Philly, DC, and a whole lot of OMFG.
So, let's get straight to the point.
DARREN REMEMBERED ME. WE HAD A CONVERSATION. I GOT A PICTURE WITH HIM. HE. REMEMBERED. ME. WE HUGGED. AND HE REMEMBERED ME.
Okay, now that I've got that out of my system...
So, Tuesday morning... Marcy, Vern and I left, later than I wanted, and drove to Gettysburg to collect Torrey. Which is a misleading way to put it, since Torrey drove... lol. Anyway, Torrey then drove us to Philadelphia. We were late leaving (cuz we were late getting there) but we still got there in time... we had been aiming for 6, cuz that's when the doors opened, and we could have made it if traffic hadn't been backed up really bad. But we got into the city in plenty of time... then we got lost trying to find the venue. We realized what we did wrong when we looked at the map, and the biggest problem is that none of the streets in Philadelphia are marked. What the hell is up with that?
We eventually did find the venue, and went to the first parking lot... which, of course, was full. And we couldn't figure out how get into or out of it. So after circling it for probably a good fifteen minutes, we went to the second one, which was under the bridge... and it turns out that one was right beside the venue. And there was like... one space open that was too skinny for the car and there was a pole in the middle of it. But we got into it, and we were in the venue by 7 or so.
We'd been planning on eating before the show, so we ended up ordering quesadillas, but we were still eating them through the opening acts.. Actually we didn't even get our food till halfway through the first guy. But I didn't really care, as long as I wasn't eating when Darren was on. :P The first guy was... Tim Sheff, I think. I remember there were two f's. He said that a bunch of times. lol. He was pretty good. He reminded me of a cross between Jason Mraz and Jamie Cullum... kind of like if Jamie Cullum did modern pop/rock. Oh, and minus the British. He had a pretty good upper register. Which seems to have been a requirement for opening for Darren, or something.
The second guy was Nathan Walters. Turns out he used to be in Plus One. I only really listened to "Last Flight Out", but I've got a soft spot for ex-boyband guys. :P He was really good... His stuff was more electronic sounding than the first guy, and he sang even higher. You can tell they knew their audience... all these high-singing pop/electronica guys. lol Oh and I forgot to say how close we were... we were at the second table from the front, but it was touching the first table so it's not like there was a space... and the first table was pushed right up against the stage... and we were one off from dead center, but he was sitting more towards our side anyway. So we were like five feet away from him. hehe
So. Darren. He was amazing. He's always amazing. I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Amazing and hilarious. I always forget how funny he is. And Australian... very Australian. He sang... a LOT of songs. He did a bunch, then said that this is when they usually did the encore, but he didn't feel like leaving, so we should just pretend... So we cheered and yelled and he said to Steve, "I think they want us to come back..." and they did another song. And since that was supposed to be the encore, I started using my flash again... cuz they said no flash photography, but I figured they weren't going to yell at me for the last song... except he did like ten more after that. haha. At one point he started rolling up his sleeves and undoing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt... and we were like, whooooa what is going on here?? haha. But he was just kicking it up a notch. ;) He did the faster songs after he undressed a bit, like Me, Myself & I and Popular... during the second verse of Popular, I think during the "I must confess, I've been a very bad boy" line, he pointed at me during his sexy dance. And I died. Ahhhahaha. And we always make eye contact. We did back in March, too. And you can tell when you make eye contact with somebody... and every time it happens I always smile at him, and he always smiles back. Hehehe.
He sang part of Truly Madly Deeply, which I'd never heard live before... mostly to make fun of Steve, who apparently didn't know the words. I think most of the songs he sang after the encore, he sang because he kept telling us stupid stories. Like the one about Stevie Nicks and his brother. hahaha. He also did Dublin Sky (I'd never heard that live before) followed by Unlovable, and the crazy lady at our table started sobbing... *eye roll* And he did I Want You, but all the songs were acoustic, and nobody could tell what that one was gonna be before he actually started singing the words.
He was amazing.
After it was over... well first, we didn't keep clapping for an encore. And I figured it was cuz he already did his and he sang like ten more songs than he was gonna, but I still think we should have kept going. Now maybe he thinks we hate him or something cuz we didn't want him to come back out... no lol, I know he didn't, he blogged and said how much he liked us. But still. Anyway, we hung around the stage for awhile, but the publicist said he wasn't coming out, so we left... we stopped at a Sheetz on the way home... actually, we were looking for a Sonic, because there was a billboard pointing us to one, but there were a lot of choices once we left the turnpike and we ended up lost in some town that was less populated than Montandon. And when we finally did find the place, we sat in the drive-thru for ten minutes and they didn't take our order or tell us they were closed or anything. Jerks. So we went to Sheetz, and I got a breakfast burrito, but they gave me one with spicy sausage. :(
Anyway... we got to Gettysburg pretty late, after midnight I think, and then we drove home... actually Marcy dropped me off at my house and then went back to Bloom. I didn't end up going to bed until like 5:30, and then my mom woke me up at 8:30 to get ready to go to DC. We were late getting going that time too, but it didn't take anywhere near as long as I thought it would to get there, so we were okay. The worst part was that it was blizzarding the whole way there. She said we weren't going to go if there was any snow anywhere, and there definitely was... but we went anyway, and I am SO glad we did.
We got to the XM Radio station around 3, and we had to be there at 3:30... my mom waited in the car, and my sister and I went inside. After a bit they signed us in, gave us stickers, and took us upstairs and told us to sit in this lobby area. All the seats were full, so my sister and I sat sort of around the corner... like we were right near the lobby, but sitting facing a different direction. Which was actually really good, cuz we could see down both halls, and we saw Darren walk by. My sister kicked me cuz I wasn't paying attention... and then when I did see him, I didn't know what to do with myself. Because we were in a building and I was the only other person who saw him, so I couldn't exactly make a scene... lol. But yeah, he went in the room and we all waited some more... then he came down the hall that came right towards me and turned in front of me, with the radio guy, and the radio guy was like, "Wave at everybody!" and Darren did, and then he saw me sitting there and was like, "Hey, I remember you! :D" And I actually died. But the funny thing is, my sister looked even more surprised than I was. Her jaw just DROPPED. lol
Before long, they told us to come back... we were right at the front of the line, but people were being really pushy and I ended up in the second row. But it was okay, we were right in the middle and between other people's heads so I could see Darren clearly. Especially considering there was only twenty people there, in this little tiny room, and I was sitting like six feet away from him. hehe. He asked for a stool for his tea and water, and some girl volunteered to hold it for him... hahaha I totally would have. :P He only sang five or six songs, but there was a lot of talking/interviewing, and he said stuff I didn't know, so it was really, really cool. He talked about his dad, and his sister, and how he got signed as Savage Garden, and Powered Sugar, and other stuff. Apparently Savage Garden was discovered in America basically because a few DJs got copies of I Want You and played it on the radio... and the guy who was interviewing Darren was one of those DJs. Neat.
After he was done singing, they said we could take pics... I thought they just meant of him, but they said we could take them WITH him. I've never gotten my camera out of its case so fast in my life. hahaha. We were like fourth or fifth in line... I handed my camera to the publicist, since he was taking pics for everyone, and he was like, "We've met you before, haven't we?" hehe, yep. He reintroduced me to Darren, who proceeded to hug me and have a big conversation about where I live, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the Philly show, and a couple other things. And we got a picture. Which I will now show you. Hehehe.
*dead*
And then we left. And the rest of the DC trip isn't important... but I might blog about it later.
So, yeah. Long story short, I met him, and phase two of Operation: Be BFFs With Darren is now complete. I sent him a message on myspace as soon as I got to the hotel... I'm hoping he recognizes me again and responds. He responded once. That was a good day. But this was waaaay better. In fact, I'm pretty sure the rest of my life can only go downhill from here. :P
DARREN REMEMBERED ME. WE HAD A CONVERSATION. I GOT A PICTURE WITH HIM. HE. REMEMBERED. ME. WE HUGGED. AND HE REMEMBERED ME.
Okay, now that I've got that out of my system...
So, Tuesday morning... Marcy, Vern and I left, later than I wanted, and drove to Gettysburg to collect Torrey. Which is a misleading way to put it, since Torrey drove... lol. Anyway, Torrey then drove us to Philadelphia. We were late leaving (cuz we were late getting there) but we still got there in time... we had been aiming for 6, cuz that's when the doors opened, and we could have made it if traffic hadn't been backed up really bad. But we got into the city in plenty of time... then we got lost trying to find the venue. We realized what we did wrong when we looked at the map, and the biggest problem is that none of the streets in Philadelphia are marked. What the hell is up with that?
We eventually did find the venue, and went to the first parking lot... which, of course, was full. And we couldn't figure out how get into or out of it. So after circling it for probably a good fifteen minutes, we went to the second one, which was under the bridge... and it turns out that one was right beside the venue. And there was like... one space open that was too skinny for the car and there was a pole in the middle of it. But we got into it, and we were in the venue by 7 or so.
We'd been planning on eating before the show, so we ended up ordering quesadillas, but we were still eating them through the opening acts.. Actually we didn't even get our food till halfway through the first guy. But I didn't really care, as long as I wasn't eating when Darren was on. :P The first guy was... Tim Sheff, I think. I remember there were two f's. He said that a bunch of times. lol. He was pretty good. He reminded me of a cross between Jason Mraz and Jamie Cullum... kind of like if Jamie Cullum did modern pop/rock. Oh, and minus the British. He had a pretty good upper register. Which seems to have been a requirement for opening for Darren, or something.
The second guy was Nathan Walters. Turns out he used to be in Plus One. I only really listened to "Last Flight Out", but I've got a soft spot for ex-boyband guys. :P He was really good... His stuff was more electronic sounding than the first guy, and he sang even higher. You can tell they knew their audience... all these high-singing pop/electronica guys. lol Oh and I forgot to say how close we were... we were at the second table from the front, but it was touching the first table so it's not like there was a space... and the first table was pushed right up against the stage... and we were one off from dead center, but he was sitting more towards our side anyway. So we were like five feet away from him. hehe
So. Darren. He was amazing. He's always amazing. I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Amazing and hilarious. I always forget how funny he is. And Australian... very Australian. He sang... a LOT of songs. He did a bunch, then said that this is when they usually did the encore, but he didn't feel like leaving, so we should just pretend... So we cheered and yelled and he said to Steve, "I think they want us to come back..." and they did another song. And since that was supposed to be the encore, I started using my flash again... cuz they said no flash photography, but I figured they weren't going to yell at me for the last song... except he did like ten more after that. haha. At one point he started rolling up his sleeves and undoing his tie and unbuttoning his shirt... and we were like, whooooa what is going on here?? haha. But he was just kicking it up a notch. ;) He did the faster songs after he undressed a bit, like Me, Myself & I and Popular... during the second verse of Popular, I think during the "I must confess, I've been a very bad boy" line, he pointed at me during his sexy dance. And I died. Ahhhahaha. And we always make eye contact. We did back in March, too. And you can tell when you make eye contact with somebody... and every time it happens I always smile at him, and he always smiles back. Hehehe.
He sang part of Truly Madly Deeply, which I'd never heard live before... mostly to make fun of Steve, who apparently didn't know the words. I think most of the songs he sang after the encore, he sang because he kept telling us stupid stories. Like the one about Stevie Nicks and his brother. hahaha. He also did Dublin Sky (I'd never heard that live before) followed by Unlovable, and the crazy lady at our table started sobbing... *eye roll* And he did I Want You, but all the songs were acoustic, and nobody could tell what that one was gonna be before he actually started singing the words.
He was amazing.
After it was over... well first, we didn't keep clapping for an encore. And I figured it was cuz he already did his and he sang like ten more songs than he was gonna, but I still think we should have kept going. Now maybe he thinks we hate him or something cuz we didn't want him to come back out... no lol, I know he didn't, he blogged and said how much he liked us. But still. Anyway, we hung around the stage for awhile, but the publicist said he wasn't coming out, so we left... we stopped at a Sheetz on the way home... actually, we were looking for a Sonic, because there was a billboard pointing us to one, but there were a lot of choices once we left the turnpike and we ended up lost in some town that was less populated than Montandon. And when we finally did find the place, we sat in the drive-thru for ten minutes and they didn't take our order or tell us they were closed or anything. Jerks. So we went to Sheetz, and I got a breakfast burrito, but they gave me one with spicy sausage. :(
Anyway... we got to Gettysburg pretty late, after midnight I think, and then we drove home... actually Marcy dropped me off at my house and then went back to Bloom. I didn't end up going to bed until like 5:30, and then my mom woke me up at 8:30 to get ready to go to DC. We were late getting going that time too, but it didn't take anywhere near as long as I thought it would to get there, so we were okay. The worst part was that it was blizzarding the whole way there. She said we weren't going to go if there was any snow anywhere, and there definitely was... but we went anyway, and I am SO glad we did.
We got to the XM Radio station around 3, and we had to be there at 3:30... my mom waited in the car, and my sister and I went inside. After a bit they signed us in, gave us stickers, and took us upstairs and told us to sit in this lobby area. All the seats were full, so my sister and I sat sort of around the corner... like we were right near the lobby, but sitting facing a different direction. Which was actually really good, cuz we could see down both halls, and we saw Darren walk by. My sister kicked me cuz I wasn't paying attention... and then when I did see him, I didn't know what to do with myself. Because we were in a building and I was the only other person who saw him, so I couldn't exactly make a scene... lol. But yeah, he went in the room and we all waited some more... then he came down the hall that came right towards me and turned in front of me, with the radio guy, and the radio guy was like, "Wave at everybody!" and Darren did, and then he saw me sitting there and was like, "Hey, I remember you! :D" And I actually died. But the funny thing is, my sister looked even more surprised than I was. Her jaw just DROPPED. lol
Before long, they told us to come back... we were right at the front of the line, but people were being really pushy and I ended up in the second row. But it was okay, we were right in the middle and between other people's heads so I could see Darren clearly. Especially considering there was only twenty people there, in this little tiny room, and I was sitting like six feet away from him. hehe. He asked for a stool for his tea and water, and some girl volunteered to hold it for him... hahaha I totally would have. :P He only sang five or six songs, but there was a lot of talking/interviewing, and he said stuff I didn't know, so it was really, really cool. He talked about his dad, and his sister, and how he got signed as Savage Garden, and Powered Sugar, and other stuff. Apparently Savage Garden was discovered in America basically because a few DJs got copies of I Want You and played it on the radio... and the guy who was interviewing Darren was one of those DJs. Neat.
After he was done singing, they said we could take pics... I thought they just meant of him, but they said we could take them WITH him. I've never gotten my camera out of its case so fast in my life. hahaha. We were like fourth or fifth in line... I handed my camera to the publicist, since he was taking pics for everyone, and he was like, "We've met you before, haven't we?" hehe, yep. He reintroduced me to Darren, who proceeded to hug me and have a big conversation about where I live, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the Philly show, and a couple other things. And we got a picture. Which I will now show you. Hehehe.
*dead*
And then we left. And the rest of the DC trip isn't important... but I might blog about it later.
So, yeah. Long story short, I met him, and phase two of Operation: Be BFFs With Darren is now complete. I sent him a message on myspace as soon as I got to the hotel... I'm hoping he recognizes me again and responds. He responded once. That was a good day. But this was waaaay better. In fact, I'm pretty sure the rest of my life can only go downhill from here. :P