The lights dimmed and then a spotlight focused at the top of the stage, where two ramps led up to a mezzanine.  Kat was at the top in a elegant dress, singing "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree".  The crowd went crazy.  Katharine was absolutely stunning and she sang extremely well.  She moved with grace down the ramps in her heels and worked the crowd over.  After the song, she got a standing ovation, and you could tell at that moment she was extremely touched, was glad to be back, and couldn't control her emotions. Tears fell from her eyes, as it really was a special moment that only a few of us were lucky enough to witness in person.  She thanked everyone for the applause.  She also let everyone know how good it was to be back, and that she was sorry she missed the Pittsburgh flight, but that she was in the airport for over 9 hours.  She told us to tell anyone that missed her in Pittsburgh that she was sorry.  It was very sweet of her.
 
"Somewhere Over The Rainbow" was next.  Her angelic voice filled the arena, and you could tell by the faces in the crowd that this was the defining moment of the night.  People were just in awe of that amazing voice of her's, and even though it isn't neccesarily a song you stand up and cheer to, many stood up because it was just that good.  When everyone stood up, I had a "14 year old girl" moment where I kind of pumped my fists in the air, so embarrasing but I was just so happy for her.  Luckily my girlfriend didn't see it cause I would have been made fun of forever. Kat got another standing ovation at the end and she left to let Taylor do his thing. 

After Taylor everyone did a couple songs together.  Kat had changed into some jeans, but she still had on her heels.  I have no idea how she did it, but she was running up and down the ramps in those heels.  She pulled it off though, and I hope she has that kind of success the rest of the way because I seriously was worried for her.    The idols came out one last time to bow, and then the concert was over.  Great job by all, especially our Kat.

My friends and I had backstage passes so we sat in the corner of the arena waiting for the go ahead.  When we finally went back to where the AI singers were, we were with a lot of people so, it was hard to navigate and find who you were looking for. 
 
I looked around and there she was, Kat, getting mobbed by some lucky fans.    I caught her eye for a hot second, but she has absolutely no idea who I was, so she just smiled.  She took a  few more pics with other fans, and then I stepped up to ask if I could get a picture with her.  She said sure.  I put my arm around her, she posed and then I said to her, "By the way, I'm Chad".  She just kind of turned around and looked at me, while stepping back, and asked, "Why didn't you tell me?!". 
 
I told Kat how great her performance was, she thanked me.  There were lots waiting in line for a moment with her so I just stepped back.  She asked me to wait around until the crowd died down a little bit.  Another very cool thing of her to do, I don't think you can be much sweeter.   Oh and by the way,  she looked like she just jumped out of the OK! magazine and into Verizon Center.  It is unreal how amazingly beautiful she is.   Everyone is asking me this and that about her, but I didn't get past her eyes.  I got to be a giddy fan for about 15 seconds and her eyes totally swallowed me up.   

Right after my gf got pics with Chris, I got a tug on my arm.  It was Kat.  She had to leave.  They were rushing her and Taylor out first for some reason.  I got a few more pics with her and that was that.  While I would have loved to have a little bit longer conversation with her, I was completely happy at this point.  Thank you Kat.

My friends were taking pics with the other idols and slowly the idols left for the bus. When Chris left, half the population of the room followed him, all females.  He talked with them out in the hall a bit and left as well. 

Kellie showed up a bit later, and I definitely wanted to get a pic with her.  So I waited, and waited, and waited, and after about the millionth kid, I finally got my opportunity. 

All in all it was an incredible night.  I am sure everyone there thought the concert was good, because it was. 

Look out Richmond, Kat and the rest of the idols are coming!

All of Chad's pictures with Katharine and others

so here's my recap from the 7/28 show in DC (Kat's first show!!! yay!!)

ok, so I woke up Friday morning with a 101 fever.  I was ready to cancel the trip to DC, but I figured that I'd be fine once I had some Tylenol in my system.

So, I get to Penn Station, get on a train, and about 3 hours later I'm in DC. Only problem is that my fever didn't go down. I was ready to get back on a train and head back to NYC because I didn't think it would be fair to other people to go to the concert and risk getting them sick. I decided I'd go to my hotel to take a loooooooonnnnnnnnngggggg nap and see how I felt later on. Luckily, a second dose of Tylenol did the trick and my fever broke and went down to about 99.

I still wasn't feeling great, but I knew that getting to see Kat in concert would make me feel better. When the cab dropped me off at the Verizon Center, I got really nervous that I'd see a sign on the door announcing that Kat wasn't going to be performing, but luckily, that wasn't the case.

So I walk into the Verizon Center and find my seats. They were actually pretty good, which I was surprised about since they were pretty last minute...much better than the seats I had at Nassau Colliseum. I was sitting in the first section off the floor all the way on the right side of the stage. There were a lot of Kat fans in my section (yay!). There was this one family sitting behind me: a husband and wife with two very small little girls. The wife and the daughters were wearing orange. The little girls also had tiaras on...it was adorable.

Anyway, since I had already seen the show before, I was really bored. I spent the entire time text messaging my friends and braiding and un-braiding strands of my hair. At the little intermission thing, I got up to get a Coke so I could take more Tylenol (I still had a 99 temperature and was pretty congested.) While I was walking to the concession stand, I passed by that place where people can write messages to their favorite Idols. It was so cute...a little boy and a little girl (I think they were brother and sister maybe..?) were fighting over the markers to write messages for Kat.

After intermission, I sit back down and get back to texting and playing with my hair. The show continued on and the entire time, I was praying that Kat would be there because I still wasn't sure. After the girls' medley, I think, the lights went down and one of the guys on stage brings out a box-like thing. As soon as he sat on it, I knew exactly what it was: a box drum! I started jumping up and down and screaming and cheering. As soon as Kat started singing, the audience went crazy! People were cheering SOOO loudly and screaming Kat's name and "We love you, Katharine!" There were definitely a lot of Kat fans in the audience that night. It was great to see all the support for Kat.

When she finished her song, the audience kept cheering for her. very loudly. I kept on jumping up and down and the people in front of me were laughing at me because I must have looked absolutely ridiculous, but I didn't care. I was just so thrilled that Kat was there.

Anyway, Kat seemed to be overwhelmed by all the love and support. She put her hand over her heart and just kind of soaked up the moment and then wiped a tear away from her eye. When she started speaking, it was obvious that she was very choked up. A woman sitting a few seats down from me turned to her son and said, "Oh my god, she can't stop crying!" The woman sounded like she was on the verge of tears herself. The whole audience seemed to be very moved by Kat's reaction. It was great to witness Kat's first experience hearing a live audience of 20,000 people scream her name.

Then Kat sang SOTR and it sounded fantastic. The crowd quieted a bit to hear Kat sing, but there was still tons of cheering and screams of support for Kat. When she was done, she walked off stage and I sat back down and went back to being bored and feel ing sick.

Anyway, Kat came back on for "Living in America," so I stood up again to cheer and scream and go crazy and all that fun stuff. She seemed a bit unsure of what she was supposed to do at times during the group number, but she still did a great job and seemed to be laughing and having a great time. I noticed her smiling and laughing with Chris and Lisa in particular. Then the idols left the stage and came back on for a final bow. I was cheering for Kat the whole time.

It was great to see Kat perform live. It was definitely worth the trip from NYC to DC despite the fact that I had a fever. I honestly think getting to see Kat perform made me feel a thousand times better than the Tylenol I kept taking. As Steve suggested, the McPheever is stronger than any real fever. I really hope all the McPhans and Kat Packers get the same opportunity I had (minus the fever of course). Kat was superb and it was definitely a great way for her to start the tour. I can't wait until she's on her own tour!!

Here are some pictures I took. They're really bad...sorry. They're really blurry, but you can kind of tell that it's Kat if you squint or something haha.