Seriously, could I have stood further away, LOL?!
Ok, so during the week leading up to the gig I was ridiculously happy. Family and friends were constantly being annoyed/surprised by the excited squeaks from my general direction, as well as all my hopping around to songs in my head. I honestly can't remember being so excited for anything, but I was also REALLY anxious that something was gonna go wrong and I'd miss the whole thing. Anyway, pumped up by the prospect of meeting Kelly, I went into drawing over-drive and was printing out the final pages for her at 6am on the 25th, just a few hours before my flight to London. Needless to say then, I was knackered from the get-go
We landed in Stanstead at about 6pm (the entire flight I kept thinking, 'Oh God, if we crash I won't get to meet her!!!' Never mind the
whole if we crash I die.) and eventually got to our hotel at around 8pm, (Mom picked one right by the Earl's Court Underground station, two stops from
hammersmith, GO MOM!) ate a lovely dinner and, even though I thought I'd be awake all night with excitement, I crashed at about 10pm thankfully.
The next day, Wednesday, which I will now refer to as 'KC Day' LOL, we spent most of the day rambling around London, I straining my ears for word that the underground had decided to shut down ('cause Murphy's Law and all that blarney), and when we finally headed back to the hotel I could barely contain myself. Since my Mom was coming to the gig with me and the reason why I got seats is that she can't stand for long periods, I decided to head to the Apollo at 5pm to buy my tix off Tash and give the Shully tix to Adam. Thankfully I got the tickets from Tash no bother, Adam was another matter however. We'd agreed on meeting at 5pm and he'd given me his mobile number to text when I got there, which I did, then proceeded to wait until 5:45 in the pissing rain for him to show. Somewhere in between all the waiting and fidgeting I spotted Deaner heading to the venue, but by the time I'd convinced myself if was him (no glasses - squinting), he'd whipped out his pass and had walked through security. Damn! Anyway. I sent a ridiculous number of texts to Adam to no avail, and so finally at 5:45 I headed back to my hotel, only to be stopped by Tash who told me something about the MnG passes being handed out REALLY soon or something. So back we went and stood inside the box office area for a bit, but it soon became clear that nothing was happening for at least another 20 mins. So I decided to head back and try and grab something to eat (hadn't eaten since 1pm in Starbucks) and to gather all my pressies for KC.
When I got back to the hotel (which took all of 10 minutes) I found my Mom sick in bed with an horrendous headache so my Dad offered to come along instead. Not wanting to waste ANOTHER ticket I was like, 'Yeah, you love Zepplin, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, you'll LOVE this!'
I would've dragged
my sister but being the cool kid that she is, wild horses couldn't have gotten her to the Apollo (that and I may have overplayed Breakaway a tad...LOL).
So, panicked about the MnG confusion as I was, I didn't bother getting anything to eat and Dad and I just went straight to the gig. Tash was still waiting
at the box office so I stopped panicking for a bit. Of course, had my Dad known that I was giving away the two tix he would've been a tad pissed
(understating a LOT), so I had to head back outside under the guise of just chatting to some Expressers (he still has no idea what/who that is LOL) to search
again for Adam. I kept texting and walked down the queue, and even stood up on one of the big marble-thingies outside the barriers, but I didn't see him.
I asked one of the venue security guys if I'd be able to come back outside once my ticket had been checked, and he was like, only to the box office area,
no further. Great. Adam's phone wasn't accepting calls so there was nothing else I could do. I felt so pissed off and awful 'cause I knew he
might be around somewhere, so I decided I'd come back outside again after the MnG - security guy permitting of course.
I headed back inside and the box office finally opened to let us get our passes. I took Tash's pressies for Kelly 'cause she was gonna go try and get a good spot in the GA area and then, along with Liam from here and another girl (who's name I'm not sure I even got - so sorry, you were lovely though), I went through the doors and into the foyer. Knowing how quickly small sizes sell out at gigs I headed straight for the merch table and forked over £35 for a black, long-sleeve KC top before realising that I wasn't paying Euros LOL. Oh well... Next we stood around and waited to be told where to go for the MnG. At around 7:20 Brian came and got us and ushered us through a door by the box office and up some stairs into the 'VIP Lounge', where we all gathered (I was shaking with nerves at this point) with Vitamin Water winners and people from something else that I've forgotten. Brian then quickly ran through the rules, no signing, photo taken with the fanclub camera yada yada yada (he was very cool and really nice-not that I expected anything else, but it was great to not be met by some scary ogre), and he told us that the FC would be going last (yey). We then had to head out through a corridor and down some steps (some sort of freaky haunted corridor situation), and spent a good ten minutes shivering (from the cold AND nerves obviously, but maybe it was more the cold at this point) and straining to hear the Texan drawl coming from the door we'd just gone through. Then Brian came to get us and I'm nearly sure I was the closest to a self-induced heart-attack I've ever been. I hung back so as to be near the end, holding my bag of stuff I'd carted from home. I'd honestly forgotten what I was going to say and unfortunately, none of it came back to me until afterwards
So I waited until it was my turn (briefly
pleading with the bar-tender for a shot of ANYTHING, liquid courage and all that) and then shuffled forward...
I think the first thing Kelly said to me was something along the lines of, 'Your eyes are beautiful.' To which I replied, 'Duuuuuuhhhhhh....' while getting hugged. 'Well so are yours.' I may have mumbled, but I doubt she heard me. She also may have said, 'Cool shirt' but I'm blanking on the specifics. I think I tried to explain that the last gig I'd been to was Irvine, but I honestly don't think I was coherent in any way, shape or form, 'cause she didn't react at all. She then asked, what was your name and thankfully I was able to answer that one LOL. Then she spots my gift-bag and asks, 'Oh are those for me?' and of course, me being the idiot that I am replied, 'No,I just like to bring bags to concerts.' Stoopid Elaine!!!! Great time for nervous sarcasm to creep in but oh well... She was like, 'Well I didn't wanna assume...' And I think my exact words were, 'Erm, er, eh... here' before pulling out the book of drawings I'd printed and handing them to her. She laughed when she saw the Scooby Doo one and then was like, 'Brian look, it's all the band.' Brian sidled over and said, 'Cool' (I think) and then she spotted the 3 Musketeers one and said, 'Oh she'll love this, I'll have to send her a copy.' At this point I'm not actually saying anything, just grinning (I think) like a Cheshire cat and praying for something witty to magically pop into my head (no such luck). Kelly asked, 'Where did you get these?' (again, not verbatim, but I do know she didn't 'get' that I'd drawn them initially) 'I erm, drew them...' I stuttered. She totally flipped and kept turning the pages (I'd like to point out that after a few band pics, ok 2 band pics, everything else was just Kelly, and I felt a little more than awkward to say the least. I was just praying she wasn't getting weirded out by all the time I'd obviously spent looking at her LOL). I think Brian asked how I did them (or maybe Kelly did?) and I said, 'With a pencil.' (very glamorous LOL) Then she's like, 'I just started drawing, you're waaay ahead of me on that.' (In my head I was saying, 'Yeah but I shatter glass when I sing so I think you got the better deal' but since I couldn't think of how to say it - apparently my mouth had stopped working entirely at this stage - I kept quiet) I wasn't sure how long I was gonna be let go on for so I'd prioritised my gifts before walking over to her (thankfully the ONE thing I managed to remember), so the next thing I handed her was the guitar hero shirt I'd made and I think I said something along the lines of, 'I know you like guitar hero so...' And she was like, 'Yeah, but I'm on GH3 now and I can't beat Slash!' Confused I added, 'Yeah but you're on expert right?' 'No, only on the 80s one, not the new one.' I decided to NOT mention that I'd beaten Slash LOL. Anyway, next I pulled out the box of Lily O'Briens chocolates I brought and said, 'Since you're not coming to Ireland, I brought you the best chocolates from there.' She was like 'Mmm, I won't eat them now 'cause then I'll never stop and won't be able to go on' Next I handed her the necklace my sis' had made for her (she didn't know WHO she was making it for LOL) and said, 'So I got my sister to make this for you.' To which Kelly replied, 'What is it with you and your family making stuff, wow!' I think I may have muttered out something, but I don't think so. 'Ooh, it's green,' she said and I added, 'Well I wanted something to remind you of Ireland so...' 'Green and orange are my colours,' she said and I think I nodded while trying to fit the necklace back in the little box I'd gotten for it. Then I pulled out Christian Cuff's cd 'Silo' (I did the cover art and had just gotten my hands on the cd the day before) and said, 'I got you this 'cause he's a bit like Ray La Montagne crossed with Damien Rice and I thought you'd like it.' She took it and said, 'Ooh, I've never heard of him, I'm definitely gonna have to listen to this.' At this point I had planned on mentioning that I figured it was only right I introduce her to an awesome artist since she got me into Patty Griffin, but oh well, I guess I'll save that for a day when my brain's functioning LOL. Finally I just held open the bag and said, 'There are some playing cards from Ireland 'cause I know you like having stuff like that on the bus.' but again I was muttering so if she heard it she's got amazing hearing LOL. Finally it was time to take the picture and having used every last nerve I settled for a standard pose. Just before, Kelly said, 'Oh I've a belt really like that one.' (my mustang belt, that's a seatbelt, it's awesome) And I tried to say, 'Well, since I couldn't get the actual car I figured this would do for now.' but I'm not sure it came out as a sentence. Picture was taken but Kelly wanted to take it again 'cause she thought she'd blinked, but was assured no, it was cool. Another hug and I think I managed to say thanks a million, maybe not (hope so) before turning to walk away. Then, as the next girl was walking up to her Kelly said, 'Oh I love your tattoo!' (I have one on the back of my neck) and I was like, 'Oh, thanks.'
And so ended my MnG. I don't think it fully sank in that it was Kelly until the next morning, but it was REALLY cool, and I was grinning from ear to ear for the entire walk back to the auditorium. I went back out into the entrance area and looked to see if Adam was around, but I saw nothing. Given that Kelly was supposed to be on in half an hour I decided there was nothing else I could do and headed to my seat. My Dad was there already and I ended up sitting beside B (I tried to pronounce her name but gave up) who's on here 'Kelly'sMyMiracle' I think she said. That was cool 'cause we both knew then that we wouldn't be the only crazy ones in that section LOL. Anyway, at 9pm the lights went down and AC/DC kicked in and we all went a bit mad LOL. Then we heard, 'Are you there?...' and I flipped as the curtain started to pull back to reveal the whole band frozen in mid-performance poses. Then the lights did that, I'm gonna blind you so Kelly can get rid of the dress, thing and they launched into OM. I'm not gonna go into the specifics of every track, only to say that she didn't miss a note the entire night (being so far away it was possible to hear LOL). My favourites were... The whole show!!!! But Maybe, Addicted, Sober, BOY, BD, UTTM and Chivas stood out for me. Can I just add that all the MD tracks, IMO, are waaaay better live. OM has a crazy amount of energy, it really shakes you up and spits you out LOL. I did manage to film UTTM and BD, but it's 2:30am right now and I'm after driving home from the airport so I'll upload them tomorrow. SUBG was another matter, we were all standing up and jumping by that stage
Phew! I'm exhausted even relaying the night LOL. Best night in a long LONG time! I woke up this morning and was so gutted that it was over I couldn't eat until 5pm, I was just sooo down. I really wish I'd managed to say, 'Hey, I know you hate photo shoots, so for your next record I'll just draw you.' or 'Thank you sooo much for introducing me to Patty Griffin.' or 'Thank you for all your incredibly inspirational music and for being an awesome person.' or heck, all three of those things, but I guess I'll have to be optimistic and think that this wasn't my first and only chance to say them to her.
I had such a great time, and I loved meeting loads of Expressers and finally being able to put faces and real names to all of them (I'm incredibly unimaginative with my screen name obviously LOL) and I'm only sorry I couldn't make it to more of the UK tour. 'Till next time then
Up To The Mountain
Beautiful Disaster
Gotta love the banter
Just have to add that I got an email back off Adam and apparently none of my texts reached him, while he walked around the shops with his family. Kinda thought he'd have come to the venue at 5pm, oh well... Anyway, he got tickets off a tout so all's well that ends well I guess
