Yakima (yak’·uh·maw) a city in BFE. Cow town. *cue “One Horse Town*

I really didn’t think I would be able to score a ticket to this show. And being as it’s in the aforementioned BFE, a good 2 and 1/2 hour drive over the mountains to get to, never mind my previous front row experience which has spoiled me forever, I had no intention of considering anything less than Row 3.

My day before the concert started bad. I got up, said something that *I* thought was nice, and got yelled at about it. Screw it. Went back to sleep. Got up again, said something (different) *I* thought was nice to someone else, and got yelled at about it. Screw it. While I’m curled up in the corner, feeling sorry for myself, I might as well make it really pitiful and  check for tickets to Elton in cow town and wallow in the fact that I won’t be getting my gig fix anytime soon.

I type in “1″ under ticket quantity, faithfully reproduce the jumbled captcha letters, and hit “find best available ticket” and wait. The screen pops up that a ticket is available, so I read the location, fully expecting the same seat I’ve been finding for the past few weeks: on the floor but “way back” in row 12.

*blink*

I reread to make sure I’m not misreading.

LEVEL: Floor SECTION: 1 ROW: 1 SEAT: 4

Row 1… Row 1???? Seriously… Row 1!

“Purchase”

OMG

PURCHASE!!!

Concert Day

The drive there is uneventful, though I did learn a few things.

1) My car does indeed, like to go fast. And it likes to do so even while, and perhaps even more, when it’s climbing a hill/mountain. I’d be traveling with cars that were all doing 70-75 and when we’d hit an incline, they would all slow down as their cars pulled up the hill, and I blew right past them. No struggling at ALL.

2) Once you get out of the Seattle area, where the roads are thick with cops ready to pull your ass over for anything they can come up with, you’ll be lucky to see one. I saw one. On my entire 360-mile round trip.

I drive past miles and miles of Tumbleweeds, anxious to make my Connection (oh stop groaning, I had to). Upon reaching cow town, my GPS leads me to the SunDome. You know how when you see something in the distance it looks small because it’s so far away and as you get closer it gets bigger? I first see the Sundome when I am half a block away. There really wasn’t much closer I could get, except to pull in the parking lot, which, and I am NOT joking here.. had 7, yes SEVEN rows of parking and a whopping $7 to park. My jaw is dropped and I’m laughing hysterically. Oh yes, this is going to be good.

There were people a couple cars away having a tailgate party which made changing into my concert outfit in my car just a TAD BIT more difficult than it should’ve been. Tank top into halter. Nuff said.

With proper paperwork (ticket confirmation) I go to Will Call and get my actual ticket. I maintain my composure and resist the urge to jump up and down screaming (yet).

Already my previously ridiculously comfy (walked 5 blocks in them after the last concert) platform concert shoes were betraying me and I had to apply pre-emptive first aid (bandaid). I laugh as I fall in line.. ONE big long line roped off weaving back and forth like… cattle.

Once inside, I am again in awe. This place is… well one friend who saw the pics asked if it was a high-school gym. And it felt a little like that too. People were running into other people they knew.

There are only 2 entrances; one in the back on the left and one in the back on the right. I bought a coke (for $3) and a slice of pizza (for $3).

I wander around but well quite frankly there’s not a whole lot to see. I scope out the concession stand and decide I need a program but don’t want to have to hold onto it while I’m standing up at the stage later, so I ask the woman if they’ll be open after the show. She says yes, but quantities are limited, so I might want to come during the intermission that they’ll most likely have. I stifle a laugh and tell her “Elton doesn’t take a break”.

I check out the sound booth multiple times but Clive (the soundboard god) isn’t there. I do see him later right before the show starts, rushing off somewhere. I’m thinking this little dome-hut must be a bitch to get the sound right in.

I go over in front of the piano and take a pic. I make nice with the lucky 3 guys whose seats are directly in front of where Elton will be sitting. We exchange pic taking and I tell them to save me a spot because I intend to make my way over when we’re allowed to go up.

Returning to my seat, I ask one of the (FEW!) security guys what the “go” song is. He looks at me blankly. “The what?”

Why do I know more than them??

I explain that the go song is the song where people (in Rows 1-3) are allowed up to the stage. Ah, there we are. Some recognition of what I speak. He still has to ask the other security guy though, who answers “Bennie and the Jets”. Having my intel, I take my seat.

Finally the show starts with Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. Always a great opener. They’re really rocking it and Bob Birch, the bass player, walks over behind Elton and while I couldn’t see exactly how, as the piano was in the way, he was right up against Elton, facing him, down at his level doing the posing/playing thing and then said something to Elton, they were laughing and then he kissed Elton’s neck laughing and returned to his spot.

The next song was Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting and this time Davey went over behind Elton for a little posing interaction. The boys were really rocking it tonight and the crowd was into it. He then played 3 songs from Madman Across the Water, including a different piano solo ending to the title song than I’ve heard him play before. After that, you’re on your own. It’s all a blur. Lots of songs. Lots!

Between songs during the applause/cheering I’d hold my jacket up above my head, hoping to catch his eye. His glasses are dark and there’s no facial expressions that giveaway that he sees it but I can’t imagine that he doesn’t, since I am directly in his line of sight as he sits at the piano. More than a few times, he’s hammering on the piano making faces as he does, while I play air piano making similar faces as we egg each other on.

<so worth the drive… so worth the drive>

At one point, a guy in the second row was recording video on his phone and the security guy stopped him. Pics are ok but video is forbidden. I make note of this and will be more careful when I start taking video, which I fully intend to do. Which happens relatively soon as Elton announces his next song will be from his new album due out in October that he made with Leon Russell. VIDEO OP! Always… ALWAYS get the rare songs. So I whip out my camera and start recording, being careful to cover the telltale red blinking RECORDING light. I get quite a bit before security spots me and says no video. I act all surprised. “Oh! Really? Ok.” and sit down with my camera in my lap… STILL ON RECORD. Granted, it’s aimed at total blackness but I am still getting the audio. I suddenly remember that there is a screen above me and to the right so I attempt to aim the lens towards it, but having absolutely no way of knowing exactly where it’s aimed. I miraculously aimed spot on! Msg me if you want to see it.

Davey notices me and acknowledges me a few times. There’s no mistaking it, he smiles at me, nodding his head. There’s also no mistaking it when he sees my jacket. He does kind of a double-take, laughing, kind of “wow” look and looks over at Bob like “do you see that?”

<so worth the drive… so worth the drive>

I keep waiting for that unmistakable first chord to Bennie and the Jets, but song after song is NOT Bennie. My coke is getting low and while I don’t feel the overwhelming urge to use the little girl’s room, I’m concerned that if I don’t remedy it, it may become overwhelming while I’m up at the stage and there is no way in hell I’m leaving THERE. So I calculate my trip and leave the second a song starts after making sure it’s not Bennie. Daniel starts and off I dash. Did I mention this place only has TWO bathrooms? Fairly empty at the time though. *PHEW* Dash back to my seat *just* as they play the last line.

*pant* *pant* *pant*

More songs. Not Bennie. What’s going on?? It’s nearly 10 o’clock! Is Bennie going to be the last song of the night or what?? Everyone sits as he dives into a lovely piano solo, that I know will eventually end up rocking  into Take Me To The Pilot, and sure enough I’m right. What was really weird was when it did? Everyone, except me, of course, *stayed* sitting. Even the drunk girl 4 seats down who at one point (during the concert, not during this song) seemed to think she was at a rodeo or something, waving a scarf around in circles above her head like a lasso.

Eventually, I’m standing, applauding whatever song just played and Sad Songs starts so I stay standing. Then I notice people in front of the piano are going up to the stage. I pause for a milisecond as thoughts run through my head.

What are they doing?/That’s not Bennie/They’re going to get sent back to their seats/It’s not time yet/Wrong song/Wait/They lied to me/Or too stupid to know/Nobody’s stopping them/OMG/Why are you just standing here you idiot/GO!!!/NOW!!!

I go like the wind. I make it to the crowd and realize there is no hope of getting in front of Elton so I fall in up against the stage. Elbows on the stage, I’m pretty much in front of Bob, between Davey and Elton. And again, oddly enough… directly in Elton’s sight.

<so worth the drive… so worth the drive>

I turn on my camera and start recording video. The secret, besides having a nice crowd of people as a buffer between me and security, is that I don’t aim at one thing non-stop. So, apologies for all the movement in my videos. You KNOW I have rock-steady video camera skills (see my previous videos) but I had to make it look like I was shooting still pictures.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The NEXT song is Bennie. Time to rush the sta… oh yeah, we’re already HERE. Ha! After Bennie, they launch into The Bitch is Back. I keep the video rolling because I *know* what’s coming, and sure enough, that’s right… I get Elton’s infamous handstand on the piano. Yes!! So to those who didn’t believe me last time when I said he still does them? Check THIS!

I’m a two-fisted camera maniac up here. Shooting video with my camera and taking still shots with my phone, though I only manage a couple of the latter before my battery dies. I’ll have to recharge immediately when I get to my car so I can use the GPS to find my way out of this one horse town.

At one point I notice Davey coming straight at me. OH! I grab the camera as I’m sure he’s going to come up to the edge of the stage and jam and these will be most awesome shots! During moments like these, you do not *wait* for your shot, you just start shooting and sort it all out later. So I shoot this

Note that his right hand is nowhere to be seen. Why? Because he is bending down giving me…

a guitar pick!!

<so worth the drive… so worth the drive>

More songs.

More rocking.

More… just more.

Then the end.

He and the band go offstage.

Then he comes back and walks right past the piano to the right side of the stage where one of the crew hands him…

A SHARPIE!

This only means one thing.

OMG OMG OMG

I fumble around and get the video rolling and get my jacket ready. How in the hell am I going to hold the jacket with one hand so that he can see it at all and the camera with the other??? AGH! I manage to. Somewhat anyway.

He signs loads of things as he makes his way close and is right next to my jacket signing something and hands it back to its owner, signed.

andddddd…… thennnnn…. oh please oh please oh please…….

TAKES MY JACKET!!!

He takes a step back and finds the right place to sign and there is time here… say something… mouth don’t fail me now… breathe first… no, just speak… SAY something…  I manage to sputter out an actual sentence  ”I’ve been trying ten years!” (actually I made the jacket 13 years ago when I went to LA to see him on Leno & have been trying to get it signed ever since) He hears me and raises his eyebrows.

I wish I had gotten that on video but apparently the camera was aimed… oh hell I have no idea where but I DID get my jacket in his hands as he hands the jacket back to me on video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

<so worth the drive… omg so so so so sooooooooooo worth the drive>

He makes his way to the other side of the stage, signing tons of things along the way.

The band comes back on in their comfy clothes and they play a few more songs. Gotta love Bob’s outfit.

I manage the foresight to ask someone to take a pic of me. It’s blurry. It’s dark. It’s contrasty. But it’s me. And it’s Elton. In the same frame. OMG. LOL

SO.

WORTH.

THE.

DRIVE.

February 3rd, 2010.

2:55 pm.

My life was changed forever.

I will never be the same. I can never go back. And it’s about damn time!!!

I scored a ticket at 2:55 pm to see Elton John & Billy Joel perform a mere 4 and 1/2 hours later. The ticket was not only for a seat somewhere in the building, but it was a seat on the FLOOR. And not just anywhere on the floor but Row FOUR. That’s right, Row 4 baby, row 4! I had a plan and it worked. The only small glitch was that I wanted to be in row 1, 2, or 3 because those rows are the ones that they let go up to the stage. Row 4 was going to take some serious scoping out of the situation and some quick thinking (and footwork) and hopefully with any luck at all, I might get the coveted position of standing in front of the stage.

I throw on my Elton jacket with the newly attached fur collar and head down to Key Arena. Once inside I descend to the heavily guarded floor. At the bottom of each staircase, there is a security worker making sure you have a valid floor ticket before you can even set foot on terra firma. I do so and the guy starts to helpfully direct me to my seat. He barely utters the first word when I interrupt, grinning. “I think I can find row 4″.

When I find my seat, I have a momentary millisecond of panic that there’s some sort of mix-up with the seats since there is a good sized camera sitting on it, with a coat in the seat next to it. My fears are quickly set to rest as a guy rushes over to move the camera, apologizing. We sit down and start to talk. Before long he’s showing me his iPhone FULL of closeup Elton concert pics. I try not to drool on him or his phone. I’m thinking to myself “I’ve found my people!”

I suddenly remember that this concert will be over 3 hours and the LAST thing I want to have to do is leave it to run to the little girl’s room. So I head off to pre-pee. When I come back there’s a huge backup on the staircase nearest my seat. Thinking some moron is holding things up by trying to get on the floor where they don’t belong or something, I try to see the front of the line. What I see is that security is stopping everyone so that some of the crew can climb up these little rope ladders up into the mammoth lighting system that’s hanging from the ceiling above the stage and floor area.

Detour time! Down another staircase and onto the floor then head back toward the soundboard. Nobody doing anything there. Back up another staircase to get a coke and I manage to get in the LINE FROM HELL. It doesn’t move. Seriously, how difficult is it to pull a handle and pour a beer? You’d think they’d get this figured out after, oh, I don’t know, the first couple thousand people?? I was in line so long I was worried I might miss the opening and trust me, that would not have been pretty. Btw, guy that was behind me that switched lines and got to the front before I even got close? Thanks for getting my coke for me!! You saved me having a possible stroke! haha

Coke in hand, I dash off down the stairs again. I have managed to go down a different staircase each time, so I have to dig out my ticket everytime. As I’m digging, the security guy from the next staircase over, walks over and tells my guy that I’m ok because he remembers me. Nice! Yeah the jacket does that. Back to the soundboard and this time Clive Franks, Elton’s sound guy, is there. There’s quite a buffer between the barrier so I can’t catch his attention. Besides he’s talking with someone. The last thing I”m going to do is yell out or some dumb thing. I just wanted to say hi and tell him he’s appreciated. We chatted last time Elton played here in ’06. I think the sound guys are underappreciated. Face it, if the sound isn’t right on, your concert experience sucks. I notice what might be the beginnings of light dimming. Shit! Dash off to my seat!

I return to find fan guy thinking his Elton stories scared me off. Haha no way! I want to hear them all! While I was off running around and waiting in line, he had been productive. Ok, maybe not that productive. He had chatted with the security but they wouldn’t even tell him the “go song”, the song that is the signal for the first 3 rows to go up to the stage, but he, being in row 4, would not be able to “go”.

We discuss strategy. Maybe if the couple in front of us is really old, ie, not stage-rushing material, we can convince them to switch places with us. Or maybe we can just slip in and get lost in the crowd since our seats are right at the end.

The lights dim. The spotlights go up. Pianos rise from the stage. And the show begins. I can’t believe how close I am. And I’m on the correct side. I can see Elton’s fingers on the keyboard. The show starts off with both Elton and Billy on stage at their respective pianos, facing each other, hence the name of the tour “Face to Face”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The music is awesome. The piano men are in top form. And I am SO DAMN CLOSE! Everytime they play a rocking song, I stay standing, dancing like many others around me. And everytime, the pissy woman behind me yells at me to sit down. I give her a look like “Are you serious?? We’re on the freaking FLOOR this close to the stage and you’re expecting maybe a reserved sitdown experience??”. I don’t push it too much… yet. Her date is even more grouchy. I think he’s afraid of her wrath when they get home if he doesn’t do anything. And I have flashbacks to the idiot in the front row of the Chris Isaak concert 2 years ago, who complained so loudly that security (tried to) make everyone at the stage sit down, even after Chris had ASKED people to come up. So I only sit when they yell at me. They’ll have to work for this. And it will not last all night. Later, there will be no sitting by me. Period. Dealwith it.

Billy and his band go offstage, leaving Elton and his boys to play their set. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding is first and the keyboard solo at the beginning is a sad reminder that Guy Babylon, Elton’s longtime keyboard player is no longer with us. Top 40 hits pour from the stage and I’m still in awe that I’m this close.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Elton plays the opening to Daniel, the “go song”, and some people in the first 3 rows stand and make their way to the stage.

Fan guy and I sit poised, waiting for an opportunity, but this is far from what I would call a “rushing” of the stage. Hell the ENTIRE third row on our side stays sitting. Scanning the occupants I discover that, and I am not exaggerating here, some of them have to be pushing 80!!

As there is no crowd to get lost in, we sit tight. We’d stand out like a sore thumb if we tried to get up there. I resign myself to the fact that opportunity to sneak, er I mean make our way to the stage is nill. Nevertheless I am thrilled to be sitting this close to the stage and am NOT complaining! Unlike the pissy woman sitting behind me.

I thoroughly enjoy Elton’s set (DUH??), and try to be careful not to bump fan guy too much as he is taking some amazing pictures with his camera.

When Elton’s set is done, they go off, and Billy and his band come on. I notice out of the corner of my eye during the second song, that fan guy isn’t in his seat. He must’ve gone off to the restroom while Elton’s not onstage or something. Billy is putting on a great show and I am standing, rocking out to Movin’ Out when SUDDENLY 20 thoughts run through my head all in about a millisecond:

“what was that?

did something just hit me?

was that a slap?

did someone slap my butt??

who could’ve/would’ve done that??

fan guy isn’t in his seat

who’s close enough??

is the pissy woman reaching over the seat to slap me now??

hold up..

there is nobody in my immediate (or non-immediate!) vicinity that it would be appropriate for them to be slapping my butt!!”

millisecond over.

I turn to see what the deal is, and see fan guy heading AWAY from me. He’s the one? Why would he be… WAIT! He’s walking past security… they’re not stopping him… he’s headed for the stage. OH!!! OH!!!! The stage!!! Now!!! Shit!!! I need to grab my stuff!! I can’t fall too far behind or the security will stop me!! I wasn’t ready!!! I grab my jacket, and purse, and coke and rush past the security woman who just… stands there… watching me go by…  And I’m there. At the stage. OMG I’M AT THE STAGE!!!!

I stand corrected. When it is “GO” time, it is completely appropriate to slap my butt! (but only then!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Billy’s set is awesome too. His piano rotates so that the audience who had previously been, as Billy put it “getting a lot of head”, got to see his face too.

We get sax solos directly in front of us.

We get guitar riffing directly in front of us.

We get horns directly in front of us.

And Billy comes over DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US and plays guitar.

Back at his piano, he’s introducing a song, when some guy back in the 5th row or so… Stop. I just love the way that sounds: “BACK in the 5th row” I can touch the stage. Every row is behind me. Ok, moving on… The guy yells out “PURPLE HAZE! PURPLE HAZE!”. Billy stops and looks at him. “What?” He yells again “PURPLE HAZE!” Billy repeats it “Purple haze?” then looks over at Tommy, his guitar player, then shrugs, and the whole band dives into a full rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze. How cool is that??

Click here to view the embedded video.

At one point Billy (again, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US) sings It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me, sans piano. He uses the mic stand as a prop, spinning it, twirling it, tossing it up in the air. There was one point where the guy in front of me would’ve got nailed with it had slipped from Billy’s hands. Hey nobody said it was completely risk-free up here! Even Billy points that out when he tells the people on the floor in front that here we thought we had such great seats, when there’s a humongous lighting rack hanging from 2 little wires and crew members up there for the entire show, unable to use the restroom for hours!

After Billy’s set, Elton and his band return to the stage with Billy and his band.

Click here to view the embedded video.

They rock the house. I’m kicking myself for not getting The Bitch is Back on video. Though it probably wouldn’t be worth watching. I could NOT stand still. Neither could the boys.

Elton stands up on his piano bench.

Billy swings between the two pianos.

Elton gets up on his piano.

He sits on the front edge of his piano (DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US) hamming it up.

And then too quickly for me to realize and snap a pic, he does a HANDSTAND. Almost 63 and the man is still doing his handstand! I manage to get a blur of a pic immediately after the handstand but miss the actual handstand, as does fan guy, who took over 500 pics that night. How could we miss it??

The song rocked!!

At one point, Elton is hammering out solo, and Billy gets up on top of his piano, walks across and jumps over to Elton’s piano and proceeds to lay down on his stomach, knees bent, feet up, chin in hands, propped up on elbows, looking down at Elton playing. So cute!

All too soon, it’s time for Piano Man, the final song of the concert. And just like a neighborhood pub they’re singing about, it turns into a singalong when they let the audience sing the chorus alone.

As Elton gets up to go over to hug Billy and take their bows, I notice something odd at Elton’s stomach. There’s some odd bit of fabric that looks a lot like ski… wait. Is that… belly button?? After he and Billy take their bows together, Elton comes DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US and raises his arms to the audience. And yes, hello belly button! Ha! Too cute!

Fan guy yells “Elton!” a couple times and extends his hand like many others and Elton reaches down and shakes his hand. WOW!!! He’s only about 6 foot 20, so he can reach right over the top of everyone and have his hand right in front of Elton. I’m standing there wondering whyyyy am I not doing this?? Could be that my brain cells rearrange to something less than clear thinking when Elton is in the vicinity. Same excuse why I wasn’t holding up my jacket for him to see (and maybe sign??) Though there were no autographs. I forgot they don’t do autographs during the Face to Face tours. But that’s ok. OMG that’s freaking OK!!!

I couldn’t even make the words to tell about this until today, a whole FOUR days later.

I am blissed out. And spoiled. After the last Elton concert in ’06 when I scored row 19 on the floor, I said I would never sit anywhere but the floor again. Nowwww…. I never want anything but the first 3 rows.

Boys and girls, this is what an obsession looks like. Isn’t it pretty? Haha!

The day started out with beautiful blue sky and warm sunshine. Perfect! Then I took a shower about an hour before I was going to leave, and the sun vanished! Rain threatened to make for a miserable night at the Ste. Michelle Winery and I wasn’t prepared to make a wardrobe change. So I stuck with the red halter and jeans but threw in a thin warm sweater.

Last year some numbnut in the front row made such loud noises about “paying good money” for his seat, that security ruined the stagefront experience by attempting to send everyone back to their seat. So I was fully prepared for the same to happen again this year. We also got seats pretty far back in the reserved section, and not on the aisle. This presented the problem of having to skirt past half a row of sitting people to get to the aisle, then up about 18 rows to get up to the stage when Chris gave the OK. Also this year, I lacked the knowledge of what song Chris played before he tells people to come up. So with all these different factors, I had resigned myself to the fact that we most likely would be a good 5-6 rows of people back from the stage. Totally acceptable anyway!

I had some pre-show panic and thought I was doomed. My plan (always have a plan) was to bring my old phone and my new phone. My new Xenon rocks and takes good pics and is super user friendly to text or twitter, etc. but my old phone has an app for qik so I can stream live video. The plan was to start off with the old phone, stream until the battery died (which would be quickly, it’s why I got the new phone), then switch out the SIM card and use the new phone the rest of the night. Simple.

Well, yeah till in my excitement I put the SIM card in the WRONG way and the damn thing only had 1/8″ sticking out. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. I have no phone! I have no camera! I have no video! NOTHING!!! I tried to stay calm and use my fingernails to pull it out. All that did was increase my panic as they’re too slippery and can’t grasp the slippery plastic. I did this once before but I was at home and used needle-nosed pliers to get it out. Nate said if only she had her Swiss Army Knife, it has little plier/tweezer thingy. Aarghhhh but she doesn’t have it. I continued trying as thoughts of going person to person to ask if they happened to have brought pliers. Uh, yeah… Hmm, I thought, maybe I could go ask one of the roadies or something. Then I noticed that I was seeing a hair (and I mean that almost literally) more of the SIM card than I had a minute ago. “Oooooh look!!” I asked Nate if I’m really seeing that and she confirmed that I was making progress. With that encouragement I continued, microhair by microhair and I finally managed to pull it all out right about the time Nate got all MacGuyver on me and was going to wrap our fingernails with the sticky label they use to enclose the CD she bought, so that it would stick to the SIM card to pull it out! PHEW!!! Disaster averted.

Chris and the boys took the stage, and I didn’t even care about being up at the stage (or the wet seat I was sitting on), I was just thrilled to be “in the building” (it was outdoors, but you get what I mean). A few songs in, he did his usual jaunt through the audience, singing and wisecracking as he went. Some songs later, he sang “Speak of the Devil”. I love this song, though I realize I’m especially partial to it because 2 years ago he pointed at me while singing the chorus. This time as always, it rocked.

This is it, I thought. When this song finishes up, he’ll tell people to come up. But instead, he segued into a ballad. I started to worry. What if he doesn’t call people up like usual? I had already heard rumors that he isn’t doing the usual “meet & greet” autographing after the show this year. Perhaps other changes have been made too. Such was not the case.

Scoot, scoot, scoot, past every person in our row… they ALL stayed seated. And up the seemingly non-ending aisle alllll the way up to the stage. Like touching the stage, up to the stage. Score!

The song titles are a blur. I love the man’s voice, no matter what he’s singing. After a few songs he walked over our direction and shook hands. Both Nate and I stuck our hands out and we were lucky. *swoon* We touched Chris Isaak’s hand!!

I brought my old phone. My Nokia N75 that has an app to stream live video. Why there’s no app for my slick new Xenon, I have no idea. But stream I did, and security was nowhere near what it has been in the past, and it was really nice. Nazi acting security makes for an annoying experience. I would be streaming for minutes and minutes and the security guy slightly behind me and to my right, would occasionally reach up and close my phone. I’d just start it up again with my body blocking his sight until he’d stop me again. Even after repeating this a good 6 or so times, he was still not an asshole about it. I’m so bad, LOL but hey I’m persistent, what can I say? View the videos here

Hershel was in front of us most of the time putting on a great show. At one point he got right in front of me… RIGHT in front of me, leaned in and looked me in the eye with this intense(!) look and pointed his guitar at me so that the head was about a foot away from me! It dawned on me AS I touched the head that perhaps I shouldn’t be actually touching it since he was still playing the darn (gorgeous) thing!! Sorry Hershel! And thanks!

A few songs later, Hershel and Rolly switched places, changing things up a little and we got Rolly for a song. Then HE came in front of me and really leaned in singing to me. Holy moly! When he moved away, Nate asked me what he said. Me: “I have NO idea! I thought he was singing. Was he singing?? or saying something?? If he was saying something I totally missed it!” I don’t know but I seem to be standing in front of the magic spot here and I’m LIKING it!!

Speaking of magic lucky spots, Hershel had tossed out a few guitar picks and one of them hit a guy next to me and as I was thinking oh darn, it bounced off him and landed on me!

In past years, towards the end of the show, they would perform a song and bring out a dozen or so girls that had been picked before the show to go up onstage. This was another change implemented this year. All of a sudden in the middle of a song, a guy came along and pulled Nate up onto the stage along with a few others! They went over by Scotty, the keyboardist, whose birthday it apparently was, and then up next to Chris.

Wow! What a night!

Oh and the funny thing was, at one point I looked out at the audience from our little magic spot and saw rain coming down pretty good and thought hmm but I’m dry… then looked up and realized the stage plus about 20 feet in front of the stage was under cover, so not a drop of rain touched us up there. Heh.

No actual pics except this one. I spent my pic energy on the streaming. The battery and security held out WAY longer than I thought they would!

I turned into the Ste. Michelle Winery entrance and drove past a large sign stating “NO CAMERAS OR RECORDING DEVICES”. I smiled to myself and drove on, getting a prime parking spot. Actually, any parking inside the gates I considered prime, since last year we had to park a mile or so down the road, and in my concert heels, it gets a little painful.

I slipped my credit card and driver’s license into one pocket, my cell phone into another, my keys into another and my new slim sleek 1/2″ thick concert camera down my jeans and I was set to go. No purse, bag or backpack for me. Just the clothes on my back, as it were.

I thought Nate, my partner-in-crime-in-all-things-concert, would be waiting for me at the entrance, since we had spoken on the phone and she said she was already there. So I called her and discovered that she was at the entrance on the very opposite end with tons of other people in big long lines.

“Lines? No lines here.” I told her.So she hustled over to my side. I couldn’t get in till she did, since she had my ticket.

The three police officers didn’t blink twice at me, since I had no bag for them to look through.

I was happy and relieved to have made it through with my camera, but it was more for the challenge of getting it through than actually *using* it. I snuck a camera in one year when Chris was playing at the Pier, but let me tell you something. When you’re 6 feet from the stage, and there are security lined up every 10 feet or so along the stage facing out, you don’t get much of an opportunity to slip it out and click.

The first thing we do is visit our seats. We bought reserved seating tickets this year. Last year we sat on the lawn off to the side and watched as the people in the roped off area were the only ones that got to go up to the stage.

Row J. Damn. That’s 10 rows back. We start at the middle aisle and I start walking down the row, looking for seats 15 & 16. The space between rows was miniscule. I had to walk sideways, as if there were already people sitting with their knees sticking out. UGH! How are we going to make our way OUT of here and up to the stage??

I find our seats and point them out to Nate, making the thumbs up sign.

We’re almost on the outside aisle. Only 1 seat really would be an issue getting past. That’s doable. Yay.

We get stamped and go buy food and a bottle of wine and find a nice spot on the grass to eat, though with a camera down my jeans, it made it a little hard to bend enough to sit. I adjusted it and was ok. Nate told me not to play with myself out in public. Not that I would know what it feels like, since I don’t have the proper “equipment” but it did feel rather like I was… adjusting a… male protrusion.

Ten minutes before the show is supposed to start, we pre-pee. The last thing we want to do is have to get up and walk out DURING the concert. You miss songs and besides that, Chris will point you out from onstage and say things to you. Seen it happen. Don’t want it to happen to me.

After standing in a fairly long line, we arrive at one end of a row of porta-potties, only to discover, there is a very short line at the other end. And never mind that there are all kinds of empty ones that have the “in use” sign showing.

We make it to our seats just in time and the opening act starts. I forget his name, but it was some blues singer. He wasn’t bad but we talked during most of it. I was wondering why we were doing that, when it occured to me that his music made me feel like I was at a bar with a band playing blues in the background.

He finishes and exits the stage. I turn to the guy on my right. Luckily he’s not a large person, nor does he have long legs that would be a hindrance to us slipping out. I asked him if he and his girl planned on going on to the stage when Chris lets people come up. He had no clue about the drill. This was his first time. So I told him what the deal was and he was all for that. Good deal. Now if I can just help him along before the time comes, so he can either get up and go fast or get the hell out of our way! There will be no time for hesitation.

Shit! I have to pee again. I tell Nate and while I’m putting on my shoes, she looks over and says “Go! There’s no line!” So off I rush.

Whoa! No line? Ha! The damn line winds halfway across the back, so I rush to find my place in it and pull out my cellphone and call Nate. “Umm…look way behind you. See the line?” I’m cracking up at the ridiculousness of it all, when she tells me there’s only about 4 people in line at the other end. After telling her you’re not supposed to go in on that end, it doesn’t take much for her to convince me to go for it anyway. Her last words to me are “be brave”.

It was a little intimidating rounding the corner to the row and being the ONLY one at the wrong end, with a huge line of people at the right end staring at me. One lady comes out of a stall and looks at me and says nicely “Oh hun, you need to go stand in the line back there.”

I looked a little confused and said “Really? There was a line at this end earlier…”

She was a little surprised and said that when she tried it earlier, they gave her the evil eye. I laughed and said I could handle the evil eye. She laughed too as she walked off. Another woman came out and yelled up at the line that there were alllllll kinds of stalls open (like earlier, just mislabeled), so I tried the closest one to me that said “in use” and it opened right up! Phew!

I made my way back to my seat in time. I watched security go talk to people every once in awhile. They were using cameras. Sitting where we are, I feel way too vulnerable to attempt to use mine. That’s ok. It’s safely tucked away within easy reach. I had also tucked my tshirts (one I bought and one I brought) into my jeans, front and back, loincloth style. Though apparantly with the styel of my halter over the top, it looked more like a bustle. I didn’t really care what it looked like. I didn’t have to hold onto them when we got up to the stage.

“IIIIIIIIIII’m an original American boy…” Chris has taken the stage. Wooooohooooo!!! He’s wearing a turquoise suit with some well-placed rhinestones and his voice is, as always, beautiful. A few songs in, a girl from a couple rows behind us, walks up to the stage. I wait for security to head her off at the pass, but they don’t. She goes all the way up and hands a rose to Chris. He smiles and as she’s walking away says “Hey it’s still daylight, I can watch and see where you’re sitting.”

A few songs more and Chris takes a cordless mic and does his usual deal where he goes out into the audience. All the times I’ve seen him do this he pretty much runs. This time though, he walked, due in part to the tempo of the song he was playing. He made his way to the rose girl and kissed her. Lucky girl!

He winds through the back singing, and occasionally yelling up to the band. “Hey Hershel?”

“Yeah?”

“We should move back here. It’s a whole different world back here”

Once Chris gets back up onstage, Scotty, the keyboard player is still in the audience taking a swig out of someone’s wine bottle. When he makes his way onto the stage, Chris announces that Scotty “used” to be in the band…

They play a few more songs, and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself, but alert to any sign that we can head up to the stage. I’m a little disturbed because not only do we have to get the newbies next to us to get out of the way and make our way up 10 rows of people but now there was a wheelchair blocking half the aisle in the front row. Arrrgghh.

Chris is now crooning out a slow song. Ah. Here’s a sign. There are a few couples up in front of the stage slow-dancing. Nate and I contemplate doing the couple thing but we choose to wait. There are other options. We’d rather not slow-dance with each other.

Oh jesus! The wheelchair is now SIDEWAYS! How in the hell are we going to get past him in a hurry??

The slow dance song ends and I reach for my water bottle anticipating Chris’ next instructions as the next song starts and I am correct. He tells us all to come down in front of the stage. I touch the newbie’s knee as I tell them to “Go!” and fly past them, down the aisle and around the wheelchair.

I check to make sure Nate is with me and realize I’m AT THE STAGE. As in nobody is in front of me. Nate got slowed up a little by the wheelchair but makes her way next to me. Technically, the girl with the rose is in front of me but we are next to the stairs and Chris is on the other side of the stairs, so I have a totally unobstructed view of him

Chris & Hershel

The sound up here leaves something to be desired, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Like I mentioned earlier, at previous shows, there have been security lining the stage. Tonight, there are only security on either side of the stage. None in the middle. I do however watch people whip out a camera or even a cell phone and hold it up, aiming, only to have security swoop in and tell them to put it away. None were confiscated though.

After making sure no security are close and I’m not in any of their lines of vision, I reach down my jeans and pull my wonderful concert cam out. Did I mention how much I love this thing? Anyway, not wanting to draw attention to myself, or said camera, I choose not to look through the viewfinder, or I should say the LCD screen on the back.

Instead, I hold the camera in front of my stomach and tip it at an angle I think will capture the right thing and take my chances.

And I don’t do a half-bad job of it.

Damn I’m good. Remember, no zoom lens here, even though there is an optical zoom function on the camera. Why would I need to use that? To get a close-up of a sequin for god’s sake??

Chris noticed that I was taking pics and he got right smack in front of me. We’re talking INCHES from me. His pants were nearly touching my face. (hee… what a great line) I had to look straight up to see him, and he was posing for me! My camera is a little slow on the draw, and I caught him as he turned around. I SWEAR I didn’t do this on purpose!

Nor this one! But it’s a great shot!

And off comes the jacket

Chris is telling one of his stories. He tells the funniest damn stories. Even just his little comments are a crack-up. The first of his concerts I went to 4 years ago, he told a story of the new band member from Cuba swimming all the way here. You had to be there but it was long and fucking hilarious!

He played to my camera a few times. Yeahhh!!

Too quickly he’s done. He turns his guitar around and holds it up so we can see the letters on the back that say “thanks!” and they exit the stage.

When he comes out for the encore, he comes out in his infamous mirror suit. He looks like a tall thin disco ball. In fact, a couple years ago, he stood on this spinning platform thing and spun like a disco ball too. Last year I tried to take pics with my cell phone of him in the suit and the light catches it so much, all I got was like looking into a lighbulb. This year, however, I score! It is a cooler thing to see from a distance with the lights catching it and reflecting all sparkley. But like I said, I wouldn’t trade this spot for the world.

Especially, while he was singing Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing. I was really rocking out to this one, and during the really rocking out part of the song, Chris looked straight at me, pointed and sang. Now I know, I know. “Are you sure he was pointing at you? He could’ve been pointing at someone else.” I know that deal. Been there, done that. Even a few times during this very show tonight. There are times when I was sure he was looking at me while singing, but there’s always doubt, always other people around, so I do know that deal. THIS, was not that deal. There was nobody in front of me and this wasn’t a case of trying to figure out where his eyes were aimed. His arm, hand, finger, were aimed directly at me. If I hadn’t been so sure, I wouldn’t have extended my arms towards him, as if on either side of him and danced my little heart out to him like I did. Haha!

Oh my. **swoons, remembering it**

Ok, so here’s the only annoying part of that, not that I really care, but still. I think it was when the encore started, this drunk girl had made her way to the steps and was standing on the bottom one and trying to reach up to the stage, so she was totally getting in Nate’s way.

After my little interlude with Chris **drools again**, I turned to Nate saying “Did you see that??? Oh my goddddd.”

She looked at me blankly. Obviously she hadn’t. Damn drunk girl getting in the way.

Always during one song of the encore, a dozen or so young things are preselected to go up onstage with Chris and dance while he sings. Drunk girl actually made her way up from the steps, prompting security to come guard the steps for the rest of the show. Pictures would now be impossible to take. At least it was almost the end of the show.

Chris chose, as he always does, one cute young thing to interact with; ask her name and such, then he sings on and she kind of has the spotlight to dance. Drunk girl thought she could weasel her way up to Chris but that wasn’t going to happen. The funniest part was when the girls were all ushered offstage, drunk girl wanted to go back the way she came. After all, she had a prime spot. Security wasn’t about to let that happen.

All too soon, the show was over. They always are. Nate had to work early the next morning so she handed me her tshirt to get signed and dashed off.

After his concerts, Chris always does autographs, so as usual, I got in line. This time however, I took my time and got in late and at the end. There were about 10 people behind me. I called a friend to share my energy with and she asked if I would get her a tshirt signed also.

So now I had FOUR tshirts to be signed. Haha. When I finally got up there, the guy asked me if I had bought out the store. I don’t know what the deal was. Maybe the organizing guy was new? Maybe they’ve gotten lax? But the system didn’t seem to run quite so smoothly.

The first time I witnessed “the system” I was in awe. I still think they should patent it. How, I don’t know, but it’s so damn cool and efficient. There are tables in a row and the first people all stand at the table and put their items to be signed down on the table in front of them. The guy helps in this, getting the items lined up so all Chris has to do is sign. They then line up a row of people behind that row, and they wait. As soon as a person gets signed, they head off and the person behind them moves forward to the table. Once everyone in that second row has moved forward, they bring another row in, and it keeps it moving swiftly and smoothly.

This year honestly was a bit of a clusterfuck. I mentioned to the security guy that they had changed the system and he said they take their orders from the guy and that yeah it was different than it had been last year.

Oooooh! It’s finally my turn. With help from the guy I get my stuff on the table. Even here, it’s not quite the same. He doesn’t fold them so they fit, like in previous years.

All the waiting comes down to one moment. One moment where your brain stops working. He looks at me and says “I saw you out there”. I have no idea what I said. Something like “agahhuuhh” and “that was an awesome show”. OMG, Boring!! I should’ve said “I saw you too!” Ah, hindsight. He shook my hand and I watched, only barely aware of what he was signing. On the tshirt for my friend he signed his name and wrote “FRONT ROW!”. Perhaps because that one was on top. On Nate’s he drew a guitar. On mine he drew a heart, and on my recurring tshirt, my very first Chris Isaak tshirt, that I bring every year to have him sign, he drew a little heart and put ’07 CI” inside.

The other brilliant thing I said while he was signing, you know, while my brain was misfunctioning, was in a sweet shy way (yes I CAN be that way… even while I’m asking…) “can I have a hug?” Hey, give me a break, I’ve seen others do it before. He stands up after signing saying “you want a hug?” He turns to the guy to say something to him and I’m thinking ok… does he need to notify the guy when he’s going to hug someone?

“She needs a hug,” he says to the guy. Guy says oh, ok.

So the guy comes at me in hug position and… we hug. Ok, that was cute. I look to Chris, who’s signing the next person’s stuff, and he kind of chuckles and says “Don’t get me started, it would be memorable.”

**swoons at the thought of that**

I didn’t notice that he signed “FRONT ROW!” until I was out the gate a little. I don’t know if I actually would’ve asked, but I turned around to see if he was still signing and to maybe get “FRONT ROW!” put on one of my shirts.

He had left, but I did run into another fan that asked if I was at the show last year. She said she remembered my green sparkley top. She showed me a pic of her and Chris that she got signed. She apparantly went to Vegas and their tickets got messed up they were supposed to be better, so the 5 of them got to hang out with Chris for awhile before the show. Oh my god. I am not praying for ticket messups. Haha! (By the way, if you’re reading this, let me know if you want a few pics of you at the stage. You got in the way a few times! :-p )

So home I go. I can live with no hug. I got sung to. I can live without “FRONT ROW!” on my shirt. I got sung to. Hanging out with Chris though… damn. But I got sung to.

And my concert camera passes the test with flying colors! (and sparkles)

Elton John is FINALLY coming to Seattle again. It’s been years, and damn do I need a fix!

Nate, my best friend and partner in crime in all things Elton, treat ticket-buying as seriously as a covert military operation. We gather intelligence from reliable sources, we plan our mode of attack, and then at the crack of dawn, we move in and conquer.

Intelligence gathering:

Last night, I called the ticketmaster near my house. The guy informed me that they do a lotto if “a ton” of people show up. I ask him to define “a ton” and he says “10 or more”. In previous  ticket-buying operations, we’ve encountered 50 or more people in line, soooo… I won’t bother getting up before the crack of dawn to be 3rd in line only to draw #27 in the lotto. Yay, extra sleep time fits into the plan.

The Plan:

Nate will be at work, so she will man the computer and try to get through to Ticketmaster Online and if needed will also use her cell phone to make attempts to call in to get tickets. Meanwhile, I will go to the nearby Ticketmaster and go through the lotto process. I will also attempt to call on my cell phone to get tickets. We will stay in phone contact with each other during the entire operation.

The Operation:

8:00 am – I’m out the door, and heading down the road. All is going as planned, so far. Shit! People are driving to work and they’re IN MY WAY. Traffic hell. Time to revise the plan and detour to find a better route.

8:30 am – Tentatively I walk into the store where the Ticketmaster counter is and find… TWO people in line. Oh life is good. I take my place in line and immediately start praying that “a ton” of people do not show up. Immediately the Ticketmaster nazi girl comes over and starts handing us tickets for a lotto. Dumbfounded, I ask “Umm… excuse me? You’re doing a lotto for THREE people???”

She replies, “Yes, the Ticketmaster rules clearly state that a lotto be done for more than 2 people.” 

OK then.

She hands us each a ticket… the kind that come on a roll. Mine says number 8590753. I’m a little confused. I ask her how this works, and she tells me that at 9:50 she’ll draw the corresponding other side to the ticket and the person with that ticket will be first in line, and the following ticket numbers line up after them. I’m surprised because in previous ticket-purchasing operations, at 15 minutes before selling starts, they put a bunch of numbers in a hat (or box or whatever) and everyone in line draws a number and that’s where they stand in line. I indicate this to the nazi girl and she once again goes into the Ticketmaster spiel. “Then they were not acting in accordance with Ticketmaster rules. The rules state that the lotto be performed exactly this way.”

OK then.

8:52 am – This is T minus 8 and counting, I might add. The nazi girl gathers everyone around, while she unknowingly taunts us, shaking the little bag that contains the tickets she’s going to be drawing for the lotto. She explains how the lotto works. Internally, I’m tapping my foot while (still internally) chanting “draw… draw… draw”. She explains how the ticket buying process works. By now my eyes are darting around, I’m starting to hyperventilate and I fear my tongue may start bleeding from biting it so I don’t yell out “For the love of God, just DRAW THE TICKETS!!!” She then goes into a personal tirade about how we should refrain from using our cell phones during the whole process because it’s distracting for her, it’s distracting for other people, and “it’s just plain RUDE”. Already being discrete with my phone convo with Nate, I get even more so. 

My eyes start darting around in search of a clock while frantically muttering “What time is it? What time is it?” Thankfully, Nate informs me that it’s 8:55. What??? The nazi girl said she was going to do the lotto at 8:50 and all she’s been doing is spewing out rule after rule. How in the world will we all assemble in an orderly manner in time??? They MUST make the first attempt at tickets for the first person in line at EXACTLY 9:00!! 

8:56 am - Finally, she draws a ticket! Technically, according to the guy I talked to last night, we’re just one short of a ton, seeing as only 9 people showed up. We all line up, and there are 4 people in front of me. According to our well drawn-up plan, that’s enough for us to implement Nate going online, but not enough to justify using multiple phones to try to call in. 

9:00 am – GO!!! The first guy gets decent seats. The other people in front of me are getting *OK* seats but they’re all buying the $85 tickets and we’re going to be shooting for the $125 tickets. Nate is finding nothing short of nosebleed seats online. As the woman in front of me pays for her tickets, I slip my cell phone into my back pocket, still connected to Nate, who is still trying online. I’m not in the mood for nazi girl to slow the process down by telling me I must get off my phone. 

9:0… hell I wasn’t watching the clock!! – My turn! My turn! “Two $125 tickets please” *type type type*…. *wait wait wait*…. Section 209… I look at the seating chart. Section 209 is in the nosebleed section at the very back of the Arena. “These seats are $125??” I ask. Apparantly there are none of those left, and these are $85 tickets. If those are $85, where are the $45 seats???

The nazi girl kind of laughs and says “probably behind the stage”. My eyes light up as I urge her to search for $45 seats. We’ve sat behind the stage before, and it is NOT a bad place to be, believe me. While the girl surrenders the bad tickets back into the online pool of tickets and performs a new search, I have to reassure myself that the tickets won’t all be gone by the time she gets through again… Elton won’t sell out a 30,000 seat venue in 5 minutes.

The tickets she pulls up this time are not $45, but once again $85. They are however, MUCH better seats. Still in the nosebleed section, these are on the side in the middle. “I’ll take them!”

After I finish the payment process, I pull out my phone and tell Nate the location of our seats. She is still trying online and has found $85 tickets that are NOT nosebleed and directly to the left of the stage. WOOHOO!!  26 rows from the stage!! We’ve sat here before too and though a lot of people wouldn’t like looking at Elton’s back, I love it because we get to watch his magical fingers on the keyboard. Besides, they always have big screens showing closeups of his face and all that.

“Buy them!!”

Debriefing

The operation is a success. We have 2 sets of tickets. We’ll keep the best ones and sell the others. Now we just have to wait till September to use them…