[Maccafan5000]

I’m going to recount as much as I can from the concert, but I was ridiculously excited and overwhelmed from the start so some of the intricate details are lost (I can only hope someone taped the show!). This may be long and rambling, but even a few days later I’m still giddy about the whole experience, so my deepest apologies for dredging through the ENTIRE experience!

Even though we were visiting Las Vegas, I forced my boyfriend Eric and best friend (another Michelle) to get to the Joint as early as possible to get in line. Naturally, they wanted to gamble, so we sat right outside the doors and played some video poker until half a dozen people got into line. I apologized to those around, because I am a concert dancer and singer. Anticipation was high, and the drummer from the Rembrandts(?) was actually behind me in the audience (nice guy, we chatted about being drummers a bit). I was a bit off to the side of Lindsey’s mic, so I was able to spend most of the concert about 5 feet away from the man. It was literally unbelievable.

I'll be posing my pics up at some point, and I'll leave the link since there are so many. They were not concered at all with cameras, possibly because last year at the Joint Lindsey kicked a security guard in the neck (while playing) when they were pushing us all back to our seats.

The set list was the same as the other shows. He totally ripped into both Great Day and Love Runs Deeper, and they were perfect to set the stage for the “rockin” show that he’s aiming to present. I noticed right away that this concert was going to be much different than the Under the Skin tour. Linds was interacting quite a bit with the audience, making eye contact and faces galore, definitely into the show.

I was air drumming and guitaring to the max, I simply could not help myself. I made sure that Eric and Michelle surrounded me as much as possible so I wouldn’t bother others, and the three of us had a great time and totally got into the concert. I really liked Go Insane much more than I thought I would, since the acoustic version is one of my faves. It definitely kept the concert going at a fast pace.

Nothing much different about the songs that I can say for sure, but Lindsey seemed so into the show that he actually forgot words (or switched them around) to about 3 of the songs (I think I Know I’m Not Wrong was one of them). The acoustic section was a nice break, and Shut Us Down nearly moved me to tears. After Under the Skin I grabbed the guitar pic (maybe it was just my wishful thinking but it seemed that he threw it directly at me).

Now, I didn’t mean it, it seriously just slipped right out, but before Lindsey even introduced “Did You Miss Me” I yelled out “I MISSED YOU LINDSEY!!” And he said “Close!” since that wasn’t ACTUALLY the title. He then pointed at Eric and said something like “Didn’t you miss him?” And I responded “No! I love him, but I don’t miss him, I see him all the time!” Lindsey chuckled and then went on to introduce the song…but didn’t talk at all about the whole “Gift of Screws” song/album concept. He actually didn’t get to that until he introduced Treason. I blame myself for throwing him off, was really surprised he even heard me, as I truly didn’t mean to interrupt. It was fun to witness a less rehearsed Lindsey.

Wally’s drum solo for World Turning seemed to be more of a hit than it was last year, everyone was clapping and really getting into it, really entertaining. Lindsey played to both sides of the stage for the guitar solos of So Afraid and GYOW, and accepted a bracelet from a lady in the audience and about two songs later looked down at it saying “I don’t know how I got this." I made sure to yell that it looked great, where he nodded and said something like, “well, alright then.”

The band intros were typical, but after he introduced Wally I yelled out “I love you Wally!!” and Lindsey turns around an in this hilarious voice, almost like he was disappointed said, “Was that you again?” And I said “NO!....maybe…” and then pointing to Eric said, “it was him!” Lindsey just winked and then went on with the intros.

After the concert we were trying to recoup a bit, and then headed over to buy some t-shirts, cds, and a coffee mug. I had told Eric and Mitchell that I didn’t want to wait around after the concert for him, because I know how tired and sometimes unsociable I am after performing, and I didn’t want to taint my image of him in any way. But then he was suddenly on the stage (Eric just tapped my shoulder since he had spotted him with eagle-like accuracy) so I scurried over, and he plopped right down cross-legged in front of me (I almost fainted) and I tried not to ramble when saying how amazing the concert was, to which he said something like, “thanks for singing in tune hun” and as Eric approached he said “I have GOT to shake your hand.” I think at that moment Eric became a super-fan, and I retorted, “aw come on I’m not THAT bad!” Lindsey was in a really good mood, all laughs, and said “nah it just kinda creeped me out that YOU knew all the words.”

A group of people had formed behind us, so I moved aside and let others talk, since I was already overwhelmed and couldn’t say anything that I thought I would say if I ever met Lindsey (I was really disappointed in myself for that). But I made silly poses while Michelle took some pictures, making friends with the security guard who told me to do the Heisman (I did), and after the crowd dissipated I asked for a picture. I think before he even got out the words “Of course” my butt was on that stage snuggled up next to him. First shot: no flash. “One more Lindsey?” and with a sigh he said, “well alright,” with an added squeeze.

We left after telling him one more time that the concert was amazing, and outside other people from the concert kept asking me if I knew Lindsey. Now I have not a clue why they thought that, but I disappointedly told them no, only in my dreams do I know the man, and I had no idea why he kept interacting with me during the concert or why it SEEMED (apparently) that he had come out on stage after the concert to say hi to myself and Eric.

Outside I saw Neale (purely a coincidence, we were like, hey look the tour bus!), so I went and said hi, and in turn met Ryan. Neale said something like, “Oh hey we saw you air drumming!” and I apologized for being crazy and he said not to worry, it was entertaining and he was glad I had a good time. I think Michelle took a picture of Ryan and Lindsey (I didn’t want to seem like a stalker so I didn’t approach), and the guy who was driving them to their hotel asked me what Neale’s last name was (I almost had to think twice my brain was so scrambled!). I said hi to Brett as well, but they were hurrying off so I didn’t get a pic, and then we hiked on back to the strip (Eric and Michelle decided I needed to walk off some of my energy because I was a mess) to drink and celebrate, running into other Lindsey fans who either asked if I knew Lindsey or we would just shout “IT WAS A GREAT DAY!” back and forth in passing.

Needless to say, it was an incredible, unforgettable, amazing experience. Lindsey was such a nice, genuine guy, and had a great sense of humor. Eric and Michelle are both superfans now, and even though I’ve only had about 8 hours of sleep (seriously, it really unhealthy) over the stretch of the past four days, I simply have to look at my desktop background at my pic of me Lindsey, and all is right with the world.