Ok. I’m gonna try to do this, but there’s so much that happened… the entire evening was so remarkably AMAZING!!! First of all- I met up with 3 of my friends at El Toro Taco in Millington to eat and jump in one car to Minglewood Hall for the Awake & Alive Tour. We got there like an hour and a half early but we were really close to the front of the line.
So we’re standing there, waiting, and I overhear this group talking about Skillet and other bands. Naturally, I automatically jump in. lol and it was good conversations too. Finally, the line starts moving and I’m getting into these conversations. I only caught a few names- Josh and Matt were 2 guys I was hanging out with all night. Mike was an older gentleman who I was getting in good conversations with about Stryper and bands like that. He had his daughter and his wife with him and I talked to them too but I missed names. For an hour and a half I’m talking the these people, and we’re enjoying the conversation.
Then finally, it’s time to go into the concert hall, which was fairly small, but it was cool. The merchandise tables are along the left wall, and they’re pretty neat. So I’m standing in line talking to Josh and Matt, waiting to meet Skillet, when finally the dude comes up and says Skillet is about to come out. Autographs only, though we can take pics OF the band, which sucked cause I was really wanting my pic with them! >.< oh, well. Hopefully next time. But anyway, Skillet finally shows up- thus begins the scream-a-thon lol. Finally, I get up there and get 3 cd covers signed- Awake (which I got a free copy of at the show), Comatose (got that signed specifically to Nicole. :D GLAD U LOVE IT, GIRL!! WAS HAPPY TO DO THAT FOR YOU!!), and Comatose Comes Alive- and I talk to the band, meeting John by saying “what’s up, peanut?”. He laughed and was like “you watch the pod casts?” and I said “oh, yeah! They’re awesome! Just like u guys!!”. I told him that last night was my 3rd time seeing them live and meeting them and he was like “dude, that’s awesome!! You do look somewhat familiar. I’m glad you came out.” I said “oh, im going home with no voice, a sore neck, and no face.” he laughed and said “awesome!”. I moved on to Korey, then Jen, then Ben. Did I mention I LOVE SKILLET?!!?!? :D
So I rush over to Josh and Matt, who had saved me a spot (if u can call it that. Hahaha) we’re literally right against the stage, so I was happy. :D this promised to be a good night- and sure enough it was. So we’re standing there, waiting and talking, then finally the first act comes on: The Letter Black. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t really hear the voice, but I know they sang Away From Me, Hanging On By A Thread, Moving On, and 2 others. I couldn’t really hear the vocals. But it was awesome! I loved them!!
Next up was Decyfer Down, and they put on an amazing show!! They started the show off with Crash, which was really good! Then Desperate, which was also really good! Next was Fight Like then and Burn Back The Sun (which are on the End of Grey album. Back then Caleb Oliver was the lead singer, so this was my first time hearing TJ Harris sing them, and they were REALLY GOOD!!). Then he went into an acoustic version of Best I Can, which was AWESOME!! Then he went into Fading, and ended with Ride With Me. I liked Decyfer Down before, but that show grew my love for them!! :D I decided to go ahead and rock for them, cause there’s nothing to do BUT rock with a band like Decyfer Down! :D I love them!!
Hawk Nelson came up next. I’ll be honest, I used to be REAL INTO THEM, but it went downhill after Hawk Nelson Is My Friend came out. So I wasn’t excited about them being on the tour at all.
So i went and got me and 2 other guys I met some water (with the money they gave me) I came back, gave them their water, and went back to the merchandise table (this is all before HN got up there). So first, I go to the Letter Black table, bought a picture and their cd, got the picture signed by the lead singer and the guitarist, and got my pic with them (they’re good people. I like them). Next, I went to the Decyfer Down table. I already have their cds, so I bought a picture and a poster. Then only member there was TJ Harris, the new lead singer. I HAD to talk to him. I got his autograph on the picture and my pic with him. I let him know that I was a big fan of his last band, Fighting Instinct, and his face lit up, saying he really appreciates it. He asked what I thought about him being in Decyfer Down and I told him that I loved it and I actually like him better, (which was no lie, I really do. Caleb was good, but his voice was too high. TJ’s voice just fit better).
I went back to the guys just in time for Hawk Nelson, which I figured why not? Didn’t wanna lose my spot. Haha I’d need it for Skillet. But anyway, HN started off with Bring Em’ Out, which was pretty good. Then they sang The Show (I like them from Letters to the President and Smile, It’s The End of the World). So I knew those songs and I sang along. Well, Jason, the lead singer, saw me singing and put the mic right up to my face. I sung right into it too, as did the people around me. He did this 3 times total, which I thought was weird. Haha then he started singing songs I didn’t know so I drowned him out. I went back and talked to Nicole and Whitney for a few minutes, waiting for Hawk Nelson to end. Well, while back there, I gave Nicole my posters to hold (I went back and bought a Skillet poster. Hehe I had to. Thank you for holding them, sweetheart. Lol) so they wouldn’t be damaged during Skillet (the rocking I did would have ruined them, but I’ll get into that when I get to Skillet. Hehe) they sang Everything You Ever Wanted while I was with the girls. I went back to where I was standing and waited until HN was done.
They finally ended and Josh went to get some water for me and him with some money I gave him. I took his spot RIGHT AGAINST THE STAGE (where he was the entire time. Lol we agreed we’d swap but we never did. My turn! Haha) so im standing there, he gives me a water and says it’s cool cause we did agree to that. So we’re watching them set up Skillet’s stage, which looks awesome.
(this is where I go into it in detail!! Lol and where my rocking out LAUNCHED!!!!!) Then finally, the time had arrived: SKILLET WAS ON THE STAGE!!!! It started off with them playing some really wicked cool intro music, which led into Whispers In The Dark!! After Whispers, they went into Better Than Drugs, and It’s Not Me It’s You. There was a slight pause where he talked to the crowd, at which point me and the guy started chanting “peanut, peanut, peanut, peanut” to John, who just started laughing. He looked down at us and was like “these guys are out of control”. We screamed and were like “YEAH!!!!!”. It was great. haha. He slowed it down and went into The Older I Get. I was singing along (obviously. lol) but John watched me sing along. when I sang “the walls between you and I” with him, he grinned at me and nodded (YEAH!!!), and the song went on. afterwards, Jonathan Chu (the only guy I know of who can ROCK A VIOLIN) and Tate Olsen (the only guy I know of who can ROCK A CELLO), came out and I knew what song they had to be starting with: Comatose! and sure enough, it was! but first they played the intro that was on the Comatose Comes Alive CD/DVD, which was awesome! :D After Comatose, he talked for a second, then went into Hero, which I called Mary during (she called me during the concert she went to, so I repaid the favor. haha) then we continued rocking. After Hero, John stopped and talked for a minute, changing from his bass to an acoustic guitar, which I knew what was coming. First off, he was saying “I’m from Memphis, so I can say y’all on the mic and not get in trouble *crowd screams* how many people DON’T know what a power ballad is? *crowd raises hand* I’m gonna learn y’all about a power ballad” and stated a power ballad “is a soft song that chicks like… and some dudes.” It was hilarious. Then he started playing Bon Jovi’s “I’ll Be There For You”, which I was going crazy about cause it’s my favorite Bon Jovi song I was singing along with him. Though he only sang the chorus, it was still awesome just because it’s John Cooper. :D lol then he started singing Yours To Hold, where Jen Ledger jumped off the drums and sang the 2nd verse, which rocked!!!! That girl can sing! then she got back at the drums while Korey sang the 1st part of the chorus, John coming in at the 2nd part. They sang through the rest of the song and stopped so John could tell the story behind the next song, then went into the Last Night, which had the awesome outro that’s on the Comatose Comes Alive CD/DVD. After that song, Jen had a crazy drum solo, which was AWESOME!!! then someone (idk who he was. usually it’s Scotty Rock, but his wife just had a baby, so he’s with them. LOVE SCOTTYROCK!!) took the bass and John had the mic, which meant Those Nights or Monster, and it was the former. This is a part where John took the mic and put it near the crowd (at one point, he put the mic near me) and we sang the “Oh! OH!” chant. Then someone came out with a small crowd cam and John went around the front row (yes, that’s where I was) and started filming the crowd going crazy. After Those Nights, John gets the bass back and talks for a minute, kinda like a mini-sermon about what they rock about, which led into Awake & Alive, which was AWESOME LIVE!!! :D after A&A, they went into Savior, which was equally AWESOME!!! Then Ben graced us with one AMAZING guitar solo!! after the solo, John got up there, mic in his hand and other guy with the bass (I knew what was coming), talking about how sometimes he feels good about himself, sometimes he’s satisfied with who he is, but sometimes “I FEEL LIKE A MONSTER!!!”, then they started playing Monster, which was AWESOME!! I loved the growl live!! the entire thing was amazing!! Then Monster ended and Skillet left (somewhat teasing us. I knew there’d be an encore. Me and the guys started chanting Skillet for a minute before they finally came back out and played My Obsession, which was WICKED!!! After that, they played Lucy, which was just beautiful. After Lucy, Tate Olsen had a Cello solo (which was awesome!!), then Jonathan Chu had a Violin solo (also awesome!!), then they ended with Rebirthing, which they added an amazing outro to!! After the song was over, the entire show was over and Skillet went off stage.
I met up with Whitney and Nicole and talked to them for a minute while Josh (the cousin who went with us) went to the car. I got the posters back and noticed that the rest of Decyfer Down was at the table, so I went over there quickly and got the rest to autograph the pic and my picture with them. It was great. Then we walked out, I said bye to the girls and got in the car with Josh, Brad, and Brittany, and we came home.
The Awake & Alive tour was AMAZING!!!!!! I HAD SUCH A BLAST!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT TIME I SEE SKILLET LIVE!!!!!!!!!! :D
Thursday, November 26, 2009
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