Lucy Lawless - Stadium of Fire America's Freedom Festival at Provo, Utah, USA - 2 July 2005

STADIUM OF FIRE at
America's Freedom Festival
at Provo, Utah, USA
2 July 2005
 

Report by Becky

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I am a huge Debbie Reynolds fan! (yeah, I know, this is a Xena site…my favorite one btw…I’m getting to that) So, when I heard that Debbie Reynolds was going to be at that Stadium of Fire thing in Provo, Utah, I immediately called them and ordered the two best seats in the stadium (and I’ll be paying for them for a very long time).  Then I called my little brother and asked him if he’d like to go to Stadium of Fire with me this year.  He said, “well, no not really”.  Then I mentioned that Debbie Reynolds would be there, and he dropped at my feet to worship me (quite a feat over the phone) You see he’s a huge Debbie Reynolds fan too.  So, we were all set.  Then one day I was checking in on Mary D’s site, and saw that Lucy Lawless was going to be there too.  Well, I did my little happy dance all over my house (scared my children, ‘cuz me and any kind of dance isn’t pretty).  I’m pretty sure I’m the biggest Lucy Lawless fan in Utah (o.k. maybe I’m the only Lucy Lawless fan in Utah, but I’m still a big fan)  I couldn’t be happier.  Getting to see Debbie Reynolds and Lucy Lawless was going to be way cool (I’m from Utah, we use the word cool a lot here)

So, the big night arrived.  And I was sick as I’ve ever been.  My silly doctor said I had pneumonia and I had stay in bed for several days.  I don’t think so.  I was going to go see Debbie Reynolds and Lucy Lawless.  A little pneumonia wasn’t going to stop me.  So I filled up on all kinds of good drugs (all legal ones) and headed off to Provo.  One good thing about spending my life savings on tickets was that we didn’t have to park a gazillion miles away and walk for hours to get there.  We drove right up to the stadium, showed them our cute little pass and they let us park about 10 feet from the entrance.  We were ushered to our seats, dead center, 7 rows from the stage.  I would only be about 30 feet from these two wonderful stars.  This would be soooo cool.  My brother asked me why a star from New Zealand would come to celebrate an American holiday.  I said, “who cares, I get to see Lucy Lawless” and I started in on my happy dance again.  He stopped me real fast, and we settled in for the fun.

They did all kinds of patriotic stuff, since it was a 4^th of July celebration and all.  The lady being shot out of a cannon was pretty cool, so were the jets.  I’m not sure if it was the pneumonia, or the drugs, or just the cheap camera, but I was being a bit slow about getting pictures. I think the jets had all gotten back to their base and the pilots all home in bed by the time I snapped that picture.  But that was o.k. Lucy would be on soon, jets didn’t matter.

Then, Debbie was on stage.  Wow!  She was the consummate entertainer.  She looked great, and she chatted with the audience, getting several laughs, and sang some songs from her movies, and I was in 7^th heaven.  This was so cool!  It was well worth the price of the seats to be able to see one of my all time favorite stars in real life.  Then she turned the stage over to a young gal named Mandy Moore. (sorry, but I’m old enough that I didn’t really know or care who she was) I wasn’t impressed with her or her performance.  But, who cares.  Lucy was coming up next. 

And then, she was there!  Lucy walked out on stage and my brother said, “That’s not Xena, that lady is blond.”  I was too busy jumping up and down and shooting pictures to be paying too much attention to my brother.  I think there were others in the 50,000 + audience that were like my brother and wondering why a New Zealander would be there for a 4^th of July celebration because she didn’t get the thunderous applause that I felt she deserved.  Lucy paid a nice tribute to a boy that had been lost in the mountains here for 4 days and to the rescuers who searched for him. (unfortunately he was lost for 4 days because his mommy had told him not to talk to strangers, so this kid spent 4 days hiding from the rescuers) But Lucy went on to talk about children and those that protect them.  Then she sang a nice song that she wrote for her son just before he was born.  She sounded great!  I was excited and ready for more.  But, there was no more.  She left after just that one song.  I was bummed…or the drugs were wearing off.  Lucy only got one song.  But, oh well, I still got to be less than 30 feet from this very cool lady. 

Just before the fireworks started they brought all the stars back on stage.  So I got to see Lucy again.  Then as the fireworks started and they were ushering the stars off the stage, Lucy broke away and went over and talked to a security guy and he took her off the other side of the stage.  She ran out onto the football field where lots of people were sitting so they could see the fireworks better.  We figured she was going to go watch the fireworks. I tried to find her, but there was one of me, and one of her, and 50,000 other people, and it was dark.  I finally gave up and enjoyed the fireworks.

What a cool night.  My brother, Debbie Reynolds and Lucy Lawless!  I had such a great time!!  Then we got hopelessly lost trying to find our way out of Provo among about a trillion other people with the same goal.  But, who cares.  For the 2 hours we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, we laughed a lot (that was probably due to the medication, I’m not sure why my brother was laughing so much) and relived our fun evening together getting to see two of the best…..Debbie Reynolds and Lucy Lawless.  I’m happy!  (o.k. mostly I’m just very well medicated)

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