I'm with the Band

So the day started out normal enough. I went to work and through the day I become sadder and sadder that I wouldn’t be seeing Matt Nathanson open for Kelly Clarkson that evening. I had decided that to see him play for 20-30 minutes it wasn’t worth the minimum $50 that the cheap seats would cost and then Husband and I were meant to attend an important meeting together at 7 that night, so really I felt that I should just wait until next time. As Tuesday grew closer to the close, I decided that I wanted to drop by the venue, just to see if anyone would be walking around and I could say hi and maybe I could stand at will-call and listen to a sound check and that could be my mini-concert. The Maverick center has a huge outside area that is fenced from the public that the tour buses and trucks can move around in, which makes it very difficult to see those people milling around that are rock stars or band members, so I didn’t have a lot of hope, but I did have a little. I went to that area and of course my entry was blocked by a nice man named Larry. I chatted with him for a minute, but I saw no movement around the tour buses, so I decided to head into the will-call area that would be open. As walked I noticed a pair heading into one of the backstage side doors, probably venue staff. Since I was walking that way, I have a few seconds to decide if I would try to follow them in, and if I hadn’t decided to, this story would be much, much shorter.


I ran to grab the door before it shut and stood for few seconds to let the pair head in whatever direction they were going before I walked in with the mantra “try to look like you belong here and this is no big deal” running through my head. I have been backstage here one other time, when I purchased VIP Tori Amos tickets that included meeting her after the show, so I headed left and found the dressing rooms, although the only ones I saw, said Kelly’s name on them. I was stopped quickly by a woman with security and asked for my pass, when I told her I didn’t have one, she told me that I couldn’t come back there and I tried to be as reassuring that I understood and that wasn’t a problem. But it was a problem in that I didn’t know where else to go. As walked away I realized I was directly behind the stage and coming from the stage was the sound of Matt’s voice! He was doing the sound check right that minute, but the sound behind the stage wasn’t very good. I did stop and listen for minute but I worried about the security woman leaving her post and seeing me would ask me to leave again. I didn’t know how to get to the front of the stage from where I was, there was another security guard between me and the stage here and I since the area was completely empty, I didn’t think I could stroll by unnoticed. So I walked back the way I had come and went the opposite way of where I had come from. I went down a hallway with a bunch of door and the open room showed a low-light buffet style dinner, there were people milling about and I wanted to see if I could get to the stage so I kept going. Out another set of doors and I found myself by the will-call and a set of bathrooms. I went into the bathroom and washed my hands and listened to the music, although it was still low quality. I stayed here for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. I could hear that a door would open and I would get the clear sound of Matt playing. I wanted to find that door, so I left the bathroom and headed through another set of doors but ended up in a storage area under the bleacher seats. I walked out quickly knowing if it looked like I didn’t know where I was going, I was likely to be kicked out. There was another set of doors, but I could see security milling about through them so I didn’t venture that way, only to find out later, that would have taken me right to the stage and that must have been the door I heard being opened. I would have seen Matt, but at the same time, I would likely be removed as soon as I showed myself a fan and not someone with the band. The music went silent and I started back down the hallway with the doors, as I did, I ran into Aaron, the guitarist. I said hi and he was very taken back. He said he recognized me but couldn’t’ remember my name. I teased him about that and he said he was headed to get some dinner from catering. He held a Tupperware plastic plate with little sections. I asked if it would be okay if I went with him, and he said yes. He grabbed some salad and some of the vegetarian dish, there was a lot of food in steaming silver trays and I watched with interest, taking everything in. We made some small talk about the tour and how he and matt had just flown in from San Francisco earlier in the day because they had another solo show they did without the band. He said they were drawing close to the end of the tour, but they were having a great time. He asked what I did, I told him about having a new job after being a full-time student. He asked where my seats were and I admitted that I didn’t have seats. I explained that being out of work I didn’t have much money and the tickets were pretty expensive. He said he could probably get me a pair of tickets. He was going to go have some down time before the show started but to check at will call after about an hour. He left and I tried to look busy by calling people, I didn’t think I would be able to see Matt’s set because of the appointment, but maybe I would be able to catch Kelly and see Matt after his set hopefully. I spoke with husband and found out that by a miracle, our appointment had been canceled. I was so happy! Now I could watch the show! But I was determined to hang out backstage for as long as possible and maybe get to talk with Matt, pre-show.

So I hung out by the back door, but the nice security guard, Larry, was still out there and I didn’t want him to recognize me and wonder how I’d gotten backstage. So I walked back down the hall and looked into the catered area, but most people had their backs to the door and I didn’t want to be too obvious so I kept moving, back to the bathrooms, and then after trying a door, hung out in an empty room listening to the sounds of people moving around and hoping to hear Matt’s voice. After gathering my courage I decided to just head into the dinner room. I made a point of looking at the food and then after surveying the room and seeing some of Matt’s band and crew decided to say hi. The bassist, Sioban, welcomed me and asked if I wanted to sit at the table. I of course agreed. The drummer, Konrad, was there they were eating dinner with 2 crew members. We chatted and I took some photos of me and the band and they asked if I wanted something to eat. I declined, probably mostly because I didn’t want to take advantage of being where I shouldn’t be, but also because I didn’t think I would be able to hide my shaking hands if I tried to eat. I did grab a bottle of water. James, the keyboardist showed up and I introduced myself and that we had met last time he was in Salt Lake. We played a game where you take a famous person and make their name food related. Konrad scored with Johnny Dipp for an ice cream shop, there was Felicia Del Taco, and several others. My contribution was Carmel Elektra, which considering how slow my brain was going, was a miracle. One of the crew members got a call, and wrote down my name on a piece of paper. I said “Oh, that’s me!” and he explained they were already over the quota of tickets, but that he would try to get me two tickets, I told him I only needed one and I appreciated anything he could do, than he left. The rest of us kept playing the game and chatting, they had some inside jokes, but the conversation wasn’t easy, It was more like coworkers who like eack other and have worked together for a while, but they aren’t best friends, but also, they are guys and conversing might not be the easiest thing for them. The crew member came back and handed me a ticket and I thanked him a few times. Then he asked how I had gotten back stage. I told him I couldn’t say, he didn’t like that, but the band thought it was pretty funny. He asked me to make sure that I leave and go in by the main entrance and not stay backstage and use anyone’s name to sound official. I said that that was my plan. The band were working on the s’mores bar that had been set up and I wanted to eat that, but knew that marshmallows are very messy and I didn’t want to ruin what little make-up I had on. I did make fun on Konrad while he made a mess and soon they were done eating. I asked to walk with them and Konrad said they really check badges by the dressing rooms and said that he would walk me out. He took me from behind the stage to the floor area and I thanked him and gave him a “pre-show” hug, I asked him that since I didn’t know if I would see Matt, if he would tell him I said hi, he said he would. I looked at my ticket and while it was on the side, it was pretty close to the stage, but right now I was on the floor! I could potentially find an open seat and enjoy Matt’s show from there! I would have done this but I had parked in a hotel parking lot when I arrived, since I didn’t believe I would be there too long and I didn’t want to pay the $10 parking fee just to leave before the show started. But now that I would be here awhile, I kept trying to decide if I should move my car or risk getting towed, since tonight would be a concert, I’m sure the staff makes sure people aren’t parking there to avoid the parking fee. Finally I decided that I needed to move it, $10 for a parking fee was less than the $50 that other people would have spent on their ticket.

So I moved my car and went in looking for my seat because the show was getting ready to start, looking critically at my seats, I was about as far from the stage as if I was in the second half of the floor, so I’m glad I didn’t risk being towed just for a similar seat.

Matt began the show with To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts, which is one of my favorites off Some Mad Hope, then came the title track to Modern Love and is also a favorite. I knew from looking at other set lists that he would only play very up-tempo songs in preparation for Kelly Clarkson’s set. I love the maracas on this song, it’s nice to see Matt not behind the guitar. Next came Run, which he sung with the wife of one of Kelly’s band members. She was very good and sounded just like the Sugarland person to me. I spent a lot of that song trying to get my camera to record a video since that’s Magen’s favorite song, but my camera hates me and won’t and then by the time I realized I could record video on my phone, the song was over. Now the sing-a-longs were to start. The standard cover of James’ Laid was lovely and he really got the crowd involved. His banter was hilarious. Picking certain people in the audience he made sure to have a few personal connections so that the crowd would really connect to him. It worked, I could hear a ton of people singing the chorus for this song. Next came Wedding Dress, which I still love the original Winter Dress version, but this song really touched a chord with me tonight and Matt was definitely singing his heart out. Of course, the crowd pleaser, Faster, I kind of wanted to call Hayley and have her listen, since she loves it, but it was probably bedtime anyway and she wouldn’t have appreciated it really. With Faster he mixed in the Monkees Daydream Believer and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which were great tributes and really excited the crowd, although I really thought he was going to break into George Michael’s Faith, and apparently in other shows that has happened, it was not to be here. He ended with Come On, Get Higher and everyone was singing along. It was beautiful. He said he would sign things by the merchandise booth and I got all happy and excited. So after the show was over, I headed to the merch booth, I decided to use my graduation money and buy myself the Matt tote bag. I hung out for awhile but then security confirmed that Matt would not be out until after Kelly performed. Boo. But I figured free concert, beggars can’t be choosers. The concert was good, I thought about how it was my first true pop concert. She seemed very down to earth and while she shied away from the familiar high notes from the radio versions, she sure sounded good to me and while I didn’t know a lot of the songs, there was a sprinkling of the hits I knew from the radio. But during the show my camera died. Apparently even though on the meter it looked like it had some battery, if it shows the meter, that means it’s low. My heart sank thinking I might not get my picture with Matt, but then I resolved to make friends with someone around me and ask them to email me my photo. During the first song of Kelly’s encore I headed back to the merch booth. There was already a long line, behind metal barriers. A few years ago I asked matt that when he became more famous, if we would be penned like sheep the way that Tori does her Meet’n’Greets and he said there was no way. But yet here we are, but luckily he was not across the barrier from us, but inside with us and it was more to keep us in a line, but still, it’s the principle of the thing. Lucky for me they were only letting you in line if you had Matt merchandise to sign, so I was glad that I had something to present. I made friends with the girls behind and they agreed to email me my picture. When I got up to Matt, he got the look of recognition and said “Hey you” and he hugged me. I don’t know if he was hugging everyone, but probably. The same crew guy that had gotten me my ticket was taking pictures and ushering things along. Of course my mind went blank of all the things I meant to say, but I did ask if maybe he played Wedding Dress for the Bachelor performance he had a few months ago, but of course he hadn’t, and didn’t seem to recognize that I was being ironic. I told him that I was glad that he hadn’t needed to fall asleep immediately after the show since that what he did the last time he was here and he talked about how exhausting the shows had been, I meant to tease him, but I’m sure it came out more like a berating, which is apparently how I react when I’m nervous. He signed my bag and told me that he had forgotten my name and when I reminded him he used a very colorful expletive as if he should have remembered. The crew guy said my time was up and I thanked Matt and said goodbye and watched as my new friends, Mallory and Ashlee got their pictures with him, then it was over. My night of craziness had come to an end, now I got to fight to get out of the parking lot and drive home to get 6 hours of sleep in which time I dreamed of Matt and had all the songs running through my head all night. I woke up still exhausted, but it was well worth it.