AwolNation April Fool's Day of 2011

After getting all dolled up for the evening, the three of us got in the Jeep and headed out towards the highway heading into Providence to bring the little mister to his first concert. He had been excitingly telling everyone about this fact.We weren't sure how bad traffic was going to be heading into the city on a Friday night so we left the house much earlier than we needed to. We found a cheap parking lot a block away from the venue which was rad.  A little bit further, past the club was a Starbucks so we spent our time waiting in there. After consuming our beverages and deciding that we had wasted enough time hanging around in there, we headed over to the Ruins at the Colosseum.  There was a small group of people congregating around the front doors but no real line had happened yet so we attempted to start one at the door.  The bouncers came out after us waiting around for a long time that kept saying they were going to open the doors soon, this happened several times. It snowed the night before/morning of, nothing really that had any sort of accumulation but enough that it was still chilly. It also was rainy off and on but luckily nothing came about while we had to wait. I was grateful to have on my winter coat- even though spring was on the calendar sometimes that doesn't mean much living in New England. I saw so many people with just t-shirts or thin jackets, I myself had no regret wearing a warm coat.  So eventually we got carded for those of us who were drinking & the guy asked Evan if he had his ID, it was funny.  Then we finally got ushered in and staked our place among the front left corner of the stage, right up front.  The opening band wasn't too bad, a local group of guys just out of high school- we joked and said that that was maybe why it was an all ages show.  They played some original songs & some covers, not too shabby.  Then there was a break between the bands and Awol Nation graced their presence upon the stage.  I wasn't sure if Christopher Thorn (who happens to be the guitar player for Blind Melon for those of you who didn't know this fact already) was going to still be touring with them or not so I hadn't wanted to get my hopes up that he'd be with them. So, when he came onto the stage and strapped on his guitar, I was happily surprised.  We of course had placed ourselves on the complete opposite side of the stage in front of the keyboardist and bassist.  They started their set and I ecstatically danced, sang, and took pictures. The little mister seemed to be having a very good time- we had been listening to their album all week in preparation for going to see them.  I quickly discovered that it is entirely too hard to try to capture both photos & video on the same device while trying to soak everything in as well so I've got all of about 30 seconds of video from the whole night.  The amps/instruments were super loud, almost deafening.  We completely forgot to go get earplugs before the show so we all stuffed make shift ones out of tissues, it would've worked better if the sound weren't so crazy loud.  After a while, I decided that I would try to slither my way thru the crowd and attempt to get to the other side of the stage to get closer to the guitar player- sometimes it pays to be little and have a camera- people were helping me get thru and I ended up right in front.  The couple next to me was seriously making out during the show, so much so that the lead singer made a comment about it asking it were their first date. It was funny.  I stayed over there for a while taking pictures and then made my way back over to where I started off to see if the little mister wanted to come with me to the other side of the stage, he was reluctant but afterwards he wished that he had.  Because meanwhile this girl with flailing arms had invaded our spot and my poor son was pretty much smooshed up against his father and pretty much on top of him for the rest of the show in his attempt to avoid her.  There was not enough comfort room for me over there so I headed back over to the other side of the club & squeezed my way back in front for the remainder of the show.  I was inches away from the stage- so loud & awe-inspiring watching pure talent so close & in front of me.  As the guys finished up their set, CT threw out his pick & then leaned over to shake hands with the bunch of us that were standing right there.  Then the keyboardist shook hands too. He came back out to get his laptop & I started to take his picture but I had to change settings & then I got the neatest picture- 2 thumbs up for a great show!!  Then the crowd dispersed and the mister & little mister headed to the bathroom and I stood around waiting for them to come back.  As they did, hubby told me that he spotted the drummer in the hallway and that possibly the rest of the band was around there as well.  Sure enough, the lead singer was crouched on the floor & the keyboardist and bassist were in front of him.  We mentioned that it was boy-o's 1st show and somehow that sparked up a conversation about every one's 1st shows.  Someone confessed that there's was New Kids on the Block- we all decided that our son's was way better than that and we all chuckled.  I noticed that CT was kinda way in the back while we were all chatting, I turned to the lead singer & asked if we could get a picture- and if he could grab his guitarist for one as well because it'd be cool to have him in too.  We mention again since he wasn't there when we started that it was the boy's first show, pointing in his direction.  CT then tells him he's cool for listening to good music & he turned to us and said we were cool parents to bring him.  Ct turns to the little mister and asks if he's up past his bedtime when he replies yeah, CT lets out a "yea" and they high five. Just a neat moment.  I was a little off to the side after we chatted for a while so I turned to CT and asked if he didn't mind if I took a picture with just him, since he happens to play for one of my all time favorite bands and I wanted a picture of it. So I turned to hubby and he was like "oh that's my cue", it was cute.  CT really liked my jacket, it's micro suede so it's soft and very touchable and he thought it must be warm. All he had was a sport jacket- he must've been in the mindset it'd be warm like where he's from.  We all continued to chat and laugh and whatnot for a while longer. I turned and said I'd be back in a minute, both the bass player & CT said they were holding me to it and that was about all they were willing to spare. I wanted to try to get a CD from the merch table but by the time I went back out there, it was already all packed up.  I came back all pouty saying how all I wanted was their music- mind you I already owned it thru i-Tunes but there's something different about actually owning a physical copy of the music.  Then we all got to talking about how hard it is to find good record stores anymore.  CT was saying how he likes to listen to vinyl still- he turned to boy-o and asked him if he even knew what a record was- made us all laugh.  He hung out for a while longer- chatting about a bunch of nothing - I know there was a lot of talk about music and how crazy early clubs need to have shows end when it's all ages shows.  I then thought about it, I don't think it's just all ages, I think it's just the way shows around these states are which is too bad in some ways yet at the same is ok because somehow I always manage to meet someone from the band after.  The mister happened to have his Meat Puppets shirt on underneath & I told CT about our encounter with them, he turned to us "I toured with them back in the day"- duh like I didn't know that already. Hehehe.  What nice, sweet, genuine great people this band is, imparticular Christopher as we talked the most with him.  We then looked at the time and realized that we should head out and get the boy-o to bed.  There was a step leading back into the club & I completely tripped over as I was attempting to thank him for the great chat. We both smirked at my clumsiness- sadly there was no alcohol involved in it either.  We thanked them all for the great show & headed out to the car.  As we were turning around the corner out of the parking lot, we saw CT walking out in front of us, it was the hat that gave him away.  We figured he was going to bed, that's what we were going to do.