Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Yellowcard & Vegas!!
This story is long, and goes back a couple weeks, so I'll try to be as concise as possible. But it is possibly the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.
Yellowcard is just about to wrap up their all-acoustic tour. When they kicked off the tour in Salt Lake City about a month ago, we were there. It was one of the best concerts I'd ever been to, and it was awesome. So awesome in fact, that we decided to drive to Boise last week to see them play again. I, being in the 99th percentile of Yellowcard fans, was right there in the front row (I had to pay some kid and his girlfriend to let me have their spot on the rail). I sang every lyric to every song with everything I had. Sean, the violinist, recognized us and gave us a shout out for being awesome. One of their songs, Dear Bobbie, is a love song from Ryan Key's grandpa to his grandma. Ryan had asked his grandpa to write a letter to her, after 60 years of marriage, and that letter sort of created this song, Dear Bobbie. The song is awesome by itself, but on the album version, you can hear Ryan's grandpa in the background, reading the letter between verses. It has become one of my new favorites. So at the show, while they were playing Dear Bobbie, I was reciting all the words from his grandpa's letter. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently I had made an impression. When the show was nearing the end, I called out to Sean and asked him if I could have the set list, and he said maybe. So after rocking out with everything I had to the last song, and the 2 encore songs, they were done. I felt satisfied and fulfilled as a fan, I had come, I had sang, and I was happy. Then as they gave their bows, Sean leaned over and gave me the set list, it was so awesome, I thought it couldn't get any better. So I stood and held it up and bragged for a little bit, and as I turned around to leave, the band manager tapped me on the should and asked, "Hey, were you reciting the words to the letter in Dear Bobbie?" and I said yes. He had heard me all the way from back stage. So he gave me a sweet Yellowcard guitar pick. That was the icing on the cake for me. I had the set list, and now a guitar pick with the YC logo on it. Life was great. So we made our way to the merch table to have them sign the set list for me, and I had also brought all my CD booklets to get signed. As I was talking to Sean and Mendez, and they signed the set list, Sean said "hey man, look behind you." When I turned around, Ryan Key was standing there, waiting for me, and he was holding up the guitar pick he had played the show with. "Here, I saved this just for you," he said. I couldn't believe it. Ryan Key, who is in my mind a god of music, had saved the pick he played the show with and gave it to me and said "thanks for singing along." I was ecstatic and dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it. I thanked him a bunch, had him sign the stuff for me, then we left. I was on cloud nine, I didn't think anything greater could happen to me at a concert. (Also, after the show this really hot girl came and gave me hug and said I was awesome, that was pretty cool too).
That night, we left Boise just after midnight and got home at 5 am. I was exhausted and couldn't walk or talk for 2 days, but it was totally worth it. So worth it, that I bought tickets for Vegas show a week later. Lots of people told us we were ridiculous, and some even said we were stalkers. Roadies, yes. Groupies, I wish. Amazing fans, for sure. But not stalkers.
We left Provo yesterday at half-past noon. Me, Justin, Jared and Todd. As usual, we started our trip by listening the the song line-up for the show, for Yellowcard and the Spill Canvas. I had made some awesome T-shirts to wear to the show, but they didn't ship in time (even though I paid extra for it) so I didn't get to wear them. We got to Vegas about 4:30, local time. We cruised the strip first. It was incredible. I hadn't been to Vegas since I was 8 or 9 years old, so I was pretty amazed and impressed. It took us a while to locate the House of Blues, then we realized it was inside of the Mandalay Bay casino. So we parked near there and walked in. I was pretty nice, I felt under dressed. We got inside the venue a little earlier than we had wanted but it wasn't too bad. The show started at 6, and it wasn't even at 1/4th capacity. The first band, Treaty of Paris, has become one of favorite new/upcoming bands. They put on a really good show, and I think we were the only ones singing along. The next band, PlayRadioPlay!, really bother me. I wasn't excited to sit through another of their sets. And they acted even gayer than usual. So that was painful, but after them, the Spill Canvas came on and played a really good set. By now the place was packed. When they finished, we made our way towards the front. I was about the 3rd person back on the right-center of the stage, right in front of Sean Mackin. When they came on, we screamed for Peter, the cello player they got special for this acoustic tour, and he recognized us and smiled, then Sean recognized us and gave us a thumbs up. The show was amazing as usual. A few songs in, Ryan Key recognized us and said "hey, you guys have been to a show already, huh," and we all yelled that this was the 3rd (of this tour, my 6th time all together). So we were our usual selves, singing loud every lyric to every song.
Here comes the amazing part....
When it came time to play Dear Bobbie, Ryan stopped and looked around. "Alright, we got our friend here, where's he at.....there he is (pointing to ME)! I forgot your name dude, what is it?....Travis? Travis. Everybody, this is Travis (me in about the happiest possible state of being). Travis was at one of our shows last week." Then he explained how Dear Bobbie had come to be, talked about his grandparents married for 60 years, and how the letter his grandpa wrote evolved into the song Dear Bobbie. "When we played Dear Bobbie at that show, Travis recited all the words to my grandpas letter. (cheers, harrahs, etc.) So Travis (looking right at me), this is for you." It was possibly the most amazing recognition I had ever gotten. As a fan, I think that is the highest recognition, to have your favorite band give you a shout-out, and dedicate a song to you. The sad thing was, I was so overcome with joy, that as they played the song, I forgot the words to the letter, and fumbled it. It was okay though, Ryan Key knows my name and dedicated a song to me, so yeah, amazing.
After the show, as we were walking out, random people were saying hi to me, calling me name, cheering for me, it was pretty cool. We made our way out to the merch stand. I thanked Ryan Key as much as I could, told him how much it meant to me. He thanked us for making the trip, and singing along. Then I thanked Mendez, told him how awesome he was, then I went and talked to Sean. He's so cool. He just chills and talks to people. All of them seemed so cordial and friendly, not so far removed from their fans like alot of bands are. I got some pictures with them, talked to Peter the cello player for a while, then left, as happy as I could possibly be.
We hung out in Vegas, gambled a little, I came out on top by $15. Then at 2:00 am, we left and drove back to Provo, getting home this morning about 8 am. I'm exhausted, slept til 1:30, I can barely move, and my throat is too sore to talk, but it is totally worth it. I told Justin he'll probably get sick of me telling the story, because I'm gonna tell everybody I know. Not often does your favorite band give you personal recognition and dedicate a song to you.
So yeah, that's possibly the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.
Yellowcard is just about to wrap up their all-acoustic tour. When they kicked off the tour in Salt Lake City about a month ago, we were there. It was one of the best concerts I'd ever been to, and it was awesome. So awesome in fact, that we decided to drive to Boise last week to see them play again. I, being in the 99th percentile of Yellowcard fans, was right there in the front row (I had to pay some kid and his girlfriend to let me have their spot on the rail). I sang every lyric to every song with everything I had. Sean, the violinist, recognized us and gave us a shout out for being awesome. One of their songs, Dear Bobbie, is a love song from Ryan Key's grandpa to his grandma. Ryan had asked his grandpa to write a letter to her, after 60 years of marriage, and that letter sort of created this song, Dear Bobbie. The song is awesome by itself, but on the album version, you can hear Ryan's grandpa in the background, reading the letter between verses. It has become one of my new favorites. So at the show, while they were playing Dear Bobbie, I was reciting all the words from his grandpa's letter. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently I had made an impression. When the show was nearing the end, I called out to Sean and asked him if I could have the set list, and he said maybe. So after rocking out with everything I had to the last song, and the 2 encore songs, they were done. I felt satisfied and fulfilled as a fan, I had come, I had sang, and I was happy. Then as they gave their bows, Sean leaned over and gave me the set list, it was so awesome, I thought it couldn't get any better. So I stood and held it up and bragged for a little bit, and as I turned around to leave, the band manager tapped me on the should and asked, "Hey, were you reciting the words to the letter in Dear Bobbie?" and I said yes. He had heard me all the way from back stage. So he gave me a sweet Yellowcard guitar pick. That was the icing on the cake for me. I had the set list, and now a guitar pick with the YC logo on it. Life was great. So we made our way to the merch table to have them sign the set list for me, and I had also brought all my CD booklets to get signed. As I was talking to Sean and Mendez, and they signed the set list, Sean said "hey man, look behind you." When I turned around, Ryan Key was standing there, waiting for me, and he was holding up the guitar pick he had played the show with. "Here, I saved this just for you," he said. I couldn't believe it. Ryan Key, who is in my mind a god of music, had saved the pick he played the show with and gave it to me and said "thanks for singing along." I was ecstatic and dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it. I thanked him a bunch, had him sign the stuff for me, then we left. I was on cloud nine, I didn't think anything greater could happen to me at a concert. (Also, after the show this really hot girl came and gave me hug and said I was awesome, that was pretty cool too).
That night, we left Boise just after midnight and got home at 5 am. I was exhausted and couldn't walk or talk for 2 days, but it was totally worth it. So worth it, that I bought tickets for Vegas show a week later. Lots of people told us we were ridiculous, and some even said we were stalkers. Roadies, yes. Groupies, I wish. Amazing fans, for sure. But not stalkers.
We left Provo yesterday at half-past noon. Me, Justin, Jared and Todd. As usual, we started our trip by listening the the song line-up for the show, for Yellowcard and the Spill Canvas. I had made some awesome T-shirts to wear to the show, but they didn't ship in time (even though I paid extra for it) so I didn't get to wear them. We got to Vegas about 4:30, local time. We cruised the strip first. It was incredible. I hadn't been to Vegas since I was 8 or 9 years old, so I was pretty amazed and impressed. It took us a while to locate the House of Blues, then we realized it was inside of the Mandalay Bay casino. So we parked near there and walked in. I was pretty nice, I felt under dressed. We got inside the venue a little earlier than we had wanted but it wasn't too bad. The show started at 6, and it wasn't even at 1/4th capacity. The first band, Treaty of Paris, has become one of favorite new/upcoming bands. They put on a really good show, and I think we were the only ones singing along. The next band, PlayRadioPlay!, really bother me. I wasn't excited to sit through another of their sets. And they acted even gayer than usual. So that was painful, but after them, the Spill Canvas came on and played a really good set. By now the place was packed. When they finished, we made our way towards the front. I was about the 3rd person back on the right-center of the stage, right in front of Sean Mackin. When they came on, we screamed for Peter, the cello player they got special for this acoustic tour, and he recognized us and smiled, then Sean recognized us and gave us a thumbs up. The show was amazing as usual. A few songs in, Ryan Key recognized us and said "hey, you guys have been to a show already, huh," and we all yelled that this was the 3rd (of this tour, my 6th time all together). So we were our usual selves, singing loud every lyric to every song.
Here comes the amazing part....
When it came time to play Dear Bobbie, Ryan stopped and looked around. "Alright, we got our friend here, where's he at.....there he is (pointing to ME)! I forgot your name dude, what is it?....Travis? Travis. Everybody, this is Travis (me in about the happiest possible state of being). Travis was at one of our shows last week." Then he explained how Dear Bobbie had come to be, talked about his grandparents married for 60 years, and how the letter his grandpa wrote evolved into the song Dear Bobbie. "When we played Dear Bobbie at that show, Travis recited all the words to my grandpas letter. (cheers, harrahs, etc.) So Travis (looking right at me), this is for you." It was possibly the most amazing recognition I had ever gotten. As a fan, I think that is the highest recognition, to have your favorite band give you a shout-out, and dedicate a song to you. The sad thing was, I was so overcome with joy, that as they played the song, I forgot the words to the letter, and fumbled it. It was okay though, Ryan Key knows my name and dedicated a song to me, so yeah, amazing.
After the show, as we were walking out, random people were saying hi to me, calling me name, cheering for me, it was pretty cool. We made our way out to the merch stand. I thanked Ryan Key as much as I could, told him how much it meant to me. He thanked us for making the trip, and singing along. Then I thanked Mendez, told him how awesome he was, then I went and talked to Sean. He's so cool. He just chills and talks to people. All of them seemed so cordial and friendly, not so far removed from their fans like alot of bands are. I got some pictures with them, talked to Peter the cello player for a while, then left, as happy as I could possibly be.
We hung out in Vegas, gambled a little, I came out on top by $15. Then at 2:00 am, we left and drove back to Provo, getting home this morning about 8 am. I'm exhausted, slept til 1:30, I can barely move, and my throat is too sore to talk, but it is totally worth it. I told Justin he'll probably get sick of me telling the story, because I'm gonna tell everybody I know. Not often does your favorite band give you personal recognition and dedicate a song to you.
So yeah, that's possibly the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.
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