The Daventure started Friday night, June 26th at the Ogden Theater in Denver, Colorado. I met up with JD, QJ and RMH and a friend, and we carpooled in to Denver. We hung out at the Irish Snug, a great little pub walking distance from the Ogden. On the way in at 5 p.m., we passed the Ogden and the line wasn't too long. But when we came out to get in line at about 6:30 p.m., the line had really grown.

Outside the Ogden theater

Lots of young people and lots and lots of guys! Very cool for David. Looked like a typical rock concert crowd. The aura of AI was nowhere to be found!

We decided to sit in the balcony, so when they started letting us in we made a beeline for that and got nice seats on stools with a pretty good unobstructed birds-eye view. Here's the view!

The view from the balcony at Ogden

I cellcasted for the concert, and afterwards the feedback was that the cellcast was very clear, which I was thrilled to hear! I think being up in the balcony helped alot. I also got some videos which show the audience as well as the full stage. Here are the links to my videos for Ogden:

Man in the Box
Kiss on the Neck
We're Only Honest When We're Sleeping
Breathe Tonight and Souvenir

Saturday morning I left Denver for Aspen, going over the spectacular Independence Pass. The drive is just incredible.

Independence Pass

The road to Aspen

I arrived at Belly Up, checked in at the hotel and then went over to Belly Up to meet Jeannine and Cheryl.

Belly Up Aspen!

Ryan and his band came out and spent quite a bit of time chatting with us. They are quite entertaining!

Chatting outside the Belly Up

The sun was very hot and we all cheered when the equipment tour bus pulled up right in front of the venue so we could bask in its shade. People took turns wandering off to go to their hotel room or get something to eat.

At one point the EEB came wandering up the sidewalk. They only paused briefly and exchanged a few words with people, I didn't talk to any of them myself, and they weren't there long enough for me to get my camera out. I guess I haven't learned yet to always have the camera ready while waiting in front of a venue! I need more concerts so I can get better at this! They quickly went down into Belly Up. Later on in the afternoon, David came walking up, said a quick "hi, guys", and then ran down into the Belly Up for soundcheck. I heard later that he had been having lunch in a nearby restaurant from a fan who saw him in there. We could hear the soundcheck very clearly, it was Straight Ahead, and David's voice was clear and strong. Very nice pre-concert!

I was trying to send some tweets, so I went down into the stairwell just outside the box office where it was darker and I could see my cell phone screen better. I saw David standing just inside, looking at all the pictures of other acts who have played the Belly Up. They get some pretty good acts there. He was having a quiet moment so I didn't bother him by calling out to him or startling him with the flash on my camera. I think he was really impressed with Belly Up, as was I!

Here is the wall he was looking at, so just envision him standing in front of these pictures in his Fedora, white t-shirt, black vest and jeans.

The wall just inside Belly Up, minus David

Finally, after 8 hours of waiting, they let us in the theater! We were about 10th in line so we went rushing to the front of the stage to claim our spots in front of David. Then we stood there for another hour waiting for the show to start. It was pretty funny because they had this theater screen pulled down over the stage inches from our noses, and they were showing snowboarding videos and stuff like that. Finally the screen started coming up, and there was Ryan and his band. They put on a great show! I really enjoyed it. I just have one still picture.

Then the screen came back down and we stood there with our noses to it (LOL) while they set up for David and the band. Even more people were pushing to the front and we were squished like sardines! Finally the time came, and the screen started coming up. And there was David about 3 feet in front of me. The stage only came to the top of my thighs, so he wasn't even that high above us! I could easily have reached out and touched his cool black snakeskin boots.

The show was epic. The 4 shows I've seen so far were all amazing, I've got to say this one was just indescribable. Other-worldly, it was so good. David really liked Belly Up. He said it was "chill" and he definitely wanted to come back. YES!!!! He also made some joking comments about checking into local real estate. I know Ryan is an avid snowboarder so I hope he talked up the joys of snowboarding to David!

There are some great videos on YouTube if you search on "David Cook Belly Up". Mine aren't the best, but here they are. I really, really need a better concert camera!

Declaration
Avalanche
Life on the Moon
Heroes

Here are my stills of the Belly Up concert:

Belly Up Aspen photos

After the show, we stood around outside for awhile. Ryan and his band came out and spent alot of time with the crowd. We didn't see David or EEB, so after awhile we decided to go to the car (Cheryl's ankle is bad so we didn't want to walk) and see if we could find a bar to hang out in for a little while. As we were walking to our car, we almost ran into David and the EEB and some of their other tour folks! David was deep in conversation and just kept walking, but Andy stopped for about 10 seconds to talk with Jeannine before he hurried off after them. We never found an open bar and went back to the hotel and went to sleep. The next morning, some folks staying at our hotel said they found an open bar and David and Neal were in there, although David left after just one drink. Some other people said they saw David late that night walking Dublin, but he put his head down and kept walking so they didn't bother him. If he wasn't in the mood to mingle, we weren't going to stalk him, so we didn't get to meet him. I really don't want to meet him that way, with him thinking of us as intruders into his privacy.

The next morning we left for Beaver Creek after breakfast. We had a really nice lunch in the outdoor section of a cafe with to-die-for mojitos. As we were sitting there shooting the breeze and sipping the mojitos and enjoying the spectacular weather, Andy and Kyle walked by! They were looking from side to side at the village and appeared to be impressed. It is pretty swanky, I have to say. They even had the ice rink open in June. A few minutes later we saw them again heading back towards us and we waved hi, but they didn't appear to be in a mood to stop and chat, although Jeannine asked Andy how he liked Colorado and he said it was awesome.

Finally concert time arrived and we went to our lovely assigned seats front row center. Once again, we were going to be right at David's feet in boot-touching distance, LOL!

Before the concert, the manager came on stage to say no flash photography or digital video with lighted screens since it was distracting for folks behind you. He also said people should stay seated. Hah! I knew that wasn't going to fly once David came out!

Ryan did another very nice set. He is really growing on me. I'm starting to know the words to his songs. There were still empty seats during his set, people waiting for David before they came in (assigned seating and all). Too bad. He really rocked, and deserved a full house.

Since I was standing in a rather conspicuous spot I decided not to try to take video. I was hoping some other people would be able to get some. JD had her good camera and got lots of fantastic stills without flash. And of course it turned out that some enterprising people got great videos! You can see the back of my head (just to the left of David) in some of them, such as TWIK. This time, no curtain so we watched them set up for David and the band. The still nameless band, LOL. They taped the setlist and we stood up and took a peek. Here it is! I got a copy of it after the show.

The Vilar Setlist

Although it wasn't on the setlist, he started with TWIK, as everyone now knows. It was just stunning. They did a fantastic job with the lighting. As much as I love all the rock music, having just his voice and guitar was amazing. That incredible voice. Sometimes I can't hear it as well as I would like with other songs.

He had a bandana wrapped around his left wrist, we were thinking some kind of skin irritation since he was looking at it and rubbing it both at the Ogden and Aspen.

He was clearly feeling the altitude and since I was so close I could see him gulping air after each song. But he did an incredible job of singing in spite of it. He joked about the lack of oxygen and made some funny faces.

Except for the first two rows, people were mostly sitting at first. I got the impression some of them knew about "David Cook the American Idol" but had not been following his career since, and were expecting Billie Jean and Always Be My Baby and stuff like that. Plus, of course, the manager said stay seated, silly him. David worked the crowd really well though, and he got the majority of them standing and clapping. At one point he walked back into the audience to get the rest of them up. There were just a handful of disgruntled sorts I could see when I glanced back a couple times, stubbornly seated and not looking very pleased. Definitely hoping for MOTN, LOL!

The couple sitting next to me were local residents who had liked him on Idol. They were surprised by what they got, but with some encouragement from David, they stood up and clapped and smiled and definitely got into it, as did the majority of the crowd.

This has gotten really, really long so I'd better wrap it up. After the concert, we were standing outside, talking to Ryan and his band as usual, when we saw a white SUV which we assumed held dweeb pull out and leave. So no meet and greets or anything in any of the Colorado venues. Maybe due to lack of barricades at all of them.

All in all, it was a magical weekend and just amazing, amazing, to be standing 3 feet from David for concerts two nights in a row.

EDIT: Here is our full setlist for the 3 Colorado concerts, I was really happy with the variety we got. Thanks Dave!

Heroes (3)
Mr. Sensitive (3)
Kiss on the Neck (3)
Declaration (3)
Come Back to Me (3)
Light On (3)
Bar-ba-sol (3)
A Daily AntheM (2)
Breathe Tonight (2)
Man in the Box (2)
Souvenir (1)
We're Only Honest When We're Sleeping (1)
I Did It for You (1)
Life on the Moon (1)
Avalanche (1)
Straight Ahead (1)
I Just Died in Your Arms (1)
Billie Jean (1)
The World I Know (1)
Lie (1)
Make Me (1)