WYNONNA!!!

About a month ago Dave and I bought tickets to see one of my favorite artists -- Wynonna Judd. We've been anxiously awaiting the concert ever since, which was held last night at the Eastman Theater and featured Wynonna with Don Potter (!) and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. It was truly a great concert.

Wynonna has such a fantastic voice. She has so much stage presence and just seems so relaxed as she connects with the audience. She really lets her personality and sassyness shine through as she chatted with her fans.

Both Dave and I loved her heartfelt comments that were sprinkled throughut the show -- at one point Wynonna said that you have to take risks in life and go out on a limb because that's where the fruit is. Oh, that is SO true.




Don Potter was wonderful. I had forgotten how much I loved listening to him! The orchestra was superb as well. I had wondered how they would manage Wynonna's songs and style but of course, they were able to move from classical to rhythm and blues without missing a beat. Don Potter apparently did some of the arrangements for Wynonna's songs which I found very impressive.

Our only disappointments were that Don sang only 3 - 4 songs (thankfully what is probably my all time favorite song -- "Over the Rainbow" as sung by Don Potter -- was one of them!). We had just hoped he would perform a song or two with Wynonna but instead he accompanied the orchestra on guitar during her set. We got a kick out of Wynonna saying that this was "Bring Don Potter To Work Day"!


And I was somewhat disappointed that Wynonna sang mostly songs off her more recent albums (she has a new album due out in February 2009) so many of the songs were unfamiliar to me since I'm such a fan from her Judd days and the early days of her solo career.

However, she did perform a couple of her classic songs from the past ("Only Love", "Let's Make a Baby King", and "No One Else On Earth") as well as some covers -- "Burning Love" (Elvis) and "I Want to Know What Love Is" (Foreigner). She opened with "Dream Chaser" and also performed one of her more powerful tunes "I Can Only Imagine" which sent the audience into a frenzy.

There was nothing that I would really consider "country" in her repertoire. She has really moved into a much more R&B sound since her "Judds" days which seems to perfectly fit both her personality and voice. It was evident to me how much her voice and confidence have evolved in the years since Naomi retired and the launch f her solo career.


Wy came out for an encore performance and performed three songs and posed for pictures with audience members, shook hands, and accepted flowers. She sang "Ave Maria" which sent chills up my spine. Let's just say that she takes what is already a beautiful song to a whole new level!

She performed for about an hour altogether, which could only leave the audience wanting more. Maybe she could have fit in a few of her more famous songs ("Is It Over Yet?", "Girls With Guitars", "Tell Me Why", "My Strongest Weakness", "She Is His Only Need" ...) if she extended her stage time by a half hour or so. OK, so I wanted a full-fledged Wynonna concert -- no one could blame me if they'd ever had the chance to see her perform in person.

Don was on for about 30 minutes, after which they took what was supposed to be a 15 minute intermission (which was actually 30 minutes -- gotta allow time for people to buy all the CDs and stuff :) ) and then there was about an hour of Wynonna. The concert was over by about 10:00. I have to admit, for what we paid for tickets ($90 each), I was hoping for a bit more stage time. However, it was wonderful to see her in person and to get to just take in her voice. And adding Don Potter to the evening was just magical to me.


Believe it or not, the entire row of seats next to us was empty as were several seats in the row in front of us. The rest of the theater seemed pretty full so I don't know if something happened that groups that were supposed to be there couldn't come or what. Of course, people from the balconies seemed to move down after the intermission but the two seats next to us remained open. We really had a wonderful view of the stage -- being so close was awesome.


We absolutely love the Eastman Theater. It's beautiful and majestic yet small enough to be considered intimate (even with 2 balconies!) We are already looking forward to our next concert there -- the Holiday Pops Gala with the RPO on December 21st. We're so thankful that Bree was able to get us tickets (it's a concert being held for Wegmans employees and there were only 3,000 tickets available.) Daniel and Meghan will be here and it will be a fun way to celebrate the season with them -- especially since we have fantastic seats! Thanks Bree :)