Amy Grant and the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra

Mooney scored some tickets to see the multi-platinum, five-time Grammy Award-winning singer Amy Grant with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, October 22, and he asked Trisha and I to go. Cool. Trisha (and me too, just don’t tell anyone) has been watching Amy’s new reality television show “Three Wishes” on NBC religiously… thanks to TIVO. It’s a great show if you’re into those tear-jerker-dream-come-true reality shows.

We piled into our newly detailed van (Thanks Ben!), burned a CD of Amy Grants iTunes Originals on the Powerbook, and decided against Applebees, opting instead for the new Pizza Hut “Bistro”. Trisha and I hadn’t eaten there yet, and plus Mooney was checking his watch every few minutes and updating us on the schedule. The Buffalo Wing Pizza is FRIKKIN’ AWESOME!!!!

We spent the hour and half drive listening to the women talk about “Three Wishes” while Mooney and I listened to Amy discussing each of the songs on the iTunes Originals CD. Before long we were driving around looking for parking, and then running through the rain to find the Landmark Theater entrance. I stopped to buy a t-shirt for Trisha and the Greatest Hits 1986-2004 CD, and then we found our seats and settled in.

The SSO was pretty cool. It was certainly impressive to hear them play live in the theater. Amy then came on stage and started performing her hits, one after another… Baby, Baby, Power, Takes a Little Time, on and on… some with the orchestra and some without. The orchestra also did their own numbers every so often. I think my favorite performance was the Jimmy Webb penned “If These Walls Could Speak” which was from her 1988 “Lead Me On” CD. Great lyrics… and one of the few acoustic, stripped down performances of the night… which I like best.

If these old walls, if these old walls could speak.

What a tale they have to tell, hard headed people raisin’ hell.

A couple in love livin’ week to week.

Rooms full of laughter, if these old walls could speak.

If these old halls, if hallowed halls could talk.

These would have a tale to tell, the sun goin’ down and dinner bells.

And children playin’ at hide and seek.

From floor to rafters, if these old walls could speak.

All in all it was a great show. Vinnie was a “no show”… when someone in the front row interrupted Amy while she was tuning her guitar to ask how he was, she informed us all that he had performed a concert in Boston the night before and was doing well. *sigh* I snuck a few pics without getting thrown out, and even tried to get a video clip of “Jesus Loves Me”, which Autumn loves. My favorite photo is the back of the head of the woman who sat right behind me and decided to move into the conveniently vacant seat directly in front of me… like three feet closer made such a huge difference. Whatever.

After the show we drove through the pouring rain back home. We all sang along to whatever lame songs we could find on the radio, while Trisha slept. After stopping for gas in Watertown, we narrowly avoided an accident by 342 and 12. I had flashbacks to Mark and I in NYC… miraculously gliding through similar wreckage in my Blazer. Crazy.