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Richard Marx
Chastain Park
Atlanta, GA
July 26, 1997

Richard signing an album

Above:Richard signing a vinyl copy of his album for a fan.

On July 26, 1997, I fulfilled a dream that I had for 5 years. I attended my first Richard Marx concert. And to add to the excitement, I met him! Let's just say this is one day I will never forget.

Before the event- A little trouble

I made my plans on-line. On July 16, 1997, my server was down for 5 hours along with other servers in the nation. After the main server was able to hook to the Internet again, for some reason, my server was dropped from their list of clients. I was in the dark on some details until the event. Lucky for me, I still had our ticket coordinator's address. I had to write her a letter & ask her to call me about my tickets. There was some mail trouble between her and Chastain. My ticket was one of the ones affected by the mail mishap. With my computer off-line, I was in the dark about the tickets. Thank goodness she called me after I wrote her. She explained what happened to the tickets and that I will get my tickets the day of the concert if she had to pick them up herself. It was hard being left in the dark during the most important days that I needed to be on-line.

The event

I attended my first real concert. My favorite artist, Richard Marx was performing in Atlanta, GA. I traveled to Atlanta to attend this concert. The great artists never come to my lame old town. I was not the closest person to attend this wonderful event but not the farthest. A group of us, The Repeat Offenders (members of the unofficial mailing list of on-line Richard fans) decided to group together and go to it. Most of us bought our tickets in a group but a few of them bought tickets on their own.

July 25, 1997

Friday, July 25, 1997 is the day I must say that started the great weekend. This was the day I traveled to Atlanta. I met a few Repeat Offenders (ROer's) that night. We were in the parking lot talking and introducing ourselves. I knew some of these people from talking to them on-line but this was my first person-to-person contact with them. We did various activities. I did go to a pizza place not far from the motel with the other ROer's who were there at the motel that night. That was a blast.

July 26, 1997

Morning

This is the day of the big event. I really didn't spend much time with the group. Too hyper to a degree about the up-coming dinner. I guess being at the other end of the motel didn't help either.

Richard with a fan & signing her book

Richard backstage with a fan and other fans backstage waiting & talking in Atlanta ('97)

The Eat & Greet Dinner

Almost all of the ROer's and their guests decided to have dinner at the Atlanta Beer Garten. We wanted to meet before the show to get to know each other better. Timre made a remembrance book for the weekend. It was very nice (yet I didn't proofread my article all the way & I turned out to be a blithering idiot). Brenda presented a book for thank yous that the ROer's wrote to Maj thanking him for the digests. Then we all watched part of a video with Richard footage. It was a great time. I had a Coke, a chicken fingers appetizer with some french fries. I shared this with my sister. I was disappointed by this restaurant.

Richard chatting with a fan

Richard chatting with a fan.

The Concert

The Meet & Greet

Richard backstage smiling at my camera

Richard right after I met him for the first time (I sound as if I'm going to meet him again. You never know!) I kind of surprised him before this shot.

Before the show, 40 (Ha! There was more than that) lucky people were able to go backstage to meet him. I was one of them. I was so hyper about it. I think we all were. Some group members were meeting him for the first time. I would be in that category. Others were on their third or fourth meet. He was running late before the show. We thought we wouldn't get to meet him. Instead, his part of the concert was delayed by a few minutes while he was with us. Backstage was cool (literally -- it was HOT in Hotlanta and backstage they had air conditioning) and calming. I feel like I came across as very dumb person (don't some of us always feel that way no matter who it is we meet?). Anyway, I got him to sign one of my Paid Vacation tour books. I did get pictures of him & a picture of me with him. I kind of shocked him with something that I had that I almost didn't get my picture with him. I'm so glad that he came back to where I was to let get a picture of me with him.

Richard with a fan

Richard posing with a fan for a photo

The Show

What can I say that hasn't been said about it? No words can describe what a great show it was. I'm going quote something Richard said when talking about Southern accents, "That was great!" I was so happy! I sat in the first right section, row A, seat #4. What a view! I could have been a little closer to the stage. I let my sister have that seat since I dragged her along. I could make eye contact, see his reflection in the glass sheeting around the drums, and even see the kind of water he was drinking. Richard was wearing the one color that I've seen him in the most: black. He wore a black vest as a shirt and black pants. It was to be an unplugged show. That's not how it turned about but I didn't care because I knew it would be the best! He sang:

Richard posing with a fan for a picture

The above photo is of Richard back stage at the Atlanta concert. I think before the shot, someone said a joke that I'm not sure Richard liked.

I believe that this is the order that the songs were performed in. His songs on his albums are great but the album versions for some songs are not as great as they were live. One of these songs, in my opinion, would be "Fool's Game." The feeling he put into that song in at the concert is not on the CD. And I loved "Hazard!" I think I would have been heartbroken if I didn't hear that song. He sang "Touch Of Heaven" for the Repeat Offenders who came to the concert. Dedicated it to us! Most ROer's were dancing to it but I didn't. I danced like the rest of the Richard fans during "You Never Take Me Dancing." He also told many jokes. So many that it would take about 9 KB of space. My sister (who's not a very big RM fan) loved everything he said. I'm a little upset with this curfew thing. He couldn't perform past 11:00 pm so we missed out on "Don't Mean Nothing." I'm sure that would have been the greatest! It was so sad when it ended. But, I know all good things must come to an end.

July 27, 1997

The day that ended my fabulous weekend. I had to say good-bye to my friends. I knew we would talk again. At least I would as soon as I got back on-line. As I traveled home, I replayed the previous night in my head. I did want to go home so I could develop all the pictures I have from this weekend.

After the Grand Weekend.

When I came home, I listened to anything Richard that I had. I think he's all I listen to now. I had to show a few friends the stuff from the concert. I wanted to get this page in order so I could share my great weekend. And I bet you want to know what I listening to as I typed. Give yourself 5 bonus points if you said Richard Marx.

Thanks to Gerri Karr, the fan club coordinator, for arranging the meet & greet and placing my name on the list. Des, thanks for getting us the wonderful seats (and how could I forget thanking you--I'm so clueless at times!). Special thanks to Timre for scanning the pictures on this page.