by tomman » Tue Apr 29, 2008 12:26 am
First and foremost, a big thanks goes to Mr. Foster for his own writing which inspired such a great song and also for his sharing this experience with everyone. THANK YOU, SIR!
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Well everyone, as a fellow rider (Yamaha sportbike), Rush fan, aspiring ADV rider, etc. I wanted to share with you all my excitement for Tuesday night's concert in Albuquerque. I am very fortunate to have won a 'Best Seat in the House' prize package that includes front row seats and some cool extras.
I'm a fan partly as the result of my older brother, Mo getting me into them when I was about 12 or 13 years old (I'm 34 now). I learned to play guitar to things like 'Exit: Stage Left' among other stuff. I've bought each of their albums/CDs & DVDs and I've read all Neil's books and shared the enjoyment of it all my brothers & wife. We've gone to every show within reach and made some great trips to catch others. This past July my wife & I decided to go out to Vega$ to see them play on our 5 year wedding anniversary.
When we heard they were adding another leg to the tour and swinging through Albuquerque, we grabbed 4 good tickets right away so my younger brother and his girlfriend could join my wife & I and things were all set until I found out late this past Friday night that I had won a prize package of some sort. Although vague, the message implied that I would get premium seats and some sort of backstage access. The suspense of not knowing much about it was killing me. It also meant I'd likely have 2 extra tickets to pass along, but I didn't know for sure. When I finally got in touch with them this morning they said it's not necessarily a meet-and-greet, but their tone indicated anything's possible. Although we would LOVE to meet any member(s) of the band, we certainly don't expect to and we're thrilled with everything nonetheless.
I got in touch with Mo to see if he could accompany me for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity since he was the original Rush fan in our family. My wife (the saint that she is) conceded that Mo should be given first opportunity to join me if possible. Unfortunately, he just started a new job and is unable to make it. I had also called my lifelong friend (and best man), Christian to see if he could swing out from his conference in Dallas to join us for the evening, but no dice.
So my wife and I are going to have some sort of catered private dinner backstage, then we'll take a tour of the backstage area. We'll also have front row seats, VIP club etc. What a difference from the (comparatively) nosebleed seats we had for the Vega$ show!
Needless to say, we're extremely excited to have this opportunity and I've seen to it that our original tickets have been passed on to people who will truly appreciate the show.
In any case, I hope to pass along that I'm not trying to boast, but rather share my excitement and enthusiasm with fellow riders/fans. I've often seen people at concerts in the premium seats who seem oblivious to the great artists & performances right in front of them. I have to admit that I sometimes felt they had more money than appreciation for where they were. I just wanted to let you all know that I promise to soak it all up and enjoy it just as much as any of you would. I also promise to play air guitar, air drums, air bass and keyboards (all while singing along). This time, some truly appreciative fans will be the recipients of this great experience that dumb luck brought us!
Sorry for rambling (and perhaps not making much sense), but for those who were able to stick with me to the end of this post - wish us luck!
Happy riding, everybody!
- Tom -
Last edited by tomman on Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:17 am, edited 2 times in total.