PART I MITCHELL SOUTH DAKOTA, CORN PALACE FESTIVAL
by gcelq

So, finally did it, put on my jacket and flew 16 hours just to see the Scruffy One.I saw him in his shows in Dakota. I’ve never been to the place, and our plane was landing in North Dakota. Hoping to catch both of the shows, we tried to get transportation to South Dakota after landing, the trouble is, there weren’t that much that go to the South and those that were available will arrive a little late and we just don’t want to miss the show. Finally our last resort was to take a taxi and travel 300 miles down south. It was a long 5 ½ hours, but we did enjoy the ride, seeing the rest of the state and all the fields

We arrived at the Corn Palace around 4pm. It was a very fascinating place, with all their murals made from corn cobs. We met Beth and Grenvil, Kyle and Monty. Beth and Grenvell were such gracious and down to earth people. We told Beth about David’s trip in Manila, about how many people attended the concert (more than 100T both in and out of the grounds) and how he needed armed guards when he was shopping in Manila.

The thing is, we were with him during those times he went shopping in Manila. He went to some stores who were sponsoring him there in Manila and it was just pandemonium ;p and mind you the Mall was already closed at that time so we were hoping that there will be less people, but noo, such is the popularity of Dave in our country. He can’t even get from one store to the other. And the whole security force of the mall (around 200 I was told) was dispatched just to act as a human barricade and part the sea of people just for him to cross the hall into the other store. I did feel sorry for him that day coz I think he was having a migraine that time and it was just chaos outside of the store. He handled the situation very professionally (uh I should say goofily coz he was laughing and singing along CBTM when it was played on the radio in one of the stores ) he was never demanding, I found out later that he didn’t want the Mall to be inconvenienced by sending out all of its security force just for him. But we did get a laugh when in one store he was still looking at a pair of boots and we already know his size As for the band who went shopping the next day, I think they were asked by Dave to only get one item each and I do believe that maybe because he didn’t want to take advantage of the sponsors. Well exactly who won the battle between his bid and the power of Filipino hospitality I’m not telling. ;p

Back to the Corn Palace, I got to pass the Cookista message to his parents which is the news about Bar-Ba-Sol being #1 in Manila radio station 99.5 RT (at number 2 currently is Black Eyed Peas-I’ve Gotta Feeling; #3 Cobra Starship & Leighton Meester-Good Girls Go Bad; #4 The Killers-The World We Live In; #5 Kelly Clarkson-Already Gone) and I do believe they were thrilled by the news. They also thanked us for supporting and being avid fans of their son as they learned where we were from. They were just very nice people.

We met Kyle and Monty too, and we told them the same news and we asked them when are they coming back to Manila. Kyle told us to ask them back again as they love to go back, and believe me, we came here in the US to see the show, and from someone we journeyed miles to meet to just actually say that, it was uplifting. He could’ve told us that they were booked, and they don’t know when will they be available again but would love to come. He didn’t say that, he said “Ask us again.” Had a chance to talk to Monty, I told him how great he was coz man, he can work those strings. He does these little tweaks in his transitions which I find amazing.

Also what was memorable that day was when we met fellow Cook fans from the US, and I honestly say that half of the fun in attending a David Cook concert is meeting fellow fans I got to meet Jen and angelangiekc who were such nice, lovely and sweet ladies. We just had a blast talking about how we got to the venue, how many shows we’ve seen, and just humoring each other on how far we would go just to see David. We also saw some who made a sign for Crazylegs saying “Have you met your Sister?” with 2 of her sisters attached to the sign

The show was spectacular, but what was remarkable with Mitchell was when they want an Encore, they wanted it NOW. They screamed and shouted non stop for the band, chanted David’s name then started stomping their feet and didn’t stop until the 5 rockers got back onstage. When the guys did that extended guitar with the 4 greatness lining up on stage, I was beside myself. Four guitars doing different riffs, not a chord out of place and totally in sync was my idea of a music chocolate cookie with vanilla ice cream, choco syrup, and caramel drizzle. And they just kept on going and going and going, man it was an awesome night.

I wished we could’ve met David, Neal and Andy after the show, but we told our taxi driver that we would be leaving by 10pm, so not wanting to be late coz it would also be dangerous to drive while sleepy, we contented ourselves by saying we could try our luck with the others the next day in Fargo. So on to the night and through the early morning we drove, our energies high with the concert and all those feelings of excitement and elation of watching the band play again since that fateful day they were on our motherland’s soil

NEXT: PART II FARGO (just when I thought things can't get any better than Mitchell, i was proven wrong 10x over...)

-gcelq