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My Night of the Year
GAMMA_WAVE5
Posts: 15
I had been telling my wife for the last 7 years I would take her to her first P.J. show. I'm totally P.J. obsessed and my wife was definitely more than a casual fan, just not a total die-hard like myself. This tour rolled around and as it got closer, I ended up buying a single ticket for the Tampa show in April because we knew we weren't going to have a babysitter well in advance. I felt pretty bad, as yet again I was going without her, but she kept telling me things like, it's okay, I want you to go, you'll have a blast, etc. I went solo, it was amazing as always, and after a week passed and I was finally coming down from it... I remember waking up and this overwhelming sense of guilt hit me. What was I thinking?! Pearl Jam is on tour right now and you're going to be okay with seeing them once all tour by yourself? I suddenly realized that all the madness in our lives early this year had completely fried my brain. (Life with a toddler, among some other pretty heavy stuff I'll spare you from).
My clarity came back as I realized my sister lived in Columbia, SC, and the band was on their way there for the 21st! I sped off to work and got on StubHub... there was nearly nothing left of course, and I couldn't bare the thought of finally taking her to a show and sitting near the rafters. There were a few seats open directly behind the stage, cheapest ones available actually, and also the closest to the stage. Total dillema. Now I'm taking her to see P.J. from behind... great. I bought them reluctantly, afraid we wouldn't be able to see a thing and told myself I should be happy I even got two seats. We packed up the baby and hit the road for 10 hours on the 20th.
If you haven't done it, I'm telling you, sitting behind the stage was unreal. A whole new perspective, and probably the closest to a VIP feel I'll ever get.
At one point between songs, I see Mike heading towards his cup that was sitting on top of his amp. He's literally walking straight towards us (we're probably 25 feet above him). The crowd had literally just finished applauding the last song, and in this rare couple seconds of quiet I yell MIIIIIIIKE at the top of my lungs. He looks up RIGHT at me, I'm now freaking out and all I can think to do is point to my heart and then point at him. He raises his cup to me, so now I'm REALLY freaking out, so I do it again. Mike starts walking back towards the front of the stage. He turns around really quickly and jogs back towards us, shaking his head no... pointing back at me now. Like he's saying, "No, no, no, I love you!" Then he starts walking away again, and then comes back and does it yet again! Some people in the seats around us see what he's doing and start cheering. I get a few high fives. I'm pretty sure my brain's old motherboard had a temporary shut down at this point out of sheer joy, cause I don't remember what happened directly after, or what song started after that. The 15 seconds or so he gave me is something I'll never forget. Thank you Mike.
Being behind the stage, I was able to read all of the signs of everyone in the front row. One really stood out, it said something along the lines of, "Please play Crown for me and my dad, our 20th show together." I kept thinking of how amazing this band is, how it brings so many of us together in these moments, how awesome it is for a father and daughter to have shared 20 shows, how magical to take my wife to her first.
At the start of the second encore the majority of the lights were up in the arena. The lights went down into this really deep blue, and when Boom hit those first few keys on Chloe Dancer... the scream that arose from the crowd made all the hairs on my body stand up. Then the lights fade into green across the front of the crowd, and Eddie's standing in a purple spotlight. When I hear that moment on the bootleg I get goosebumps every time. I was able to snap this:
Right after Chloe, the father and daughter got their Crown of Thorns. My wife and I danced to Black shortly after, our first real night out together since having a baby over 2 and a half years ago. Life hits so hard at times, and her and I have been through some really big bumps in the past 2 years. Among them, I got diagnosed with an extremely painful lifelong auto-immune condition. Standing behind those 6 guys was the first time in a long time that I felt like I had breathed again. As they always do, they made me realize again that night that things are gonna be A-OK. Thank you to the best band in the world, and thanks to the best fan base ever for standing there with me. Edit: I also wanted to say thanks to the awesome couple we sat next to (Had the same names as my wife's grandparents). If you're out there, I hope we can do it again someday.
My clarity came back as I realized my sister lived in Columbia, SC, and the band was on their way there for the 21st! I sped off to work and got on StubHub... there was nearly nothing left of course, and I couldn't bare the thought of finally taking her to a show and sitting near the rafters. There were a few seats open directly behind the stage, cheapest ones available actually, and also the closest to the stage. Total dillema. Now I'm taking her to see P.J. from behind... great. I bought them reluctantly, afraid we wouldn't be able to see a thing and told myself I should be happy I even got two seats. We packed up the baby and hit the road for 10 hours on the 20th.
If you haven't done it, I'm telling you, sitting behind the stage was unreal. A whole new perspective, and probably the closest to a VIP feel I'll ever get.
At one point between songs, I see Mike heading towards his cup that was sitting on top of his amp. He's literally walking straight towards us (we're probably 25 feet above him). The crowd had literally just finished applauding the last song, and in this rare couple seconds of quiet I yell MIIIIIIIKE at the top of my lungs. He looks up RIGHT at me, I'm now freaking out and all I can think to do is point to my heart and then point at him. He raises his cup to me, so now I'm REALLY freaking out, so I do it again. Mike starts walking back towards the front of the stage. He turns around really quickly and jogs back towards us, shaking his head no... pointing back at me now. Like he's saying, "No, no, no, I love you!" Then he starts walking away again, and then comes back and does it yet again! Some people in the seats around us see what he's doing and start cheering. I get a few high fives. I'm pretty sure my brain's old motherboard had a temporary shut down at this point out of sheer joy, cause I don't remember what happened directly after, or what song started after that. The 15 seconds or so he gave me is something I'll never forget. Thank you Mike.
Being behind the stage, I was able to read all of the signs of everyone in the front row. One really stood out, it said something along the lines of, "Please play Crown for me and my dad, our 20th show together." I kept thinking of how amazing this band is, how it brings so many of us together in these moments, how awesome it is for a father and daughter to have shared 20 shows, how magical to take my wife to her first.
At the start of the second encore the majority of the lights were up in the arena. The lights went down into this really deep blue, and when Boom hit those first few keys on Chloe Dancer... the scream that arose from the crowd made all the hairs on my body stand up. Then the lights fade into green across the front of the crowd, and Eddie's standing in a purple spotlight. When I hear that moment on the bootleg I get goosebumps every time. I was able to snap this:
Right after Chloe, the father and daughter got their Crown of Thorns. My wife and I danced to Black shortly after, our first real night out together since having a baby over 2 and a half years ago. Life hits so hard at times, and her and I have been through some really big bumps in the past 2 years. Among them, I got diagnosed with an extremely painful lifelong auto-immune condition. Standing behind those 6 guys was the first time in a long time that I felt like I had breathed again. As they always do, they made me realize again that night that things are gonna be A-OK. Thank you to the best band in the world, and thanks to the best fan base ever for standing there with me. Edit: I also wanted to say thanks to the awesome couple we sat next to (Had the same names as my wife's grandparents). If you're out there, I hope we can do it again someday.
Post edited by GAMMA_WAVE5 on
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