Awake & Alive Concert Recap
I got sleep in, but I did help my mom clean outside before I left. It was so funny though, because Tia Alejandrina called and they were chatting. My mom told her I was going to Nashville and then my mom said, “I don’t know. Hey Janet, where is Nashville? Is it near New York?” I was like, “Um, no. New York is East Coast, I’m going to the south east.” Then she asked, “Is it near Miami?” I said, “Well, Miami is closer than New York, but it’s not THAT close to Miami.” Then she asked, “Well, what is the biggest major city near Nashville.” I said, “Mom, Nashville IS the big city. It’s Music City!” She gave me a blank stare.
I went into my room, pulled a map of the US and brought it out. “OK mom, this is Kali, here is L.A. New York is over here on the East Coast. See this thing sticking out here, this is Florida and that’s Miami. Right above it, this is Georgia. This city here is Atlanta, where Tia Marisol and the girls live and where Danny was supposed to go to school. Right above that, this in Tennessee, and this is Nashville.” Then she said, “Oh, you’ll be close to your cousins. (To my Tia Alejandrina) She’s going to be close to the girls. No she’s not. (Back to me) You’re not going to visit your cousins, are you?” I replied, “Yes I am mom, I told you. I’m flying into Nashville, gonna be there a few days to take care of everything. Then I’m going to drive down to Atlanta to see the girls, and then I’m flying out of Atlanta. I told you all this!”
LoL, I love my mom, but that truly was hilarious.
Anyways, after I helped her out I got ready to head out. Paul from church was supposed to come also, but last minute he canceled. It’s all good; I could enjoy the concert all by myself.
I headed out. I stopped by Starbucks quickly to re-buy the Starbucks gift cards that I had taken out of the Hawk guys’ gifts. (If you recall, when they didn’t do a M&G at Monterey I took out the GC’s and gave 1 to Kevin Young of Disciple, and the others to the Stellar Kart guys.) I then trotted on my way.
It was pretty good because I didn’t really hit any traffic. I got there in almost record time (I hit a small patch on congestion, but it wasn’t bad at all). However, once I got there, it was ever daunting task of finding parking. I didn’t have any cash so I had to pay with a CC, and the machine was mal functioning. BLEH!! Finally, a guy got it to work so in I went. I found a parking spot and made my way to Club Nokia.
I had only been to L.A. Live once before (for the Brandon Heath/Revive/Third Day show) so I was still a little lost. This I parked like across the street from it, I don’t know, it was weird. I remembered I had to go up some floors. Last time I took the elevator because of Beth, but this time I did the escalator. I went up to the 2nd floor and walked around some. It was where Lucky Strikes was at. Nope, that wasn’t it, so I went up to the next floor.
Now, this was funny. I don’t know where they came from, but I was standing there on the escalator I think I was looking around, and suddenly I noticed that Jason and Lenay were RIGHT behind me. I was so shocked to see them there. I was like, “HI JASON!!!!” He said, “Hey, how’s it going.” I said, “Great. Hi Lenay.” She said hi back. I told them both congratulations on their recent marriage, and they thanked me. I think Jason said something like, “So, what are you doing?” LoL! I said, “Trying to figure out where I’m supposed to go.” Jason said, “Yeah, same here.” I told Jason I had presents for them and Lenay got so excited, she was so cute. We got to the top and got off the escalator. There a The Fish booth there and Jason said, “This looks about right.” I waved bye and said, “See you inside, have fun and be safe.” He thanked me and he started to talk with the peeps from The Fish.
There was a line for the people who had the VIP, but it was relatively short. I got in line and told the random strangers in front of me about my Jason encounter. LoL, I’m nerd, but I was excited.
I turn around and saw 4 people are now lined up behind me. Who is one of those people? MICHELLE!! She was the girl I met at the Hawk Nelson show at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, yeah, the one where Jason tried to kill me with the mic stand. She was the one that we bonded because we liked a lot of the same bands.
I was so happy to see her. There was a couple in between us and they told her and her grandmother to come and stand with me because we kept talking up a storm. I had such a blast talking to her. We like most of the same bands, so we had so much fun exchanging stories about all of them.
We got checked in, waited in line some more, then finally got let in. I being JP, sound nerd extraordinaire, I took pix of the FOH console. ROTFL!! I really am such a nerd, hehe. We had to wait inside for a long while. Slowly we see all the guys walk in. Eventually they let us go talk to them. We couldn’t take pix with the guys, we just got a quick chat and our CDs autographed. I got to quickly chat with them about their involvement with the WWe. They were so excited when I brought it up. I explained I was a big fan of wrestling so I was marking out when I saw them…then I had to explain what marking out meant, lol. When I got to Jen I told her, “And you got like a special close-up and all.” She was like, “Yeah, what was that about?” Next I talked to Ben, and I gave him a little “Get Well Soon” gift. He thanked me for it, hehe.
Afterwards we were all escorted to the VIP lounge. The longue was real pretty, but darn it, I wanted to be in the pit. I went back downstairs to ask if I could go to the pit. I begged, I pleaded, I offer to pay more, but no luck. Pit tickets were sold out, and because I had bought the most expensive tickets, there was no upgrade available. AHHHHHHH!!! I was bummed, because when it comes to these 2 bands, you just LOVE being in the pit.
I then waited around for the merch table to finish setting up. I figured it was best to buy everything now before the madness after the show. I was chatting with some other Hawk fans, and we were all so supper anxious to buy the Hawk Nelson 3D glasses. I saw 2 Skillet shirts that I wanted and was deciding which one. Michelle can down to buy some merch as well. Finally, they opened up, and I got my 3D glasses and my shirt.
We then went back upstairs. I was starving at this point, but the VIP longue had no vegetarian options. BLEH!! Michelle and her grandma got to order some stuff while I sat there and sipped on some water. It was still cool; there we were in the VIP longue, feeling important, hehe. It was also cool because they were playing some of my face songs inducing some tobyMac, and the BEST SONG EVER, “Never Going Back to OK” by The Afters. We did not know the first band, so we stayed in the longue while they played. We could see them on some TV screens. Once they were over we headed out.
Decypher Down was next. I own their latest album, so I knew some songs. When they went old school I didn’t know the songs. They were pretty good. My first time seeing them live and I enjoyed them.
Then, it was get giddy time!!! They started setting up the stage for Hawk Nelson. We could see Murphy from the stage and both Michelle and I went “EEEEEEHHHH!” (I probably forgot to mention this, but we got SOOO lucky that my seat was 205DD and Michelle’s was 206EE. Yup, she was JUST behind me, so that was AWESOME!!)
The guys hit the stage. First, you heard the “Live Life Loud” claps, but it shifted to “Bring ‘em Out.” I tried to sit for a little bit, but then I got all this energy in me and I was like, “CAN’T SIT ANY LONGER!!!” and I got up and danced. Michelle got up behind me also. We were the only 2 in our area who were up dancing. Here is the set list before I forget (might be slightly out of order, going off memory here)
· Bring 'Em Out
· The Show
· The One Thing I Have Left
· Letters to the President
· Never Enough
· California
· Everything You Ever Wanted
· The Meaning of Life
· The Job
· Friend Like That
· Let's Dance
· Live Life Loud
To continue with my review:
Geesh, every time I see those guys I just get SOOO much energy I just gotta jump and dance. I know I’ve said this before, but my life has been so much better since Hawk has been in my life. My only regret is that I didn’t know of them sooner because I’ve missed out on so many awesome tours.
Now, during Hawk, I did start to cry. We’ll get more on that a little later. The guys were so great on stage. Let me see if I remember some of the things they talked about.
Well, at one point Jason was talking about how at their show last night he pointed at one guy and he said he looked like a scary version of Jesus. Then he got embarrassed because the guy was the former bass player from Korn. Dan I believe it was said, “Hey, he’s here again tonight!!” Jason was like, “OH NO!!” LoL! Apparently there was someone else famous there and Jason called him out. I can’t remember who he called out but Jason said, “Now he’s the guy hiding because he’s scared that I called him out. Well, if he can let’s do a tour together.” Then he started naming all these random bands that have nothing to do with each to go on tour with. (Side note, I want that HN/Stellar kart tour, and I want it NOW!!!)
During “The One Thing I Have Left” Jason was acting out the song. For example, during “I think I’m allergic to myself” he would act like he was allergic o himself. Then he pretended he didn’t know where to go, “…I don’t know which direction.” I think he’s done that before, but something about tonight made it seem that much funnier.
“Letters to the President” seamed extra special tonight with all the junk that’s going on. I sang every line, and meant it!
I can’t remember who asked Jason, but they said, “Tell them how your girl friend is next door.” Jason said, “I’m not going to name drop in Los Angeles that my friend Sandi Patty, who’s just Sandi to me, is signing right next door.” LoL! That was funny.
During “California” I actually started cracking up. Here are these guys from Canada, who now live in Nashville, who are singing about wanting to move to California…in California. And here I am, a total Cali girl, singing along to this song, and trying to move to Nashville. I just thought the whole situation was hilarious and I laughed so hard during the song.
They talked a bit on their inspiration for the new record, at which point he sang “The Meaning of Life.” Oh man, it hit me and I started to cry.
Side note: Here’s the funny thing: if you want to blame my move to Nashville on anyone, blame it on Hawk Nelson. And no, I don’t mean that I chose to move there because most live there (do all live there, or just Jason & Jon? Does Jason still live there now that he got married? And where does Justin live? Dan? LoL, I would make a horrible stalker if I’m not sure of this information, but I digress…) It all started when Jon decided to start tweeting about his new sound gear. Then I got all like, “Sound gear, I miss sound gear.” Then we went back & forth on a little conversation about sound gear. Then I started reading old LJ entries about my time in the studio. Then I REALLY started missing sound. Then they came out with this CD called “Live Life Loud.” I really wasn’t the same person after I heard it. All the songs were like God yelling at me, “You need to finish studying sound NOW, and you need to do it in Nashville.” Next thing I know I’m applying and planning visit to Belmont. Yeah, thanks Hawk Nelson, thanks A LOT!! (LoL!)
Anyways, back to my review. So, yeah, I seriously started to cry during “The Meaning of Life,” it’s such a beautiful song.
Jason then talked about a horrible job he had. He was a toll booth boy at a hospital, and he had to collect $8.75 I believe he said (Canadian I’m sure, lol!) for people to come see their friends and family in the hospital. He said he wrote that song because he thought the job was SOOO bad. I looked at Michelle and said, “DUDE, is he going to sing ‘The job?’” He went on to say that he wrote that song while in the toll booth. He wanted to clarify that now he greatest job in the world. Then he went on to sing, “The Job.” Man, I was singing along with him, yelling out my frustrations along with him. I really love that song because it expresses really how I feel about my job right now. It used to be awesome, but I hate all the changes they have made. It really is making me sick, which is why I also feel that it’s time to leave.
Now, I gotta say this, there were 2 peeps that I could see down in the pit. They were dancing and jumping around to every single song, and they were in the front row. I wished nothing but to be there down with them. During “Let’s Dance” Jason went down there with them to sign along. I know he saw how into they were into the music, and I wished so bad I was down there with them. I got some pix of them. They were really so into every song, it was awesome.
Meanwhile, here I was at the top, dancing and singing and jumping up and down, and everyone starring. It was funny that most people really started starring during, “Let’s Dance.” Somehow the peeps in the 3 rows in front in front of me saw me and were staring at me. I thought it was just ironic this was going on during the song “Let’s Dance.” Well, maybe it was appropriate, “I’m happy in my skin being myself, let’s dance!”
The guys announced that their last song would be “Live Life Loud.” They put on their 3D glasses. I grabbed mine, but I flipped them up so I could see them. We clapped along with them, and sang and danced. GOSH, do I love that song or what? The guys seriously ROCKED IT. Jason threw his 3D glasses to the supahfans in the front. I was so sad when they were done; I WANTED MORE!! LoL! Justin was so sweet, he came down and handed his drum sticks specifically to the supahfans. They deserve it!! That was so sweet of the guys to notice.
Now, here is the sound nerd analysis of their show. They were the only band that was perfectly well balanced. In all the other bands (including Skillet), the guitar was WAY overbearing, and the vocals were quite hard to hear. Props to Hawk (or their sound person) for not having that issue; they really were awesome.
Anyways, so, after Hawk walked offstage, Michelle and I turned to each other and were talking about how awesome they just were. We were SOOO thirsty, so we went back to the VIP longue to use the restroom and grab some water.
We want back and anxiously awaited Skillet.
They had this cool intro. Working for a theme park, I was seriously cracking up at the intro. It said stuff like, “Pregnant women should consult a doctor before attending. Not responsible for whiplash from head banging.” It was awesome. YouTube it, I’m it’s up there somewhere, lol.
Here is their set list. I will admit, I compiled with this with the help of Google, and it may be slightly off:
· Intro
· Whispers In The Dark
· Better Than Drugs
· It's Not Me, It's You
· The Older I Get
· Comatose
· Hero
· Yours To Hold
· The Last Night
· Jen Ledger’s Drum Solo
· Those Nights
· Awake And Alive
· Savior
· Ben’s Guitar Solo
· Monster
Encore:
· My Obsession
· Lucy
· Violin and Cello solos
· Rebirthing
I seriously gotta say that the guys were so awesome. I was singing along to every song, just totally feeling the concert.
Hearing “The Older I get” and “Those Nights” live this time around was truly special. Those 2 songs helped get over the drama in my life with a certain friend. I’m glad we fixed the problem and I’m supper glad she’s back in my life, but the songs really helped me through the bad times.
Let’s see, some funny moments? Hmmm…Ok, well, John was talking about how he loves the 80s. Yes, we’ve all heard that speech. The funny thing he said though was, “I always wanted a mullet but my parents never let me have one. I get back at them now with my make-up.” AHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, I laughed so hard at that. He sang some song (I’m assuming from the 80s). Everyone knew it; I was like, “DUH!” LoL! But then he sang “Yours to Hold.” *sigh* I love that song. I love seeing it live even more because I love it when Jen and Korey sing their parts. I know I’m mostly a tomboy, but sometimes I can be such a girl, lol.
“The Last Night” also meant a lot to me. I know I’ve heard it live before, but since I last saw them I probably felt the bottom void expressed in the song. Specifically when John sings, “Your parents say everything is your fault but they don't know you like I know you they don't know you at all.” Then Korey sings, “I'm so sick of when they say it's just a phase. You'll be o.k. You're fine.” I love how John finishes that with, “But I know it’s a lie.” GAH, so true! But yeah, I cried during this song (note, I never felt like killing myself, just felt down like those lines mentioned. I wanna make that clear.)
Music nerd alert: Jen’s drum solo, AMAZING!!! And I’m not just saying that. I’ve gone to drum competitions, drum recitals, drum exhibitions; you know I love me a good drum solo. Jen was simply AMAZING!! I now wished I had recorded it, it was SOOOO good. She is really amazing. Also, I love since she joined the band because I love her parts, like in “Hero” and “Awake & Alive.” She’s awesome. GO JEN!
Oh, here is another funny part. The cello and violin each had a solo. When the cello guy was playing some guy yelled out, “I LOVE YOU CELLO GUY!!!” He paused for a few seconds and then yelled out, “IN A STRAIT WAY!!!!” Everyone started cracking up, lol!!
Oh yeah, didn’t mention all the crazy stuff Skillet had going on. They had these supper tall platforms they got on. They had smog, and lights, and all sorts of crazyness. It was truly a great production. Go to my facebook for some pix.
Michelle and her grandmother had left right before the last song; they had a long drive back. I went down to the merch table. Decypher Down said they would come out. I was hoping Hawk would come out as well.
So, I was waiting there, waiting, waiting. I really saw no one. All of I sudden I look behind me and see Dan. Dan was evidently talking to some other fans. I heard him saw how this was a really weird place because the lobby was so small, and they had to [ark really far away. When he was finished with them I approached him and asked if the rest of the guys were gonna come out. He said, “No, just me!” I said, “Well, we’ll take you” or something stupid like that. It was stupid enough to cause a weird look from him. ROTFL! Serioulsy, why do I become 12 when I talk to these guys?
Anyways…I told him I had present for all the guys. He said he’ll gladly take them and asked if I wanted a pic (I had my camera out). I said yes and asked a random guy to please take out pic. After the pic I proceeded to explain to him why I came bearing gifts. When I told him the going deaf story he thought I was joking but then realized, “Oh, you were serious, like medically going deaf?” I told him yes and explained a bit. I told him about Jon and how he made me miss everything. Then I said that when I got their new album it really inspired me. He said, “Yeah, live life loud!” I told him everything, and he was so attentive to everything I was saying, I could see it in his face. I finally ended by blaming them for my move to Nashville and going to finish school at Belmont. Then he said, “Belmont? That’s where Justin went to school!” I said, “NO WAY!! I did not know that.” (Again, horrible stalker, LoL!!)
When I showed him the gifts, he was like, “Whoa, those are cool.” I told him I just them on the lanyards because I had a bunch of them on my desk. “I work for Disneyland as basically a travel agent there.” He said, “Alright, you got the hook-ups.” LoL! He looked at all of them and said, “Justin, Jason, Jon...Well, I see all the J’s here.” His was dangling down, so I picked it up and handed it to him and he said, “There I am. Oh, and you put a bass clef there.” He got to exited over that he gave me a high five, lol. I explained to him that I wrote the letters inside right before SWC Monterey, so they may be a little outdated but I said, “I wrote them for a reason so I didn’t touch them. In fact, I’m not 100% sure of what I wrote.” I explained I didn’t give them in Monterey because they never came out. He said, “Oh yeah, Monterey, that was a crazy show.” He asked for my name again and said something like, “Oh, we could never pay you back for this.” I said, “Oh, no, this is a thank you for all your music.” I also handed him the chocolate covered espresso beans and apologized if they had melted and he said, “Are you sure you want me to have these?” I said, “Yeah, I bought them for you guys.” LoL! He thanked me once again and then opened the door so I could go outside. As soon as we stepped outside he was bombarded with fans, so we didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye. I just hope he did hand the stuff to the guys (not because I think he would keep them, just in fear that they were lost among all the fans or something).
While I was out there the violin player for Skillet stepped out. Everyone swarmed him also, so it was a little hard to step out.
Once outside I saw that there was like a big convention in the center. There were so many people there.
I don’t know, but that was when it hit me. Come next August, my life is going to be COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! I know it’s what God wants, but it’s going to be different. I saw my city of L.A. around me, where it was mid October and it was so hot outside I was actually sweating. I know I won’t have that next October. I saw all the crazyness going around and though, wow, I won’t see this crazyness anymore. I saw some steps that were empty, and I just sat there for a bit, let it all sink in, and just started to cry. I just got so emotional, hehe. Again, I know I’m a tomboy, but I’m also a girl and sometimes that side gets the better of me, lol.
I calmed down and went to pay for parking, then headed down to my car. By now I had a smile on my face because I was SOOO happy from this amazing show. Thanks Hawk Nelson and Skillet for an AWESOME time!!
I went into my room, pulled a map of the US and brought it out. “OK mom, this is Kali, here is L.A. New York is over here on the East Coast. See this thing sticking out here, this is Florida and that’s Miami. Right above it, this is Georgia. This city here is Atlanta, where Tia Marisol and the girls live and where Danny was supposed to go to school. Right above that, this in Tennessee, and this is Nashville.” Then she said, “Oh, you’ll be close to your cousins. (To my Tia Alejandrina) She’s going to be close to the girls. No she’s not. (Back to me) You’re not going to visit your cousins, are you?” I replied, “Yes I am mom, I told you. I’m flying into Nashville, gonna be there a few days to take care of everything. Then I’m going to drive down to Atlanta to see the girls, and then I’m flying out of Atlanta. I told you all this!”
LoL, I love my mom, but that truly was hilarious.
Anyways, after I helped her out I got ready to head out. Paul from church was supposed to come also, but last minute he canceled. It’s all good; I could enjoy the concert all by myself.
I headed out. I stopped by Starbucks quickly to re-buy the Starbucks gift cards that I had taken out of the Hawk guys’ gifts. (If you recall, when they didn’t do a M&G at Monterey I took out the GC’s and gave 1 to Kevin Young of Disciple, and the others to the Stellar Kart guys.) I then trotted on my way.
It was pretty good because I didn’t really hit any traffic. I got there in almost record time (I hit a small patch on congestion, but it wasn’t bad at all). However, once I got there, it was ever daunting task of finding parking. I didn’t have any cash so I had to pay with a CC, and the machine was mal functioning. BLEH!! Finally, a guy got it to work so in I went. I found a parking spot and made my way to Club Nokia.
I had only been to L.A. Live once before (for the Brandon Heath/Revive/Third Day show) so I was still a little lost. This I parked like across the street from it, I don’t know, it was weird. I remembered I had to go up some floors. Last time I took the elevator because of Beth, but this time I did the escalator. I went up to the 2nd floor and walked around some. It was where Lucky Strikes was at. Nope, that wasn’t it, so I went up to the next floor.
Now, this was funny. I don’t know where they came from, but I was standing there on the escalator I think I was looking around, and suddenly I noticed that Jason and Lenay were RIGHT behind me. I was so shocked to see them there. I was like, “HI JASON!!!!” He said, “Hey, how’s it going.” I said, “Great. Hi Lenay.” She said hi back. I told them both congratulations on their recent marriage, and they thanked me. I think Jason said something like, “So, what are you doing?” LoL! I said, “Trying to figure out where I’m supposed to go.” Jason said, “Yeah, same here.” I told Jason I had presents for them and Lenay got so excited, she was so cute. We got to the top and got off the escalator. There a The Fish booth there and Jason said, “This looks about right.” I waved bye and said, “See you inside, have fun and be safe.” He thanked me and he started to talk with the peeps from The Fish.
There was a line for the people who had the VIP, but it was relatively short. I got in line and told the random strangers in front of me about my Jason encounter. LoL, I’m nerd, but I was excited.
I turn around and saw 4 people are now lined up behind me. Who is one of those people? MICHELLE!! She was the girl I met at the Hawk Nelson show at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, yeah, the one where Jason tried to kill me with the mic stand. She was the one that we bonded because we liked a lot of the same bands.
I was so happy to see her. There was a couple in between us and they told her and her grandmother to come and stand with me because we kept talking up a storm. I had such a blast talking to her. We like most of the same bands, so we had so much fun exchanging stories about all of them.
We got checked in, waited in line some more, then finally got let in. I being JP, sound nerd extraordinaire, I took pix of the FOH console. ROTFL!! I really am such a nerd, hehe. We had to wait inside for a long while. Slowly we see all the guys walk in. Eventually they let us go talk to them. We couldn’t take pix with the guys, we just got a quick chat and our CDs autographed. I got to quickly chat with them about their involvement with the WWe. They were so excited when I brought it up. I explained I was a big fan of wrestling so I was marking out when I saw them…then I had to explain what marking out meant, lol. When I got to Jen I told her, “And you got like a special close-up and all.” She was like, “Yeah, what was that about?” Next I talked to Ben, and I gave him a little “Get Well Soon” gift. He thanked me for it, hehe.
Afterwards we were all escorted to the VIP lounge. The longue was real pretty, but darn it, I wanted to be in the pit. I went back downstairs to ask if I could go to the pit. I begged, I pleaded, I offer to pay more, but no luck. Pit tickets were sold out, and because I had bought the most expensive tickets, there was no upgrade available. AHHHHHHH!!! I was bummed, because when it comes to these 2 bands, you just LOVE being in the pit.
I then waited around for the merch table to finish setting up. I figured it was best to buy everything now before the madness after the show. I was chatting with some other Hawk fans, and we were all so supper anxious to buy the Hawk Nelson 3D glasses. I saw 2 Skillet shirts that I wanted and was deciding which one. Michelle can down to buy some merch as well. Finally, they opened up, and I got my 3D glasses and my shirt.
We then went back upstairs. I was starving at this point, but the VIP longue had no vegetarian options. BLEH!! Michelle and her grandma got to order some stuff while I sat there and sipped on some water. It was still cool; there we were in the VIP longue, feeling important, hehe. It was also cool because they were playing some of my face songs inducing some tobyMac, and the BEST SONG EVER, “Never Going Back to OK” by The Afters. We did not know the first band, so we stayed in the longue while they played. We could see them on some TV screens. Once they were over we headed out.
Decypher Down was next. I own their latest album, so I knew some songs. When they went old school I didn’t know the songs. They were pretty good. My first time seeing them live and I enjoyed them.
Then, it was get giddy time!!! They started setting up the stage for Hawk Nelson. We could see Murphy from the stage and both Michelle and I went “EEEEEEHHHH!” (I probably forgot to mention this, but we got SOOO lucky that my seat was 205DD and Michelle’s was 206EE. Yup, she was JUST behind me, so that was AWESOME!!)
The guys hit the stage. First, you heard the “Live Life Loud” claps, but it shifted to “Bring ‘em Out.” I tried to sit for a little bit, but then I got all this energy in me and I was like, “CAN’T SIT ANY LONGER!!!” and I got up and danced. Michelle got up behind me also. We were the only 2 in our area who were up dancing. Here is the set list before I forget (might be slightly out of order, going off memory here)
· Bring 'Em Out
· The Show
· The One Thing I Have Left
· Letters to the President
· Never Enough
· California
· Everything You Ever Wanted
· The Meaning of Life
· The Job
· Friend Like That
· Let's Dance
· Live Life Loud
To continue with my review:
Geesh, every time I see those guys I just get SOOO much energy I just gotta jump and dance. I know I’ve said this before, but my life has been so much better since Hawk has been in my life. My only regret is that I didn’t know of them sooner because I’ve missed out on so many awesome tours.
Now, during Hawk, I did start to cry. We’ll get more on that a little later. The guys were so great on stage. Let me see if I remember some of the things they talked about.
Well, at one point Jason was talking about how at their show last night he pointed at one guy and he said he looked like a scary version of Jesus. Then he got embarrassed because the guy was the former bass player from Korn. Dan I believe it was said, “Hey, he’s here again tonight!!” Jason was like, “OH NO!!” LoL! Apparently there was someone else famous there and Jason called him out. I can’t remember who he called out but Jason said, “Now he’s the guy hiding because he’s scared that I called him out. Well, if he can let’s do a tour together.” Then he started naming all these random bands that have nothing to do with each to go on tour with. (Side note, I want that HN/Stellar kart tour, and I want it NOW!!!)
During “The One Thing I Have Left” Jason was acting out the song. For example, during “I think I’m allergic to myself” he would act like he was allergic o himself. Then he pretended he didn’t know where to go, “…I don’t know which direction.” I think he’s done that before, but something about tonight made it seem that much funnier.
“Letters to the President” seamed extra special tonight with all the junk that’s going on. I sang every line, and meant it!
I can’t remember who asked Jason, but they said, “Tell them how your girl friend is next door.” Jason said, “I’m not going to name drop in Los Angeles that my friend Sandi Patty, who’s just Sandi to me, is signing right next door.” LoL! That was funny.
During “California” I actually started cracking up. Here are these guys from Canada, who now live in Nashville, who are singing about wanting to move to California…in California. And here I am, a total Cali girl, singing along to this song, and trying to move to Nashville. I just thought the whole situation was hilarious and I laughed so hard during the song.
They talked a bit on their inspiration for the new record, at which point he sang “The Meaning of Life.” Oh man, it hit me and I started to cry.
Side note: Here’s the funny thing: if you want to blame my move to Nashville on anyone, blame it on Hawk Nelson. And no, I don’t mean that I chose to move there because most live there (do all live there, or just Jason & Jon? Does Jason still live there now that he got married? And where does Justin live? Dan? LoL, I would make a horrible stalker if I’m not sure of this information, but I digress…) It all started when Jon decided to start tweeting about his new sound gear. Then I got all like, “Sound gear, I miss sound gear.” Then we went back & forth on a little conversation about sound gear. Then I started reading old LJ entries about my time in the studio. Then I REALLY started missing sound. Then they came out with this CD called “Live Life Loud.” I really wasn’t the same person after I heard it. All the songs were like God yelling at me, “You need to finish studying sound NOW, and you need to do it in Nashville.” Next thing I know I’m applying and planning visit to Belmont. Yeah, thanks Hawk Nelson, thanks A LOT!! (LoL!)
Anyways, back to my review. So, yeah, I seriously started to cry during “The Meaning of Life,” it’s such a beautiful song.
Jason then talked about a horrible job he had. He was a toll booth boy at a hospital, and he had to collect $8.75 I believe he said (Canadian I’m sure, lol!) for people to come see their friends and family in the hospital. He said he wrote that song because he thought the job was SOOO bad. I looked at Michelle and said, “DUDE, is he going to sing ‘The job?’” He went on to say that he wrote that song while in the toll booth. He wanted to clarify that now he greatest job in the world. Then he went on to sing, “The Job.” Man, I was singing along with him, yelling out my frustrations along with him. I really love that song because it expresses really how I feel about my job right now. It used to be awesome, but I hate all the changes they have made. It really is making me sick, which is why I also feel that it’s time to leave.
Now, I gotta say this, there were 2 peeps that I could see down in the pit. They were dancing and jumping around to every single song, and they were in the front row. I wished nothing but to be there down with them. During “Let’s Dance” Jason went down there with them to sign along. I know he saw how into they were into the music, and I wished so bad I was down there with them. I got some pix of them. They were really so into every song, it was awesome.
Meanwhile, here I was at the top, dancing and singing and jumping up and down, and everyone starring. It was funny that most people really started starring during, “Let’s Dance.” Somehow the peeps in the 3 rows in front in front of me saw me and were staring at me. I thought it was just ironic this was going on during the song “Let’s Dance.” Well, maybe it was appropriate, “I’m happy in my skin being myself, let’s dance!”
The guys announced that their last song would be “Live Life Loud.” They put on their 3D glasses. I grabbed mine, but I flipped them up so I could see them. We clapped along with them, and sang and danced. GOSH, do I love that song or what? The guys seriously ROCKED IT. Jason threw his 3D glasses to the supahfans in the front. I was so sad when they were done; I WANTED MORE!! LoL! Justin was so sweet, he came down and handed his drum sticks specifically to the supahfans. They deserve it!! That was so sweet of the guys to notice.
Now, here is the sound nerd analysis of their show. They were the only band that was perfectly well balanced. In all the other bands (including Skillet), the guitar was WAY overbearing, and the vocals were quite hard to hear. Props to Hawk (or their sound person) for not having that issue; they really were awesome.
Anyways, so, after Hawk walked offstage, Michelle and I turned to each other and were talking about how awesome they just were. We were SOOO thirsty, so we went back to the VIP longue to use the restroom and grab some water.
We want back and anxiously awaited Skillet.
They had this cool intro. Working for a theme park, I was seriously cracking up at the intro. It said stuff like, “Pregnant women should consult a doctor before attending. Not responsible for whiplash from head banging.” It was awesome. YouTube it, I’m it’s up there somewhere, lol.
Here is their set list. I will admit, I compiled with this with the help of Google, and it may be slightly off:
· Intro
· Whispers In The Dark
· Better Than Drugs
· It's Not Me, It's You
· The Older I Get
· Comatose
· Hero
· Yours To Hold
· The Last Night
· Jen Ledger’s Drum Solo
· Those Nights
· Awake And Alive
· Savior
· Ben’s Guitar Solo
· Monster
Encore:
· My Obsession
· Lucy
· Violin and Cello solos
· Rebirthing
I seriously gotta say that the guys were so awesome. I was singing along to every song, just totally feeling the concert.
Hearing “The Older I get” and “Those Nights” live this time around was truly special. Those 2 songs helped get over the drama in my life with a certain friend. I’m glad we fixed the problem and I’m supper glad she’s back in my life, but the songs really helped me through the bad times.
Let’s see, some funny moments? Hmmm…Ok, well, John was talking about how he loves the 80s. Yes, we’ve all heard that speech. The funny thing he said though was, “I always wanted a mullet but my parents never let me have one. I get back at them now with my make-up.” AHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, I laughed so hard at that. He sang some song (I’m assuming from the 80s). Everyone knew it; I was like, “DUH!” LoL! But then he sang “Yours to Hold.” *sigh* I love that song. I love seeing it live even more because I love it when Jen and Korey sing their parts. I know I’m mostly a tomboy, but sometimes I can be such a girl, lol.
“The Last Night” also meant a lot to me. I know I’ve heard it live before, but since I last saw them I probably felt the bottom void expressed in the song. Specifically when John sings, “Your parents say everything is your fault but they don't know you like I know you they don't know you at all.” Then Korey sings, “I'm so sick of when they say it's just a phase. You'll be o.k. You're fine.” I love how John finishes that with, “But I know it’s a lie.” GAH, so true! But yeah, I cried during this song (note, I never felt like killing myself, just felt down like those lines mentioned. I wanna make that clear.)
Music nerd alert: Jen’s drum solo, AMAZING!!! And I’m not just saying that. I’ve gone to drum competitions, drum recitals, drum exhibitions; you know I love me a good drum solo. Jen was simply AMAZING!! I now wished I had recorded it, it was SOOOO good. She is really amazing. Also, I love since she joined the band because I love her parts, like in “Hero” and “Awake & Alive.” She’s awesome. GO JEN!
Oh, here is another funny part. The cello and violin each had a solo. When the cello guy was playing some guy yelled out, “I LOVE YOU CELLO GUY!!!” He paused for a few seconds and then yelled out, “IN A STRAIT WAY!!!!” Everyone started cracking up, lol!!
Oh yeah, didn’t mention all the crazy stuff Skillet had going on. They had these supper tall platforms they got on. They had smog, and lights, and all sorts of crazyness. It was truly a great production. Go to my facebook for some pix.
Michelle and her grandmother had left right before the last song; they had a long drive back. I went down to the merch table. Decypher Down said they would come out. I was hoping Hawk would come out as well.
So, I was waiting there, waiting, waiting. I really saw no one. All of I sudden I look behind me and see Dan. Dan was evidently talking to some other fans. I heard him saw how this was a really weird place because the lobby was so small, and they had to [ark really far away. When he was finished with them I approached him and asked if the rest of the guys were gonna come out. He said, “No, just me!” I said, “Well, we’ll take you” or something stupid like that. It was stupid enough to cause a weird look from him. ROTFL! Serioulsy, why do I become 12 when I talk to these guys?
Anyways…I told him I had present for all the guys. He said he’ll gladly take them and asked if I wanted a pic (I had my camera out). I said yes and asked a random guy to please take out pic. After the pic I proceeded to explain to him why I came bearing gifts. When I told him the going deaf story he thought I was joking but then realized, “Oh, you were serious, like medically going deaf?” I told him yes and explained a bit. I told him about Jon and how he made me miss everything. Then I said that when I got their new album it really inspired me. He said, “Yeah, live life loud!” I told him everything, and he was so attentive to everything I was saying, I could see it in his face. I finally ended by blaming them for my move to Nashville and going to finish school at Belmont. Then he said, “Belmont? That’s where Justin went to school!” I said, “NO WAY!! I did not know that.” (Again, horrible stalker, LoL!!)
When I showed him the gifts, he was like, “Whoa, those are cool.” I told him I just them on the lanyards because I had a bunch of them on my desk. “I work for Disneyland as basically a travel agent there.” He said, “Alright, you got the hook-ups.” LoL! He looked at all of them and said, “Justin, Jason, Jon...Well, I see all the J’s here.” His was dangling down, so I picked it up and handed it to him and he said, “There I am. Oh, and you put a bass clef there.” He got to exited over that he gave me a high five, lol. I explained to him that I wrote the letters inside right before SWC Monterey, so they may be a little outdated but I said, “I wrote them for a reason so I didn’t touch them. In fact, I’m not 100% sure of what I wrote.” I explained I didn’t give them in Monterey because they never came out. He said, “Oh yeah, Monterey, that was a crazy show.” He asked for my name again and said something like, “Oh, we could never pay you back for this.” I said, “Oh, no, this is a thank you for all your music.” I also handed him the chocolate covered espresso beans and apologized if they had melted and he said, “Are you sure you want me to have these?” I said, “Yeah, I bought them for you guys.” LoL! He thanked me once again and then opened the door so I could go outside. As soon as we stepped outside he was bombarded with fans, so we didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye. I just hope he did hand the stuff to the guys (not because I think he would keep them, just in fear that they were lost among all the fans or something).
While I was out there the violin player for Skillet stepped out. Everyone swarmed him also, so it was a little hard to step out.
Once outside I saw that there was like a big convention in the center. There were so many people there.
I don’t know, but that was when it hit me. Come next August, my life is going to be COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! I know it’s what God wants, but it’s going to be different. I saw my city of L.A. around me, where it was mid October and it was so hot outside I was actually sweating. I know I won’t have that next October. I saw all the crazyness going around and though, wow, I won’t see this crazyness anymore. I saw some steps that were empty, and I just sat there for a bit, let it all sink in, and just started to cry. I just got so emotional, hehe. Again, I know I’m a tomboy, but I’m also a girl and sometimes that side gets the better of me, lol.
I calmed down and went to pay for parking, then headed down to my car. By now I had a smile on my face because I was SOOO happy from this amazing show. Thanks Hawk Nelson and Skillet for an AWESOME time!!