【Danny Gokey】【歌迷演唱会记录】Fish Fest in Salem

I attended Fish Fest 2015 in Salem, Oregon, with a Danny fan I met online (whom I had not met previously). We were supposed to meet at 11:00 a.m., when the gates opened, but the fellow fan was running late and we didn’t meet up until around noon. We also had general admission tickets, which meant that we were far, far back from the stage. I cannot tell you how large the crowd was, but last year’s attendance was over 7000.

Danny came on around 4:00 p.m. He asked the audience how many had watched his season of American Idol. A lot of hands shot up. He asked how many had voted for him. Some of the hands went down. Danny joked, “That’s why I didn’t win!” Danny was on stage for about 45 minutes, and had a seven-song set. If I am remembering correctly, the set went like this: Better Than Gold; Take It to the Limit; Without Love (Where Would We Be Now) [I am not entirely certain that this was the song; it was a reworked cover of a well-known song]; Tell Your Heart to Beat Again; More Than You Think I Am; Hope in Front of Me; and a praise and worship song that I wasn’t super-familiar with and don’t remember. And, of course, Danny talked between songs! He sounded great. I couldn’t see very well, but well enough to note that he was working the stage (as we would expect). Everyone was on their feet. (Remember, everyone had been sitting around for a L-O-N-G time! That is the reason I couldn’t see anything; I could see the stage — not well, but I could see it — when people were seated.) Truthfully, most people first stood when Blanca took the stage. But the rest stood up for Danny. People were dancing around to the fast songs, and swayed and/or looked really into the slow songs. Danny’s set was over all too soon.

While we were waiting, I listened in to conversation between two young twenty-something men. One guy (guy #1) was clearly a huge music buff. He had stats for different artists. The other guy (guy #2, his cousin, I think) did not know the artists who were playing. Guy #1 described them. He told guy #2 all about Danny’s country career. He also compared Danny to one of the more successful Christian acts (Toby Mac?). He said he expected that Danny would be more successful “once [he] has been in the Christian world for a while.” Guy #1 then compared Danny to someone higher up on the lineup (Kutless, maybe? Thousand Foot Krutch?), and thought that Danny already was more successful than them. For how well known the group is, guy #1 didn’t think that they got the same recognition in terms of chart position, music sold, and awards. (Guy #1 clearly had parameters for how he defined success, including awards like Grammys, which he apparently considered the pièce de résistance.) It was interesting listening in to the guys’ conversation!

When we were a few people away from Danny’s table, a guy at the front of the line (someone from Danny’s camp?) asked if we wanted an autograph or a photo. I didn’t answer. But I was thinking to myself, “Neither! I just want to talk to Danny!” I gave him a photo to sign while we talked, so it wouldn’t look like I was holding up the line. (Although at that point, there were only a handful of people behind me.) When it was finally my turn, Danny looked up, and I could tell he instantly recognized me. He couldn’t, however, remember my name. He asked, “Is it Eileen? Something like Eileen?” Eh, close enough, Danny!

Danny asked me how I was and what was going on in my life. I told him about how the song “One Life” had lit a fire under me with regard to house hunting , and how I had (finally!) bought a house. Danny did a fist bump with me to celebrate. Danny added that he had intended to include “One Life” in his set, but took it out because of the delay. Then I said, “You know I have to ask you if you have any news for iheartdannygokey. Jan is going to want me to come back with news.” I don’t know whether this actually is news to Jan, but Danny said that the Christmas album is finished. [ Editor’s Note:] So I would assume that the intent is to release the album for this coming Christmas season.