Hawk Nelson....with a different Daniel, hehe!
I know, I know, I have SOOO much to write about. I’m gonna go backwards though. Start with what happened most recently and work back on all the reviews. So first, here is the Hawk Nelson Concert review from May 30 at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa:
So, after Traffic school I trotted my way over to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, which was in Santa Ana. So, I didn’t know exactly where in this big church was said concert. Why do I always get lost when I go to big churches to see concerts? See, my church is one building, it’s a big building, with lots of rooms and corners and places to get lost within the one building, but it’s still one building with one parking lot and a small one in the back. However, when I go to big, spread out churches with a zillion buildings and oh too many parking lots, yeah, I get lost in those. So, this church was no exception.
There must have been 2 events going on, and at first I parked near the wrong one. Eventually I saw people heading over a totally different direction from where I was, so then I headed over there.
There was this whole outdoor festival thing going on. I could see the big skateboarding/bmx bike ramps where there was a show going on. So, I was walking around trying to find where Hawk Nelson was going to be playing. I see a tent with Hawk’s merch, so I run over there and FINALLY grab that awesome bright purple shirt that I wanted since The Rock & Worship Road Show. I was soo exited tot finally have it, hehe.
I see past this tent that there is a stage. I walk over to the stage and clearly see Jason, Jon, and Justin. YAY!! The place around the stage was empty. So as I’m walking over there Jason comes down and starts taking pix with fans. I pull out my phone and set it up to take a pic. So, when he was done with the fans that were already there I ask Jason if we could take a pic also and he says yeah. So, I borrowed the fan to take a pic of us. She was taking the pic when she tells me that my memory is full. She hands me back the phone to delete a picture and Jason says something funny like, “Oh, gotta clear up that memory.”
I was thinking out loud and said, “Oh, I’ll just delete this picture of my brother at jungle cruise.” Jason looks at me like all concerned and says, “You don’t want to delete those memories.” Then it hit me how I must have sounded. Like I’m such a big fan I would delte a special rare picture of Danny at Jungle Cruise, not knowing that I can go back and get it anytime I wanted. So I say, “Oh, looks, it’s supper dark anyways, and I can go back and get another one anytime.” He looks at me weird and I say, “He works there.” That’s when I saw it click that yeah, he’s in a city where people actually have to work there.
I delete the picture and hand the phone back to the girl and she takes a super cute shot. So, after she hands back my phone I ask him, “Remember those chocolate covered pretzels from Disneyland? Did you like them?” Then, it TOTALLY clicked in his head. Now, I didn’t hear if he said, “I’m really sick right now” or if he said, “They made me really sick.” I hope it was the former because I don’t think chocolate covered pretzels would make him sick. But he said, “I’m really sick right now…but I hope you brought some more because they were REALLY good.” I told him, “Darn, shoot, I didn’t.” He looked kinda said and I said, “I promise to bring ya some next time….at Monterey, that’s when I’ll see ya next, I’ll bring plenty then.” He said OK, gave me a hug, then went back on stage. After he was up there it hit me that I’ll see him at Fish Fest before Monterey, so I will for sure bring him some at Fish Fest.
I stepped back and saw the guys continue their sound check. I was looking at the stage and saw Jason, Jon, Justin, but, but, where is Daniel. The fans were still next to me and I ask them, “One is missing.” The girl (obviously not a hardcore fan, lol) says, “There all up there.” I reply, “No, there’s one missing.” Another girl says, “No, look, there all up there.” I say, “No, look, there’s Jason, there’s Jon, there’s Justin. Where’s Daniel.” The girl points to someone and I say, “That’s not Daniel, where is Daniel?” Justin over heard me and goes, “He’s right there” and points to a bass player on stage that clearly does not look like Daniel. Jason says, “Yeah, Dan’s right there.” I’m must have had the most confused look on my face. Then Justin finally explains, “Daniel is at a wedding. This other bass player, his name is Daniel too.” I replied back, “OH!! You had me very confused there for a moment.” Jason says, “Daniel just changed and became more handsome.” The other Daniel looks at Jason at smiled. I kept looking at this other Daniel thinking, “Man, he looks extremely familiar!!”
So, I’m standing back and some other girls come over. We start chatting, as JP always does hehe. So, the guys are doing sound check. There was a DJ there playing hip hop beats, so the Hawk guys matched the music they were playing to those beats. It was really funny ‘cuz Jason was raping away. After one of the songs he said, “I like our new sound.” Then, at one point he was making up raps about us. “The girls in the purple shirts…the girl in the grey shirt…the girl with the black & purple striped sweatshirt.” The girls and I looked at each other and started giggling.
One of he girls and I had a lot of common. It turned out that we attend A LOT of the same shows and enjoy a lot of the same bands. We got lost in our own conversation and her other friends would look at us like, “Wha…?” LoL! She was cool.
More people started to arrive, so kept creeping up closer and closer, until we just went and stood in front of the stage. I literally was front row center, it was awesome, hehe. The only bad thing was that I was right in front of one of the speakers, lol. Again, thank you to the person that invented earplugs.
As we were waiting there some people that knew the guys were talking to them. So one of them told them they saw Lenay. Jason said, “Yeah, she’s very nice. At least, I think so.” So someone else (an adult) asked Jason if they were invited to the wedding. Jason said, “I don’t even know when the date is yet.” The girls looked at me all like, “He’s engaged?” I said, “I know he’s with Lenay, and on Twitter he keeps saying stuff that makes it sound like he’s engages, but to be honest, I’m not 100% sure. By what they are saying, it sure sounds like they are.” The girls asked if I knew the girl I said, “Yeah, Lenay, she’s right over there.” I pointed over at her and they were like, “We didn’t even know he had a GF.”
We continued to stand there and some little kids ran over to Jason and asked, “What’s the name of your band.” Jason replied, “METALICA!! I think we’re pretty good. We’re really big in Africa.” LoL! I was cracking up!!
The guys kept sound checking and kept with the hip hop theme. At one point Jason sang the “Men In Black” theme. Then they asked the other Dan if he needed to go over any particular songs, they went over obviously new songs (YAY for new songs).
This one girl, say about 11, came up to the stage and started asking sub Daniel a lot of questions: “What are those things in your ears? Do you boots hurt your feet? Why don’t you wear converse instead of boots like me? Do you like playing guitar?” Sub Daniel was so sweet that he answered all her random questions patiently and not sounding condescending at all, “They are so I can hear myself play. I got used to them. I like my boots. I play the bass guitar and yes I like it.” He seemed so sweet, but it kept killing me, WHERE DO I KNOW HIM FROM???
The skateboard/BMX bike show ended so everyone then went to the stage. The youth pastor of the church went on stage and asked who was ready for Hawk Nelson. We all screamed and then he pointed to us at the front row and said, “All these teenage girls up here are exited for Hawk Nelson.” I laughed and one of the girls I was talking with said, “It’s OK, you look like you’re 16, don’t feel bad.” LoL! I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
First, some DJ sis a small set. Then a hip hop group called L.A. Symphony came out to perform. They were entertaining, making us sing a long and such. Afterwards this really famous DJ from Houston did a set. Now, he was cool, I’ve never heard all this Christian music DJed, like Jars of Clay and stuff. He was very enjoyable.
During the DJ set I was dancing along and from under the drum riser I could see Phil Wickham. I pointed Phil out to the girls who said they were fans. When I looked back I could see the Hawk guys. Jason saw me looking over and pointed at me and I pointed back. LoL! I think he thinks I’m like a 12 year old teeny bopped or something, not knowing I’m only 2 years younger than him.
Anyways, eventually it was time for Hawk Nelson to rock the stage, and rock it they did. The reason why I love these guys so much is not only because they have awesome songs you love to rock out to, but because they are crazy on stage. These guys seriously put on an amazing show. I was unable to steal a set list, sorry!
Let’s talk about some funny moments. So, after about the second song Jason announced that Dan slept in and decided to attend a wedding with his wife instead. We went, “Awwww!’ He said, “That wasn’t loud enough, don’t you miss him?” So we went “AWWWWW!!!” as loud as we could, hehe. He said, “Now, instead we have this Dan. He’s from a band called The Afters, if you haven’t heard about them yet, you should check them out.” That’s when it hit me, THAT’S where I knew him from. Now, before you all go, “Wait, I thought you loved The Afters and they were your fave Christian band” I will say that he is not OG The Afters. The guys never had a definite member who played bass. This guy came on board after Josh Muckala left and I have only seen him play once in Kentucky almost a year ago now (it’s not my fault they rarely come to Cali ‘cuz Matt hasn’t invented the tour bus that runs on grass yet. LoL! Matt actually said that, read my review from Kentucky for more info, lol). So, no, this does not make me any less of a The Afters fan.
To resume with the concert review…well, Jason was being, well, Jason. First, he commented on our “beautiful” weather saying how it didn’t look like it was going to rain. He proceeded to rock out, and we rocked out along with him. The set list was pretty diverse; we got songs from all 3 albums (as Jon had twittered about, hehe). If I remember correctly, these were some of the songs played (in no particular order):
Bring ‘em Out; Friend Like That; Letters to the President; California; You Have What I Need; One Little Miracle; Let’s Dance; Is Forever Enough; The Show; a worship song (Majesty), and 2 new songs. (I’m pretty sure this is complete, but again, could be wrong, hehe)
During “Is Forever Enough” they cut out Jon’s mic at first and I was like, “Where’s my favorite part?” Eventually they realized it and Jon came in singing “Can't hold this in and keep it quiet any longer. I've fallen in and now this feeling's getting stronger…” I love that part, hehe.
Before “California” he said “I wrote this song for all of you guys.” When I heard the first few songs I got giddy, hehe!! (Ironic, I know, since I’m trying to move to Nashville where 2 of these guys currently reside at).
Oh yeah, and before I forget, some fans had some signs for them written in French. Jason read them (no clue what they said, lol. It has hard enough to handle English, don’t give me a 3rd one now, lol) and Jason said, “That’s awesome, you even spelled ______ right.” LoL!
Before “Let’s Dance” he said he was too tired to dance so he wasn’t going to dance, lol!
Ok, this was the funniest part. Before “Letters to the President” he said, “This song is 6 years old, I don’t know why we keep singing it.” So, he started to rock out and dropped the mic stand…ON MY HAND!!! I had my hand resting on the stage and it fell right on it, and it HURT!!! Now, you guys know me, when I’m in pain I laugh. So, I was laughing because not only was I in pain, but that was quite a funny situation. The girls around me kept asking me if I was OK, and I said the impact hurt real bad but I knew I would be OK. I didn’t even sing or pay attention to the song because I was too busy laughing in pain. I think I saw Jon look over at me as I held my hand with the pain, lol! (A bruise actually formed on my hand, lol)
Later on, I think it was during one of the new songs, Jason dropped the mic stand again, this time not hitting anyone. He picked it up quickly and said, “Five second rule, right.” And I can’t remember during which song, but he looked down and saw his shoe was untied, so smiled (‘cuz he was singing) and bent down and tied it, again, all while singing, lol!
This part was soo cute. There was a little girl, probably around 7, seriously no older than like 10. She was either on someone’s shoulders or standing on something that made her taller than everyone. She had her phone and was recording the concert. Jason went over to her and sang into her camera phone. After Jason finished singing she just let out the loudest yell EVER!! Like what you see in a cartoon, she closed her eyes and yelled of sheer excitement. It was adorable. Later on everyone was rushing the stage to try and touch Jason’s hand (I bent down and got squished as this occurred, hehe), and he touched her hand, and again, she closed her eyes and yelled like there was no tomorrow. It was totally adorable, hehe.
The best part of the concert for me was the worship song. Jason started off by saying, “When I was flying down here I opened up my airplane window and looked outside. I saw the clouds, the sky, the mountains, and the water and was amazed that the Creator of all this wants to have a personal relationship with me even though I don’t deserve Him at all.” I paraphrase, of course, but what he said was really touching and meaningful. He lead us into a worship song ("Majesty"). I remember him saying if you know the song sing along. I just raised my hands in worship and got completely lost in a trance of worship. It was really amazing. At one point the music stopped, but I was still in that amazing moment. I eventually came out of it and just heard voices singing along. It was truly special. I thank the guys for this amazing moment.
So, I believe I got all the special moments in. The whole entire concert was awesome. The guys finished with a new song and then went off stage. It was a supper great concert, and made new friends. It was awesome.
Thanx guys for an amazing show!!
Some pictures from my phone as i forgot to bring my camera:
Jason and i before the show: http://twitpic.com/6bg3s
The guys in sound check: http://twitpic.com/6asz9
This is how close I was to Jason: http://twitpic.com/6bg9q
Jon rocking it: http://twitpic.com/6bfnd
Justin: http://twitpic.com/6bewh
Dan from The Afters filling in: http://twitpic.com/6bf02