my pittsburgh review
 

first, a warning: don't read this if you don't want to know everything, yes, everything that happened tonight. ;)

i left kent around 2 p.m. and traffic was pretty smooth. i missed the 76 ramp and ended up on 80 going towards NYC, but quickly fixed that. i found marissa's house without incident, which is pretty good for me. i made her the navigator and we made our way to kate's. then things got a tad dicey because my mapquest directions to the theater were wrong, so we drove around a bit before kate called her mom and told us how to get there. we found a parking garage and ate dinner at max and erma's and had a pretty creepy (and SLOW) waiter. my sandwich was pretty good, though - chicken, sundried tomatoes, and mozz on a ciabatta. yum. oh, and we had cookies, too, natch.

we walked over to the byham and picked up our tickets and met up with kate's mom. we found our seats and chilled for a bit. the byham is so beautiful! i can't wait to see patty griffin there next month. it's such a nice, intimate venue. really, i wouldn't have been disappointed in having any seat in the house.

lindsey was really on fire tonight. i loved the cleveland show, but this was so much better. the crowd was so pumped and so into it - lindsey even commented that he wanted to take the byham & everyone in it on the road with him. aw. the setlist was a little different this time from the cleveland show - no save me a place, and he did turn it on and shut us down. i don't think those were at the cleveland show. :shrug:

the end of the show is where things got awesommmme. :D marissa (the goddess) got me and kate backstage, and we chilled (ok, sang and danced and freaked out) during holiday road and the two closers. freaking awesome! brett, that sleaze, saw us standing in the wings and kept motioning towards us and told us to stick around. yeah, okay. then, during the band intros, lindsey made his usual comments about brett the womanizer, and how there were some extra seats on the jet, blah blah, and brett motioned for us to join them on stage! kate, marissa, and i just looked at each other like w.t.f. so we go out there, we introduce ourselves to the audience (o.m.g.), and lindsey and brett make jokes about kate and marissa still being in high school. the crowd laughs, lollercoasters, etc. etc. funny ****. unreal.

i wanted lindsey to sign my tickets (oops, i stole your sharpie, kate! sorry!), but it was not to be, and as we walked back through the crowd to the front of the house, people kept stopping us and asking us how the hell we got on stage and who we were. :laugh: we just kept saying "uhh, marissa knows a guy ..." and people liked that answer. :shrug: whatev!

anywayyyy, we all went around to the back of the house to see if we could catch lindsey and the band on the way out. we didn't see lindsey, but we did run into davidmn - happy bday, david! we couldn't stay for long - marissa had to be home by 12 and i have the plague, and didn't want to be getting home too late. i took marissa home and called michelle to brag about my backstage experience. :lol: then once i got on the turnpike, i called sparky and talked his ear off all the way to my exit. i made friggin' record time, too - pittsburgh to kent in a little over and hour. :eek:

random thoughts:

-marissa, you are my friggin' hero for getting us backstage - that experience was unreal. you are so sweet and funny - i had a blast!

-kate, i don't think i've ever met any 16 year old with as much confidence and guts as you. you're so friggin' cool. i hope you and marissa can go to the neko and/or patty show with me!

-um, why does it cost so much $ to drive to PA? i mean, seriously, you have to pay $3 just to cross into the state, and then a separate turnpike fee. PA is not that great. :sorry: :laugh:

-kate, your mom's hot.

that's all i got. pictures to follow.

i didn't get many pictures because they told me to put my camera away after the first few songs. but here are the few that came out.

a shot of the ceiling at the byham:

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137797824-M.jpg

the man himself:

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137797895-M.jpg

this one would be good if it weren't so fuzzy:

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137797963-M.jpg

can't really make out his face, but i promise it's lindsey:

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137798108-M.jpg

the lighting during red rover cast some eerie shadows on the wall decorations:

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137798180-M.jpg

hot bitches:

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137798260-M.jpg

dead serious!

thanks. :xoxo:

btw, i just laughed so hard at your sig i started wheezing and coughing. :lol:

thanks! i just wish it were a little crisper.

haha, whatever, bill - i know your type!

by the way, i think i learned my windbaggery from you - i can't believe how long my first post is. :lol: :xoxo:

:eek: :eek: :eek: congrats on a fab experience! Great for you girls!

awesome. so glad you had a good time despite being sick.

and you girls look hawt. no wonder you got backstage. ;)

Excellent! Sounds like the three of you had a great time together.

I spoke with David and he did say the crowd was much better than the baltimore but that ashville was the "ultimate!" He should be reporting as well.

Thanks for the gorgeous pics of byham. :nod:

:] :]

Wow, good times, good times!!!!!!!!!:blob2:

Is it me or does Lindsey just seem to be so in love with life right now!!!!! What a cutie!
Brett is a horny toad it seems...:laugh: :xoxo:

I can't wait to go to the Chicago show in April, the wait is killing meeeee!:D I need to be within inches of his boots!

What a memorable evening for you guys!!!!!:) :)

thanks, gerald! it was awesome.

well aren't you sweet. :xoxo:

we did have a good time. i can't believe david drove straight home, though. such a long drive.

ooh yeah. every fan encounter i've read about with him corroborates that. :laugh:

oh, here's the picture i sneaked backstage last night, just to prove i was there :laugh: :

http://carrie721.smugmug.com/photos/137843808-M.jpg

here's the only video i got last night:

yay. so glad you guys had fun

......I was giving injections and dressing people's wounds. whippee.

What a night for you!! Congrats!! :] Love the pics!

Thanks for the review!!