It was a gorgeous drive from DC to Charlottesville. I took the back roads to avoid the monstrous traffic on I-95S (seriously, where are all of these people going on a Sunday afternoon? Aren’t they supposed to be home watching football?). I was enjoying the beginnings of the beautiful fall foliage while listening to Avalanche. Then a tweet from Dave (I know I shouldn’t have looked while I was driving, but I couldn’t resist). If the Chiefs win he’ll play Avalanche -- one of the few songs I haven’t yet heard live. And Avalanche is playing right now on my car stereo. Could it be a sign? Obviously not (Damn Chiefs!). I understand Dave’s pain because I’m a Washington Nationals baseball fan and they’ve been out of the running since, oh, Spring Training. And I’m being generous with that comment.

After my GPS leads me on a wild goose chase through downtown Charlottesville, telling me to go the wrong way down a 1-way street and then trying to get me to drive along a Pedestrian Mall, I find a parking lot, pay a ridiculous amount to park (when I could have parked free on the street if I wasn’t too frustrated and flustered to drive anymore) and make my way to the Paramount to find the folks who are having the pre-concert get together at The Nook. That’s right, The Nook. The same restaurant where Dave and the boyz later decide to eat dinner.

I’m sitting there with various DCOers (waves to all my new friends) when someone notices that the boyz are sitting at the bar. Well, you have to walk past the bar to go to the restroom, so of course all of us suddenly had to use the facilities. Multiple times. Including me. I’d hang my head in shame but it was really just too cool to see they guys out and about.

I began frantic texting (because you have to share news like this!) to my niece, my BFF in Italy (even though I couldn’t figure out the time difference in my head and may have woken her) among others. Text replies start coming in and my phone is blasting Declaration. Damn, damn, damn. I’m hitting buttons like a mad woman and consider throwing the phone out the window to stop the offending noise lest I drive David and the guys nuts. Finally I’m able to turn it to vibrate. My niece wants to know:
Q. Am I actually sitting with David or just near him.?
A. Well, near him. If I was with him there’s no way I’d be texting you right now.
Q. Am I gawking?
A. Trying really hard not to.
Q. Am I going to buy him a drink?
A. That’s the most fabulous idea ever. We won’t disturb them, but we can still show some appreciation to them. This girl has just earned the ticket I’m buying her to the Atlanta show.

A couple of us get the manager and tell him that we’d like to buy a round of drinks for the guy at the end of the bar and his entire party. He wonders why we’re being so coy and tells us to just go up to him. No thanks, you just tell him that we’ll buy him and his friends drinks if they like.

A little while later the boys’ waiter comes up to us and in a big, booming voice that filled the entire restaurant asks,

“Are you the ladies that wanted to buy David Cook a drink? He says thanks. He’d come over here but he doesn’t want to create a ruckus.”

Hmmm, then maybe announcing his presence at the top of your lungs isn’t the wisest course of action . . . .

“Most of them aren’t drinking, but a couple of them may get something.”

Cool, whatever they want, even if it’s a Coke, we’ll get it. Turns out they only charged us for the alcohol that someone (or a couple of people? The receipt is really confusing) got and not the soft drinks, but it was still pretty cool to offer a round to all of them. I didn’t try to talk to them at all. The 2 times I’ve been in a position to talk to David I’ve been a complete moron and I can take only so many self-inflicted hits to my self-esteem. It’s enough to say that the other ladies and I bought one or two of the guys a drink.

After all of that excitement I didn’t think I’d survive the concert, but somehow I managed. This was my second time seeing Ryan and I liked him a lot more this time. I’m not sure if it’s because my first time seeing him was also my first time seeing David (and you can guess who I was more excited at seeing), if it’s because Ryan has improved, or maybe a combination. Whatever the reason, I’m looking forward to seeing him again in Richmond tomorrow and buying his new album.

Then it was time for David and the Anthemic. This was my 8th concert, and I’m still not tired of seeing them. They manage to make each concert exciting and fresh. Last night we got chatty, fun Dave. He seemed to be in such a good mood, having a great time talking to us and cracking himself up. The funniest part was when he talked about eating dinner at The Nook, and ordering fried calamari, grilled cheese with chili, 2 Cokes, and (as one fan reminded him) fries. Then he tried to go into Lie, despite what was, in his words, the worst intro ever for that song. He played a really long intro trying to compose himself and failed, cracking up laughing all over again. It was really funny.

When Dave finally started the song, it was no longer funny. The crowd just got the song and knew to be quite. Dave didn’t pause as long before going into the acoustic section (although he did put his finger over his lips as a sign to be quiet) and it was gorgeous. At the end of the acoustic part someone over to my left let out a heartfelt “Wow!” Wow, indeed. Everything clicked on that song last night.

So I didn’t get MLR or even Avalanche, but that’s ok. I’d like to hear those songs live at some point, but I enjoy the concerts so much anyway. There’s always something new and different to discover. Last night I realized that he had changed a part of the melody to Breath Tonight and I was amazed at how long he held that one note in KOTN. I had never heard MITB live -- it totally rocked! And Till I’m Blue -- I just love that song now. It was a high energy concert, not the most intense I’ve seen from David and the guys, but definitely one of my favorites.