Well, I'll start by saying it was THE best show I've seen yet! (Yes, I know...each one you see is better than the last!)
There 'were' empty seats, but that doesn't make for a quiet crowd. People, at least most of 'em, stood from the time the band took the stage till after Let's Get Rocked!
We were running a bit late getting there and missed 3 or 4 of Ricky's songs. Hell,that's half his set! I was bummed, but it couldn't be avoided. Columbus traffic REALLY sucks! And Ricky Warwick kicks ASS! Mandy was bummed, she's a HUGE Ricky fan now!
There are a few things that stand out most in my mind. One being Sav telling someone in the front (and me reading his lips) that "I'm hot! I'm SO hot!", meaning it was hot temperature-wise in the arena. Well...that brought on a major hot flash for me! I wanted to scream, "You'd better believe it, buddy!" hehehe, I refrained!
I finally got to hear SLANG live! Oh man...that song is even better live! I knew they were gonna do it when after Long, Long Way To Go Joe did his usual spiel (That was Long, Long Way To Go and this....is......) and my heart started pounding! Even the "hubby-guy" loves SLANG, it's such a fun, upbeat tune!
The next thing that sticks with me is the beginning of Let's Get Rocked, when Joe dropped the mic and missed singing the first line of the song. Too funny!
Wanna say Hi to Lisa, Karen & Richard (you two are in my pix, btw!), Judy, Chris, JEFF! (you boozer, you!), Devinee....(kicking self for not remember more people's names)
Nik, I looked for ya up to my left. I "thought" I saw you during Ricky's set, but lost track of ya shortly after that. It may not have been you! Sorry!
I saw Dub (all the way from Cali!) but didn't get an opportunity to talk to her either.
The Honda passes?? I tell ya, I nearly had to BEG people to take them! LOL (Excluding Lisa!) There was a friend of Lisa's there, Abby, and she was willing to take one! She was happy for one and I was HAPPY to give her one. The others, I gave to Jeff and his entourage on my way out. Unfortunately, too many people were only in town for one night and wouldn't be able to go to tonight's show.
Tonight?!!!! I gotta do this again?? I woke up a half hour ago, unable to MOVE! My lower back popped, cracked, moaned and groaned before it'd let me up outta bed. Now that I'm up, it's just screaming quietly. (ya kinda get used to it after 7 or so years) My drugs are in my system, ready to work their magic and I'm off to the shower to get ready for today's activities and TONIGHT'S SHOW! I'm hoping to make it there by 1PM to watch the employee talent show. With the thousands of people who work at Honda, ya know there's gotta be some talented folk among them!
Richard, Karen, Mandy, Debs and Greg
I'll start by saying that our intentions were good. hehe We didn't get there as early as planned, nor did we see the other acts we'd planned on seeing. But we sure had fun!
After the confusion earlier in the day about who was not going (Mandy) and who was going (sister and her hubby)... we finally got it figured out. My sister and her hubby decided they didn't want to go and Mandy did. UGH! I did more running around yesterday! LOL I made my sister bring the wristbands back to me at least, so hopefully I could get them to who needed/wanted them. I still ended up with two extras! LOL
I had a call from Karen and Richard (Shalalalagirl & PaperSun/Scar) and though they had turned down the passes the night before, they realized they were for a Lepp show and NOT a race!
So, via cell phones, it's agreed that they'll get the spares I have. As we get into Columbus, Richard calls, says they'll meet us at O'Shaughnessy's and that some cool people in the elevator at their hotel gave them some passes/wristbands. I'm laughing now... I STILL have those other two wristbands! Ah well...I'll frame them along with my other ticket stubs from shows.
Anyhow... (I know...I'm longwinded! lol) we meet up with Richard and Karen at the pub for drinks. They are one of THE nicest, sweetest couples I've ever met! Karen, I had SUCH a great time getting to talk with you! Lisa calls (or vice versa??) and says she's just gotten to the area of the festival and I tell her where we are. She's another very awesome gal! I feel very fortunate that, as yet, I've not met any of the real looney fans face-to-face! As long as I keep meeting the best people, I think I'll stick around!!
After grabbing a bite to eat at Max & Irma's (I always wanted to see that place! lol), we headed back over to the arena, where lines are already beginning to form. We're like...#'s 7,8,9,10 & 11 in line, which really doesn't matter. Like I said before, Honda people are the RUDEST people on the face of the earth and it doesn't seem to matter to them who was in line first, they just move you to accommodate them. We waited in line for well over two hours, only to be crowded out of the way by the almighty Hondroids as it got closer to showtime. And though it didn't produce any results, I'm so VERY impressed and proud that Richard went up to the people who crammed in front of us and gave them a piece of his mind. GO RICHARD!!!
I mean, we were there as GUESTS, family members & friends who WORK for Honda gave us our passes. It's not like we stole them, bought them off eBay or anything. Now we see how Honda associates treat guests (eerily similar to the way they treat temporary employees!).
OMG! The show, as always was awesome. (No Ricky, *tear*) But the stampede that took place to SEE the show...that's another story. Last night's show was my first (and last, thank you) ever general admission show. (one more complaint about Honda and it's employee's is how freaking ignorant and rude they are!) The Who and Cincinnati Ohio popped into my head with a BANG!
After we saw just how dangerous it could be trying to rush in, Greg, Mandy and I hung back, telling ourselves "It just ain't worth all this." Greg has been telling me that we should try a show sometime from the first level, Viv & Sav's side, and this seemed like a good time to try it. And even though there seems to be some "prestige" to having floor seats (at least, I always thought so! lol) last night's seats were the best we've ever had. The view of the stage was great, no craning our necks to see over the heads in front of us...and honestly, we just felt lucky to have lived through the rush. LOL We were able to spot Lisa in 3rd row below and I called her on the cell phone so she could see where we were. She felt so bad that we didn't get closer, but I assured her we were more than happy where we were! We also made visual contact with Karen and Richard, who I 'think' were in 8th row. Richard got THE best pix I've seen taken yet this tour. Good job, Richard!
The arena...well, it was more filled than any of the other shows I've been to. I will say one semi-nice thing about the Honda peeps...they know how to rock! Well, most of them anyway! Most of the people in our particular row sat on their asses throughout most of the show. hehehe, musta been Honda management! *looks around...did "I" say that??*
We got to hear SLANG again! That makes any show a great show with just that one song! I noticed many people not singing along to a lot of the songs. I don't think they knew them. But when the classics started...Pour Some Sugar On Me, Photograph, Rock Of Ages... everyone was singing along to those.
I also remember Joe talking to the crowd, saying how great it was of Honda to do this (I have to agree there...). He went on to say that he owns a Honda Goldwing (motorcycle) and Rick Allen owns an Acura. Funny...I find it hard to imagine these guys with Hondas.
After the show, Lisa, Mandy and I went in search of buses! LOL Greg went out for a smoke and we kept in touch on our cells. Once we found the buses, Greg found us and we again met up with Abigail (waves *hi* to Abby!) and begin our wait! LOL Abigail is one of the people I met at Friday's show, through Lisa and she got one of the passes I'd had that night. FRIENDS everywhere! I love it!
After waiting for what seemed like forever by the buses, and GREG waving at SAV (and SAV waving back) (and Malvin) as I stood shell-shocked and unable to even wave, we meandered around for awhile and our night ended where we began, O'Shaughnessy's. We finally got home at 4 in the morning and fell into bed! Why and how I woke up at 10 am is still puzzling me. Once I figure that out, I'll be better I think!
Be sure and check out Lisa's write up of the story WHEN she gets it done. I'm gonna BEG (and then threaten) her to post it here! She pays a LOT more attention to what goes on onstage, while I can't seem to peel my eyes from the bass player and many things go unnoticed by me!
My photo's...well, taken with a disposable camera, aren't too bad. But, they're mine and will forever be a remembrance of the BEST times of my life. Please do not remove them from this page. Thanks!
