Another Front Row Experience 10/30 Philly 3
Brain of JFK
Posts: 238
Yes, this will be another overly long and personal post from a thrilled lottery winner, so if that type of story doesn't excite you just move right along.
First, a little context. My wife and I are longtime fans all the way back to Ten. Our first show was Hartford 1996 when my wife was very pregnant with our youngest son (now 12 years old). In the last year plus, PJ has become a happy obsession that I have shared with my 12 and 14 year old sons. In various combos, we made it to Mansfield last year, 3 EV solo shows, and stood listening through the walls outside the O2 when we were in London on vacation (and could not get tickets despite our best efforts). The boys are every bit my equal at learning all the obscurities, song lyrics, making lists (favorite songs, favorite albums, songs they want to hear) following setlist threads well past their bedtime, etc. In other words, they are your average 10C members - only younger.
We managed to get 10C tix for 10/30 and 10/31 and could not have been more excited to be in attendance no matter where we were seated, but could not believe it when my wife won the lottery with front row seats in 102 right in front of Jeff with Mike slightly to our left and Ed slightly to the right. Our 12 year old has diabetes and we could not realistically allow him to be alone with his brother up front, but could not envision denying either of them this once in a lifetime experience. Fortunately, security took pity on us and allowed us to accompany the boys.
Wherever we sat this would have been the best PJ concert we have attended (including Mansfield 3 in 2003), but I wanted to share some more personal anecdotes.
Right from the beginning, Mike was playing to those in our area - waving and pointing toward us and he tossed picks right to us early on. Both boys got one and when Mike threw picks our way again, we gladly gave the picks away to fans in the second row.
Somehow, in the midst of his amazing performance, Ed chose to give each of us his personal attention at some point.
My moment came during “DTE”. When Ed was singing “admire my son he’s my clone” he was looking right at me. As I sang along and pointed like a fool at my boys in front of me, he pointed right back at them. Just an incredible thrill.
At the start of the first encore, Ed starting yelling to us asking how old my youngest son was and what was his name. He then announced it to the whole crowd and said something to the effect that he was lucky to be in the first row cause Ed was pretty sure he would have been fucked if he had to sit anywhere else (because of his height). My wife jokingly wagged her finger at Ed while he was dropping his F-bomb and Ed said that Mom didn’t like that language but that Dad didn’t mind cause he did it all the time. Sure hope that makes it on to the bootleg!
When “Footsteps” started, the boys immediately (and rightly) predicted that Mamasan was coming. Imagine the feeling then when Ed came over at the end and pointed to my 12 year old and then tossed him his harmonica!
Just when we were starting to feel a little bad for his older brother for not getting the same attention, Ed came through again. At the end of Sonic Reducer, Ed untaped his setlist from the floor and passed it off to my older son. Unlike the setlist we saw posted on the board, this one had Brother crossed off by Ed and freshly scrawled at the bottom “Baba” which my son immediately noticed so we knew what was coming next!
My wife’s turn came during “Baba O’Reilly”. While Ed was throwing tambourines around, he came over to her and said “For you Mom” and tossed her a tambourine.
The embarrassment of riches was not over. When the band was taking their bows, Matt came down and passed off his drumsticks and monogrammed, sweat drenched wristband to my younger son. (We’ve told him he can use them to play Backspacer and Ten on Rock Band once, but then they go into immediate retirement.)
After the show, folks around us were taking our pictures with all our treasures and offering congratulations all around. The next night, we met a lovely couple (10C members from NH) outside the Spectrum who remembered my son’s name from the night before and said that we’d been up on the screen the night before. It was so nice to meet folks who had an appreciation for what the whole experience meant to us.
We just want to extend a huge thank you to the 10C for the lottery system and to the members of PJ. We were and are in awe of their talents as performers, but have a whole new level of appreciation for their generosity to their fans. We are so grateful for the shared family memories that we will always cherish. The only way I can think of to acknowledge this debt is to make a financial gesture of thanks so we will be gladly making a donation to the Wishlist Foundation as a token of our appreciation.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I wish everyone the opportunity to experience something akin to what happened to us at Philly 3.
First, a little context. My wife and I are longtime fans all the way back to Ten. Our first show was Hartford 1996 when my wife was very pregnant with our youngest son (now 12 years old). In the last year plus, PJ has become a happy obsession that I have shared with my 12 and 14 year old sons. In various combos, we made it to Mansfield last year, 3 EV solo shows, and stood listening through the walls outside the O2 when we were in London on vacation (and could not get tickets despite our best efforts). The boys are every bit my equal at learning all the obscurities, song lyrics, making lists (favorite songs, favorite albums, songs they want to hear) following setlist threads well past their bedtime, etc. In other words, they are your average 10C members - only younger.
We managed to get 10C tix for 10/30 and 10/31 and could not have been more excited to be in attendance no matter where we were seated, but could not believe it when my wife won the lottery with front row seats in 102 right in front of Jeff with Mike slightly to our left and Ed slightly to the right. Our 12 year old has diabetes and we could not realistically allow him to be alone with his brother up front, but could not envision denying either of them this once in a lifetime experience. Fortunately, security took pity on us and allowed us to accompany the boys.
Wherever we sat this would have been the best PJ concert we have attended (including Mansfield 3 in 2003), but I wanted to share some more personal anecdotes.
Right from the beginning, Mike was playing to those in our area - waving and pointing toward us and he tossed picks right to us early on. Both boys got one and when Mike threw picks our way again, we gladly gave the picks away to fans in the second row.
Somehow, in the midst of his amazing performance, Ed chose to give each of us his personal attention at some point.
My moment came during “DTE”. When Ed was singing “admire my son he’s my clone” he was looking right at me. As I sang along and pointed like a fool at my boys in front of me, he pointed right back at them. Just an incredible thrill.
At the start of the first encore, Ed starting yelling to us asking how old my youngest son was and what was his name. He then announced it to the whole crowd and said something to the effect that he was lucky to be in the first row cause Ed was pretty sure he would have been fucked if he had to sit anywhere else (because of his height). My wife jokingly wagged her finger at Ed while he was dropping his F-bomb and Ed said that Mom didn’t like that language but that Dad didn’t mind cause he did it all the time. Sure hope that makes it on to the bootleg!
When “Footsteps” started, the boys immediately (and rightly) predicted that Mamasan was coming. Imagine the feeling then when Ed came over at the end and pointed to my 12 year old and then tossed him his harmonica!
Just when we were starting to feel a little bad for his older brother for not getting the same attention, Ed came through again. At the end of Sonic Reducer, Ed untaped his setlist from the floor and passed it off to my older son. Unlike the setlist we saw posted on the board, this one had Brother crossed off by Ed and freshly scrawled at the bottom “Baba” which my son immediately noticed so we knew what was coming next!
My wife’s turn came during “Baba O’Reilly”. While Ed was throwing tambourines around, he came over to her and said “For you Mom” and tossed her a tambourine.
The embarrassment of riches was not over. When the band was taking their bows, Matt came down and passed off his drumsticks and monogrammed, sweat drenched wristband to my younger son. (We’ve told him he can use them to play Backspacer and Ten on Rock Band once, but then they go into immediate retirement.)
After the show, folks around us were taking our pictures with all our treasures and offering congratulations all around. The next night, we met a lovely couple (10C members from NH) outside the Spectrum who remembered my son’s name from the night before and said that we’d been up on the screen the night before. It was so nice to meet folks who had an appreciation for what the whole experience meant to us.
We just want to extend a huge thank you to the 10C for the lottery system and to the members of PJ. We were and are in awe of their talents as performers, but have a whole new level of appreciation for their generosity to their fans. We are so grateful for the shared family memories that we will always cherish. The only way I can think of to acknowledge this debt is to make a financial gesture of thanks so we will be gladly making a donation to the Wishlist Foundation as a token of our appreciation.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I wish everyone the opportunity to experience something akin to what happened to us at Philly 3.
96: 10-2 Hartford
03: 7-11 Mansfield 3
04: 9-28 Boston 1
08: 6-28 Mansfield 1
09: 10-30 Philly 3, 10-31 Philly 4
10: 5-15 Hartford, 5-17 Boston
11: 9-3 Alpine Valley, 9-4 Alpine Valley
13: 10-15 Worcester 1, 10-16 Worcester 2, 10-25 Hartford
16: 4-29 Philly 2, 5-1 MSG 1, 8-5 Fenway 1, 8-7 Fenway 2
18: 9-2 Fenway 1, 9-4 Fenway 2
21: 9-26 Ohana
22: 5-6 LA, 5-7 LA, 5-16 Fresno
EV SOLO: 8-2-08 Boston 2, 6-8-09 Albany 1, 6-15-11 Providence, 6-16-11 Boston, 6-18-11 Hartford, 11-1-12 Las Vegas
Tres Mts: 3-27-11 Boston
03: 7-11 Mansfield 3
04: 9-28 Boston 1
08: 6-28 Mansfield 1
09: 10-30 Philly 3, 10-31 Philly 4
10: 5-15 Hartford, 5-17 Boston
11: 9-3 Alpine Valley, 9-4 Alpine Valley
13: 10-15 Worcester 1, 10-16 Worcester 2, 10-25 Hartford
16: 4-29 Philly 2, 5-1 MSG 1, 8-5 Fenway 1, 8-7 Fenway 2
18: 9-2 Fenway 1, 9-4 Fenway 2
21: 9-26 Ohana
22: 5-6 LA, 5-7 LA, 5-16 Fresno
EV SOLO: 8-2-08 Boston 2, 6-8-09 Albany 1, 6-15-11 Providence, 6-16-11 Boston, 6-18-11 Hartford, 11-1-12 Las Vegas
Tres Mts: 3-27-11 Boston
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