Phil Vassar held his annual fan club party at the Belcourt Theatre on Thursday, June 5th. Phil opened the Riverfront Stages that morning and the party was immediately after. The line wrapped around the Belcourt and we all patiently waited for him to arrive.
The doors opened at 12:30 pm, and we were let into the Belcourt. His cousin Theresa had the party very organized. We got our name tag, a raffle ticket for random giveaways and a Post-it pad that had "Phil's Phriends" on it. We all made our way into the theatre and got our seats up close.
The concession stand was open and they had theatre-style popcorn, hot dogs, pop, beer and candy. People got their concessions, took a look at the silent auction items, did a little bidding for a good cause and then went into the theater to sit and wait for Phil to come out on stage. XM radio was there and recorded the fan club party.
Phil Phans and Phriends said hello as they hadn't seen each other since their last Phil Phix. The giveaways were next. They called out raffle tickets and some of the items were embroidered hoodies, golf towels, seat back covers and tank tops.
Phil hits the stage
Phil then walked out on stage with three band members. Jeff (J Dawg) was there, and two newer band members both named Jason. One Jason played fiddle and the other Jason played guitar. Phil was in plaid cargo shorts and a t-shirt. He looked comfortable in his flip flops that he immediately kicked off so that he could just be barefoot and right at home with us all.He started out his set with jokes as usual. He's got the best sense of humor, and without the piano he'd still rock the stage as he was cutting up and joking with us the whole time. He played his current hit, "Love is a Beautiful Thing," which was #2 on the charts at the time and we all sang along. He mentioned his current CD, Prayer of a Common Man, stating that it makes a great gift. He happened to throw that in there every chance he got. He then sang the song that will be his next single, "Let Me Love You Tonight."
Phil sat there at the piano, barefoot playing and singing and loving every minute of it. He sang, "My Baby Rocks (Like a Rolling Stone)," and then told a story before going into his next song. The song is called, "I Would," and he said that he was in Las Vegas and could either have a room with a pool table or a piano in it. He of course chose the piano because as he put it, he sucks at playing pool. He said he had some words floating in his head for a song so he sat at the piano in Las Vegas and wrote this song, "I Would." He said he called home to leave verses on his voice mail so that when he got home he could record the song. He then got home from that trip, finished that song and recorded it.
Phil the jokester
The fans yelled out to hear a favorite, "Amazing Grace" and Phil being a funny guy starting singing the popular hymn "Amazing Grace" which cracked us all up. He then sang his song "Amazing Grace" which made us all very happy. Then after a request for "Joe and Rosalita," and he finished the set by singing "Just Another Day in Paradise." Any day with Phil Vassar is just another day in paradise, so that song was perfect.Phil mentioned his show on GAC called "GAC Origins," and it played on a big screen while he was doing his meet and greets.
The meet and greets were smooth and orderly starting with row one and moving back so that those of us that had gotten there first and waited the longest for Phil would get to meet him and pose for photos and get our autographs first. I brought my CD for him to sign and made sure to let him know that it did make a great gift, as he always likes to say. I went on to say that it was a gift given to me by my mother, and then he laughed.
The Phil Phriends got their Phil Phix and hugs and went onto the next CMA Music Festival event they had planned.
