Ok..so this one is a doozy. Sorry it is so long! So many things happened and I just had to include them all. The first part is Mac related, but if you want to read only about the concert then skim down.
I had a lot of fun in Bozeman. I met up with some fellow fans - Dennise and LindSAY (Hi!) who are just the coolest. It’s just so much more fun when you can hang out with people who love that band as much as you do.
So I arrived in at the arena around 4:30. I was hoping to be able to see the band arrive for sound check. There was no one around. I figured out where the limos would have to pull through so I parked my car so I could watch. After about an hour of waiting, I decided that maybe I would get out and stand by where the limos would park. So I get out of my car and start walking. Of course, I forgot my camera. I had already walked half way there. (I had to walk through this soccer field.). So I turn around and walk back. All of a sudden I see the limos driving up the road. So I start running in the hot sun, through this field with my flip flop like sandals on. I’m sure it was a sight to see. So I get there and they had already gotten out and gone in. Damn. Dennise and Lindsay were able to catch it though. Stevie and Lindsey were in separate limos. Lindsey got out with Cory and had his arm around her.
So we stood there and waited hoping to catch Mick and John. Apparently they had come in some SUV type vehicle so we missed them. We heard them doing “Big Love” for soundcheck. Chris Nicks had Sulamith and was walking her around. I guess she had done her duty on the grass right there. Afterwards, we see this little kid rolling on the grass down the hill as his mother waits by us. We were joking we hope he didn’t roll in a little present from Sulamith.
We saw Jess Nicks riding around in his little motorized wheelchair (not sure exactly what to call it.) I think he had oxygen and got up and smoked a long cigarette. He looked pretty frail. Chris Nicks kept riding around in the parking lot on his little battery powered scooter. I have no clue why.
A little story for all you anti-fan club peeps. There was a guy and his wife there who arrived at 6 for the backstage tour. Only problem was, the backstage tour was at 4. Well, the letter that the fan club sent them said the tour would start 1-2 hours before the concert started. The guy in charge said “sorry, but there is nothing we can do.” So he brought over some shirts and stuff. Yeah, like that was really worth part of the $500 these people had spent and they only had 3rd row. They later upgraded him to front row. That was the least they could do. Guess the guy told Dennise that Stevie has a bone spur in her hip and she doesn't want to get surgery because there will be too much rehab. Don't know how he knew that.
Fast forward…so we go into the venue. Security there was very annoying when we got on the floor. We would walk about ten steps and a security person would walk up and ask to see our tickets. Yes, we had to show our tickets about 5 times before we finally made it up front. I could not believe my luck. My seat was front row direct center and I had gotten it the day it went on sale through ticketswest. It was only $80. I’m not a lucky person either, so I don’t know how that happened. There were a lot of cool people there that we chit-chatted with. Lindsay had her BN album that Lindsey signed in Dallas. She wanted Stevie to sign it, so she asked Karen if she could take it back to Stevie. She said no. She later asked Cory and she said there wasn’t enough time. I really think Cory would have taken it back if there was more time. She seemed really sorry about it. I saw Ray Lindsay walking around. He kept walking past us. So as he walked past us I said “Hi Ray.” Very chippery (is that even a word?), he says “Hi! How are you?” He started to say it before he even turned around and saw me. It seemed like he thought it was someone he knew. To his surprise, he turned around and saw my smirking mug staring at him. He was probably like “huh?” But he was really nice, which was a change because he usually looks pretty crabby.
CONCERT***
So finally the concert started. Lindsey came out and did the stare down. Stevie did her cute little dance. Nothing special about The Chain or Dreams. Of course, IKINW rocked this world. Don't you always think you could be a back up singer. I know I do! I mean my voice sucks, but I know every little word, every little hoot and holler, exactly how they sing it. (as I’m sure many of you feel the same way!) I think Sharon and Jana get a kick out of it because I kept seeing them look at us in the front kind of smiling at us– like these girls are really crazy.
Lindsey looked down during Dreams, but I don’t know if it registered that it was me below him again. So during Peacekeeper he looked down and saw me and laughed while he was singing. You know you have been to too many shows when the band members laugh when they see you. I know he thinks I’m crazy. Afterwards he looked again and I waved and said “hi.” He smiled and nodded. We were bouncing up and down during Second Hand News. I kept catching Mick looking at us the entire night. He was laughing too.
So right in the beginning verses of SYW, all of a sudden Lindsey’s mic goes out. Stevie and Lindsey kind of looked at each other like “what is happening?” It was just for a second, then it went back on. All of a sudden Lindsay starting tapping me. She was messing with her camera right by the speaker and had accidently pulled out the microphone plug (I can’t believe they have those plugs right there!) She quickly pushed it back in when she realized what happened. We were both laughing. We couldn’t believe it. So be very careful around those things! LOL! Lindsey seemed to be singing really high on SYW. Kind of like a screech.
Lindsay was the “Come” girl for the night. Yay Lindsay!! Sara was awesome. I think it is my fave behind IKINW for this leg. It’s so cool when Stevie comes over to Lindsey’s mic and sings. Of course I’m happy as can be because I can snap pictures of Stevie w/o them turning out blurry. Stevie dedicated Landslide to us and to Karen, her friend since 8th grade who drove up from Denver. It’s too bad that “Say Goodbye” doesn’t sound good right at the stage. Something is way too loud and makes a vibrating noise that distorts the sound. Red Rover was great. Taku kept looking and smiling. He really makes some dramatic faces when he is playing those little maraca things. LOL!. Stevie said that she is really sad that the tour is winding down because she will no longer be able to sing “Beautiful Child.” She did seem really sad.
Ok so Tusk rolls around. Lindsey and Stevie do their little dance and everything. Lindsey is standing up by Mick’s drum bent over, eyes closed. All of a sudden, I look to my left and I see this girl climbing on the stage. She runs up there and starts dancing. She was not a good dancer! LOL! Not a second later, that huge black guy (is that Marcus?) on the side of the stage snatches her and drags her off. You should have seen him sprint. Lindsey looked up then and saw the girl being dragged off. He was like “geez, I missed it.” We were laughing so hard. It was the funniest thing, it was really hard to explain the way she was dancing, but man, it was funny. So then Lindsey creeps down to the front and does his little bent over thing. I stuck my hand up there since he usually slaps people’s hands. Instead of putting my right hand up, I put my left so it was all awkward. So he comes swinging and just smacks it and my arm goes flying in the opposite direction all awkward like. He slapped it so hard, my hand stung. Wowza.
I can’t remember what song it was…Tusk or maybe GYOW, there was this lady in the front row who was holding up her cell phone. I think maybe she was recording something or someone was listening. Lindsey saw it and was like “what are you doing?” All of a sudden he comes over and while he is singing, starts shouting in her phone, “Hello!” “Hello” about five times. Lindsay and I were just dying. Once again, it was soo funny! So during the GYOW solo”, I think, I had this sign that said “And the people, they love her!” for Stevie. It had a few pictures on it too. She came over to our side of the stage and as she was walking back I held it up. I saw her read it, but she didn’t really have any reaction. So as they were leaving the stage after GYOW, as she walked by she looked right at us and smiled and waved. It was so cool! She read my sign
When they came back out, Lindsey chucked his towel into the front row. It hit this girl in the head. She didn’t even see him throw it. LOL. During Mick’s drum solo, Lindsey was at the side of the stage. Ray brought some oxygen out for him, I guess he was really out of breath. Once again, I was psycho girl and kept looking at Lindsey and smiling. He kept looking at me and making faces. Finally, he lifted up his hands and shrugged his shoulders and said “What?” LOL! So I stood on my tippy toes so he could see and once again sign languaged “I Love You” to him and also mouthed it so he could understand. He did and smiled. He blew a kiss at me and then he sign languaged and mouthed back to me “I love you too!” OMG!! I died. Dennise had asked him for his towel while he was over there and he was like “oh you want this? Ok.” But, then when he started creeping out to play with Mick, he threw it at me. I wasn’t even expecting it. I guess, he wanted to reward me for telling him I love him. LOL. I wanted Dennise to have it, but she wouldn’t take it. (I’m sorry Dennise!) I had signs for Lindsey, Stevie and John. (Sorry, Mick!). Of course, Mick always sees my signs first. Each time he would point and go “ooh, ahh, ooh.” When Lindsey saw his sign, he pointed and laughed I think because I had the conehead picture of him on it. Mick pointed and ooh ahhd at my Stevie sign, but I don’t know if she read it again. And once again, John didn’t look at his. Lindsey saw it and gave me a funny look like “can this girl make any more signs or this girl is really a piece of work.” Now I didn’t notice this, but both Lindsay and Dennise saw this. After the introductions, Lindsey kept blowing kisses at Stevie and did the little pinky wave at her. Apparently, she was not too happy. She just stared at him and shrugged her shoulders. Something may be up in BN land. Dennise and Lindsay will have to offer more info on that since I didn’t actually witness it.
So last year in Omaha, I got a picture of Lindsey kissing me. I brought that picture because I wanted him to sign it. During “Don’t Stop” I held it up with a sharpie and pointed to him in the picture and pointed to me in the picture and was trying to tell him that was me. He was looking at me like “huh?” Lindsay said he almost messed up the lyrics to “Don’t Stop” trying to figure out what I was saying. Whoops. Ok, so Goodbye Baby came and went and was great as usual. Lindsey came straight over to us. I handed him the picture and he says “What is this?” I said, “It’s a picture of you kissing me! That’s me right there.” He's like "oh, ok!" He had a big smile on his face. He drew a heart and signed it. Yay!! Lindsay asked him if he could get Stevie to sign her BN album and he said “no.” So he grabbed it and signed it…again. After he signed it, he said, “Hey, I already signed it,” and Lindsay is like “yeah, I know.” Poor Lindsay! She didn’t ask him to sign it, but watcha gonna do….? At least she has a backup BN album to start over on for the next shows. (Sorry Lindsay!) So Lindsey signed a few more things, someone gave him a towel and he was like, “how am I gonna sign this?” He kissed his lips and reached out to us and smiled and then he was gone.
So as soon as the lights come up, Dennise heads like a bat out of hell out of the arena. Lindsay and I had to run to even keep up. We wanted to catch them leave in the limos. So we are climbing up the bleachers and stepping over people and Dennise is kinda moving people out of the way. LOL! Let me tell you , people did not like us as we scampered out of there. We got many a dirty look! So we wait out there and after about 20 minutes, they start coming out. The band comes out first and get in this van. Taku came over and chatted and signed a few autographs. Then Stevie came out and waved and we all yelled. She got in the limo. The window was partly rolled down and I was like “hey, you can see Stevie, moving her head!” All of a sudden, Sulamith popped her head out. I wonder if Stevie has ever been mistaken for Sulamith? Well she has by me. LOL. They both have blonde in their hair, what can I say?! We saw a camera poke out of the window and the flash go off. Stevie taking pictures with her digital camera again. She must really like that thing. Then John came out and got in an SUV type vehicle and we all yelled. Lindsey was next. I don’t think he waved or anything, but just got in the limo. Then Mick. As they started to pull away we ran to where they would drive by. As Stevie’s limo drove by…she poked her head out and started waving. It was awesome! We all waved and yelled. She really is the coolest.
So that about wraps it up. It was an awesome experience. In a way, I’m glad the tour is winding down because I can’t afford to go to any more shows!! I got the feeling that Lindsey wants it to be over too. I bet they are all ready for a break. I had a four hour drive home. The moon was outside my window. It was shaped exactly like the moon Stevie wears. I like to think it was meant to be that way!