Wow, what a fun and adventurous weekend!
On Thursday night, Rod, Lori, Brianna, and Carlisle arrived at our place to spend the night before heading to Des Moines to begin our weekend fun. Friday morning we woke up at 6AM so that we could be ready to go by 6:30. We got the vehicle loaded up and we headed out of Mitchell. We arrived in Des Moines early enough to find the restaurant for Adam's private meet and greet lunch with Collective Soul and Gavin DeGraw.
While Adam was having the time of his life, enjoying his afternoon the rest of us found the hotel and got checked in. We then headed back towards the mall area and ate at Cheesecake Factory, which of course had some rather tasty menu options...mmm cheesecake, one of my favorites!! We then walked around the mall for a few minutes until Adam was done at his engagement. Adam got his picture taken with Ed Roland and got a signed picture from Ed. He also got a few pictures signed by Gavin DeGraw. Adam was particularly impressed with Ed's personality - he was very funny and personable! (Ed was the only CS band member able to make it to the special lunch.)
After picking Adam back up, we headed to the downtown Arts Festival. None of us had ever been there before, so we weren't sure what to expect. All of us were fortunate to have VIP passes for the concert, THANKS ADAM! We found the concert stage, and were fortunate enough to be the first ones seated in the VIP section, so that meant front and center for us!! While we were waiting for the concerts to get underway, we were able to walk around a little bit and look at the various booths at the festival and were able to get some Collective Soul t-shirts. Finally they had a good selection to choose from, so that was an added perk.
Adam and I were also fortunate enough to get to meet Gavin DeGraw and get our picture taken with him. He also signed a special pass that we had, that said we got to meet him. We had to wait for awhile after the originally schedule meeting time, so we were thinking that we might not get to do it... but fortunately it all came together. While we were waiting to meet with Gavin, Adam had his eyes peeled for any CS band members. Sure enough, he saw Cheney, the drummer for CS and got the drum head he brought along signed! Luckily Rod, Lori, Brianna, and Carlisle were able to save our seats for us this whole time we were gone - thanks!
It was definitely a surreal feeling getting to meet a celebrity up close like that, but it was awesome nonetheless! Sure did make me even more excited for Collective Soul to take stage, which they did shortly after our meet and greet.
They put on an awesome show and opened with their new song, "Welcome All Again". It is always so exciting to get to see them in concert, so we really love it when they come within travelling distance for us. Unfortunately the sound system was doing some goofy things, so the band had to leave stage for awhile. They were able to come back again, but then had to leave shortly thereafter. Ed was kind enough to finish off CS' portion of the concert by singing a couple acoustic songs!! It was spectactular. I know this sounds cliche, and lots of girls say this at concerts, but Dean really did look at me and give me a smile and nod when I was singing and dancing to one of their songs... just made me smile and sing more! CS concerts are usually about 75 minutes, and of course I always want them to be longer.... one can always hope, right?
After a short intermission, Gavin did take the stage. It was evident that most of the people at this FREE concert was there for Gavin. Makes me sad for CS, as they are such an amazing band and deserve more credit than they get. But anyway, we had the front row of seats, and people really weren't suppose to go in front of that area and stand. However, like any concert, there always have to be people that push the limits. After awhile, the security guards allowed, it so of course Adam, Lori, and myself worked our way to the front of the stage. It is always funny and amazes me what some of the girls shout out at concerts to the singers... a couple examples from this concert are... Gavin was sweating and wiped his forehead and one woman shouted out "Don't worry, I have a towel for you"... and another woman just randomly shouted out "Be my babies' daddy!!!!!" All I have to say is WOW!
Gavin did put on a good show, and it was fun being up close like that. I did get to shake his hand a couple of times throughout the concert when he was going back and forth on the stage.
Surprisingly, it wasn't that big of a hassle to get out of the concert area and back to the vehicle. We really lucked out with a parking spot, and couldn't have done any better there. Yay for an awesome parallel parking job, Rod!
Friday was a very long day, but it was so worth it! Loved every minute of it!
On Saturday we headed to Adventureland Amusement Park, which was pretty fun. Of course on a Saturday it is busy and so we had to wait in lines quite a bit. We only spent about 5 hours there, as we headed back to Mitchell that night yet. I love rollercoasters! Will have to think about planning a trip to a "real" rollercoaster park sometime soon... not sure when that will be! Thank you to the random gracious man who gave us tickets for the park because not everyone in their group showed up. Things like that always remind me that there still are good people in this world!
As you can see, it was a fun filled weekend for us. Now, I'll just have to work on a meet and greet with Collective Soul!! Adam has a whole bunch of stunning pictures from the concert on his flickr website - check them out! I am not going to insert pics on here, because there are so many awesome ones to choose from, so just click on the link. http://tiny.cc/xP70H
Monday, July 6, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)