| <cracks knuckles> Let's do this, baby. Lubbock, Texas. April 8, 2001. 7:00PM/United Spirit Arena. .."Holy mother-f*ckin'-sh*t!" I even had Chad helping me finish this phrase by the end of the evening. I said it SO much! Okay. First things first. We go in (glad to be out of the sun, 'cause at this point I am SO crispy) and the first thing I do is buy the LARGEST Sprite my little hands can handle. Never mind that it cost me FOUR DOLLARS!.. I wanted to dump it over my head.[Stupid Masters tournament!;)] Gah. Anyway, I digress.. Then we find our seats. OMG OUR SEATS!! Kyle's side. ROW ONE; Seats 37-40! "Holy m-f-s!" We sit there for a while and chit-chat with the two arena security people in front of us. They laughed at me the WHOLE time! I was the ONLY ONE in the WHOLE arena who had signs!! Can you BELIEVE that [censored]?! I waved to Sara and her hubby (who had 2nd row almost CENTER seats! Ahhhh!) And the lights go down for Lifehouse. Now. I'm thinking.. I need to save myself for matchbox, so I have to take it easy. Uh. NO. They were SO AWESOME! I can't remember, offhand, what they played, but OMG.. Jason Wade is walking SEX. Here's the part that pissed me off, though. My friends and I are standing up, being rock-star-junkies and screaming and singing along when this guy comes over and complains that THEY CAN'T SEE! I was all.. WHAT? HELLOOOOOOOOOO! This is a ROCK CONCERT! So an arena guy hears this argument, walks over to the complaining people.. and says.. "Stand the hell up, or get the hell out." YEAH SECURITY GUY! We love you wherever you are! A few ROCKIN' Lifehouse tunes [and many pictures] later.. And Sara and I are over talking to Jason. [I finally got to meet Chad at this time, and O-M-G, I’m so completely in love with the man now; he’s the absolute SWEETEST!] My friend Lauren [who I'm now convinced is on CRACK] THINKS she sees Rob behind the sound thing [we had a GREAT view backstage, btw! More about this later.] goes.. OMG! Jason! Get Rob! And we were all.. uhh.. "Where's Rob?" She's like.. OVER THERE! Then she goes.. oh, never mind. That's not Rob. She's like.. "Sorry!" And further into the conversation Jason is playing with her and says.."No, I don't think I can talk to you. You don't even know who Rob-f*ckin'-Thomas is!" I almost DIED! Lauren was so embarrassed, but she hit on Chad and felt a little better. We chat a little more and mention that Sara and I are going to Dallas.. and Jason's like.."Oh! Then you're gonna be at the Hard Rock Cafe?" AHH! He knew about it, that sneak! LOL I was all.. "Yeah, but you security types aren't invited. Never lettin' us poor fans use the flash or go backstage. Damn, you're mean!" We both giggled at that one. Then I showed him my signs that I made for him! One that says.. "Jason B. Rocks My World!" And another that says.. "We love you Jason and Chad!!" He was like.. "Now THERE ARE my TRUE fans! Look at that! Rob didn't even get two!" [And really his name was on THREE signs if you include the one that said "GDer Here!"] Am I being long-winded, or do you guys like all this in-between crap?.. The lights dim and Sara goes back to her seat. The crowd goes ape-sh*t and everything goes black. BOOM. Everclear! I took SO many pictures. And Lauren got to dance on stage!! I was so happy for her! I took a SMALL potty break during Everclear [as I must have forgotten my bladder of steel at home..] and when I came back.. The band was GONE! Music was still playing.. lights going.. but, uh? Where's the band? Then I took note of the spotlights going around the perimeter of the floor crowd! DUH! They were running around! Art and Craig get back on stage and have this mini conversation about Texas women. Art: "Whoa! You Texas women are kinda aggressive, aren't you?!" Crowd goes f-in' WILD at this. Craig: "Yeah! I got my ass slapped five times!" Well, whaddya expect? I hate to say it, but I was NOT paying much attention to Everclear at this point. Remember how I said we had a GREAT backstage view? Well, HOLY-M-F-S! Rob and I made faces at each other for a GOOD two minutes! Mari even joined in ONCE! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! I nearly DIED! Then I waved and went back to watching as I heard "Wonderful" beginning. I also hesitate to mention that I was PRETTY glad this was the last song. By now I had VERY LITTLE voice left, and I needed it to scream to Kyle! ;) So.. Everclear was WONDERFUL! VERY high energy! And after they were finished, Sara came over to see us! [Yay!] THEN! This guy with these purple passes comes over and goes.. "Hey! You wanna go meet Everclear?" Uh, HELL YES! So we get our passes, go downstairs and wait FOREVER! I turned to Sara and was like.. "Do you wanna go back? I CANNOT miss the opening!" So we had some guy escort us back upstairs, and JUST as we're coming down into the arena, they start! WHEW! BUT! I couldn't find my ticket stub!! AHH! So the guy just let me go anyway, I think he didn't want to deal with screaming and sobbing. :) I get to my seat and FREAK! H-M-F-S! Ahhhhhhhh! Now.. after years of just seeing pictures of these guys.. and I do mean YEARS.. seeing them live is just.. an emotion I do NOT have words for. I immediately started.. laugh-sobbing. I dunno if any of you have ever done this, but it kinda confuses the people around you! Jason looked at me like.. "You gonna be okay?" Then I really got into it. Jumping, dancing, screaming [with what little voice I had left] SINGING, waving, crying, winking at Adsy! OMG! And I couldn't stop shaking..! Here comes the REALLY GOOD PART! So, I'm there, making a fool of myself for these wonderful men, and Adam comes over, looking RIGHT at me! I hold up my "Ads is wonderful! May I have a pick?!" sign and he nods and smiles and waves and stands there for a while playing.. I started crying AGAIN and mouthed "Thank you" and I think he found it funny that I was crying 'cause he laughed, nodded again, and skipped off to his side of the stage. Jason, watching all of this 'cause he's SO GOOD AT WHAT HE DOES leans to me and goes, "When he comes back again, I'll get it for you." AHHH! It was all I could do not to jump over that railing and hug the big guy! A few more songs later, Kyle sees my sign that says.."Kyle, baby! Do I have to reach my hand down in your pocket to get a PICK?" And his face just LIGHTS UP and he laughs, looking kinda scared now, and shakes his head. About a minute later he leans down, hands the pick to a security guard and points to me! H-M-F-S! Times two!! At this point I am thinking: I am THE LUCKIEST girl in the WORLD!!! But.. unfortunately for my heart and nerves.. it gets even better. Ah. OMG. Okay. So.. On my birthday [it was SO terrible! Ugh!].. I said to my friend Ann, "All I wished for this birthday is that I could go to the concert. And that at the concert, they'll play Time After Time." She says.. "Why don't you make a sign and ask them to?" DING! Great idea!! So.. I make this sign. "PLEASE play Time After Time! It was my Birthday wish!" Jason sees this sign early into the show, but notices that none of the GUYS have seen it yet, so he runs over, goes.. "Give me your Time After Time sign, quick!" I scrambled to find it and gave it to him, all confused. He ran backstage, and as the guys finished a song, they LEFT! Like.. all of them walked off stage.. lights still on and everything. I was all.. uhm.. Then Jason comes back with the sign and hands it to me saying.. "You're very welcome!" AHHH! H-M-F-S! I was all.. NO WAY! Sure enough.. Rob comes out by himself, with his guitar.. waves and winks at me and starts into Time After Time.. then Kyle comes out, smiling at me.. and here's where I fainted. I bruised my elbow on the rail as I fell, apparently 'cause now it hurts like the dickens. When I got up, I saw this look on Kyle's face like.. "Okay now?" I almost did it again!! Through this whole song, I'm singing and looking at them both and it's like I'm the only one in the whole arena. I tuned out the cheering crowd and just lived in the moment. Too bad I couldn't see Adsy anywhere. It was so perfect. I don't think I could have ever asked for anything more beautiful than that. The show was just.. phenomenal. I LOVED You Won't Be Mine. "This is the smoke 'em if you got 'em part of the show," Rob said. Steve and I were like.. WE WISH! Long Day, however, was my FAVORITE! OMG.. such energy like I have never seen from a band. They all looked so wonderful. And I have to say.. I LOVE ADAM'S HAIR THIS WAY. Not too long, not too short, with just a little cute curl to it. I kinda wish Pauly wasn't wearing a hat, bit I dealt with it just fine. :) Oh, and BEN! You know, the keyboard guy? WOW! He's so NICE! Love him! And I was so impressed that the trumpet player was a chick. [Goooo chick trumpets!] I leaned to Lauren and was like.. "How do I get THAT job?" After they were done, Pauly did his customary throwing of the drumsticks.. and neither was anywhere near me, BUT! Paul was coming off stage and saw my.. "Pauly! Can I have a stick?" sign and was like.. "ACK! I'm SO SORRY!" and walked off. So I turned to talk to Ann and hug her and stuff and Jason comes over with this pair of drumsticks and is like.. "Girl, things just keep getting better for you, don't they!" LOL! I was SO EXCITED! I wanted to rush back there and tell Paul how SWEET he was! There is so much more about the show that I just can't remember right now. At one point Rob talked about how he missed the South and was glad to be back and how he grew up southern. It was cute. :) Once after talking a while he giggled and said.."I'm such a potty mouth!" I was all.. "Yes, you are, but we sure as hell don't mind, baby!" I’d like to think he heard me 'cause he looked toward where we were standing and just grinned. What a sweetheart! Oh, yeah! When Jason delivered Adam's pick to me, he just smiled at my reaction(crying again) and patted my head. I thought that was so funny! OH! Earlier Jason was bull-sh*tting some girls when they asked if he got to meet Rob Thomas. Sara and I stood there trying so hard not to laugh. He was like.. "Well, see, there's this security-guard contest we're having that I'd have to win. Yeah, and we have to arm-wrestle, too!" The girls were all.. "Wow!" LMFAO! Sara and I just looked at each other and smiled. SO FUNNY! Anyway. I'm racking my brain for other tidbits of the show, but I can't think of any more.. OH! I met this great Everclear fan! His name is Briton and he's thirteen. He was so cute! Craig threw me one of his picks and this kid and I had been talking before the show, so he came over to ask if I got anything, and if he could see it. So I was all.. "Hold out your hand." And I put the pick in his little palm and said.. "There. That's yours." He freaked! lol! It was so cute! And we had our picture taken together. :) That was great. So, AFTER the show, I talked to Chad quite a bit while people were clearing out [trying SO hard not to make a FOOL of myself!]. We talked about how they probably couldn't sign anything tonight because they had to hit the road for Dallas. I said that I more than understood and he looked grateful for that. We went outside and stood around anyway, just to see the busses off, and talked to Jason and Chad some more. I LOVE THOSE GUYS!! :) I gave Jason his cheesecake that I made for him, but I don't think he LIKES cheesecake, as it ended up in CHAD'S belly. <grins> But he said it was really good and offered it to some fans that were standing around [and HITTING ON HIM!].. When Jason and Chad waved goodbye to us [after we told them that we'd see them in Dallas, and that I'd see them in Houston] most of the crowd cleared out. And they call themselves fans! <giggle> So.. It's just me and this little group of girls and we're waiting. THEN.. up from the ramp comes Chad and Pauly with Sophie! I think that dog is too big for Paul, she was pulling him and he was leaning ALL of his weight back to keep from being yanked forward! It was SO cute! Then I yelled.."Hey, Pauly! Thank you SO much for the sticks!" He replies.."No problem! I'm glad you got them; I thought you were mad at me!" I laughed and said.."Mad? At Paul.. from matchbox twenty. PSHAW!" Then I waved g'bye and sat back down. After he finished walking the Sophie-puppy, he went back down the ramp, got on the bus, and they headed out. I waved and waved and waved. Hopefully someone saw me and got a kick out of my craziness. As they were backing out, I saw Jason in the window and pointed at him as if to say.."You da MAN!" And he pointed back and winked. Shortly after they drove away into the night! Whew! That was long, huh? Sorry. ;) Be thankful that I didn't put the pre-show and show posts together. <grin> One last thing.. Adam.. if you get around to reading this.. you are just the sweetest man alive.[Even though I now have a sunburn to show for my love for you!<giggle>] I love ALL of you! Jason and Chad and Ads worked REAL hard to make my first matchbox concert the BEST TIME OF MY LIFE! I've said it before, but I'll say it again and again.. YOU ARE SUCH BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! Ads, Pauly, Rob, Kyle, Brian, Jason, and Chad, and EVERYONE that helps you be who you are! A big thanks to the wives and girlfriends, too, for puttin' up with this Mad Season to love our boys so much. That's it! <blows a kiss> |
| ©2001 by Rebecca J. Burke & Hashbrown Casserole for the Matchbox Twenty Soul, Inc. |
| Lubbock, TX 4/08/01 |