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Columbus concert, part two!
Apr. 25th, 2002 09:52 pmI've been thinking of things all day, and I was just reminded that I hadn't updated my concert memories yet. And there's good stuff ahead!
Still Off the Bus
I'll start with my two remaining bus area tales, then on to the concert!
After much waiting, and freezing (because spring in Ohio = winter), my patience paid off. The boys slipped through the supersecret corridor that they created between the buses, which I missed, because - hey! supersecret corridor! - but I saw them through the superhuge bus window as they boarded.
I saw curly-haired pink visor person, and JC's arm (squee!), Joey's beard (squee!), and Lance. I saw a flash of Justin's head, too. I'd already seen Chris walking and talking, and looking pretty cute, like a real guy, so I was pleased. And because the more sensible fans were already inside, they missed it. :-) No screaming, just me and about four other girls, quietly watching and smiling.
I stood there and smiled (no teeth, just QuietlyAmused!Fox), and kind of was giddy for a bit. I felt a little stupid because I was watching a bus. Didn't see any flashes of elbow or neck, just the bus. But still, it gave me an odd thrill to know they were there.
During this time, some guy was hanging around, claiming he worked security, and did bouncer work and bodyguard work. He was about Chris' size, and said that he had a black belt or something (I overheard this conversation). And guess what - he was about five feet from me! Read my previous post for that to make sense. :-D
Anyway, he'd been talking to various people, saying that he needed to talk to Lonnie, that someone said he might be able to get a job with NSync's security team. I'll spare you the details, but I must admit, the dude had patience. He arrived about a half hour after I first showed up, so that was quite a while.
A couple of guys had been walking around, in and out of the gate, talking to girls, but *not* the ho-skanks. Just kind of chatting with fans. I thought that they were local guys working for the night. Since I was in the magic zone of Five Feet From Everything, one of the guys looked over at one point and smiled at me, laughing, and said, "Look at her, standing over there all quiet." I laughed too, and smiled back. He was kinda cute, but Mr. Foxmonkey frowns on flirting. ;-)
Anyway, the dude looking for a security job chatted with this dude for a while. I heard cutie tell the guy that he'd been talking to Joey a few minutes before, so somethingsomethingsomething. I went selectively deaf after "Joey."
Because the boys were now On the Bus, Lonnie (I believe) started lurking about, looking menacing. The cute guy said, "That's who you want to talk to," and pointed at Lonnie. Security-bouncer boy handed cutie a card, and the next thing I know, cutie goes through the gate and has a kind of involved conversation with Lonnie. I'm like, this guy talked to me, and he's talking to Lonnie. Oooookay.
Cutie comes back, says something to the guy along the lines of blowinghimoffnicely, and security-bouncer boy takes off.
What happens next I've been replaying in my head, and I honestly don't think I'd change a thing.
Cutie comes over, asks if I'm going to the show. I say yes. He says, "Which one are you here to meet?"
I don't remember what I said exactly, but it certainly wasn't, "JC! I want to meet JC!" Here's an approximation of what happened.
Cutie: What's your name?
Fox: Insert Real Name Here.
Cutie: Nice to meet you, I'm Andre. Which one are you here to meet?
Fox: I don't...I don't think...I don't think I'd want to.
Andre: Yeah?
Fox: I mean, I must want something, because I'm standing out here looking at a bus. (laughter) I don't know.
And then we chatted for a bit, and he pointed out his little boy (five years old, absolutely adorable), and I think that's when he asked if I was going to the show and I said yes. I laughed and said, "Can you hook me up with a backstage pass?" And he looked honestly regretful (I'm not making this up), and said that he didn't have anything to do with that.
Andre: A good way to meet them is doing just what you're doing, standing just like that. They walk around sometimes. Justin likes to hit golf balls. (Stands on his toes and looks) He might be over that way, somewhere.
So we chatted a bit more, and then he had to leave.
Aiii! So I've been wondering, off and on, what might have happened if I'd just said, "JC is my favorite; I'd love to meet him."
But...do I really? I mean, I do. But I don't. The first time I saw someone's disclaimer that read, "Don't know 'em, don't want to," I didn't quite believe it. But I understand now. It's just very weird for me to admit that someone I don't know has this kind of power over me. It's an odd feeling. Yes, I'd love to look into those gorgeous eyes up close and personal. But. I want to see him at soundcheck, or maybe if I'd gotten lucky and gotten a pass. Or any other kind of indirect contact like that. But for him to have to go out of his way to meet me...no. If anyone would like a crack at my psyche, please, feel free!
And reading over this, I just thought of something. I think it was the way he phrased it. "Which one are you here to meet."
I have to point out that he wasn't the least bit snide or condescending at all, no hint of anything - can't even think of a word. I mean, he could have been a male friend I'd dragged along. But just the wording: "Which one are you here to meet." If he'd asked my favorite, I wouldn't have hesitated in the least. No coy answers or stumbling. But it sounded so...impersonal. Am I making sense? I'm not.
::sigh::
Anyway, it was getting pretty bleak out there, and I knew the show would be starting soon (no timepiece!). Besides, Ohio lies somewhere along the Antartic this time of year - I headed indoors!
Oh yeah, like Chris' infamous liner notes: If you've stayed through this psycho-ramble, please pat yourself on the back.
Pre-concert-O-rama!
Not even gonna touch on the hoochies. Not enough time tonight, and they make me so tired. Onward.
I headed back to the ticket office, because YES, I'm a goober. If they'd had anything better than my floor row DD, I'd have taken them. I still can't believe I was ready to drop another 110 bucks to see these guys. Didn't even bat an eyelash. I had the cash, but alas, Nationwide didn't have the seats. So I got in line and got wanded for metallic objects.
Here's something funny. Didn't bring my camera in case it got confiscated. Security guy looked at my purse (which was big enough to conceal my camera), and said, "Ah, that's a small bag. Go on through." Jaw drops, I walk forward.
Woohoo! My first concert experience alone, and my excitement is neatly contained, having no one whose hands to grasp or squee with. I start up the escalator, and I'm looking around, as people do, and see someone kind of familiar on the next one over (five feet!). Take another look - it's Joey's dad and his group, again! They're being escorted upstairs for an interview or something. I wanted to say, "Hey Daddy Fatone! You followin' me, or what?" While amusing, probably a quick ticket out of the arena. You never know.
It turns out that I have to go downstairs (floor! Duh!), but my bladder thinks that a pit stop would be a good idea first. I stand in line while Tony Lucca serenades me. It was his next to last, and I liked it. By the time the last song ended, though, I wasn't sure I'd be able to listen to a whole album of his stuff, as the songs sounded pretty similar. And Tony leaves!
I make my way to my seat, and the crowd show begins. Two girls in front of me had decorated their t-shirts. One said, "Lance, if you weren't a celebrity, how would I know your name?" The other read, "JC, your wall or mine?"
I saw a muscularish young man who looked kind of familiar. I couldn't believe it - Tyler Chasez has grown up pretty nicely, kids. Not gorgeous, but cute in a rich kid college freshman kinda way. Definitely looks better than I thought he'd grow into. Tyler looks like a player. I don't even want to think about it. Oy!
He strolled my side, disappearing and then popping up every now and then, just walking around, looking cute. And then he disappeared again.
I look up a few minutes later and see a cute young guy standing at the bottom of the steps nearby, looking over the crowd for someone. Most noticeable thing about him: he's wearing a black t-shirt that says, "Got a Sister?"
Yes, Justin's infamous post-Britney breakup soundcheck t-shirt.
Sure enough, a minute or so later young Chasez strolls up and they grin and do the young males greeting ritual, and go loping off to the upper level. Tres bizarre, and a little surreal. But they were about fifteen feet away instead of the previous five feet radius I'd been working.
Two funny crowd things. Little boy beside me, about 7 or 8, played GameBoy all through the show. Well, until he got tired and curled up in his mom's lap. Damn! 110 bucks! I'd have hired a baby-sitter!
Fan girl and her boyfriend are directly in front of me. She's subdued, looking around, being quiet, he's like a monkey on crack, bouncing around, calling "Justin!" every now and then, and just having a good time. Definitely a guy humoring and embarassing his girlfriend. She looked lovingly patient while he bounced in his seat. I tapped her on the shoulder and told her he was cute. She said, "He's a handful." God, I'm laughing just thinking about it. I said, "I bet." He was just too amusing.
And that signals the beginning of...
The Main Event
I wish, wish, wish I'd gotten pit seats. I'm short, 5'1", and I turned out to be much further away than I'd thought previously, which I discovered when P Diddy hit the stage.
OY!
Not to rowdy up the Diddy fans, but, I don't get it. Truly. I'm sure his own shows are much more him, but...eh. He didn't impress me much. I think he rapped, but mostly he was kind of a cheerleader, getting people pumped, being generally exciting, that kind of thing. But I kept waiting for him to do something. Did anyone else get that feeling, or am I just hopelessly not into P Diddy? See, I don't even know whether he puts a period after the P. Hm.
The 9/11 tribute was touching.
The film! Lots of teenie screaming. Between bad sound and teenie screaming, you couldn't hear JACK. But one thing that cheered me...someone wrote in their LJ or on a list, that the film ended with the guys walking in different directions, which was a foretelling of The End of the Band. But though it was a little sad with the walking out, they all turned left. Together. Yes, this pleased me and made me smile. :-)
I've got moments stored by pairing. Overall, a wonderful show, and the big giant screen was a lovely, lovely thing.
JC is beautiful. It's obvious during this tour how much they all love JC. I think if they voted a group favorite, he'd be it. None of them give as much love to one guy as they give him. Chris leaned on him. Joey leaned on him. We already know that he and Justin are a couple, so... ;-) I don't think I saw any obvious Bassez going on, at least not that I remember. I hope they release this on DVD, because it's just too good. I love them, and they all love JC.
1) I'm so bad at what happened during what song, so don't even ask. I know that the first touchy boylove occurence happened when they were wearing the suits. It was at the end of...something (yes, feel free to hate me), and they're all standing in a row across the stage. Chris started leaning on JC. And leaning. And leaning. The whole time he's looking completely serious, not smiling or anything. And JC's being as sweet as he can, wearing an "I'm not gonna laugh" face. And Chris keeps leaning, until Chasez starts leaning over onto Joey, who's on his other side. Joey gives that classic grin and starts leaning back the other way. At this point, JC goes completely kitten and gives that smile. My ovaries!
I defy anyone to show me a sweeter, more adorable man in the entire planet than JC Chasez. I'll be bold enough to say that it cannot be done. God, I want him. I'd probably have to fight four guys to get to him, though.
2) Cute crowd moment! Remember teenie fan girl with the boyfriend? I had it wrong. It was teenie fan boy with his tolerant girlfriend! Teenie straight boys like NSync!
Cutest. Thing. Ever. He was singing along, doing the moves, bouncing up and down...it made me smile. I wanted to hug this boy, so confident and secure in himself that he could go to an NSync show and fully enjoy it. OK, JC might have some competition for Cutest Boy in the Universe, because teenie fan boy was all about the Nsync love. Too, too sweet.
This is out of sequence, but I typed it up earlier and it's nearly 1:00 a.m. Can't believe I'm headed for a third entry for my memories! I didn't plan to elaborate so much, or something. Anyway...
3) If I met Lonnie and he told me that two of the NSyncers were involved, I'd honest and truly put my money on Chris and Lance. This was the cutest moment ever, and what really, really made me think they might be a couple.
During the story time thing I believe, Chris was being his usual weird self, and they did the thing where Lance stands behind Chris and Chris pretends he's singing the low note. Cute. But. I have no idea what was going on (horrible sound!), but I saw it on the big screen. Chris and Lance were looking at each other, leaning toward each other (yes, story time because I'm sure they were sitting) and Chris reached out and - this is going to be hard to describe - kind of did a "you are getting sleepy" hand move at Lance's nose...but he touched his face. Softly, and gently. Like, opening and closing his fingers while pulling outward, but just trailing his fingertips over Lance's skin, not actually grabbing. Making sense? So he did this a couple of times.
Lance's reaction is what made me melt. They were leaning toward each other, and he just smiled that indulgent Lance smile of his, and his eyes closed a little (the way they do if someone's doing stuff around your eyes), and he just had the sweetest expression on his face. It was so, so cute. I'm smiling just thinking about it. It was precious.
For a guy to be comfortable with another guy touching him like that, they'd have to be family, or very, very very close. So even if they're not together, this is one of those things that makes you go Squee! 'cause it's obvious they truly love each other.
I think it was my favorite moment because it was so unexpected.
And that is a sweet and wonderful place to end this round o' memories!
Still Off the Bus
I'll start with my two remaining bus area tales, then on to the concert!
After much waiting, and freezing (because spring in Ohio = winter), my patience paid off. The boys slipped through the supersecret corridor that they created between the buses, which I missed, because - hey! supersecret corridor! - but I saw them through the superhuge bus window as they boarded.
I saw curly-haired pink visor person, and JC's arm (squee!), Joey's beard (squee!), and Lance. I saw a flash of Justin's head, too. I'd already seen Chris walking and talking, and looking pretty cute, like a real guy, so I was pleased. And because the more sensible fans were already inside, they missed it. :-) No screaming, just me and about four other girls, quietly watching and smiling.
I stood there and smiled (no teeth, just QuietlyAmused!Fox), and kind of was giddy for a bit. I felt a little stupid because I was watching a bus. Didn't see any flashes of elbow or neck, just the bus. But still, it gave me an odd thrill to know they were there.
During this time, some guy was hanging around, claiming he worked security, and did bouncer work and bodyguard work. He was about Chris' size, and said that he had a black belt or something (I overheard this conversation). And guess what - he was about five feet from me! Read my previous post for that to make sense. :-D
Anyway, he'd been talking to various people, saying that he needed to talk to Lonnie, that someone said he might be able to get a job with NSync's security team. I'll spare you the details, but I must admit, the dude had patience. He arrived about a half hour after I first showed up, so that was quite a while.
A couple of guys had been walking around, in and out of the gate, talking to girls, but *not* the ho-skanks. Just kind of chatting with fans. I thought that they were local guys working for the night. Since I was in the magic zone of Five Feet From Everything, one of the guys looked over at one point and smiled at me, laughing, and said, "Look at her, standing over there all quiet." I laughed too, and smiled back. He was kinda cute, but Mr. Foxmonkey frowns on flirting. ;-)
Anyway, the dude looking for a security job chatted with this dude for a while. I heard cutie tell the guy that he'd been talking to Joey a few minutes before, so somethingsomethingsomething. I went selectively deaf after "Joey."
Because the boys were now On the Bus, Lonnie (I believe) started lurking about, looking menacing. The cute guy said, "That's who you want to talk to," and pointed at Lonnie. Security-bouncer boy handed cutie a card, and the next thing I know, cutie goes through the gate and has a kind of involved conversation with Lonnie. I'm like, this guy talked to me, and he's talking to Lonnie. Oooookay.
Cutie comes back, says something to the guy along the lines of blowinghimoffnicely, and security-bouncer boy takes off.
What happens next I've been replaying in my head, and I honestly don't think I'd change a thing.
Cutie comes over, asks if I'm going to the show. I say yes. He says, "Which one are you here to meet?"
I don't remember what I said exactly, but it certainly wasn't, "JC! I want to meet JC!" Here's an approximation of what happened.
Cutie: What's your name?
Fox: Insert Real Name Here.
Cutie: Nice to meet you, I'm Andre. Which one are you here to meet?
Fox: I don't...I don't think...I don't think I'd want to.
Andre: Yeah?
Fox: I mean, I must want something, because I'm standing out here looking at a bus. (laughter) I don't know.
And then we chatted for a bit, and he pointed out his little boy (five years old, absolutely adorable), and I think that's when he asked if I was going to the show and I said yes. I laughed and said, "Can you hook me up with a backstage pass?" And he looked honestly regretful (I'm not making this up), and said that he didn't have anything to do with that.
Andre: A good way to meet them is doing just what you're doing, standing just like that. They walk around sometimes. Justin likes to hit golf balls. (Stands on his toes and looks) He might be over that way, somewhere.
So we chatted a bit more, and then he had to leave.
Aiii! So I've been wondering, off and on, what might have happened if I'd just said, "JC is my favorite; I'd love to meet him."
But...do I really? I mean, I do. But I don't. The first time I saw someone's disclaimer that read, "Don't know 'em, don't want to," I didn't quite believe it. But I understand now. It's just very weird for me to admit that someone I don't know has this kind of power over me. It's an odd feeling. Yes, I'd love to look into those gorgeous eyes up close and personal. But. I want to see him at soundcheck, or maybe if I'd gotten lucky and gotten a pass. Or any other kind of indirect contact like that. But for him to have to go out of his way to meet me...no. If anyone would like a crack at my psyche, please, feel free!
And reading over this, I just thought of something. I think it was the way he phrased it. "Which one are you here to meet."
I have to point out that he wasn't the least bit snide or condescending at all, no hint of anything - can't even think of a word. I mean, he could have been a male friend I'd dragged along. But just the wording: "Which one are you here to meet." If he'd asked my favorite, I wouldn't have hesitated in the least. No coy answers or stumbling. But it sounded so...impersonal. Am I making sense? I'm not.
::sigh::
Anyway, it was getting pretty bleak out there, and I knew the show would be starting soon (no timepiece!). Besides, Ohio lies somewhere along the Antartic this time of year - I headed indoors!
Oh yeah, like Chris' infamous liner notes: If you've stayed through this psycho-ramble, please pat yourself on the back.
Pre-concert-O-rama!
Not even gonna touch on the hoochies. Not enough time tonight, and they make me so tired. Onward.
I headed back to the ticket office, because YES, I'm a goober. If they'd had anything better than my floor row DD, I'd have taken them. I still can't believe I was ready to drop another 110 bucks to see these guys. Didn't even bat an eyelash. I had the cash, but alas, Nationwide didn't have the seats. So I got in line and got wanded for metallic objects.
Here's something funny. Didn't bring my camera in case it got confiscated. Security guy looked at my purse (which was big enough to conceal my camera), and said, "Ah, that's a small bag. Go on through." Jaw drops, I walk forward.
Woohoo! My first concert experience alone, and my excitement is neatly contained, having no one whose hands to grasp or squee with. I start up the escalator, and I'm looking around, as people do, and see someone kind of familiar on the next one over (five feet!). Take another look - it's Joey's dad and his group, again! They're being escorted upstairs for an interview or something. I wanted to say, "Hey Daddy Fatone! You followin' me, or what?" While amusing, probably a quick ticket out of the arena. You never know.
It turns out that I have to go downstairs (floor! Duh!), but my bladder thinks that a pit stop would be a good idea first. I stand in line while Tony Lucca serenades me. It was his next to last, and I liked it. By the time the last song ended, though, I wasn't sure I'd be able to listen to a whole album of his stuff, as the songs sounded pretty similar. And Tony leaves!
I make my way to my seat, and the crowd show begins. Two girls in front of me had decorated their t-shirts. One said, "Lance, if you weren't a celebrity, how would I know your name?" The other read, "JC, your wall or mine?"
I saw a muscularish young man who looked kind of familiar. I couldn't believe it - Tyler Chasez has grown up pretty nicely, kids. Not gorgeous, but cute in a rich kid college freshman kinda way. Definitely looks better than I thought he'd grow into. Tyler looks like a player. I don't even want to think about it. Oy!
He strolled my side, disappearing and then popping up every now and then, just walking around, looking cute. And then he disappeared again.
I look up a few minutes later and see a cute young guy standing at the bottom of the steps nearby, looking over the crowd for someone. Most noticeable thing about him: he's wearing a black t-shirt that says, "Got a Sister?"
Yes, Justin's infamous post-Britney breakup soundcheck t-shirt.
Sure enough, a minute or so later young Chasez strolls up and they grin and do the young males greeting ritual, and go loping off to the upper level. Tres bizarre, and a little surreal. But they were about fifteen feet away instead of the previous five feet radius I'd been working.
Two funny crowd things. Little boy beside me, about 7 or 8, played GameBoy all through the show. Well, until he got tired and curled up in his mom's lap. Damn! 110 bucks! I'd have hired a baby-sitter!
Fan girl and her boyfriend are directly in front of me. She's subdued, looking around, being quiet, he's like a monkey on crack, bouncing around, calling "Justin!" every now and then, and just having a good time. Definitely a guy humoring and embarassing his girlfriend. She looked lovingly patient while he bounced in his seat. I tapped her on the shoulder and told her he was cute. She said, "He's a handful." God, I'm laughing just thinking about it. I said, "I bet." He was just too amusing.
And that signals the beginning of...
The Main Event
I wish, wish, wish I'd gotten pit seats. I'm short, 5'1", and I turned out to be much further away than I'd thought previously, which I discovered when P Diddy hit the stage.
OY!
Not to rowdy up the Diddy fans, but, I don't get it. Truly. I'm sure his own shows are much more him, but...eh. He didn't impress me much. I think he rapped, but mostly he was kind of a cheerleader, getting people pumped, being generally exciting, that kind of thing. But I kept waiting for him to do something. Did anyone else get that feeling, or am I just hopelessly not into P Diddy? See, I don't even know whether he puts a period after the P. Hm.
The 9/11 tribute was touching.
The film! Lots of teenie screaming. Between bad sound and teenie screaming, you couldn't hear JACK. But one thing that cheered me...someone wrote in their LJ or on a list, that the film ended with the guys walking in different directions, which was a foretelling of The End of the Band. But though it was a little sad with the walking out, they all turned left. Together. Yes, this pleased me and made me smile. :-)
I've got moments stored by pairing. Overall, a wonderful show, and the big giant screen was a lovely, lovely thing.
JC is beautiful. It's obvious during this tour how much they all love JC. I think if they voted a group favorite, he'd be it. None of them give as much love to one guy as they give him. Chris leaned on him. Joey leaned on him. We already know that he and Justin are a couple, so... ;-) I don't think I saw any obvious Bassez going on, at least not that I remember. I hope they release this on DVD, because it's just too good. I love them, and they all love JC.
1) I'm so bad at what happened during what song, so don't even ask. I know that the first touchy boylove occurence happened when they were wearing the suits. It was at the end of...something (yes, feel free to hate me), and they're all standing in a row across the stage. Chris started leaning on JC. And leaning. And leaning. The whole time he's looking completely serious, not smiling or anything. And JC's being as sweet as he can, wearing an "I'm not gonna laugh" face. And Chris keeps leaning, until Chasez starts leaning over onto Joey, who's on his other side. Joey gives that classic grin and starts leaning back the other way. At this point, JC goes completely kitten and gives that smile. My ovaries!
I defy anyone to show me a sweeter, more adorable man in the entire planet than JC Chasez. I'll be bold enough to say that it cannot be done. God, I want him. I'd probably have to fight four guys to get to him, though.
2) Cute crowd moment! Remember teenie fan girl with the boyfriend? I had it wrong. It was teenie fan boy with his tolerant girlfriend! Teenie straight boys like NSync!
Cutest. Thing. Ever. He was singing along, doing the moves, bouncing up and down...it made me smile. I wanted to hug this boy, so confident and secure in himself that he could go to an NSync show and fully enjoy it. OK, JC might have some competition for Cutest Boy in the Universe, because teenie fan boy was all about the Nsync love. Too, too sweet.
This is out of sequence, but I typed it up earlier and it's nearly 1:00 a.m. Can't believe I'm headed for a third entry for my memories! I didn't plan to elaborate so much, or something. Anyway...
3) If I met Lonnie and he told me that two of the NSyncers were involved, I'd honest and truly put my money on Chris and Lance. This was the cutest moment ever, and what really, really made me think they might be a couple.
During the story time thing I believe, Chris was being his usual weird self, and they did the thing where Lance stands behind Chris and Chris pretends he's singing the low note. Cute. But. I have no idea what was going on (horrible sound!), but I saw it on the big screen. Chris and Lance were looking at each other, leaning toward each other (yes, story time because I'm sure they were sitting) and Chris reached out and - this is going to be hard to describe - kind of did a "you are getting sleepy" hand move at Lance's nose...but he touched his face. Softly, and gently. Like, opening and closing his fingers while pulling outward, but just trailing his fingertips over Lance's skin, not actually grabbing. Making sense? So he did this a couple of times.
Lance's reaction is what made me melt. They were leaning toward each other, and he just smiled that indulgent Lance smile of his, and his eyes closed a little (the way they do if someone's doing stuff around your eyes), and he just had the sweetest expression on his face. It was so, so cute. I'm smiling just thinking about it. It was precious.
For a guy to be comfortable with another guy touching him like that, they'd have to be family, or very, very very close. So even if they're not together, this is one of those things that makes you go Squee! 'cause it's obvious they truly love each other.
I think it was my favorite moment because it was so unexpected.
And that is a sweet and wonderful place to end this round o' memories!
