I dont know how many times these past two days my girls and I have said that. Did this really happen is the theme of the day it seems. If anyone has ever read my recaps before you know i go into GREAT detail but i will apologize in advance for it being so longggggggg lol

Montreal

Karenle67 and I headed out to montreal the morning of the concert. A LONG ass 6 hr drive. Our girl itzmerenee was first in line YAY!!! We did fine until we got into downtown montreal. Mapquest was no help so we pulled over to the nearest gas station which had a bus stop in front of it. Karen got out and asked a guy where the metropolis was and he said "are you going to the David Cook concert?" Karen of course told him yes and he said he was to so we asked if he wanted to ride with us, sounded sane at the time lol Ryan was his name and he was really an awesome dude. I think without him we would have been lost for a long damn time.

The show Renee, our friend stephora and debbie(babylove2005 on twitter) and I all were in first row (neal side of course) Karen was higher in the balcony. I was so stoked to be in the front row finally but honestly in the end with all the pushing it was really third. You know how it goes at GA shows. I LOVE Ryan Star so much. I wish he could tour with David FOREVAH. He really got the crowd into it. I noticed early on that Andy was standing back stage watching, Renee saw an arm moving from behind the curtain while it (the arm) was talking to Andy and we both said "Thats David's arm" Of course when you study Dave's arms you know them when you see them. We were proven to be correct when he peeked out to look at the crowd. I was rocking out to Ryan, singing along while staring at Dave(well dave's arm) and Andy. At one point I see Dave doing the green man dance moves with his arms and Renee and I were like "He's doing the green man dance!!!" Andy left so it was just Dave who you couldnt see so I paid full attention to Ryan. I can never say this enough. That man is fran fricking tastic. Later on Renee almost elbows me in the stomach cause Neal was standing back stage watching Ryan well you can FORGET IT. ALL my attention went to Neal and stayed there the rest of ryan's set (which I honestly feel bad about) I said to Renee He needs to leave I'm trying to enjoy Ryan. If hes here I wont be able to concentrate. Neal was smiling, laughing, joking with Artie and during Last Train Home he was practicing his drumming. I told renee again Neal needs to f***ing leave I love last train home its my ringtone and i would like to be able to pay attention to Ryan lol

David and the Anthemic were AMAZING as always. Neal was wearing my favorite shirt the black one with the words Bang Bang written on the back. That boy could wear that shirt every day of the week I would not care THATS how much i love that shirt. They came out to Heroes and Dave was feeling it from the beginning. He said Bon Soir (which good evening and i hope i spelt that right lol) He had some cute banter with a man who asked a question and Dave couldnt hear it and had him repeat it which was "when is your next album coming out?" Dave said that it was a very good question and that he was just in NYC and has finished writing two new songs which you guys will not be hearing tonight. We of course laughed. He then said some time next yr the new record will be out.

LIE THAT was stunningly gorgeous. When he stepped away from the mic and i heard his ACTUAL voice. No amplification JUST HIM. I got chills. You could have heard a pin drop in that venue DEAD silence. After it was over Renee and I looked at each other and all we could say was WOW. SPEECHLESS.

Dave talked about how they needed a replacement drummer for these canadian shows and he called his friend raine maida to see if he could help him then Dave said s***. I cant remember in what context but I said to renee "he said s*** yay!!!" He thanked Raine for letting him borrow jeremy and told us to go by OLP new CD.

Dave said we were pretty close to the loudest crowd according to the decibel levels we are pretty close lets see if you can pass 108 decibels. Honestly i was confused about that whole banter so yeah lol

acoustic Avalanche, Man in the box and Life on the Moon. When i saw johnny the guitar tech tuning an acoustic guitar I was like WHAT?? why is the hummingbird here?? Honestly I have never been a fan of Avalanche BUT acoustically f***ING AMAZING. Man in the box I was already in love with this song but I KNEW that i would see Neal f***ing tiemann playing this f***ing song acoustic. I screamed I love you Neal as loud as i possibly could before that song. His guitar solo in person is SICK. I have been fortunate enough to see both plugged in and now acoustically. I feel like I go into a trance when I see his fingers playing those guitar strings. NO WORDS.

At the end of the night Dave got VERY choked up and thanked us for welcoming them and always supporting Canadian bands like OLP and Big wreck. He held his hand to his heart and looked down for a minute. He was so overwhelmed by the love. I havent seen him that choked up on stage in a LONG TIME.

The buses Renee and I went to the buses and they had a TINY barricade so everyone had to stand practically on each other. It was pouring down rain. I didnt have a coat or hat and neither did a lot of others. Thank goodness Dave didnt allow pictures cause I would have turned it down since I looked like a drowned rat. First Jeremy came out which i thought was weet cause he really didnt have to do that. I let all the canadian fans have at him cause I dont really know that much about OLP and i figured let someone that knows and cares about the band have there moment with him. Monty came out after Jeremy and he signed my ticket so now i have every one that has been in the band more then two days signature lol He was a sweetie. After Jeremy and Monty left it was a long time before Dave came out. While we were waiting i hear these 3 teenage girls talking about the band and they didnt have a name yet so OF COURSE I turned around and told them yes they do and the one girl was like "oh really what is it?" I said "Its the anthemic' the girls kind of looked at me like huh? and i had to explain what it meant lol. One girl asked if they are going to be called the anthemic and David's name wont be in there i said no it will be David Cook and the Antehmic.The one girl knew about Andy and MWK which i was impressed with. The other two did not so we talked about that. The girls asked me about Monty if he is staying I said as far as I know no he will not be. We talked about Kyle and why he wasnt there.One of the girls thought he was fired or left like joey. I always love when I meet new fans that want to learn the history and they ask questions. I am more then willing to educate lol

At this point i I was beyond tired but didnt want to leave cause I KNEW he would come out its his first time in canada NO WAY he wouldnt have unless there was a security issue. He came out of the venue and went on the bus but the bus driver said he was getting his coat and he'd be right out. Its so striking to me standing in front of his face OFFSTAGE. He looks SO different like a normal mid western dude BUT on stage he turns into ROCKSTAR!!DAVE. He handled the crowd very well with the pushing and everything. I got my ticket signed and I looked at him and said thank you and he said NO thank you. I may have died. A girl shouted that she loved his jewelery and he said "thank you, some people love it or hate it" Renee shouted "I lovvveee it" I said "no comment" lmao. It was funny some man had Dave sign his paycheck he got a kick out of that. He gave a ton of hugs, not me since i wasnt up far enough but it was fun to watch how he acted with the fans. He left and Renee and I went back to the hotel and talked to Karen for awhile trying to decompress. It was 2:30am and Renee and I wanted to be up at 5:30am to head to ottawa. Needless to say that time came way to fast and we are not rockstars lol

Ottawa

Renee, Debbie and I got up at the crack of dawn to head to Ottawa. Karen decided to sleep in and came later with Stephora. Renee Debbie and I were the first ones there (which yay!!) Both buses were there one in front of the venue the other around the corner. We didnt see anything for awhile until the roadies showed up I saw TC the sound guy and i asked if he could give me the setlist he said sure. I told him well how will you know where I am so you can give it to me. He said oh i will give it to you no worries.

Let me tell you that venue was not in the greatest part of town and i will leave it at that. There was this fancy hotel across the street with balconies and we were joking what if the guys were in that hotel looking down at us from the balcony. Every once and awhile we would see someone but I dont think any of us took it seriously that they were ACTUALLY there cause what are the odds honestly? All of us would take turns going to the ladies room or getting something to eat. One place was a coffee shop down the street. I went there and came back like 5 minutes later and i see a tweet from David about a girl in a cape in a coffee shop. I was like DO NOT tell me i was just in the same coffee shop with David and I didnt notice. Which honestly is entirely possible after we found that THEY were staying in that hotel we were STARING AT ALL DAY lol. Who knows how many times any of the guys walked back and forth and we didnt notice a damn thing. Andy twitpic a Tim Hortons coffee and there is one in the mall that was right DOWN THE STREET from the hotel. WE ALL know how Dave loves to shop. Damn us for acting like normal people Dave needs to make a noise or something apparently to get us to notice lol Pretty much nothing happened for hrs (THAT WE SAW LOL)

The promoter guy who's name was Cameron came to venue late in the morning to help set up and he was so sweet and very nice to us. He talked to us about no opening act and he was tryin to find one. Renee suggested Andy but as you know that didnt work out. GOD that would have been EPIC to the nth degree. Cameron was a cool dude. I thought about getting a picture taken with him but I never saw him again once the show started

By mid to late afternoon Karen had shown up so Renee and her went back to the hotel to check in because they wanted to be back as quick as possible so they could hear soundcheck at 4 (we knew it was 4 cause Cameron is a rock star) and see the boys walk in. While they were away a bunch of other people showed up and we all sat and talked. At point one Monty came out of the hotel across the street(damn us and our not noticing skills) and walked over to the venue. All of the girls just stood against the wall looking at him walk past us and no one said A WORD just stared (and took pictures) when he came back out we did say bye though. About a half hr later one of the girls who was sitting got up very quickly and i've been to enough shows to know if that happens somethings going on so I look across the street and standing in front of the lobby doors smoking a cigarette with Monty is NEAL f***ING TIEMANN!! I turned around and said "holy s*** oh my god its neal" All the girls started laughing at my reaction. Everyone stood there watching him but trying to be nonchalant about it. We were trying to take pictures discreetly as well. I dont really think that worked out lol He had on this weird Yellow backpack that was so WTF?? I still have no clue lol FINALLY he comes over with monty and AGAIN, no one says a word. He walks past us and since i was first in line i was right next to the door he looked up and i was looking at him and he smiled at me (DEAD NUMBER 1). I was kicking myself after for not asking for a picture or a hug something. Cameron came out at that minute and I asked him if Neal didnt come out again could he go ask if I could get a picture with him. Cameron being his sweet self said sure if he doesnt come out I'll see what i can do. In the end NO NEED for cameron's help. Neal came out and THIS time i knew i wasnt going to let this moment pass. I said Hi neal can I get a picture with you? He smiled at me (dead number 2) and said "of course" right before my friend took the picture, ME being ME said " I loveeeee your backpack Neal and started laughing. He looked at me and said "Well thank you" and winked at me (dead number 3) He knew i was being snarky not mean so it was all good. I was so proud of everyone in that line everyone was very chill no freaking out everybody waited there turn. I told him that i was montreal the night before and the acoustic songs were amazing. He told me thank you very much. I said you kicked ASS on Main in the Box seriously. He smiled that guhhh smile and it was (dead number 3) After he signed for everyone he got on the bus. Renee and Karen finally came back and I filled them in on what had happened and showed them my pics. A little while later Andy comes out of the hotel and I poke Renee and say its Andy. He had his suitcase and was rushing so we just said hi and took pictures of him walking. We waited for what it seemed like ages for Dave to come out and then I saw him standing at the crosswalk I have to say I am really proud of all the fans standing in line no one screamed, no one bum rushed him. We stood where we were and said Hi Dave and took pictures as he was walking into the venue. He waved at us and went into the venue. He came out a little later and got on the bus with all the boys. We all were standing there talking when Dave just walks off the bus with the guys all nonchalantly acting like a normal person (how dare he??) and went in for soundcheck. Renee jokingly said "Dave needs to stop acting like a normal person we need an announcement or something when he shows up. Stop trying to be normal" All the girls in line were cracking up at that. After soundcheck was over all the boys came back out and got on the bus EXCEPT NEAL. He stood in front of the whole line and started smoking with Monty. There was DEAD SILENCE all we did was stare and take pictures. There was not a barricade AT ALL. If someone wanted to they could have walked up to him and had a chat NO ONE did. We let him be. A little while later Dave and the rest of the boys get off the bus and AGAIN no one noticed. All the boys then walked down the sidewalk like NORMAL PEOPLE (again how dare they???).

THE EPICNESS BEGINS
We were finally let in the venue and I was first row Neal side. Now this venue was like the size of a shoe box. All I had to do was stretch my arm out and I could touch neal's microphone. I could of grabbed a pick if i wanted to ( i did not) Renee, karen and I took a picture of us SITTING on the stage. THATS how low and close we were to the stage. This next part I will try to explain but I'm having a hard time coming up with the right words to describe it but i'll do my best. If it reads like im rambling its probably because i am lol

Karen had warned me what would happen if i was VERY close to Neal in a GA show. I figured well he kills me dead when im four rows back what else could he do to me. I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED. They came out to heroes and Neal was IN MY FACE shredding his ass off. I started shaking and jumping up and down. He was in MY face. He spit ON ME at one point while he was singing and all I could think about was "OH MY GOD NEAL f***ING TIEMANN SPIT ON ME" LMAO. I promised my friends Gsob822 and Lkenner that i would cellcast a song or two for them each night and they chose Honest(lisa) and lie (gail) Well when the show started I was so overwhelmed from being so close I called the wrong person for each song lol.

Honest I looked at neal through most of the song and Im PRETTY SURE my mouth was hanging open thats how in awe I was in front of him.

I was keeping it together for the most part til LIE. When you are that close you can see EVERYTHING. The facial expressions, How Dave and Neal communicate without even speaking etc.... Seeing Dave sing Lie that close I just lost it I started to shake and as soon as he got to the a cappella part I was in tears. Its the VOICE. I keep using the word overwhelmed it because thats the only word that comes close to how I felt. When he closes his eyes and feels the music, its just beautiful.

All day Renee and I had talked about us screaming Neal f***ing Tiemann at some point in the show. I had tried to get her to do it a couple times but Dave was talking so she didnt want to it. There was a lull why David got his acoustic guitar so we screamed it and Dave got a look on his face like WHOA. He then said "we can say f*** here right? we all screamed yes and he said "uh uh this is going to be all over youtube in 2.5 seconds and I'm going to lose my record contract" We laughed and he got that goofy grin on his face.

living on a prayer I figured after Lie the next song would be Avalanche so I called Gail cause she loves that song. David starts talking and says something along the lines of I think i'll change it up and do a song I havent done in awhile. He starts it and at first no one recognized it and then he said "Tommy used to work on the docks" and the place erupted. I hung up on Gail immediately and started filming. I'm sure you guys know but towards the end of the song Renee said "Bring it home baby" and she didnt scream it or anything she just SAID it so either we were that damn close or he could hear us through the stage mics. The look he got on his face was priceless. After the song was over renee and I basically freaked out. He spoke to her yay!!!

At a certain point Dave was tlaking about something and I had just taken a picture and I looked down at it to see what it looked like and i said woo quietly (or so i thought) and dave starts laughing and said what kind of cheer was that instead of saying yea!! someone just did a low woo. I was so f***ing embarrassed. Renee was laughing at me. He said Im sorry but i had to say something about that. Thanks Dave for that lol

Man in the box NOW this is when I lost it I thought I was holding it together standing so close to Neal but watching him work that guitar during this song. I was gone. He was so into it his eyes were closed, his face was just so into it that its like he was in a trance during the guitar solo. I KNOW i was standing there with my mouth open it was amazing. I was watching his fingers and he is such an impressive guitar player the man is just gifted. Thats the only word I can come up with. I was so touched how powerful it was that I started to cry AGAIN. I couldnt take it, I seriously had to force myself to look away it was to powerful and intense. I could only take so much. The only accurate statement I can come up with is Its like staring at the sun to long. You can only take it for so long before you have to look away

I did it for you I video taped this and the new ending is AMAZING. The guitar solo and all of guys coming to the front is a pretty cool thing to witness. AGAIN with Neal and his guitar skills.

Died in your arms I watched Neal throughout this song and I again cried. Its not just the guitar solo in this song its everything. I just, I dont know, im at a lost for words.

come back to me honestly Dave should just let the audience sing the whole song cause the last two shows we sang almost half. lol

After Light on I didnt move I wanted the setlist I could have ripped it off the stage myself since I was practically on top of it but i didnt feel comfortable doing that. TC was packing up the equipment so I called to him and ask if I could have it and he gave it to me and then I asked if I could have a DR pick and HE GAVE IT TO ME!!!

We finally made our way out of the venue and I noticed a TON of people around this person I couldnt see who it was so i moved over a little and it was NEAL. I saw the amount of people that were there so I figured I wouldnt get to talk to him but all of a sudden this mass amount of people run to other end of the bus where dave was hanging out the window lol. Well that made me happy cause I walked right up to Neal. I told him hi and asked him to sign my setlist. I told him that I was right in front of him all night and he kicked ass. He said the words that will stick with me til the day i die. He said "YEAH I SAW YOU you were really rocking out" On the outside I said "oh cool" ON THE INSIDE HOWEVER I was doing cartwheels, backflips flailing up and down the sidewalk that he remembered me. I told he was amazing during died in your arms. He said thank you very much. I then told him I liked his necklace and asked where he got it. He said thank you and he got it at a place called beverely something (i cant remember the rest of the name.) and its really a girls necklace but he liked it so he didnt care. I said so your and Dave's match correct? He said yes they do like guns and roses you know?" Karen started talking him so I went over to Dave and squeezed my way in between the swarm of people to have him sign my setlist. I finally got it to him and he took it opened it up and said "oh hey cool" He signed it and handed it back I said thank you very much Dave and again he looked me right in the eye and said "No thank you" GOD he is so f***ing AWESOME. I went back over to Neal and he was talking to some chick about how he started playing guitar when he was 14 and why he played a right handed guitar instead of a left handed one. I noticed something that really touched me after someone got an autograph or finished talking to him he would always say 'Well thank you for coming to talk to me" I really think that when Dave comes out none of the boys think that anyone is going to want to talk to them. It touched me. I saw a little opening so I went back up and I asked for a hug and he smiled and said "of course" Now when Neal gives hugs he GIVES hugs. No one arm half hug. He takes both arms and wraps them around you and squeezes a little. A REAL HUG. I almost turned into a puddle of goo on the floor. That boy sure can hug. GAH I stepped away again to watch him talk to other people when I remembered that I promised Lkenner that I would ask him a question. I went back up AGAIN and said "can i ask you a question?" He said sure so I started to talk but he was looking me dead in the eye with his baby blues that I started stuttering like an idiot. I finally got it together and asked him if he got a lighter my friend gave him. She forgot to give it to him at a meet and greet she went to so she gave it to the radio guy and he said he would give it him. He said he gets alot of lighters so he's not sure. I told him it had operation iraqi freedom on it. He looked kind of sad and said no I never got it cause if I did I would for sure have remembered that. I said Oh that sucks I wonder if I should lie to her cause I dont want to upset her. He was so cute he said well you know I can lie if you want lets go "OH yeah i got it and i love it" and i said "oh yay good!!" Then we started laughing. A girl next to us said " well at least he told the truth he could have easily lied" I said oh im glad you told the truth most stars would just lie to make the fan happy" He said"nope im no bulls***ter" I said thank you very much and stood back and watched as he talked to a couple more fans and then got on the bus.

I seriously love this man cause he could have easily lied to make a fan happy but he wasnt going to compromise who he was and say something that wasnt true. You know other stars would have said yes i got it and thank you.

The bus left and we were all standing on the street stunned at how amazing the whole night was. It hit Renee right away and she started crying and I held her. We all kept saying I cant e- what jus- Did that- We couldnt even put a sentence together lol.

We finally pulled ourselves together and said goodbye to stephora and went out to have a late dinner and a drink. We all were sitting outside at thw restaurant just talking when it started to sprinkle. We quickly ate the rest of our food and said goodbye to Debbie. We walked out of the restaurant and it started raining so hard like the rain that no matter how fast the windshield wipers go you still cant see. We made a run for it and we were soaked to the bone. I am fat and I cant run that fast but we tried. I never realized how far away the hotel was til that minute lol. We got back to the hotel and got in the elevator looked at each other completely soaked and all we could do was laugh. I told them later these kind of things only happen to us lol After we dried off we sat and talked and even between us we couldnt find the words. They just wouldnt come.

In the morning it was time to say goodbye to Renee. We hugged and cried in the parking lot of the Days Inn lol Renee said she would get us to the highway to get out of ottawa and then she would go her way. We stopped at a stop light and Karen was talking about something random when it all hit me at once. The whole night came rushing back and I started to weep. I said "Karen did this really happen? Honestly did it?"

These past two night have proven to me that, i made amazing friends just by liking a 26 yr old rock star and these boys are NOT going anywhere for a long time. They have something magical.

Im sorry if this was long and I rambled in some parts. I still dont think I expressed how much ottawa meant to me but I tried my best.