06/30/08 San Diego, CA: San Diego County Fair

[algonacchick]

You are so lucky, Kristine! Nina sounds adorable. I loved the story about her making all the R2D2 sounds. *my Derek can do a mean Chewbacca* It's really great that you have such a nice friendship with Kimo. Thanks for your very detailed post!

[The Doctor]

It's hard to overstate my jealousy.

[Kristine]

Well, if it's making you too jealous, I can just not write concert reviews anymore...
but I'd like to think people enjoy reading them, even if it causes a bit of jealousy.

[The Doctor]

Of course I wouldn't want you to stop writing reviews. They're fantastic.

[kyky27]

That was awesome!! I'm angry at you now. I want to be there!! Ahhh!!

[Aron]

Ok, here it goes. My official concert review:

Meanwhile, there was a guy and his son also standing around waiting for the guest list. I didn't recognize him, but Aron sure did!! She was freaking out- I was trying to keep her from making a fool out of herself. Turns out we were standing around with Mike Nelson! His identity was confirmed by overhearing him ask the booth for his pass. I'm not one to get really star-struck, and I usually like to leave celebrities be.

LOL I was extremely excited because he was the absolute last person I'd expect to run in to anywhere. I get to dangle this over my sister's head now, like she's been taunting me that she met Cary Elwes, hehe.

But yes, Nina is awesome. She's totally into Star Wars and that is made of win!

[Well, Well, Well]

Ok, here it goes. My official concert review:

I left my house with my sister at about 3PM to go pick up Aron from the train station. It was smooth sailing to the Metrolink, Aron saw us right away, and we were off to the Fair! No major traffic on the 5 South (I was praying for that all morning). Once we got there at about 4:30PM, we decided it would be best to just cough up the $15 for preffered parking, rather than deal with the cattle call for the shuttle late at night. (I knew there would be masses of people, but when we did come out after, there was about double what I expected- that $5 each was worth it). We got a pretty good parking spot, and headed toward the main gate. Aron spotted the Will Call booth, and we made a bee line for it. I asked them for my aftershow passes, but was disappointed when they said they hadn't gotten the guest list yet. They said it would probably be there around 5:30. Great. I couldn't do much about it since I knew the band was doing their sound check. So, we sat on a little brick wall thing in half shade for awhile. After some people watching, I called Kimo to see if he knew anything about the guest list not being there. He told me he'd ask someone and call me back. After a few minutes, he called and said someone would be dropping it off soon. Well, "soon" eventually turned into not-so-soon. Meanwhile, there was a guy and his son also standing around waiting for the guest list. I didn't recognize him, but Aron sure did!! She was freaking out- I was trying to keep her from making a fool out of herself. Turns out we were standing around with Mike Nelson! His identity was confirmed by overhearing him ask the booth for his pass. I'm not one to get really star-struck, and I usually like to leave celebrities be. The most I really said to them was small talk, like "waiting for the guest list? so are we" etc. 6PM rolled around- still no guest list. Around then, a group of somewhat elderly people showed up. They got the same answer we did, and joined us in the shade. I talked to one of them, his name was Joe. He told me that they were "long lost cousins" of Al. Ok, he was partially joking. But, they really were his family- cousins and such. Joe is pretty cool- we talked about cameras and photography for a bit. I called Kimo again, explaining to him that not only were we stuck out here, but so were Al's family members. That must have set off an alarm in his head- it sounded like he was walking, and then started talking to Al and the tour manager. Then he confirmed that someone was actually on their way. Finally. So, a few minutes later, a guy shows up with a stack of envelopes and a printout of names. I got my envelope first. It had the two fair tickets like it was supposed to, and my photo pass... but no aftershow passes. Mike's must have been fine, because they headed for the main gate right away. Aron's was fine, too. Then Al's family got their envelope, under the name Dot (Yes, that Dot). It's contents: one aftershow pass and two fair tickets. There were at least six of standing there, and no cell phone between them. They were stuck. So, I called Kimo again. I told him the situation, and again he went to go talk to someone. The final word was that an escort was heading their way to get them into the fair, and that my sister and I could get our aftershow passes by meeting him off to the side of the venue. I relayed the news, and they thanked me for helping them out. Since the three of us had our fair tickets, Aron, my sister, and I all headed to the Grandstand Arena. I didn't realize that we were actually on the Del Mar Track! That was pretty cool. The stands were the stands for the track, and the stage was over the dirt. The expensive floor seats were rows of conference-hall style chairs lined up in rows just in front of the stadium seating. We met up with Kimo at the side gate, and he gave my sister and I our passes. We chatted for a bit, and then Suzanne and Nina came out. Nina had a big pink baseball cap on, and she looked taller to me. Suzanne was heading out to make sure the family got in ok. Kimo told her how I had helped the communication, and Suzanne thanked me. I felt like a mini-hero . She turned to the two security guards and explained that there might be an elderly group coming this way, and to let them backstage. I mentioned a few of them were wearing the orange shirts with the blue Al on the front, and the rest were all decked out in Al wear so the guards could better identify them. Suzanne also made a note of it so she could spot them quicker. A couple minutes after she left, we spotted a couple of them and waved them over. Kimo had to go backstage for a meeting, so the three of us wandered, got food, and hung out before the show started. Now for the magic of post-production… tada! One whole hour has now passed. Aron and Kathryn are in their seats, and I take my place on the floor. Aron ended up sitting right in front of Al’s family. I chatted with Joe a bit more, and then it was time for earplugs. Fun Zone came on a little after 8PM, and the show had begun! It was a great show. There was a ton of energy from the very very large audience. Nothing bad happened- no tech errors or anything, so that was good. I was in the middle of the center isle for most of the time, but I also got closer to the front at times. Kevin and Cid were in the front row on house right, and I was positioned in front of them quite a bit. The only thing I didn’t like about that venue was the height of the stage. To get a nice close shot, I would end up at a very low angle. This made it very hard to get a good shot of Ruben or Jon. I did manage a few frames of them, but nothing super special. The fog machine was run a little high for my taste, too. Shooting through fog doesn’t make for a very pretty shot. It was better at the OC Fair since the breeze would take it away quickly. The band sounded awesome, as usual. Al put on a great performance, too. I picked the right spot for SLN- my camera and I were just out of reach of that water. I always shield my camera with my body right before he throws the water, and the women on the aisle next to me noticed. I looked over at her, she gave me this look like “I guess you’ve done this before” since I obviously knew what was coming. I saw Cid run for the cup, but someone else got it first. The water spots on the ground literally stopped just inches from where I was. Other stuff: Stormtroopers were there! There were no streamers on CI, no Yankobucks, and no confetti at the end. I have a feeling this was for one of two reasons (or a combination thereof): Fire hazard or money/effort. I’m leaning toward fire hazard. It also could have been that the venue just didn’t want to clean it up, but I still think it was because of all the fires- all three are made of paper. Cell phones was SO awesome- the super large audience created a sea of light blue screens. Being at the very bottom, I turned around to see the stands- wow. It was probably a pretty cool view for the guys on stage, too. So, during Albuquerque, I packed up my gear and sat next to Joe for the rest of the song. Aron, Al’s family, and I waited around for the crowds to disperse before we headed over to the gate. After a little while, Kimo came out, with Jon and I think Suzanne, and ushered the three of us and his other guests (people from Taylor Guitars) in since it wasn’t quite time for general aftershow pass people to enter (The bus was going to leave earlier than usual, so he wanted to maximize his time with his guests). Al’s family also went in at this time. Security held everyone else back. We got backstage, and my sister got a photo with a stormtrooper. We just kinda hung out, Al’s family passed through to visit, and as they were leaving they thanked me again for earlier. They’re such nice people. The three of us got a group photo with Kimo, and then more hanging out chatting. Nina was the star backstage. She had on a stormtrooper helmet- SO cute!! She was so fascinated with those guys. She’s already a huge Star Wars fan. When I say she was the star- I wasn’t kidding. She was literally the center of attention- there was a big circle around her. She’s so outgoing and friendly to everyone. Suzanne got lots of photos of her with the Stormtroopers and Vader. I have a feeling that one with her wearing the helmet will show up on myspace. After I got my one minute M&G with Al, and stood with Suzanne again. At this point, Nina was doing voice impressions. First, she did an amazing Wall-E… and she hasn’t even seen it yet! “Waaaaallll-eeeeee… Eeeevaaa… Eeevaaa!!”. So cute. Then, after a few more photo ops, she became R2D2. Oh, my, gosh. It was perfect!! Those whistles and stuff were spot on. One of the Star Wars guys took on C3PO’s voice, and they carried on quite the conversation. Nina even had her arms in a robot position and moved around like one. Not only was this all completely adorable, but impressive! I can’t make those sounds. After that little show, it was time for everyone to say goodbye and head to the bus at about 11PM. Nina turned to Kimo and said, “Bye, Jim!”. He replied with, “I’m coming with you! We’re both riding the bus.” Did I mention how cute she is? I’ll say it again- Nina is so cute. Anyways, we left to head to the car and drove home. We got back to my place at about 12:20AM. Long day, but fun.

great review thanks

[Gadget Girl]

Thanks for the incredible review Kristine! (I said "hi" to you after the concert. I was standing by Helen.) Anyway, I loved reading your whole account. Thanks for taking the time to share all the details...

Lisa

[Kristine]

You're welcome. I keep surprising myself how much I write on those things. I type them in Word and then paste them into the forum- it's amazing how quickly a paragraph or two turns into a few pages!

I put up some photos on myspace (not concert photos yet, just before and after stuff, and not even all of them).

[kyky27]

Those are awesome!!! You should put up the rest of them! They're fun to look at.