Debby's Concerts

I can't believe that a whole year has gone by since I saw my second Al concert.

I have been reminiscing all day:)

I remember waking up that morning feeling a little quesy. It was just the butterflies in my stomach. Yeah - butterflies. I don't know why - but I was so nervous.

We saw Al at the Rib Cook-Off that is held every Memorial Day weekend in Cleveland. We didn't go for the ribs - just to see Al.

By the time we finally arrived there, I think my head was about to explode!! I was terrible. I was like a toddler on Christmas Eve. *sigh*

As we walked into the Cook-off I spotted the bus. The big red bus:) I was so busy gawking at it that I didn't even noticed who casually walked by us. My husband and I stopped in our tracks, turned around and saw Jim!! He was just casually walking out of the gate. All by himself. It was so cool. We didn't say a thing.

Once we got inside we did a quick walk around. Not much there but a bunch of people chowing down on ribs. I did notice a lot of Hawaiian shirts. You could tell who was there for the ribs and who was there for Al. Those that were there to see Al were either wearing Hawaiian shirts or just sitting there--waiting, checking their watches.

Trying to kill time, we just kept walking around in circles. Had to find the restroom. Yeah right. I mean those lovely Port-a-Potties. Anyways, as we were walking by this table, we noticed a group of about six people standing there. One of those people was none other than Jon Schwartz!! How cool. I believe he was speaking to someone from the local paper. Also at the table was a woman who had this wonderful coat on. If I remember right -it had pictures of Al pained on it. It was beautiful! I now have learned that that woman was Fred.

My son then asked if he could get another t-shirt. So - we went to check out the shirts. I was standing there waiting for him, gazing out at the group of people, when all of a sudden, I spot this very tall, skinny, long haired man walking towards me very fast. I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was Steve! Yep - you guessed it. I didn't even say anything as he passed by. I did exchange smiles with him though. He perhaps was thinking "what a looney!".

OK - so we've spotted 3 out of 5 band members now. I had to go in search of Al. I walked back to the area where you could see backstage. There I stood amongst a group of prepubescent boys just hoping to get a glimpse of Al. LOL My husband stood WAY over to the side with the Moms of these boys. WEll, we saw no hint of Al. Finally, one of the boys says "There he is!! He's coming":) I got really excited then. I turned to see -- and it was Ruben!!

I know I 've told this story before. One of the boys even had on shirt similar to Ruben's in the WAY live video. "Nice shirt" Ruben said to him. That's when he proceeded to tell those young boys that Al was just a puppet and it was him that contolled him back at the keyboards. Ruben says - "Just watch him - he's just a puppet".

As security pushed us back, Ruben pipes up and says in his whiniest voice "But I wanna see Al, I wanna see Al!". lol After that they brought an ambulance through. Ruben said "Oh oh - he ate it! hehe Get it?" I never talked to Ruben, but he did sign my son's shirt for him.

Well we saw 4/5 of the guys.

So, it was time for the concert to begin and we weren't even in our seats yet. WE had to fight - litterally claw our way through the crowd that had formed behind the gates. WE kept saying "We've got tickets - we've got tickets". Those people just weren't caring. It was tough, but we managed to get through the crowd to the paid seating area. Not very many seats. I'm guessing 600.

They showed us to our seats. Front row! Yeah! On Steve's side. For some reason the people we sat next to were not happy to see us. I don't like to say bad things about people - so I won't. But, I will say they made it very uncomfortable for me the whole show. I didn't care though - I was there to see AL!!!

Funzone starts -- I'm so excited at this point I think I'm going to be sick.

When Al walked out on that stage that night -- I was mesmerized. I was so close to him. I was in shock I think. Go ahead and laugh. I must have looked like a cow staring at an oncoming train. It was wonderful.

The stage was a very small stage unfortunately. Becasue of Steve's equipment that he always has in front of him (don't the the correct term) Al spent a lot time on Jim's side of the stage. There was no room in front of Steve at all. But, Al being Al - did manage to walk at the very edge of the stage a couple of times to sing to us. *sigh* I'm just glad he didn't fall off. That man scares me when he does stuff like that.

The concert was wonderful as always. It was the fastest two hours of my life. I swear it felt like only 5 minutes. It was over WAY too soon.

Not that Al would remember, but I would have liked to apologize to him for just sitting there in my seat - with that dumb expression on my face. I still think I was in shock or something.

It was one of the best nights of my life. Afterwards, people were lining up outside the gates. Unfortunately we had to leave. So...I don't know if he ever came out or not.

The next day I crashed. You know when you look forward to something for so long - and then it comes and goes - you crash. I was very sad. A little PDA I guess. I even cried. You can go ahead and laugh about that - you wouldn't be the first;) I cried because I knew that this was my last RWS concert and I would probably never see Al again - never. I was a little over dramatic I guess.

Little did I know....that Al would once again cross my path in a few short months. Four months to be exact.

I will remember that night for the rest of my life. Thank you Al, Steve, Jim, Jon and Ruben!:)

That's it - that's my story. Thanks for letting me reminisce here.

Debby **Has a real hard time making a long story short!**