Scott Hamilton and Friends
Decided to just show up for this and ended up with amazing seats four rows back up near the stage and in the section where the skaters entered the ice. I've been in the second row for everything but IMO fourth row was better for seeing the entire ice, from now on buying first row or else something farther back.
Tried to tape group opening number but experienced video fail again! Pretty sure Evan did not skate in either of the group numbers...lame! Did get some vid of the skaters chilling while Scott gave his finale speech and got a few decent pictures including the Kerrs!!!
Christina Gao opened the show skating to Vince Gill's "Next Number One". She is tiny and adorable and full of energy. Everyone loved her!!
I was thinking of taking notes, because I'm not familiar with Vince Gill's music so it's hard to say who skated to what! I'm just not a fan of country music although Gill turned out to be a super-talented and entertaining host and performer.
All the skaters did one number and all of them were original programs skated to live music. Surprise appearance by Brad Paisley (don't like country but he IS cute!) and Sheryl Crow who will be the lead musical artist at the 2011 show.
Fair-sized crowd, the Q looked full but plenty of available seats for walk-ups like me. The crowd did not seem knowledgeable (no signs that I saw and very little cheering, a lot of polite applause)except the ladies behind me who joined me in shouting for Ryan Bradley when he ran across the stage about half hour before the show <3 Unfortunately they never announced the skaters as they performed so if you didn't know them you were just left wondering...
Dick Button was in the audience, also Scott Hamilton's wife and little boy Max. He said that he had proposed to her at this same event 8 years earlier..awwww. Everyone with seats on the ice was dressed black tie and there was a gala dinner after at the Renaissance. I was a bad _skater and did not stalk, I think I need to be with other _skaters to be courageous enough for that!!
The Kerrs were the highlight of the show and Petukhov/Gregory were also super lovely. Melissa's dress was amazing. Dorothy Hamill is still a great skater and the crowd loved her, her dress was also just gorgeous. Stephen Cousins still does great Russian Splits, while Todd Eldredge does not :P
The Kerrs skated to "Cowboy Up" (yes Viagra jokes were exchanged by Hamilton and Gill--how is this my life??) and did quite few reverse lifts, the crowd loved them. John almost tripped over Sinead's cowboy hat which she left on the ice though O_o
I taped part of Orange Bro's performance to Vince Gill's "Liza Jane" since I was not too interested in watching him. Pretty whelming, he doubled his jump in front of me! Caryn Kadavy outjumped the hell out of Evan last night...LOL!!!
Sasha skated great, nailing all her jumps. Ryan Bradley was a little off and fell once or twice. That was too bad because the crowd did not get into his skate like they did at Skate for the Heart. Still love you RyBrad!! Michael Weiss pretty much made love to the ice, backflipping and doing forward rolls, etc. Why does he have to be such a boring Grand Prix commentator though???????
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