Duluth, DCook, Drummer, and Dublin
A somewhat spur of the moment trip to Duluth to see David Cook in concert turned out to be an exciting, epic, hilarious trip which made up for all the bullshit I've had to put up with this summer...
So it started off, hit the road at 12:30 for the 3ish hour drive. We blasted Cook for the first hour and half or so, because while my friend is awesome, she is not hardcore so I had to get her obsessed in a very short amount of time. We hit Duluth and check in to our hotel around 3:30 their time, get changed and dolled up, and make our way downtown. I had only been to the city a few times, and I thought that the restaurant we were going to go to was straight down from our hotel but I was wrong.
We got semi lost, but it worked out because we stumbled upon the venue which we didn’t know where exactly it was at first, so at least we knew where to go after dinner. I figured as long as we walked along the water, we’d hit the restaurant eventually so we had to walk around the back where all the trucks were unloading. I was looking at my friend to my left, but also creeping out the man-door where the stuff was being unloaded and I was like... I think that’s the drummer, Kyle right there. So my friend, not so stealth like, looked over, and Kyle is looking at us, and what do I do?
Wave.
It was the most awkward wave I may have ever done and I didn’t even think about it, it was like a reflex. I looked away as soon as I had done it though and my friend looked over at me and was all *open mouthed* because I guess he waved back slightly confused and she hadn’t known that I waved first. So we walked about another 20 yards down the sidewalk, and kind of hovered awkwardly, taking some pics of the harbour. We looked across the street as we got further down and saw the boys (including the first sighting of Cook) tossing a football back and forth. There was a small crowd gathered but I don’t think anyone ever came over to them, nor did they scream for him to come over. There is some vids up on youtube of that, right up close, which is kind of awkward.
We sort of walked back to where we were, which wasn’t in view of them playing ball, and I was facing the water, and my friend was like... there’s the drummer again (by the end of the night she knew their names. I taught her well). I turn around and there’s Kyle biking down the road and like 15 feet in front of us, turns around and starts to come down the sidewalk where we were. He slowwwwly bikes by us, looks at us with a big smile and says “good morning” (mind you, it was like 5pm). My friend and I were both like Hiiiiiii. Then he goes back to the venue and disappears. We both looked at each other again wide eyed, like what..what..what?! Like he didn’t stop at anyone else, didn’t go anywhere else on his bike... we were all like awww yay.
So we went to dinner and so did the boys as from the screams we heard as we were walking away and saw them get into a vehicle and drive away. We could barely contain ourselves. Ive read stories about how accessible the band usually is but I have terrible luck with these things so I never figured I’d see them beforehand, let alone have a sort of weird, sort of awesome run in with Kyle. So many people were like.. why didn’t you say anything more to him? Im like, IT THREW US OFF. We never expected him to bike by, let alone come our way to say hello. We’re the stalkers, not him.
So dinner is over, we make our way back, bigger crowd gathered. We take our spot across the street again and walk along the water. We kept seeing Needtobreathe but didn’t know they were part of the opening band but we smiled anyway and got some smiles back. Suddenly spotted, DUBLIN! At this point, my friend knows I’m a freak. A couple other fans walked over to where we were to see who it was walking him but obviously not Cook so they wandered back. My friend and I wandered down the street a bit more and I could see Kyle again sitting outside the stage door on his phone. My friend and I turned around (seriously, at this point we’re just pacing back and forth) and I looked over my shoulder and Kyle was looking at us and smiling. HA. At this point, we officially love him. I know nothing about him, other than the fact that he just got married, but nonetheless. Love.
Another Dublin spotting, and he was about 10 feet from us and tried to walk over our way and the guy walking him looked up at us and I was like “uh, can we pet him?” The guy was like “after he finishes his business” so we’re like oh ya, ok, CUTE DOG THOUGH. *rolls eyes* But at this point it was like 745 and figured we should head inside. If we stuck around for another couple minutes, probably could have happened but oh well its probably for the best since I might have stolen him because that dog is adorable.
We get inside, we’re sitting 4th row but are the very last people against the wall on Andy’s side of the stage. During the opening band’s third or fourth number, my friend was like is that him over there? We look over and first sighting of frontal Cook as he was leaning on an amp or something back stage, watching Needtobreathe. And seriously? I love that. Like, it reminds me of the stories of him back before idol that he would hang around backstage and watch other bands play just because he appreciated the music and enjoyed watching others play. He stuck around for the next song or two and disappeared into the darkness.
Nothing too epic happened during the concert. Nothing HOMG worthy banter wise, but tons of cuteness. Got videos of most of it. One kind of funny thing is that he messed up the words to Light On. He sang the “and you don’t know how bad it feels” part of the second verse as part of the first instead of “words can never make me stay”. I managed to get video of it so if anyone is that desperate to see it, let me know and I can upload it. Also the video of him and the mic at the beginning of Bar-ba-Sol? I had recorded that but I stopped literally a millisecond after he did it because my camera had unfocused. SCREW YOU CAMERA. Or really, screw you guy in front of me who raised his phone which caused my camera to focus on you instead of the hotness.
The epic thing that did occur during the concert however for me… so Dave stays mostly in the middle of the stage since he plays the guitar, but he traveled over to our side at one point, and I had my camera in my hand so of course, raise it to take a pic. I was sort of half looking at my camera to make sure it was focused, half looking up at him when I saw that he was wiping his chin and move his fingers and it wasn’t until the pic popped back up on my camera did I realize…
Yea, he was looking and waving at me. Probably. Most likely. It looks like it. I’m going to say yes because I can. Probably thought I was taking video, which would have made the wave cuter rather than the sort of awkward looking photo but nonetheless. !!!!!!
Overall it was awesome. His voice sounded great to me, he was cute and funny and adorable. He did a squinty face laugh and I was complete. There were some people waiting outside afterwards but we decided to not stick around just because… well we had an amazing time and we didn’t want anything to mess with that. Could we have met them? Sure. But we also could have waited around and not have met them and been disappointed. I haven’t heard stories of anyone meeting them afterwards so maybe it was best.
My friend and I wandered around trying to find a pub to grab a drink at, came across a sketchy looking sports bar which we ultimately thought - ya, no - and went back. Yesterday I watched an interview he did while he was there and they had ate dinner at that very pub earlier in the day. So close yet so far.
Pictures
Needtobreathe
Cook and Friends
Some banter videos and "Lie"
So that's that. 30 hours. 13 songs. A constant buzz of excitment that is still sort of running through my body. It was enough for me to post in my LJ for the first time in 2 years. So take that.
So it started off, hit the road at 12:30 for the 3ish hour drive. We blasted Cook for the first hour and half or so, because while my friend is awesome, she is not hardcore so I had to get her obsessed in a very short amount of time. We hit Duluth and check in to our hotel around 3:30 their time, get changed and dolled up, and make our way downtown. I had only been to the city a few times, and I thought that the restaurant we were going to go to was straight down from our hotel but I was wrong.
We got semi lost, but it worked out because we stumbled upon the venue which we didn’t know where exactly it was at first, so at least we knew where to go after dinner. I figured as long as we walked along the water, we’d hit the restaurant eventually so we had to walk around the back where all the trucks were unloading. I was looking at my friend to my left, but also creeping out the man-door where the stuff was being unloaded and I was like... I think that’s the drummer, Kyle right there. So my friend, not so stealth like, looked over, and Kyle is looking at us, and what do I do?
Wave.
It was the most awkward wave I may have ever done and I didn’t even think about it, it was like a reflex. I looked away as soon as I had done it though and my friend looked over at me and was all *open mouthed* because I guess he waved back slightly confused and she hadn’t known that I waved first. So we walked about another 20 yards down the sidewalk, and kind of hovered awkwardly, taking some pics of the harbour. We looked across the street as we got further down and saw the boys (including the first sighting of Cook) tossing a football back and forth. There was a small crowd gathered but I don’t think anyone ever came over to them, nor did they scream for him to come over. There is some vids up on youtube of that, right up close, which is kind of awkward.
We sort of walked back to where we were, which wasn’t in view of them playing ball, and I was facing the water, and my friend was like... there’s the drummer again (by the end of the night she knew their names. I taught her well). I turn around and there’s Kyle biking down the road and like 15 feet in front of us, turns around and starts to come down the sidewalk where we were. He slowwwwly bikes by us, looks at us with a big smile and says “good morning” (mind you, it was like 5pm). My friend and I were both like Hiiiiiii. Then he goes back to the venue and disappears. We both looked at each other again wide eyed, like what..what..what?! Like he didn’t stop at anyone else, didn’t go anywhere else on his bike... we were all like awww yay.
So we went to dinner and so did the boys as from the screams we heard as we were walking away and saw them get into a vehicle and drive away. We could barely contain ourselves. Ive read stories about how accessible the band usually is but I have terrible luck with these things so I never figured I’d see them beforehand, let alone have a sort of weird, sort of awesome run in with Kyle. So many people were like.. why didn’t you say anything more to him? Im like, IT THREW US OFF. We never expected him to bike by, let alone come our way to say hello. We’re the stalkers, not him.
So dinner is over, we make our way back, bigger crowd gathered. We take our spot across the street again and walk along the water. We kept seeing Needtobreathe but didn’t know they were part of the opening band but we smiled anyway and got some smiles back. Suddenly spotted, DUBLIN! At this point, my friend knows I’m a freak. A couple other fans walked over to where we were to see who it was walking him but obviously not Cook so they wandered back. My friend and I wandered down the street a bit more and I could see Kyle again sitting outside the stage door on his phone. My friend and I turned around (seriously, at this point we’re just pacing back and forth) and I looked over my shoulder and Kyle was looking at us and smiling. HA. At this point, we officially love him. I know nothing about him, other than the fact that he just got married, but nonetheless. Love.
Another Dublin spotting, and he was about 10 feet from us and tried to walk over our way and the guy walking him looked up at us and I was like “uh, can we pet him?” The guy was like “after he finishes his business” so we’re like oh ya, ok, CUTE DOG THOUGH. *rolls eyes* But at this point it was like 745 and figured we should head inside. If we stuck around for another couple minutes, probably could have happened but oh well its probably for the best since I might have stolen him because that dog is adorable.
We get inside, we’re sitting 4th row but are the very last people against the wall on Andy’s side of the stage. During the opening band’s third or fourth number, my friend was like is that him over there? We look over and first sighting of frontal Cook as he was leaning on an amp or something back stage, watching Needtobreathe. And seriously? I love that. Like, it reminds me of the stories of him back before idol that he would hang around backstage and watch other bands play just because he appreciated the music and enjoyed watching others play. He stuck around for the next song or two and disappeared into the darkness.
Nothing too epic happened during the concert. Nothing HOMG worthy banter wise, but tons of cuteness. Got videos of most of it. One kind of funny thing is that he messed up the words to Light On. He sang the “and you don’t know how bad it feels” part of the second verse as part of the first instead of “words can never make me stay”. I managed to get video of it so if anyone is that desperate to see it, let me know and I can upload it. Also the video of him and the mic at the beginning of Bar-ba-Sol? I had recorded that but I stopped literally a millisecond after he did it because my camera had unfocused. SCREW YOU CAMERA. Or really, screw you guy in front of me who raised his phone which caused my camera to focus on you instead of the hotness.
The epic thing that did occur during the concert however for me… so Dave stays mostly in the middle of the stage since he plays the guitar, but he traveled over to our side at one point, and I had my camera in my hand so of course, raise it to take a pic. I was sort of half looking at my camera to make sure it was focused, half looking up at him when I saw that he was wiping his chin and move his fingers and it wasn’t until the pic popped back up on my camera did I realize…
Yea, he was looking and waving at me. Probably. Most likely. It looks like it. I’m going to say yes because I can. Probably thought I was taking video, which would have made the wave cuter rather than the sort of awkward looking photo but nonetheless. !!!!!!
Overall it was awesome. His voice sounded great to me, he was cute and funny and adorable. He did a squinty face laugh and I was complete. There were some people waiting outside afterwards but we decided to not stick around just because… well we had an amazing time and we didn’t want anything to mess with that. Could we have met them? Sure. But we also could have waited around and not have met them and been disappointed. I haven’t heard stories of anyone meeting them afterwards so maybe it was best.
My friend and I wandered around trying to find a pub to grab a drink at, came across a sketchy looking sports bar which we ultimately thought - ya, no - and went back. Yesterday I watched an interview he did while he was there and they had ate dinner at that very pub earlier in the day. So close yet so far.
Pictures
Needtobreathe
Cook and Friends
Some banter videos and "Lie"
So that's that. 30 hours. 13 songs. A constant buzz of excitment that is still sort of running through my body. It was enough for me to post in my LJ for the first time in 2 years. So take that.