Seether, Bush, Nickleback & BOK Lady

In March we bought tickets to see Seether/Bush/Nickleback in concert and last night it was finally time for the big show!!  After fours hours of singing and dancing, then another hour getting out of the parking garage, I'm one tired puppy--but in a good way!!  Here's a timeline for how the night went down:

5:00--Hubby shouts from video game lair, "You ever check the time on the tickets?"  I assume it's seven or eight like most concerts, so tell him to chill.  He actually gets up to check and crazy ensues!!!!!  Concert starts at six!!!!!

5:04--Looking beyond crappy with nap-hair, no make-up and wearing my faded Tool T-shirt, I hover at the door while miffed daughter throws camera at me.  She wanted to go REAL bad.  We offered to buy her and a friend cheap seats, but I think she was hoping at the last minute either me or her dad would get freakishly sick or suffer an alien abduction, thereby landing a ticket in her hot little hands!!!  LOL!!!  (As if mere aliens could keep me away from Gavin Rossdale??!!)

5:05--We enter the hellish world otherwise known as Tulsa traffic.  During hockey season, we routinely make it to the BOK center in ten minutes--fifteen max.  On this night, we encountered everything from mini-van drivers going thirty mph under the speed limit to construction to too many red lights to count.

5:34--Patted down for weapons and was mortified when told by security lady to, " . . . move all that junk so I can see to the bottom," of my purse.  Relieved "junk" distracted her from finding the AK-47 in the zipped side pocket. 

5:40--Hubby and I fight over whether to get T-shirts, Billy's onion rings or find our seats.

5:41--I win!!  T-shirt line . . .

5:52--Hubby wins--food line . . .

5:59--Charging through crowds at BOK to find our seats!!  Music has already started!!!  OMG, if I miss Bush so Hubby could have onion rings, the night's going to get UGLY!!!

6:03--Reach seats, only to get snapped at by BOK Lady who should be fired--more on her later . . .

6:04--Hubby forgiven when band playing is someone we've never heard of.  I take this opportunity to steal a smooch and half of Hubby's onion rings!!!

6:30-ish:  Seether takes the stage.  Hubby and I were both excited to see them, but sadly, the performance wasn't all that hot.  A blinding light pointing out at the audience pretty much stopped us from ever seeing the band, and the base was so loud my chest ached.  On two side screens flashed bizarro black and white pics of clowns with their mouths sewn shut and offensive dead babies.  I scream in Hubby's ear that they should've used those screens to show close-ups of Shaun.  Because of my love for this band, I assumed lead singer, Shaun Morgan Welgemoe, must've overdone it on the world famous Billy's onion rings, and was under a bit of gastric distress that rendered him temporarily incapable of putting on a good show.  Seether, I still love you, but next time you hit Tulsa, you owe me a better show!!

6:45-ish:  Remember the snippy BOK lady I mentioned earlier?  After barking at me to take my cup off the rail, a crew of four drunk guys stumble into the seats next to us.  Not only are they allowed to rest their eight beers on the rail--no joke, they had two beers each--but there's lot of hugging and flirting with BOK lady.  One of the guys asks her for a wrist band to get on the floor, she gets all blushy and tells him she couldn't possibly give him one.  Ha!!!  More on this later . . .

7:00-ish:  Finally got my first real-live look at Gavin Rossdale and pretty sure my heart stopped.  My second book--it's so old I don't even remember the title--was written with his pic over my keyboard.  Every stroke was lovingly dedicated to him.  I'd loved him for a looooong time even before that.  When "Everything Zen" came out, the twins were two, and they're now college juniors!!!

The screens flanking the stage were finally put to good use when Gavin's beautiful face and trademark man-curls were flashed big and gorgeous just for me.  By the time they played "Everything Zen", pretty sure I cried.  The song doesn't even make sense, but it strikes a chord in me that makes me want to dance and be naughty--with Gavin!!!!  LOL!!!!  Oh--and did I mention how sexy his arms were while wielding his guitar??!! 

Sadly, BOK Lady's drunk friends wander in and out of the seats next to us during Bush's entire performance.  Before this, we got the impression they didn't even have tickets for these seats, but she was doing them a favor by letting them sit there.  They sloshed beer, hugged me--not in a fun way--stepped on my toes, spilled my diet Dr. Pepper, and in general pissed me off.  This was a seriously special moment for me and between them and the five-thousand folks streaming by, I was unable to fully enjoy the show in the way God intended.

"Glycerine"

Midway through Bush's performance, the crowd went NUTS when Gavin leaps off the stage and starts running through the crowd.  We were on the first row of the seated section, so when he ran around the floor, it looked like he was coming straight for us.  He was within ten feet of ME when he veered up into the stands and never came back our way.  Color me still pouting . . .

8:30-ish:  During intermission, really nice lady sits next to me and says, "Do you know if those drunk guys even have tickets to sit on this row?"  I tell her we guessed they do not.  She goes on to say they spilled beer all over her and the floor, and that if we wouldn't mind, they'd like to sit beside us for Nickleback.  BOK Man comes over, and she repeats story to him.  And how BOK Lady seems to be all buddy-buddy with these guys, letting them do pretty much whatever they want, while the rest of our row has to behave.  Much whispering amongst the BOK People ensues.  BOK Lady GLARES in our direction, but then gets flirty with a leather-garbed lady rocker.           

8:35-ish:  Nickleback takes the stage and all I can say is, DAMN, can these boys put on a show!!!!!!  I was initially shocked by Chad Kroeger's short hair, but once he started singing, I forgave him.

Nickleback's stage set was AWESOME!!  Chad's in the center.

Chad with his short hair.  I still love you!!!

Chad with his short hair and eyes open!!  LOL!!  

The pyro show blew my mind!!!

 

"Figure You Out"

Fireworks and lasers accompanied plenty of great tunes and playing with the crowd.  I got my close-up shots when the band climbed into a mini-stage in the arena's center.  At one point, Chad stopped a song to ask a guy if he was actually talking on his cell.  He takes the guy's phone and proceeds to have a conversation with whoever was on the line.  At another point in the show, the band lobbed red Solo cups filled with beer into the crowd.  Once I got past thinking how relieved I was to not have beer in my hair, I had time to note that flying beer + lasers and smoke is/are actually quite pretty!!  LOL!!!

Wonderful, wonderful show!!!!!

Only as we were leaving, guess who we saw stumbling off the floor, proudly wearing neon green floor pass wrist bands??!!  ALL FOUR OBNOXIOUS DRUNK GUYS.  Next concert, I'm flirting with BOK Lady!!!!  

After the show, the haze from the fireworks was so thick, you could hardly see across the arena.