christmas with the king, night 2

"Blue Christmas" was the title of tonight's concert, but it could have been dubbed "Rainy Christmas" just as well.

I snagged my seat up front - that would be AA-2 again! - and noticed the stage had been changed around.

Not just from last night, but from this afternoon!

The four columns were still in pairs to either side of the main stage, as they were for the matinee...

but the tree was over in the right corner...

and there was a karaoke-style screen set up front left.

How very curious!

That mystery was solved soon enough, though.

It was there to help out Jordan Poole!

All of these Christmas songs were new to him!

Well, he knew the choruses well, of course, but not all those lyrics in between.

Even two hours of cramming before the show had done naught to allay his qualms about "Jingle Bells" and "White Christmas" and "Walking In A Winter Wonderland".

Hence, the laptop on the stand as his cheat sheet.

To his credit, he tried to be mindful to not stare at it as he sang.

And even though it had been set up for his benefit, Austin Irby used the setup for a couple of solo songs, too (donning his glasses to do so).

As they explained, Christmas songs weren't usually fodder at the ETA concerts, so they only did these tunes once a year, if at all.

Taylor Rodriguez was the only one who knew all the verses, especially for all of the songs he sang, whether solo or as part of the "Three ETA Stooges" combo, as they repeatedly referred to themselves.

Taylor was the tech dude tonight, too, though he did have Austin monitor the board from time to time.

Here, Jordan, in the sparkly red jacket, keeps Taylor company on the sidelines as Austin takes a turn onstage and at the karaoke stand.

Mostly, though, they sang as a trio.

They would take turns being the lead on a song, with the other two as the background singers.

For some tunes, they took turns, each doing a verse before joining together on the refrain.

But don't think they didn't do plenty of solo numbers!

Austin did two beautiful songs I'd never heard, with one from 1983 by Amy Grant ("Tennessee Christmas") and one from 2019 by Keith Urban (I'll Be Your Santa Tonight").

Nope, Elvis never heard or sang either of those - he was already gone by the time either of them came out.

I liked all the classics: "Silver Bells", "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Feliz Navidad" - with Taylor tagged for a solo.

(smile!)

That song brought me back from the tears in my eyes from Taylor's heartfelt "I'll Be Home for Christmas"...

so beautifully done.

I don't know why it got to me this time, but it did.

I'm so thankful he followed that with the peppy Latin tune!

None of the other songs brought tears, not even "Christmas In Heaven", dedicated to Jordan's grandmother.

"Christmas In Dixie", "Run, Run, Rudolph", "Santa Claus Is Back In Town" - all are crowd pleasers and guaranteed to bring toe-tapping, not tears, and they did, too.

All in all, a very enjoyable time with these three young men!

And, after the show, I had my photo memento taken with them, in all their holiday finery!

Sweet dreams for me again!

(smile!)