Friday:.

Everything started out great, David looked amazing in his executive and of course sounded incredible. My group decided to head for the balcony and grab some seats there. I got one right front center but a few people were able to stand under me, no big deal. I'd say the view was decently close, about the equivalent of 25 rows back. The crowd was very young, a lot of couples. Maybe not quite 50/50 male female because there were still groups of women together but other than that about even.

Ryan's set was great as usual. The energy for his set built through the night. I think he started gaining momentum from Psycho Suicidal Girl on, the men really responded to that song. By the time they got to end at BOYC the crowd liked him. I said hi to Ryan after his set and noticed him standing outside after the show but we didn't really want to hang around as it is not the best part of town.

Anyway, back to the show and David! They played all MJ music in the intermission, which I thought was a nice touch. The last song they played before David got out was Billie Jean and the crowd sang along with it pretty loudly, I thought it was a cool moment. David was fun and energetic and worked hard to win over a crowd that didn't have a lot of hard core fans.

As far as the setlist, I pretty much got my dream rock set with Mr.Sensitive, KOTN, Breathe Tonight, BBS, Souvenir, Man in the Box and Declaration. I think Mr. Sensitive was my favorite from the night but they were all great. I always love the extra gruff tone in David's voice I can only hear when I see him live.

As far as banter, he did point out the one lone sign that was in the crowd, it looked like some drawing, I couldn't really tell what it was but he had the person turn it around and show the back of the room. But then the person kept it down so that was good. I was going to be proud we were sign free but I guess 1 was ok. The show was supposed to be 16 and up but somehow there was a kid there and David talked to her. I did not see her so I have no clue if she was like 5 or like 12. I guess she was shy and he couldn't hear her name so he bent really far down to hear her name and said something like "I play rock music for a living so you are going to have to be a little louder". And then he asked her what she likes to do for fun...what they could do for fun together and the crowd went "ooooohhhh" and he's like "hold on, its a kid!" So you heard the moment of silence for MJ, which was really nice and the crowd held the moment well. Usually there is some jerk who yells something but he got a nice 20 seconds. He commented about the altitude once, said Man in the Box almost killed him. He also said something like "thanks for coming out to the shows, I can't believe how many people are here, I think the other foot is going to drop and one day I'll play a show and nobody will show up, so thanks Denver for not being that day!" I was happy we didn't disappoint.

This show I tried to watch and pay attention more than scream and fangirl. I watched the band a lot and David of course. I'm sure you heard about Joey's purple hair, it is really dark! It was over all so quick but the set was great, high energy the whole time. There wasn't really one song that just punched more than the others, they were all good.

Saturday:

We had a really nice drive to Aspen on Saturday, the weather was fantastic and lots of good scenery. I actually took more pictures of the mountains than of the shows! We got in about 4pm and decided to get in line shortly there after. The line was not long at all, maybe 15-20 people and a lot of them were being really generous about leaving and coming back to your spot. One person just left a lawn chair and I never saw them until right before the show started. Nobody really minded, there were not enough people waiting to make a huge deal. I didn't mind waiting at all, there were enough people to chat with and the venue even let people in to the restroom. I popped in once and took my time and listened to some of Ryan's soundcheck. Nobody there cared we were milling in and out and nobody took advantage of the situation. There were a lot of teenagers there, and seemed like a lot of locals and tourists. Some locals had their dogs in line until the very last possible moment. They must have lived there or were staying close because the dogs vanished when we got in. One local lady said she actually voted for Archie and kind of made a don't throw tomatoes face and I said "hey, you are here now!" and she said that it was the record that she fell in love with and wanted to see David. I thought that was pretty cool that it was the record that hooked someone and not all the other ancillary stuff.

Ok, so the doors open and I end up second row center, about 1-2 people off of directly in front of David so I was slightly to Andy's side. I just couldn't believe for standing outside for 2 hours got me such an incredible spot. We were allowed to stand right up against the stage and they had a drop down movie screen covering it. They kept playing this strange snowboarding movie and we all looked like ants drawn to the light 2-3 people deep on the dance floor facing this screen. The venue in Aspen was my favorite, it was basically a bar and very reminiscent of what I'm sure David used to play in before. The stage and the floor was in a diamond shape, with the stage taking up the top triangle and the floor the bottom triangle. There was a lot more seating in there than I imagined, stools all around the back part of the floor and multiple tiers of seating.

So Ryan came on and it was so fun to see him that up close! I was able to put my phone on the stage for the cellcast! The big treat of the night with Ryan is that it was that partial acoustic show with the full band but the drummer had to use whatever they call that wooden box to drum on. So with that set up we got the different songs of Sink or Swim and Somebody's Son. Kyle came out to drum on another box looking thing for Back of Your Car.

The floor didn't really fill in until David's set so you could have gotten there when the doors opened and got 3-4 people back. The teenagers all somehow ended up next to me. Someone peeked over the movie curtain that came down again and said Avalanche and Died in Your Arms was on the list and that is all I needed or wanted to know, that was enough pony for me. When David came out it was almost shocking to see how close he was. It was hard not to watch his hands, arms, legs and of course eyes. I could really see him scanning the crowd in the first song Heroes, it amazes me how in tune with the crowd David is and how much he reads from them. The crowd was fantastic, it was one of those perfect kind of crowds, not too much fan influence but a lot of people getting into the music. I don't remember David having to ask for applause or ask how everyone was doing. I loved him on that small stage all crammed together. No triscuits and it was so intimate the blue lights were actually hung behind me. The stage was also only about 2-3 feet high. I didn't see any signs or odd fan behavior and nobody mentioned any afterward. Being that close it is hard to take a step back and be a fan and take photos and video and analyze it from that perspective. It hard for me not to get interactive and dance and sing and be in the moment with the music. I wish I could pause and go back and just watch it but I guess that is what youtube is for. I did manage to watch Andy for a little bit especially when I noticed the exact parts of the song he was playing.

I really loved the whole setlist. IDIFY was probably my least favorite song on the record but whatever they did to it made it such a fun song to hear. During Straight Ahead David went into the crowd and all the way into the back where the tables were and this being a bar this was not easy to do as there were no real aisles. He came back and apologized for hitting anyone with his guitar. BBS seemed so routine to me lately but it was one of my favorites of the night. You know how David leaves the guitar swinging until he plays it for the solo, well it basically was swinging all the way over where we were standing! I don't remember if Mr.Sensitive with the strobes is new this leg or if I was just having amnesia but I love how when David gets down on the riffs on that song the strobes turn on. Of course Billie Jean was a huge highlight and a surprise. I didn't even hear the people who were yelling for it so when he said "ok I'll do it if you don't mind I'll fumble through about 20% of it" I was like what! And Died in Your Arms is incredible live too, that would have been a highlight no matter what.

So we kind of milled around after the show there wasn't much to do as the town closed up before the show let out. Kind of strange to see it empty on a Saturday night.

Sunday:

The drive to Beaver Creek was again lovely and about half way back to Denver. We knew we were in for something when we had to cross the welcome gate to get in and they handed us a packet of maps and schedule of events. The Beaver Creek village was so cute dresses in this Alpine theme and everything was so self contained, it was like a little private town. It amused me to see outdoor ice skating in late June. Our hotel was a part of the village so we dropped our stuff of and quickly got ready to find some lunch. I was turned around taking the picture I twittered and basically ran right into Kyle and Andy. I just looked at each one of them and said hi and they said hi back and kept walking. They were taking pictures and it looked like they were having fun checking out the place. While we were at lunch some lady was just walking down the street passing out free chocolate chip cookies. I overheard someone ask what they were for and she replied they just hand out cookies at 3pm!

It was so nice to get ready for the show and just walk over. The theater was very beautiful and there were no less than 5 people who each looked at my ticket and escorted me down one more section of seats. We were in this special section in front that was only 2 rows and then there was a wooden partition, an aisle and then row A started. It definitely seemed like they don’t get many rock acts in the place but the energy was good and it didn’t feel too strange. Everyone in our 2 row section came to rock out so that was good. It basically was where all the fans ended up, the rest of the place were all locals. When I got to the very front where my section was I couldn’t believe how much of a difference there is between row 2 and row 1. Something about being able to lean right up against the stage and put your hands on the stage just takes away any barrier there is. The only drawback is that I did not get to enjoy the beautiful theater because frankly it could have looked like anything for all I cared at that point. But hey, it was nice to enjoy walking through the lobby!

Seating was only 30 minutes before the show and I didn’t even really have time to process what was going to happen before Ryan took the stage. I was about 5 seats off dead center and everyone let me move to there to watch Ryan. I didn't even ask, they all just pushed me down when his set started because I was like the only person standing up. I basically proceeded to fangirl it out for Ryan's entire set, its so embarrassing to think about it now. It was so cool because it felt like my own private concert. So Ryan crouched down to sing during Right Now right in front of me and I started singing the words loud and he totally heard me and grabbed my hand. Other than that I’m not sure if he was looking at me but it was cool to get that little acknowledgment. I really loved that Ryan changed 2 songs in his set (The One You Know and Everybody Knows for 11:59 and PSG) and for the 3 days I had 3 different sets from Ryan, which I was not expecting at all.

It was kind of funny to me the director came out in the intermission to talk. Basically saying thanks for coming, please come see our other shows and don’t video anything. It was totally done in good spirits and to promote the venue but I don’t know that anyone had ever come out before David’s set to talk before, it was kind of unexpected.

It was a quick turn around to David’s set, we saw them put the setlist down but even then we were surprised to have them start with TWIK because it wasn’t on the list. It was so cool to interact as much as possible and get into the music. David noticed those of us who were dancing along to Man in the Box (I think it was) when he pointed it out after the song. He said he learned a new dance move the night before in Aspen and kind of did the rave type dance with his hands in the air and wiggling his hips, really hot. At David’s first talk break a lot of people in the theater sat down and he said something like wait a minute, we are at a rock show and gave the whole breaking up with your seats speech. You’ve seen the part where David gets really quiet during Lie and asks if everyone is still paying attention. It was really neat to feel that moment of everyone’s undivided attention on the song. There was one part where David said give it up for Ryan and then had Ryan come on stage. Ryan came and hugged David from the back and then grabbed his ass. I think he also slapped Andy’s ass on the way off the stage and Andy said something about sex but I’m not quite sure which flustered David and he scolded Andy for not saying that in the private mic and he couldn’t wait to hear the youtube comments on that. Someone yelled out what does it say on his shirt and David said “it says this next song is Declaration, how you like that?” and everyone laughed. David went all the way in the back of the theater during KOTN to get everyone clapping. I think by the end of the show he fully succeeded in getting everyone up and moving. It was an unfamiliar crowd but they seemed pretty receptive to him. My favorites that night were Breathe Tonight, KOTN, BBS, Man in the Box, Mr.Sensitve, Lie and TWIK, or you know the whole thing basically. I loved the rocking out on the harder songs and the beauty of the softer songs was stunning.

A couple observations from being that close, first you can feel the lights and the hot air coming from the amps and speakers, which gives even more power to the music. Also at times it is so neat to hear snippets of David’s voice not amplified through the microphone, usually on the lower notes. It was cool that I was slightly to Andy’s side one night and then Neal’s the next because I was able to notice the parts of the song each contribute to. Especially on CBTM I noticed Andy starting the song and then Neal comes in with the solo.

After the show they stated playing the NIN song Everyday is Exactly the Same and it was a great song to leave the theater to, kept the same vibe going and I know they are working on the song as a cover so I know that is why they played it. My group was able to get a couple pics and a setlist. I ended up with Ryan’s pick. Then we just wanted to go to a bar or something and talk but absolutely everything was closed. We walked up and back about 3 times until we found one bar that was about to close, even the hotel bar was closed. I hope the guys were not too disappointed there was zero night life in there, hopefully they found something fun to do.

The whole trip was fun every second and I am so thankful David’s people booked him at some of the most beautiful, eclectic and fun venues to play in. Denver was amazing because it was my hometown show and I got to watch the band as a whole, Aspen for the coolest laid back kick ass venue and for getting to see David up close and personal for the first time and Beaver Creek for the most beautiful theater and for the experience of being a front row girl just for one night. Thanks for letting me share it with you!