Let it be known about seeing Kat live: Kat can rock the house just as much or more than any of the other performers on this ‘AI’ tour. That’s the instant thought that came to mind when seeing Kat perform her three-song set Friday night in Portland. The acoustics are relatively good in the Rose Garden Arena (though somewhat cavernous as all arenas are)—and Kat’s ‘Black Horse’/‘Think’ numbers just tear right into you as you get a chance to feel the reality of the power of her vocals, absorb her dance moves, physical beauty, musical mastery and every other nuance she constantly unfolds in each city. Seeing Kat perform live is like no other media experience that features her. Sure, we’ve seen all the videos here on KMF of her performing in each city. But even the digital video we’ve seen doesn’t do the power of her real presence justice.
Ok, now that I have your attention, let’s back up a little. 
Sorry to say, I don’t have any overly fascinating stories outside of the concert and the live experience of Kat’s amazing performance. It was fairly routine leaving home (a little late at 5 p.m….on the Friday before the Labor Day Weekend no less). Fortunately, the traffic going into Portland wasn’t all that intense—but the traffic going out was near L.A. freeway variety. Had it been like that going into Portland—I probably wouldn’t have gotten to the Rose Garden Arena until after the venue doors were open. Because traffic moved along fairly well, I managed to get into the RGA’s underground parking lot right before 6 p.m. when they open the doors. The first thing I did when driving down into the dark, cavernous parking garage (I always pray there won’t be an earthquake when I’m down there) was drive down to the lowest level near where you can exit. Near there, the tour buses always park. Parking places were already taken up there—because everybody else wants to park near where the buses are.
Just as I thought, the Rose Garden had that area cordoned off (again!) with that ridiculous fence. That used to be all wide open when the RGA opened in 1996, but the fence went up around 2000…and hasn’t come down since. Though you could see the buses in there--the whole area is basically shielded off from the public. I almost took out a mouth harp to sing ‘Greg fought the battle at Rose Garden Arena…and the fence came a-tumblin’ down.’ But trust me…I’d never actually start singing that in reality. 
After confirming the unfortunate fence still being there, I went and parked around the corner that wasn’t too far away. Lots of parking in there, considering it was 6 p.m.—and an hour before the show started. Most people in Portland seem to wait until 7 p.m. (or later) to decide to show up to a concert. There’s more on that in a minute.
Going through security check (thank God there’s no frisking)—there was an elderly man checking people’s bags with a mini-flashlight. I stood there thinking: I hope they don’t have someone like that in the airports checking people’s bags. When I showed him my camera, he looked at me through his glasses and grumbled, “No attached lenses.” Well, that was obvious, since my camera I had with me was just one with a conventional 3x lens. After he stated the obvious, he let me (and my mom, who I had with me) through. While ambling around the lobby, the ‘AI’ merch stand must have been 20 deep of people waiting to buy things. I wanted to get some Katharine things, but decided to go get our seats instead.
Hopefully I made it clear enough here yesterday where I would be sitting. The way I worded it in my post yesterday, it sounded like I wasn’t sitting all that far away from the stage. Well, I was quite a way away from the stage. It was right at the point where the seating started to ri
se in behind the floor section (not at the sides). It was (guessing) between 50-100 feet from the stage. I had a seat right next to a giant railing that was near the little walkway that’s normally used during basketball games. I thought maybe Taylor would come out along there later during ‘Jailhouse Rock’ (flanked by a human shield of security)—though it turned out to be fairly close to there. Doing some lens testing on my camera, I realized that any photos I’d get would look fairly far away—except for the big-screen being somewhat of a photo saver. Also, I was thankful to have plenty of leg room in this seating location—to help my 6’2” body not have to conform to that of a sardine in a can as I frequently get at concerts. It was still a good seat—despite being so far away that you couldn’t see the expressions of the Idols without the use of the big-screen part of the time.
As I mentioned before, people need to start being more punctual to concerts in Portland (and I suspect in most other cities). It must have been 7:30 or even 8:00 when the show finally started after watching people slowly amble in (and being entertained by the wacky text message screen or the guys running around in Pop Tarts costumes). My mom and I watched people filing in—and I saw maybe two people with what appeared to be orange tops. I had the feeling, though, that 98% of the people there had no idea what the tour colors were.
Incidentally, for those from this board who were there: I was wearing an orange rust jersey to represent. Sorry, Kat, about the ‘rust’ color in there...but it was still orange. 
Most other people have given good analysis of the other performers, so I won’t go into too much detail there. Mandisa is actually a good choice to get the show underway. I was impressed with her set. I have to say that the sound tech guys must have screwed up something in the mixing in the first half—because the band (and heavy bass) drowned out the great voices of Kellie and the others who perform in the first half. It’s too bad, because I wanted to get into Kellie’s performance, but her underrated voice couldn’t be enjoyed with the bad mixing. It got really bad during Bucky’s set and his duet with Kellie on ‘You’re the One That I Want.’ The sound finally straightened out (mostly) in the second half.
Chris's performances were impressive I have to say. It seemed Portland was really into Chris and Taylor primarily—but they also went nuts when Kat came out. I enjoyed the perfect pairings during the unexpected duet moments. Chris and Elliott’s duet was really impressive. And Elliott’s solo set was as good as I thought it’d be seeing it live. His ‘Moody’s Mood’ translated well into a live setting. He gave it an inspired reading last night too.
