Belexes: Friday night started out with a cash bar in the venue with snacks.
Then everyone was lined up for their formal photo with the band. This
was done with professional lighting/equipment. We were then given an
ANTS tourbook and a cool black DVD Golden Circle polo shirt and sent
into the venue to wait until the rehearsal started. I have never seen
the band sit so patiently in one spot off stage ever in my life.
Merchandise was on sale at reduced prices for this night only.

The venue. The place use to be called Center Stage and I could see
why. The venue can put a band on the floor because of the stadium-
styled seating. The stage proper was used for the Advent Choir
(Preacher) and a 4-piece string section (Dust).  The band was put in
front of the house PA as opposed to being behind it.

The photo shoot took longer than expected, so the rehearsal was cut
short a bit so the guys could get rested for the next day. They did
the production numbers a couple of times (DITW & Preacher). Steve did
announce he was holding off on singing so he could rest his voice for
the filming. Made perfect sense.  After the rehearsal, people were
allowed one-on-ones with each of the band members.

The concert. I don't want to get into specifics other than to say it
was not your ordinary concert.  The band really went all out to
prepare for this event and you could tell. I've seen this lineup 40+
times since March 1997 and never have I seen them play with this much
intensity & energy. There was visual special effects used, but that
was just to compliment the music, not distract from it.  The show
ended and we had to continue to clap and go crazy for a couple
minutes while the DVD crew got some crowd shots. The DVD guy was
hilarious trying to get us psyched up..."Come on, this isn't a
Melissa Ethridge concert, let's hear you!!"

As you would have expected, the audience had the band's family
members scattered about. People showed up from all over the world for
this event. I met some great guys that showed up from Chile as well
as the couple that does translating for the band when they tour
Japan. This show was made so much more special by all the hard-core
fans that attended.

For those that didn't meet me, I was the guy "rocking out" directly
to the right of the soundboard on the floor. I had a good time, what
can I say!!  That was David Carstens to my right, with whom I shared
expenses for the hotel/car rental. Thanks again David! I was told I
was the first one to buy a GC ticket (I was #8, the numbers before
that were test-runs)..Thank God for my T1 internet connection at work!
The camera dolly in front of me was a bit distracting, but then
probably so was I. It was neat to watch the film guys work.

Special thanks has to go to Christine (KB.com webmaster) and her
husband David for helping making things run so smoothly, Ernie for
formal photo shoot, Marty Rothman (band's accountant) for going above
and beyond, Sharon at Baron Travel, THE ROAD CREW for all the long
hours they put in, and you have to thanks to Phil Ehart for deciding
to make the idea a reality.

Topographicyes:

Hey folks!-

Just wanted to say that yesterday was really awesome!  I had a great
time.  The concert was excellent (of course) but the best part for me
was meeting a lot of my fellow Wheatheads and KansasFans.  Everyone
was so nice, great bunch of folks.  I hope any and all of you will
drop me a line and say hi.  topographicyes@yahoo.com .  Also, if
anyone has photos of the Wheathead jam, please forward me a few, I'd
love to see them.

It was a great pleasure to play for many of you.  I was a bit
skeptical going into the Wheathead Jam.  "Could we pull it off? 
Could we do the tunes justice?" I wondered in the weeks leading up to
the event....  But my worries were laid to rest almost instantly when
I arrived and met everyone.  All great players and more than
capable.  I thoroughly enjoyed playing guitar for all of you.  I
think we nailed 85% of the material and that's a good passing grade
in my book! Considering we had never played as a band before, I think
that was excellent.  My apologies for my brain fart at the end of
Sparks!  LOL!   I guess we are all entitled to a brain fart or two,
I'd love to see the video of that golden moment.  Here is the setlist-

Point of Know Return, Fight Fire With Fire, People of the Southwind,
Play The Game Tonite, Song For America, Under The Knife, Chasing
Shadows, Sparks of the Tempest, Icarus Borne On Wings of Steel, Carry
On and Portrait.


Many thanks to John Christopher for arranging and planning this event
and for talking me into being a part of it.  Your the tops bro.

And Missy, I had no idea it was your birthday, I feel like such a
tool for not getting you a present.  Hope the music did the trick.
Glad you had an excellent birthday.  :-)

All in all the best Kansas related day I have ever had, thanks to all
of you!

Here's the set from the DVD show (which was excellent) -They had a
string quartet on Dust in the Wind so they shot that up front to get
that out of the way so the quartet could leave. Then a 50 piece choir
came in and sang along on a tune from In The Spirt of Things called
The Preacher, how appropriate. After that they exited and the real
set got going, it was Belexes-Lightnings Hand, Miracles out of
Nowhere, Icarus II, Icarus, Cheyenne Anthem, Song For America,
Howlin' at the Moon-The Wall, Distant Vision (third time was a charm
after 2 false starts, one cause Phil broke a stick), Journey From
Mariabronn, Child of Innocence, Point of Know Return, Fight Fire With
Fire, Play The Game Tonite, Portrait (He Knew), Carry On.

-Sean

CChronicle99

I cannot begin to adequately articulate what these last few days have
meant to me and so many others. Although I knew the Atlanta gig would
be a fun time of fellowship and music I was not prepared to
experience what I can only describe as one of the most precious times
of my life. It saddens me a bit to think that so many of you
dedicated and loyal fans were unable to attend the event. Each of you
deserved to be there with us. Because my writing ability is inferior
to many of those who regularly review various Kansas concerts on this
board, I going refrain from attempting to review the concert itself.
I only hope that someone can paint the picture so vividly that those
who were unable to attend will get a "Glimpse" of what was our home
for the past few days. I will however comment on what I considered
one of the most interesting phenomina I've ever experienced. I'm
referring to the Kansasfans. As I reflect on the events of the past
few days, I marvel at the uniqueness of the KansasFans I met in
Atlanta. They were the kindness most unpretentous funnest group of
people I've had the priveledge of hanging with. I marvel at the fact
that these people, so diverse personally, professionaly and
geographically would come together over a common bond and enjoy each
other as if they had known each other for a lifetime. We met a man
from Spain, Chili, Australia. There was a young boy from Japan as
well a man and his wife from the same.  I can't count the number of
times I heard someone comment on how they couldn't believe how
friendly everyone was. I'll never forget Tony, our Australian friend
of kansas saying to me " I gotta tell ya mate, I've never hugged so
many blokes in my life" This is indeed a testimoney to the debth and
universality of our favorite band.

I wish to thank all of you dedicated fans (far too numerous to
mention) for making this week one of the best of my life.

ksinal

Hey all - Great night tonight. Love to give all the details as my bro
and I remember them, but it's past 3am here, and these Wheatheads are
beat. Got to the Traveling Wheathead Jam at Best Western at about
4pm. Wheathead dudes put on a great show, amazing the way they could
switch out with each other, 'specially on the drums. (Had about 5
folks hittin' the skins, including the Editor). On to the concert at
Earthlink. Great small venue, and everyone, esp. the GCers were
almost on top of the band. First songs were DITW and Preacher 'cause
of "extras" for those tunes. A cello and three violins for DITW and
about a 40 member gospel choir for Preacher. Gospel choir was
awesomely loud and full. Ton of lit candles in the background for
DITW - great affect. Set List pretty much what they have been playing
lately except for the addition of Magnum Opus excerpt (Howling) and
Cheyenne Anthem. The guys were tight and Steves voice was great,
although undermic'd in my opinion. The fans were great; loud and
supportive of the band. Several takes on some of the songs due to
miscues, mic/instrument problems, and even lights. About 30 fans went
to Madison Grille afterward and had some great conversations. Got to
finally put faces with names - wonderful people on this list! We'll
leave it up to the Editor and other folks to fill in the many
interesting details of tonight. Wish y'all were here - can't wait to
see how this looks on the DVD!  Pete and Chris