What a great night... More than you guys can imagine, for me personally.
I turned my mama onto Blind Melon about a year ago. And, when she heard they were going to be in Portland ME, she was very happy to offer me a ride. Of course, my neighbor Karen (~BEE~Happy) was definitely coming along. Wouldn't have been the same to have a close friend, and a full blown Melon fan, not there to experience it all..
So, we left New Hampshire arounf 6:30/6:45 PM EST. I had a few cold ones before leaving.. But, funny enough, the entire time I was in Maine, I didn't drink a drop. Weird..
On the way we stopped at my mother's boyfriend's house. Trip, that dude isn't my father. Although he is a cool cat. We followed him (Ed) into Portland and found a place to park. We then walked to the venue... I gotta say, being in the small city of Berlin NH and then basically warped into Portland ME is like going from cold to hot in 3 seconds. The place is nice, but there are some funked up peeps there.
So, we found the venue, and the bus was parked right in front. I walked to the front of the bus and saw Travis through the window. I caught his eye and he sent someone out... I believe it was Travis' hired muscle.. He told me that Travis was busy... So, I didn't want to bother him...
As we waited outside of the bus, TripTicket walks up and says... "Matt?".... It took me a little bit to register, but I asked if he was Tripticket. Sure enough, I met the Tripster! Excellent guy! Karen was still with me by this time, so she got to meet Trip as well...
So, we chatted for a bit... I turn around and out pops Brad from the bus... I walked up to Brad and introduced myself and he was pretty happy to finally meet me in person. We chatted for a bit and got a few pictures...
After a while chatting with Brad, out popped Rogers.. He's so funny... The two decided to grill me about my job, working for the IRS. I basically told them both that I'd be putting them on the audit list...
Now, this is pretty funny (kinda)... We wanted to take a bunch of pics, but poor Karen's camera ran out of batteries. How did we figure that out? I tried taking a pic of Karen with Trip, Brad, and Rogers, and it wasn't working. I'm new to this camera so Brad snatched it from me and basically said "dude... batteries are dead"... He then said, hold on.. He walked into the bus and came out with his own camera. He took a few short videos of us hanging out.. and then a pic or two of Trip, Rog, himself, and Karen...
Now... I'm leaning against the bus talking with Rog. He's a funny dude, I gotta tell ya.. I did my "Rogers Impression"... Ya know.. The way he rocks back and forth from one leg to the other when he plays? One funny thing I remember is seeing a bunch of Blind Melon fans walk by Rogers and I... They were totally giving my high fives for where the shirt I was wearing (Black Label Society).. After shooting me some props for the shirt, the kept walking.. I look at Rogers and said "They obviously know who the star is here"... or something like that. They didn't even recognize Rogers. lol ...
Out pops Travis.. No clue if anyone was able to capture any pictures. Poor Karen was just standing there, soaking up the cool vibes, as her jaw dragged on the ground. She was a bit speechless. Travis showed me much love... Complimented the Forum, far beyond expected. And, if you remember the interview I did with him, he told me that he had some CDs for me, and would give them to me in Portland. He was empty handed, so I didn't bring it up.. He basically said that any venue, anywhere, the band would put Forum staff on the VIP list... Also, Colleen was with Travis. So, I got to meet her as well.. She's super sweet and a little shy, in my opinion.
So, a little time goes by...and Travis and Rogers take off. Brad asked if I wanted to take a walk to Starbucks with him... Surely! Karen, Tripticket, Brad, Bradsmithiscool, and myself walked to Starbucks, but found it to be closed. So, we headed back towards the bus... I route, I asked for the chicken call... Brad smirked but refused. We stopped on the corner and bradsmithis cool and tripticket (and some mojo fella) took over... They asked Brad a bunch of questions. Brad mentioned that they are considering doing Pull and Deserted... as well as Stompin' the Fuse and Speed Bumps. Very cool..
As we all chatted with Brad, a couple kinda slowly started approaching the crowd. When they saw that it was Brad that we were talking to, they (the couple) hugged themselves in pure excitement... They were too cute. After about 5 minutes, they came up behind Karen and whispered "Can we listen?" lol ... That totally scared the hell out of Karen... But, she let them into the circle... So, we chatted a bit longer and then Brad took off to get ready... The rest of us just talked for a bit and then headed into the club.
My mother (aka. Paully Walnuts), her boyfriend (aka. Egg <----which is what Travis thought his name was...it's actually Ed), Karen (aka. ~BEE~Happy) and myself (aka. ~ M A T T ~) were all on the VIP list. Karen tried to get a picture of the list before we left, but Trip was out of film... It was cool to see our names on the list.. I was way at the top, and I think the others were just under mine.
We caught the opening bands last song (or two).. They were good. I talked, very briefly, with the Bass Player after their set...
So, "War Pigs" began to play throughout the PA....The crowd was singing along to the classic Sabbath tune... And, from out of nowhere... "Hello/Goodbye" hits and the crowd was very into it... They busted into Galaxie and the crowd went wild. After "Galaxie"... Travis get's on the mic and says "Hey! Matt from the Forum! Make your way up front.. I have a few CDs for ya!"... That was super cool. I couldn't make it through the crowd... I saw 2 people get kicked out right as 2x4 started, and another chick being carried out... She was GONZO to the max...
The band was actually suppose to start about 45 minutes before they actually did.... That was a little bit of a bummer, since we had to get back the same night. So, we were only able to stay for about 8 or 9 tunes... TRIPTICKET!!! SO GLAD YOU GOT THE AUDIO FOR THIS SHOW!! AND MOST OF THE VIDEO! YOU'RE A GOD!
So, I worked my way up the ramp and towards the door and found a PERFECT opening near the side barricade. If I wanted to, I could have easily reached over and smacked Rogers on the back of the head. I looked down at Travis' setlist, and sure enough, there were the CDs you promised me. I couldn't get his attention. Damn! So, when we left, my mother's boyfriend stayed and said he'd try and make it up front to grab those CDs.. I also asked Trip to snatch them if he could.. I have no idea if they did.
The venue was a complete dive. Sorry Big Easy fans! But, Blind Melon turned that place into a palace when they hit the stage. The sound was perfect. It's not like going to see a band around here. We have a place that holds 80 people, and the bands play SO LOUD that you have to SCREAM at the person next to you to talk to them... Same thing for the 400 person venue we have. For some reason, people love it loud!!!! But, Blind Melon played at the PERFECT volume... and the place sounded awesome!
I wish I had more pictures... But, no batteries. I'm sure trip has a bunch... And, I'm really anxious to hear and see the recording. Just having my name being mentioned from stage means the world... I can still hear it like it was yesterday (and, it actually was yesterday)... "Hey! Matt from the Forum! Make your way up front.. I have a few CDs for ya!".... Gave me chills!!
Anyway... the band was ON... The croud was very into it... At one point, I believe Travis said "And, we thought Boston was going to have the last laugh".... Nope! WE DID! We caught the very last show of this tour.
Good times...
OH! And Brad said something that meant a lot to me, and should mean the world to all of you... He said that if it wasn't for the Blind Melon Forum, and the response they got on MySpace, they probably wouldn't have considered touring, or reuniting for that matter...
So, basically...it's because of all of YOU that I was able to experience the best night of my life... Even though it was cut short... It's a night that I'll never forget.
Thank you Blind Melon!