doesn't ask for the motorcycle to go with them!
Jake's owner comes over because Justin was playing with the dog's ball in the dogs mouth, but the owner couldn't see the ball, so he thought Jake had Justin's hand in his mouth and he was concerned He said aloud, "Hey what's Jake doing?" Noah assures him he is in control of the situation. "He's got his toy." Noah informed. Jake's owner replied. "Oh, okay I didn't see it." And he walked away, leaving Noah in charge. Then I said to Noah, "You know what I always wanted to ask you?" And Noah said "What?" And looked up at me anticipating what the question might be. I said "How tall are you?" He laughed and said "5'10," then he smiled and I said, "We've debated that question for 2 years. So he says to me, "I'm really 5'10 and a half I guess, yeah, it's hard to judge on stage, everyone looks taller on stage I think." I looked at Noah's shirt and noticed for the first time it was that same one... that I saw him perform in, in so many pictures this past year . I had to say it! So I added... "And Noah, you're wearing that same ugly shirt." He said with a smile, "I know, all my clothes are really old and I don't like to pack a lot of things with me, so I keep wearing the same ones..." He laughed again. Then I complimented, "But it looks much nicer on you in person," And it does. I touched the sleeve of it on his shoulder and it was kind of silky. Sasha Rae thought to tell Noah, "Well my mom has to pack everything when she goes!" Noah laughs with her and I said "Yeah I need a couple of bags for all my stuff.." This is where I contemplated telling him how many outfits I had on getting ready for the show, but I didn't. (Ha ha ha) Then I took another picture of Noah and the dog and I showed it to him and he looked to see it. He liked doing that. Then we got up because we were kinda kneeling on the grass this whole time, sitting around the dog like a pow wow.
Sasha Rae says "Noah can I have a hug?" He said "Sure!" and he gave her a big hug and added, "Now go give Kenny a hug too," and she ran over to Kenny with her pink dress, ruffled socks and white shoes and gave him a big hug! As he was hugging her Kenny picked her up and swept her off her feet and said goodbye to her. Then I turned and hugged Noah goodbye. He said to me "Bye, alright, I'll see you in Cincy!"
Then Noah said to Bart, "Am I done?" in a cute questioning, asking permission voice. Bart says, "Yes," and Noah walked over between the two fences and departed with a smile. Then we still had to wait for Kenny and the other people to finish. Rex comes over to Sasha Rae and teases again, "Did you tell those guys that they're not the cutest in the picture?" and she says laughs and answered him, "No I didn't," so he jokes, "Next time you tell them!" all smiles. I asked, "Can we go out that door?" Pointing to the door we came in. Rex says, "I'll walk ya up." And then we waited and he walked us all out as a group, and he said "Thank you" to all of us, like "Thanks for coming".
Conclusion:
We all had a really nice comfortable time. It was very personable and Sasha Rae remarked, "Mom, talking with Noah is like he's you're brother and he's like an Uncle to me." And how many times have I said Noah reminds me of my brother to myself. So it's weird in a cute way that she would say that and feel that around him. Both Kenny and Noah were adoring to watch with these young children and with the dog. They were playful, respectful, concerned, and interested in keeping the conversation going. Justin , Sasha Rae and I enjoyed the M&G so much, which lasted nearly as long as their stage set. It was a nice atmosphere and a pleasurable experience for all. I'm glad to be able to share this experience through the form of my transcription to amuse and entertain all Noah & Kenny's fans who care to read it. ~Enjoy!
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