Savage Garden Concert Reviews: Portland

Savage Garden Concert Reviews July 7, 1998: Portland, Oregon: Arelene Schnitzer Concert Hall

Fan Review By Taylor Arrell Tonya (Her cousin) and I arrived at the venue at about 7:20pm. We went in and bought two Savage Garden T-shirts and then headed to our seats. The usher was niceenough to show us exactly where we were to sit. We sat there for about 30minutes or so and finally Doctor Doug from Z100 came out. He said that he had just talked to the guys from Savage Garden and that they wanted to know which side was louder. Both sides screamed and he said it was pretty close. Then he said that they had an opening performer named "Shawntell" whatever her last name was (Chantal Kreviazuk). She sang for about 30-40 minutes and then she left. For about 20-25 minutes the stage crew got the stage together for Savage Garden and then, finally, the lights went out and the music to "Tears of Pearls" began playing. My cousin and I quickly stood up and started screaming. Lights then turned on but still you couldn't quit see Darren or the rest of the band. Then it got brighter and Darren was on this platform that had two staircases on each side of it. He began singing the lyrics to "Tears of Pearls" and danced quite…. CUTE! He was jumping up and down and stomping his feet on the floor. It was quite amusing! Daniel was singing along to the song and jumping up and down while playing his guitar with much enthusiasm. After "Tears Of Pearls", they began singing "Love Can Move You". Darren added many "yeahs" and "ehs" to the song but that was very cute too!! The band was wearing different customs then they did at all the Australian, New Zealand, and Asian tours. They also changed the name of the tour to the "To The Moon and Back Tour 1998" because they had just re-released "Moon" in the U.S. When "Love Can Move You" was finished I think they started sing a U2 love song (Actually it is a Bonnie Raitt song called "I Can't Make You Love Me"). Darren sang it as a duet with Anna-Maria. Darren almost KISSED Anna but I think that's how it was choreographed. I don't remember the exact order the rest of the songs went, but here's the rest of the songs they sang: "To The Moon and Back" "I Want You" "This Side of Me" "Break Me Shake Me" "Promises"-in the middle of this song they started singing "Sugar Pie HoneyBunch" which is an old 60s song and it went a little like this: "Sugar pie honey bunch, you know that I love you, I can't help myself, I love you and nobody else but…Don't go making all these promises you know you can't keep…thank god…" they sang "Promises very differently but it was COOL that way. "Santa Monica"-Before they started singing this song, Daniel said "The next song we're gonna sing is about your beautiful country and it's called "Santa Monica"! He sounded so sweet! "I'll Bet He Was Cool"-Darren "danced" with a white chair during this song and moved around a lot! It was cool! "All Around Me"-Darren and the backup singers dressed up during this song. Darren was wearing a white short sleeved shirt and a long white coat and silver pants with these weird glasses that had white diamonds on them. The backup singers wore short black skirts and white belly shirts that didn't have any straps or sleeves. Darren grabbed himself as Michael Jackson often does about 3 times during the song and also slapped his butt a few times and said "you can't stop me from doing this can ya?!". There was also a disco ball above them and it was really cool looking!! Also during this song Darren said at the beginning "SPICE UP YOUR LIFE" and in like the middle of the song he said "Spice up your life, every boy and every girl SPICE UP YOUR LIFE, children of the world SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!" Then Darren said "I'm Ginger Spice" and like the backup singers said they were spice girls but I don't remember exactly who they said they were. And Darren also said "Yeah baby" from the movie "Austin Powers". Also the backup singers were wearing blonde wigs and Darren pulled off Nicole's first and started laughing and then Nicole like touched her head in shock and looked mad! Then he took off Anna's and she did pretty much the same thing that Nicole did! It was both hilarious and fun! "Mine" A song called "What If God Was One Of Us" "Truly Madly Deeply" A Vogue (It is En Vogue)song called "Free Your Mind"-Darren was getting on different clothes so the backup singers were singing this one. "Fire Inside The Man"-Darren said before singing this song "This is to my best friend in the world. Colby, if you're out there, this is for you"…isn't that the sweetest thing!! "Universe" "Carry On Dancing" I think that's about it…but if I remember some others, I'll be sure to add them. Also in the middle of the show, Karl started playing the drums and wouldn't stop! Darren said, "Hey, this is my show! Stop! Karl, stop it!" and finally Karl stopped and looked up at Darren innocently! LoL…also..because my local radio station was presenting the show, they had a contest a couple days before to win a thing where you could go up on stage and Darren would sing to you. A middle aged lady about 47 or so went up and Darren asked, "What's your name?" and she said "I like you" and he said "yeah but what's your name?" and then she said "I LOVE you!" and then she flipped up her dress and Darren started laughing. Then she like tried to HUMP him like some animal or something! Darren said "I always tell my mother not to come to the shows!" He said that because the lady was so old!!! Then the security guard finally took her off stage! What a freak! At the end of the show they finished up with "Truly Madly Deeply" and then Darren said "Goodbye Portland! Have a good night!" It was the best day of my life and to top it off, before the show and even before the soundcheck, I went to the venue and waited for their tour bus to arrive. I went at 2:00pm and the tour bus arrived at about 4:00pm. I chased the bus around the block and just missed Daniel and Lee go in but then I got a pic of the back of Karl's head because he refused to even look at us! I also got the back of Anna-Maria and Nicole's head. Then, finally, Darren came out of the tour bus and walked right over to us!! Maybe because there was only 6 of us and we weren't screaming and yelling! He signed my CD and some pictures and then hugged my cousin and then we got a pic with him!! He also shook my hand! I must say, he's a lot shorter in real life and a lot cuter too! His accent was so sweet and it seemed like his voice was higher in real life then on TV. He smelled really good too! I mean REALLY, REALLY good! He was wearing a cute backwards hat and a little of his really short hair was sticking out a little bit! He had the pants he had worn on MTV Live only a different color on and a cute plaid but not any kind of plaid, I mean cute, popular, nice, expensive, plaid shirt on! He was ADORABLE and the sweetest guy in the world! I mean, he shook my cousin's hand and then she said "I'M NEVER GONNA WASH MY HAND AGAIN!" and then Darren said, "Well then neither will I"!! How sweet is that!!?? He's to die for!! Anyway, it was the best day of my life and I will NEVER forget it!
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