OMG. What a great night!

So Casey & I left town about 30 minutes ahead of schedule Monday, around 3:45pm. It took exactly two and half hours to get to Tyler. Casey didn't believe me that there would be a long line to get in, but when we pulled in to the HPC gym, the first thing we saw was a massive line down the sidewalk. I gave him one of my "I TOLD YOU SO!" looks, and hauled ass to get in line after meeting Kasey B, the UTT angel of a student that snagged me tickets for the show! (Thank you again, Kasey!) I figure I was about 150 people back. Over the next 30 minutes, the line grew incredibly fast and got SUPER long! Casey just could not believe the amount of people going to this shindig. The event staff started coming out and shouting announcements over megaphones around 6:45 (about 15 minutes before they opened the doors), and we were getting conflicting info. No photography, no FLASH photography, no cameras at all, etc. Very confusing. Anyway, once the line started moving, it went quick. Show them our tickets, get a wristband, and file into the gym. The entrance was actually on a level above the gym floor, so I could see the entire set up when I walked in, and I started scoping out a place to sit. To my incredible surprise and amazement, there were still TONS of open seats on the floor!! I told Casey to follow me, and I booked it down to the floor and found two seats on the end of the third row, center section, in front of Neal's side of the stage. I spotted Katie E., a girl I knew from the Houston show and have been Facebook friends with for months, and went to say hi. We talked for quite some time, and kept bugging a VERY nice event staff girl for concrete information - camera policy, when/if we could stand in front of the stage, bathroom locations, etc. When the lights went down for Ryan's set, we were really timid about whether or not we should go to the front, but gradually we got out of our seats and walked up to the stage. Of course, Ryan was awesome. Obviously I'm not shy AT ALL, so I have no problem yelling out random things to rock stars on stage. At one point Ryan said he was "warming us up for the big guy....getting us moist" (I s*** you not, he said MOIST. ). I couldn't pass up the opportunity to yell out "FOREPLAY!!" (yes, Jenn, I got the idea from you!) Of course he heard me, laughed and said something about "Hey, there are kids in the audience, you vixen! Event staff, get her outta here!" I yelled back that I promised to be good. When I met him at the merch table during intermission, I told him that was me, and he told me that David said in his little earbuds, "That was AMAZING." So yeah, David heard that. I also told him I was the same chick that bought the guys beer in Memphis, and he said Hey, what about us? We want beer too! (which he wrote on my CD cover) I asked him if I could please get a new picture with him b/c the one we took on Knoxville on my birthday looked awful. He said "of course! Did you get your CD signed in Knoxville?" and I said no, this was the first chance I'd gotten to buy his CD, and he asked if he could sign it "Happy Birthday!" anyway. Well duh, of course! So my cover of Ryan's CD says: "Jamie, You Rock! Happy Birthday, Ryan Star We Want Beer Too!" LOL!

On to David's set. The lights went down, the band starts coming out, and this time EVERYONE rushed the stage, no timidness. I managed to snag yet another place in front, right in front of Neal, but not before a stampede ensued. Unfortunately, the camera nazis were out in FULL FORCE. Being up front didn't help matters at all, but every time anyone tried to get their camera out and get a shot, the "event staff" (which were basically college kids on a power trip) came up to us and swatted our hands down. I got ONE picture of Neal during BBS. Just ONE. And girls, I was in the position to get some AMAZING shots if given the chance. Oh. My. God. During Heroes, when David was walking back and forth across the stage, he stood RIGHT. ABOVE. ME. for a good 20 seconds. I touched his freakin' boot (which was a new pair, btw. Looked like black ostrich skin to me.)!! I was in la-la-land for those 20 seconds, just staring up at the god above me. (*teehee*) Ok, maybe not that dramatic, but seriously, I was staring. Hard. Standing over me during Heroes...then Honest.....Mr. Sensitive.... Before he played "Little Lies" he said that they were going to do a cover now, and someone yelled out "SHARP DRESSED MAN!" David was like, Naw we don't know that one and then Neal busts out with the melody on guitar. Then Kyle chimes in on the drums...except he's not playing SDM. David stops him and asks, "Kyle, what is that? Are you even playing the same song?!" Kyle gets on his mic and says "Hey it's La Grange. Same band, man." David says something about not knowing the song, but "hey, I know the dance!" Once again, I yell out to him. "We'll take that!" So he smiles real big and I'll be damned if he does the Sharp Dressed Man knee-dance. Holy crap. Right in front of me!

Other epic moments: Kiss on the Neck. Uuuuum .... yeah. Holy f***ing hell. You know that moan that we all thud over? Yeah, he drew it out reeeeeealllly long. Like, he KEPT moaning.....and moaning.....and moaning....until I was in completely shock and was completely silent. I swear my jaw was hanging open. And THEN at the end of KOTN, he turns and walks towards Kyle with his back to us.....and HITS HIS f***ING KNEES AND BENDS BACKWARDS. I finally witnessed a backbend!!!! It's only taken until April, but FINALLY! Like I said, of ALL the nights to have camera restrictions, it was this one.

Before KOTN, he did his typical intro of "where are the couples? The boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, mistresses, mister...sses..?" I took it upon myself to offer a word. "GIGOLO!!" Which he of course heard, and was all, "*giggle* Gigolo?! No I don't think that's the right word either!" Vulgar word call-out Number Two for Jamie on the night! LoL

At some point, he pointed out the guys in the audience that looked younger than him....and then called out the guys that were having an obvious good time and the guys that looked like their girlfriends drug them there. Unnecessary call-out #3 for me: "MAYBE WE DID?!" To which he shook his head and laughed (hard) and said "You know, I've never had this good of a rapport with an audience before! I love this!"

ANYWAY. Show was fantastic, as usual. Wouldn't have expected anything less. After the show, I booked it to the bus and was third one there- only two young guys were there first. We didn't have to wait long before David & Co. come out of the building- maybe 20 minutes? And I swear there was maybe 25 people there, and we were single-file across the barricades. David took his time chatting and taking pics and signing things, no rush. When he got to my end, a woman who I had been chatting with in line earlier (and told her and her daughter where to come after the show to meet Dave) took it upon herself to tell David that I had been to like, 6 shows across the country, and didn't he think I deserved a guitar pick (this was b/c I told her about how I never catch them at shows and the event staffer standing in front of me tonight absolutely refused to snag me one of Neal's left-over picks after the show. a**hole.). So anyway, David reaches in his pocket and fishes out a pick and holds it out to me, saying, "what, one of these picks?" Of all the times to be speechless, I was. Over something as small as a guitar pick. But I manage to squeak out, "yes, pleeease?" And he goes, "Ok, here you go". Finally. After all the diving and scrambling and jumping to catch one...the man hands me one personally. Damn. That whole exchange I caught on video, including me asking about his shirt from tonight (which apparently came from the Buckle) and me asking for a hug and FINALLY getting one! Tonight was a big night for me, despite the event nazis.

Neal was the only other guy to come out and sign/take pics. I asked him about his TCB tattoo, asking him if it meant he was a closet Elvis fan, which he replied with a smirk and a nod. I asked him if he made it to Graceland last week, and he said no, he didn't have time and was too drunk. He was wearing a Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey shirt that I pointed out and told him I thoroughly approved. LoL. UUmm....first pic with Neal was bad, and I asked him for a redo b/c "I looked like a crackwhore!" He responded with "Well we don't want that!" and we took a better one. Uuumm... he also smiled and nodded at me during Barbasol tonight, but only because I waved at him first.....

There was some banter about reading Cosmo and "50 ways to please your guy", for which he apologized to the guys for bringing it up. It was the WAY he said it that made it funny. That little gay voice, the same one where he said "YOU SPITTER YOU!" two weeks ago. Yeah, funny s***. We were rolling.

Great turn out tonight. Lots of guys really into the music, but lots of older people sitting in the back that just would NOT stand up for s***. Some event staff girls were standing on the balcony above us to the left and David said something to them about "Are y'all having a good time?" It took three tries to get 6 of the 7 to cheer, and finally David had to say about the last girl, "Well I guess she voted for Archuleta!!" and did that wide-eyed, open-mouthed "OOH did I just say that?!" look.

Once again, thank you to Kasey B. for helping me get to this show. Casey (my BF) was a GREAT sport all night, even holding the camera for me at the buses while the video was recording, holding my stuff, going to get my poster out of the truck...and he wore what I picked out for him to wear [I love you baby! ] So this was my last show until Virginia Beach, and it was a FANTASTIC experience. My video from the buses can be seen below. Sadly, that and the pictures I posted on photobucket are the only goodies I have to offer from this night. (http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m194/jld_aggie_06/David%20Cook%20in%2...) But I hear the cellcast was fantastic!