In fact, I wrote an entire three and half paragraphs about the above. But upon reading what I had so far, I realized those three paragraphs were a big ball Emo wrapped in Velveeta. Like, not even a thin layer of Velveeta, but it just oozed. Don’t get me wrong, I love cheese. Hell, I’ll run your ass over for some cheese but this wasn’t how I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to read this over again and cry before I got to the good, happy stuff because I chose to relive the shitty stuff. Nope. So before I change my mind about NOT reliving the shitty stuff, let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?
Sunday October 23rd: The best thing that has ever happened to me. Yep. Wait a second…I just said “the best thing that‘s ever happened to me.“ Yes, I know, I say that EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. TIME. I meet a rockstar. Every time. Actually no, I’ve always said that meeting Ryan Star was the best thing. Well…Sunday night has officially one upped that day. I know, I know. I hear your gasps. Hear me out.
Let me explain (and give you the history of my fangirl career at the same time) :
The day I met Ryan, well…he just won be over, plain and simple. I was familiar with The Man’s music. But that was it. As I was waiting to meet him, I didn’t have three years of built up anticipation. Talent aside, the way in which he treated me when we first met? Done. That was it. Fan for life.
Now let’s talk David Cook: I’ve been a fan of The Dude for three-ish years now. I can honestly say that if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be where I am right now. Music wouldn’t be an important part of my life. Because before he came along, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about much. I was at a point in my life where I just expected the worst, always.
Things started to change when I decided that after four years, I would give American Idol another chance. Last time I watched was season three and let’s just say it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. *coughDeGarmoForPresidentcough*
I’m not sure at what point I decided that David was it for me. I know a lot of people have the moment engraved in their brain. The moment when they KNEW he was the real deal. Whether it was a performance or something he said/did. The only thing clearly burned in my brain is the moment when Seacrest said those words, “And the winner of American Idol season seven is…David Cook!” I cried. A lot. But see, after that, I reverted back to my old self. For months after he won, I didn’t keep up with much. I do clearly remember hearing Time of My Life on one those satellite music channels. It was pretty fucking rad. Told you I like cheese. ;)
When I went to the first (and only) Phoenix stop on the Declaration tour. I had my heart set on meeting The Dude. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. I was bummed beyond words. Looking back on it now though, I’m glad it didn’t. I wasn’t ready.
So now that I’ve rambled on about stuff I could’ve left off this recap, let’s get to the good stuff!
Back in September, there was an unconfirmed date released for Phoenix, at the State Fair. The Declaration Tour show was also at the fair back in 2009. I only found this out because my Twitter buddy V sent me a text message about it. I hadn’t been on Twitter for most of the day because. we were preparing for mine and my sister’s birthday dinner. So in all honesty, I don’t know if it really was unconfirmed, I just assumed. I freaked out, I told her that I had to know for sure! She asked if there was a way for me to find out for sure and I said I follow the Fair’s Twitter account and I would DM them.
Now before I go on, I should make something clear: I wasn’t a big Gavin DeGraw fan. Not that I didn’t like him, I did, he’s an incredible talent. But I just hadn’t taken the time to listen to his work. Yeah, I know. So in all honesty, I was more excited about David’s set than Gavin’s.
So, I DM’d the Fair’s Twitter account and within a couple of hours they got back to me and said that yes, the show had just been confirmed the day before! I flipped the hell out. Hyperventilating, shaking, speechless. You name it, I went through it. I text V back and we freaked out together.
It was pretty much all I could think about that day. Which wasn’t a good idea. I had people to tend to at my birthday dinner. I was in a complete daze.
The next day, however, I had some time to gather my thoughts. I knew who I wanted to go to the show with.
See, ever since that former best day of my life, my concert buddy Laura and I had been attached at the hip. At concerts, I mean. It’s tough to see each other on non-concert days. We both LOVE and ADORE NeedtoBreathe and Ryan Star. We’ve had the most amazing times so it was natural that I wanted to share my first concert of the 2011 with her. So I asked her about it and she said she’d get back to me. A few days passed and she said that, yes, she’d be able to go! You see people, this is the way a friend should be. When they said they will get back to you, they do! Ahem, sorry…*bitter*.
So anyway, we won’t discuss the ticket angst. I was right smack in the middle of an emotional rollercoaster ride as it was and the ticket angst almost killed me. I said things I shouldn’t have and acted very much unlike myself. And I regret it. I really do.
So after I got confirmation that the tickets were ours, that was it. Laura and I were going to see David Cook and Gavin DeGraw!!! :D
Let’s touch on my emotional breakdown for a bit. I won’t get TOO into it, no reliving the shitty stuff, remember? But it’s relevant.
So, I wasn’t doing well. It was all internal crap, though. I was depressed and became easily annoyed with EVERY SINGLE THING. I mean, I’m not the happiest person on the planet but that was just weird.
A couple days after buying the tickets, I was having yet another shitty day. Reading everyone’s excitement over getting VIP was making me even more depressed. I didn’t think I could afford it. I sure as hell wasn’t doing it by myself. So it was either Laura and I did VIP together or we didn’t do it at all. By the end of that day, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to feel better, I needed to do something about my mood. I spent half an hour looking over my bank account, checking how much money I had in my wallet. and looking over what I had to buy before the next time I got money. I then realized I had some birthday money. Enough to cover one VIP package. My bank account then said “There is enough for a second package.” Really, it whispered it to me. ;) So that was that. Laura and I were meeting David Cook. HOLY LADYBALLS! So I tweeted her about it. I wish I’d seen the look on her face. That would’ve been fun! :D
Once the tour got underway, I saw that we would be given the opportunity to meet both David and Gavin if we purchased $45 worth of merch. I seriously considered it. Overkill? Maybe. But I still had a month to think about that.
I also found out that I’d be able to FINALLY meet a few of my Twitter peeps. I was really excited to meet longtime Twitter buddy cool_shades. We’d missed each other at the last DC concert. *sadface*
More crazy non-internal shittyness happened between VIP buying awesomeness and show day. Show day could NOT get here fast enough.
But it finally did! I was nervous, excited, scared and just overall in my own little world.
Before I go on, I do have to share this one thing: As I was getting ready (putting on my concert jeans ;D) my mom tugged on them and laughed. I asked her what was so funny and she said that they were loose on me. Not a little bit, significant amount. I tugged on them…HOLY SHIT, kids. My ass is getting smaller! :D Well, OK, my waist is. XD The last time I’d worn them was…a year ago, actually. Heh. I don’t wear them a lot. There’s a reason I call them my concert jeans. :D For those of you who don’t know, I’m on a weight loss journey as we speak. It’s going well, clearly. LOL
Moving on.
So my parents and I made our way to the fair. They’d drop me off and then head to church. As we were pulling out of the driveway, nerves set it. One: I was nervous there’d be crazy-ass bumper to bumper traffic like the year before. But once we got out on the road, it was almost as if people knew I didn’t need the stress of heavy traffic. Thank you, considerate people for staying home. ;) But then again, like I told my buddy Nicole (hi Nicole!) last year was likely because the fam and I went during the free-admission time window. AND it was the day of the Selena Gomez & The Scene concert. So yeeeah. LOL And two: Uh, I was meeting David Cook. Duh. =P
I finally arrived at the Fair and saw Laura waiting for me. I don’t know what time I got there but by the time we got to the place we were meeting there were a shit-ton of people already waiting. We checked in and hung out for a bit while VIP coordinator/photographer/awesome dude Wade (?) finished checking in everyone else. He then went into how it was all going to work. While we were waiting, Laura went and asked him how we could get our tickets from Will Call since it was still a good 2 hrs before they even opened up. He said he’d check. He also said that for those who couldn’t use the stairs to enter the building, he’d be walking us over to another entrance.
So the time finally came for us to go in. Turns out those of us being escorted separately, were going in first. :D When we went in, we heard singing and Laura said “Wait, what the…is that Gavin?” for some insane reason, I couldn’t really tell. It honestly didn’t sound like David to me. I said yes. LMAO! Oh, fail. W…T…F? Bad fan. XD
I decided that we should stay at the end seats rather than try to get up to the front and be completely blocked by the stupid barrier. Note to venues: Barriers are lame. Seriously.
We get up towards the front end seats and there he is. It was the most surreal thing ever. I don’t know what song we walked in on. Hell, there isn’t much about sound check that I do remember other than I just kept looking at all the guys like I was dreaming. *VELVEETA*
I assumed that the rest of the people would walk in right after us but no. Our small group had The Dude all to ourselves for a good 15 minutes.
Once everyone else walked in, of course everyone wanted a spot at the front. Some people even wanted a spot right in front of ME. I mean, I know I’m awesome and people want to be near me, but blocking my view is NOT cool. Laura said something about it. Loud enough for them to hear so they just kept walking. :D No more people blocking me!
By now you all know he did Creep because someone requested it. But not before saying “Creep? The language in that song is…offensive.” HAHAHA! He then goes right into it. LOL! Yeah, that’s what I thought, Cook! ;) There was a little girl there, by the way. Ha! For shame, Cook! For. Shame.
He played a few chords of Billie Jean. I think. People kept asking him to do some songs from Idol but he said he learned them for the show and forgot them just as quickly.
I want to say he played Mr. Sensitive too but again, memory fails me.
There was a lot of horsing around with those boys. Primarily Andy. He kept saying stuff into the secret microphone. Me thinks it was all kinds of inappropriate.
We were sitting on Devin’s side so I just kept watching him. Also kind of hoping he’d move over just a bit so I can get a small glimpse of Kyle. LOL He did so a few times. I saw mostly hair swinging around. ;)
Let’s talk Monty Anderson for a second: He’s awesome! If I paid attention to no one but him, I’d think this was the actual show. He moves around a lot. He’s fun to watch, even in sound check!
More horsing around from the guys. *coughANDYcough* I don’t remember whether it was David or Devin who said something along the lines of “If only you guys could hear what Andy is saying.” I know they both commented on Andy and his use of the secret mic. Lol
Once sound check ended, we made our way over to get in line for the M&G. I was very adamant about wanting to be last or at least pretty close to last. Laura wanted to know why. I told her I was crazy nervous and I needed some time to get it together. At that point, cool_shades walked up. There was no introduction. We just said hi and started talking about random stuff. Which was pretty freaking awesome. She’s rad. She talks fast. XD LOL
While in line we met some new friends and talked some more.
The line seemed to move pretty quickly at first. It freaked me out. First, because I felt like we would be there in no time. I was still too nervous. That would not go over well. And second, that could only mean people were being rushed. I don’t do well under pressure like that. I was worried.
Before I knew it, there was a small group of us. Wade then came out and said something about them running out of time. He said we’d be getting our VIP stuff but that they’d have to finish the M&G after the show. Unless there were people who couldn’t stay afterwards, then they’d take them back right then. Someone asked if the entire band would be there and he said yes. It was an early show (6pm) and because it’s the fair, they were under time constraints, meaning we wouldn’t get a very long set from either David or Gavin. So it would end early too. I live about 15 minutes from there so I said I was OK to do it afterwards. So was Laura.
At that point, the venue doors were about to open so someone came out and quickly handed us some wristbands. Said those were to get into the M&G without a problem. I told Laura that if the adrenaline is still pumping I’d be getting us a M&G for Gavin too! LOL
As we approached the area where the table on which our VIP stuff was, Wade said we were getting the opportunity to do both M&G’s if we wanted to! I said, “Wait, seriously?!“ He smiles and says “Yeah!“ I high-fived him and told him he’s awesome! LOL He said he would make sure our group would be first in line for the M&G so he wrote “1st” on our wristbands.
I asked him if he was giving me his autograph and he says “Nah, it’s not worth much.” And I said “Of course it is, you’re awesome”, and he laughs. I’m quite the charmer, right? ;)
After we got our VIP stuff, the lady who was giving it out escorted us to Will Call. Once we had our tickets, we made our way back inside the venue. As I tweeted that day, there was some sort of mistake with our seats. Remember that I had said we had front row or close to front row seats because that’s what the TM rep had told me? Well, that wasn’t the case. Judging by what the front row looked like (I peeked during sound check) I think the seating chart is quite inaccurate. Laura talked to the security. We were seated in the correct area. Now, I decided not to argue for a couple reasons: 1) It was extremely close to show time and 2) All reserved tickets are the same price. If they were priced by section and I was charged for front-ish row, you better believe I would’ve fought with someone. I will say this: My seats for this show were closer than for the first show. So, there was one positive there. :D
I won’t get into the actual show much except for maybe: It kicked off with Circadian, I LOVE Paper Heart live, and Let Me Fall for You was fucking amazing, too! The end with Andy (and Kyle?) is beyond awesome! Laura loved it and said she would tell them!
Next up was Gavin DeGraw. Now I have to confess: I only bought his NEW album a couple days before the show so I wasn’t too familiar with everything just yet.
I’d heard such amazing stuff from people who’d already been to a show but that didn’t quite prepare me for him. This dude has ridiculous stage presence! The way everything just flows together is incredible! Soldier was amazing! I love that song.
Let’s talk about that piano stool: I want to be his piano stool in my next life. Or his microphone. I don’t care which one. Dude was ALL OVER both, I mean DAMN! That man is sex on stage. Every single move he made was sexified. Not even kidding. He’s hot. The way he moves is hot. I had joked with Laura before the show that we were both losing our Gavin DeGraw virginity that night. And I meant it in the concert sense, but we got a bit more than we bargained for. So yeah, piano stool, next life please. Thanks. XD
Soon, the show ended. We made our way to the M&G line. Turns out that those who’d bought the merch/M&G were already in line so we had to squeeze through everyone. I tried not to let Laura kill anyone. She was trying to kill people in order to get us to the front ASAP. LOL
We were escorted to the M&G area which was towards the back of the venue… OUTSIDE! Where the buses were. Yep. We get there and there’s this thing set up. Like a tent type of thing. I was surprised not to see Gavin there. It turns out that VIP people got in first so that we could meet with the band. We would then have to get back in line for the David/Gavin M&G.
The SECOND I looked over at them, I started to hyperventilate slightly. We were in the middle of the line. I didn’t want that. I told Laura. I’m pretty sure she wanted to hit me at that point. So off we went to the back of the line. Cool_shades and her sister were there. She wanted them to be dead last so we just got in front of her.
We watched people go up to them. At one point a lady who apparently was celebrating her birthday, gave them all party hats and noise makers to wear for her picture. The noisemakers were the kind you blow into and the paper rolls out. You know what I’m talking about. Then all of a sudden, Andy put his noisemaker in his mouth and blows on it, and the roll-out part smacks David right on the side of his face! Hard. Like, I heard it hit his face. David then let’s out a very loud “OW!”. I don’t think Andy really meant to get him, or at least he didn’t mean for it hurt, cause he apologized really quickly. David’s pain aside, that was the most hilarious thing of the night!
Finally…my turn. AS SOON as the person in front of me walked away, Laura practically pushed me into them. MEAN! XD I shook Kyle and Andy’s hand. Not sure if I shook David’s, Devin’s or Monty’s but I def. did not ignore them. Yay me! I kind of froze a bit so I handed David all the WNCC necklaces. I said “These are for you guys”. He gets them and says “Alright, let’s distribute them.” I don’t know what I was thinking not handing them out individually. Nerves, I guess. Devin said there was an extra one. It was then that I remembered I brought an extra one for Andrew. David said he’d be seeing him in a few days so he’d get it to him. When David got a second to look at his necklace he says “Oh wow! These are pretty cool! Thank you!” I just said “yeah” and nodded. Oy.
Right at that moment, Devin got my attention by saying “How does this look?“ I looked over and he already had the necklace on. I said “PERFECT!” I was so excited to see him wearing it. :D I then look up at David and he’s putting HIS necklace around his neck. OHMYGAWD, best moment for me, right there. I almost cried, actually.
I hand David the Chiefs beanie I had for him. I said “You probably have about a thousand of them, but there you go anyway.” He says “Actually, I DON’T have a Chief’s beanie. Thank you.” Then tells me “They won today! Yes! Against the Raiders”. Then I think it was Monty who said “Oh yeah, they did!” I was thisclose to saying “Oh they won? That’s a miracle.” But that would’ve been mean. Plus I don’t care enough about football/Chiefs to talk trash. :P
Then I handed Andy the Lost In America CD and asked him if he’d sign it, he said yes, takes it then Monty says to me “Do I get to sign it? Cause, ya know…I played on it.” LOL! I said “You DID play on it. Then in that case, you BETTER sign it!” And he smiles. And I died a little. I happen to like Monty’s smile. :D
When I got my LIA CD back, I asked them to sign my TLM CD. As Devin was signing it, I asked David a question regarding a potential cover. (A twitter buddy asked me to) Devin looked quite interested. When I got my TLM CD back, I was asked to pose for the picture. I looked to see where to park. Devin then moves over towards Monty (to his right), points to a spot between him and David and says “You can get right here.” David then says, “Here, just back up right in here. I’ll make room” Dude then spreads his legs. Yes. David spread his legs for me. Be jealous. ;)
Wade then snaps the picture. As I’m about to move he says “Hold on one second. Let’s do another one, cause Monty was doing I don’t know what, there!” All of a sudden I hear everything from “Dude! Really?!” to “Aw, come on Monty!” LMAO!!!
When the pic is finally taken, I turned around to say bye and thank them. I then stopped by Monty and this happens:
Me: Dude, behave yourself!
Monty: Do you know how many times I hear “Dude, behave yourself“?
Me: Uh, a lot?!
Monty: Exactly! But it wouldn’t be the same for these guys if I behaved myself.
Me: HAHA! That’s right!
Monty: Right? *high-fives me*
Me: Ha! Alright, I’ll see you…oh wait, uhm…can I get a hug?
Monty: Of course, come here.
*hug* followed by me *dying a little* I love Monty. A little. XD
Right as I was gathering my thoughts, Laura finished talking to the guys. When we regrouped I said “DAMMIT! I didn’t ask Kyle or David for a hug.” Right that very second, David moved close to us to put some gifts on the floor. Laura took the opportunity to get his attention and said “Hey, David? Can you give this girl a hug?” David looks over at me and says “of course”. He walks over to me and wraps his arms around me and gives me a squeeze. I died again. *sigh*
Security dude escorted us back into the building where the line for the David/Gavin M&G was. Since we were last for VIP, we were last in line for the other M&G also. I was totally ok with this. :D
We met up again with our new friends (sans cool_shades) and hung out until it was time for us to go back in. They were only taking people in groups at a time. It took a while. A LONG while. There were quite a lot of people.
Finally it was our time to move along. When we got outside, the line was pretty long. It wrapped around the tent by one of the buses. As we were waiting, we say Kyle walk out of the bus and walk over to talk to Gavin’s drummer. I wanted so badly to go over to him and get a hug but I sure as hell didn’t want to interrupt. I told the girls that one them should call him over once he was alone. Well, that never quite happened. Both guys disappeared. We looked over at the bus and Devin was there. I was tempted to call him over too, but decided not to.
Once we were under the tent thing again, I looked over at David and it didn’t quite seem as surreal as before. Of course, by then I’d gotten rid of the nerves.
I didn’t know what I was going to say to either him or Gavin. I’m not going to lie, I kept staring at David. I want to say it was in a non-creeper way, but that would be a lie. I tried the side glance. That felt weird. So I just stole a few “obvious” glances here and there. All was good until he looked over at me at the exact same time I looked over at him. He smiled and did the wink and the gun thing. You know what I’m talking about, right? Right. I just about DIED! It was cute, y’all. Too cute.
FINALLY we get to Gavin. He was standing a few feet from David. This is what happened (note: I think he was a wee bit…drunk lol):
Gavin: Hey! What’s your name?
Me: Hi, I’m Guadalupe!
Gavin: How are you?
Me: I’m fantastic. How are you?
Gavin: I’m great, thank you.
Me: Dude, you put on one HELL of a show!
Gavin: Aw, well thank you baby. Where are you from?
Me: *confused* Uh, from here…? Phoenix…?
Gavin: How do you like it here?
Me: I really like it. A lot.
Gavin: Really? That’s good. I talked to a lot of people that are from here and they’re like “Phoenix sucks, I want to get the fuck out of here.” And it’s crazy. I mean, you don’t like something, change it, ya know?
Me: That’s right. Fuckin’ do something about it. Do what you can.
Gavin: Exactly. *He holds out his hand for a fist pound* :D *I look at his hand*
Me: I love your ring.
Gavin: Aw thank you, baby. I was going to get it engraved, but I figured why? Things change way too fast. *Me thinks he meant get it engraved with a girl’s name* ;)
Me: Well, you know what you should do? Engrave MY name on it! :D
Gavin: You’re right. I’ll do just that. Perfect!
Me: Haha! It won’t fit though.
Gavin: Yes it will, baby. I’ll get it engraved really tiny. It’ll fit.
Me: Alright, that works for me.
Gavin: OR…a better idea… *holds out his hands* I’ll tattoo your name across my knuckles.
Me: Wha…OK! HAHAHA! That’s even better!!
Gavin: *points at my ticket stub* Let me sign this for you, baby.
He signs the ticket stub, I thank him and move on to David.
Me: Hey Dave!
David: Hey, again!
Me: Did you miss me? ;)
David: I *did*!
Me: Really, David? Cause I mean, it’s only been like an hour.
David: You know…*sigh* it feels like days.
(Oh he’s good LOL)
Me: Ha! *I take out my This Quiet Night CD* Can you sign this for me?
David: Absolutely.
Once he signs it, before we pose for a pic…
Me: *shoving my purse towards Laura* Here, fuckin’ hold my shit.
David: I…wow. I’m…offended.
Me: Wha…really? Says the dude who sang Creep, earlier.
David: *laughs* Ahem, right.
I get my pic with David (can you say Gavin photo bomb? and Oh hell yeah, I put my arm around him) then Gavin then runs over to pose for one with me. All of sudden he lifts his shirt and does a belly roll. I acted all innocent-like and “covered” my eyes. HAHA! Laura told photographer dude to get a picture of it but Gavin quickly put his shirt down. It was awesome!
Once we were all done, we said our thank you’s and goodbye’s to the boys and headed out.
All of a sudden we spot Kyle and Wade talking to a lady. We subtly made our way over to them. I wanted to say thank you to Wade but by the time we got there he and the lady were talking just the two of them, leaving poor Kyle to us. ;)
I didn’t know quite what to say other than hi. I got nervous and started looking around like a complete weirdo. Next thing I know, Kyle and my new friend Joy were both looking at me. I said “What? WHAT?! Tell me!” Kyle just smiled and Joy said “Nothing”. Sneaky people! LOL
Suddenly security dude with StickUpTheAss-itis comes over and says “YOU ALL NEED TO CLEAR OUT!”
Kyle says “Can we just get a picture?” I don’t know whether security dude didn’t hear him or chose to ignore him, but he just walked away. JERKFACE!
Kyle then kneels down to my level (so cute) and poses for a pic. I thank him for the pic. He says “You’re welcome”, looks me straight in the eyes and says “thank YOU for coming.” Brain. Fried. I don’t even know how I managed to ask him for a hug before he stood back up but I did it!
I have to say, that hug was the best one of the night. Why? Well, Monty’s was a great, solid hug but pretty quick. David was awesome because he put his arms fully around me but it was around my shoulders. But Kyle…he put his arms completely around me, in a full embrace and practically squeezed the stuffing out of me. I’m totally inclined to say it was better than a certain someone else’s hugs. But I won’t. Ahem.
As we’re walking away, new friend Joy tells me she told Kyle that I’m a huge fan of his but that I was too shy (ha! ;D) to ask myself if I could please get a picture with him. Sneaky! ;)
With that, ends an amazing night. Live music, old friends and new ones, and finally meeting my musical heroes. Yes, plural. That entire band is made up of amazing, talented dudes who changed my life for the better. I hope Devin sticks around for the long haul. He’s a great dude and a wonderful addition to the band.
I will forever be grateful to them and Gavin DeGraw for such an amazing night. Gavin has made a fan out of me.
For good. Until next time, kids.
"We believe there's a reason that we're all here, that every doubt will disappear. We believe. We believe that tomorrow carries something new and after everything that we've been through, we believe."
"In our time, if we hit a wall that we can't climb and if we stumble at the finish line , we'll start again."
"Everyone, every single person under the sun, has moment where they know they've won."
"In the power of hope, in the strength of peace, there's a way back home when the battles cease. A new world will grow if we just believe. This what we know, this is what we need."
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