I got WRECKed both in a good and in a bad way!

[feelmypain]

Wow, I can't believe that it's already been a week when my friend Kim and I had our first Wreckers concert experience. Time truly flies high these days. We got Wrecked alright. The concert was held @ HOB Anaheim (Downtown Disney). We got to the venue several hours early and what do you know, there was NO line! We felt such d0rks! Haha. Then we thought, since we were the first people to arrive, we'd be likely standing by the stage... front row! Just what we aimed for anyway. Some people showed up eventually... We met some really cool fellow Michelle Branch fans while waiting in line. I just got ticked off when I saw another line was forming on the other side of the venue. Those were for the people who ate @ the HOB restaurant and apparently were prioritized to go inside before anyone else. Boo! So much for hoping to be in the front row. Grr... The waiting in line made me crave for something to eat. I bought pretzels and fresh squeezed lemonade @ Wetzel for Kim and I, and boy, if only I could take it all back, 'cuz gosh, the pretzel was nasty! It was awful! AND I paid like $13 for everything. Ugh. I was pissed! I was just oozing a lot of negativity at the time, ranting and whatnot. I think I annoyed the hell out of Kim. I just couldn't keep my cool. I let it all got to me. Then, when it was almost 7:30, more people came and both lines got longer. The venue security people started checkin' everyone's ID and gave out wristbands, orange for underage, blue for legal to drink. AND when the time came for us to get inside the venue... we see all these security people each holding a metal detector... One security lady arrived, carrying random digital cameras and we figured that those were cameras she confiscated from the people @ the priority line. We knew beforehand that they said NO cameras or video recording devices allowed... and we were wrong not to take it seriously. I actually had a disposable one, but they still confiscated it 'cuz my friggin' stupid self was NOT slick enough to hide it really well in my not so big purse. When the guy told me to open my purse, it was the first thing he saw! Ugh. They also got Kim's digital camera... and I paid $3 for them to hold our cameras. They put it in a safety closet. They assured us it was safe. So yeah, Kim and I were both really pissed while heading inside. We couldn't understand why they were so strict about it. Why we couldn't take pictures?! It didn't say on our tickets that cameras weren't allowed! Fuckin' House of Blues. Ugh. Inside, we were able to claim a spot on the right side of the stage w/like 3 people in front of us. I guess it wasn't so bad after all. It wasn't first row, but close enough to the stage. We saw some people taking pics w/their digital cameras. They snuck them in! That made me really angry with myself. It was like depressing, too! lol. Anyway, just when we thought our waiting was almost over, we were wrong. A lot of waiting took place... and the place got so hot that I could feel my back perspiring like hell. Damn body heat. I scanned through the place... hoping to see some familiar faces. Luckily, I saw one! She was standing in the crowd, middle area... Well, I actually saw her while waiting in line outside, but I was like only 95% sure it was her. lol. I kindly asked the girl beside me to do asking for me. Haha. She asked her if her name was Lindsey... and I saw her nod and said, "Yeah!" The girl pointed at me, so she looked. I waved smiling... she comes up to me smiling and then we hugged and said, "Hey" to each other. She was like, "I wasn't sure if it was you." Great minds think alike, I guess. Haha. I told her it was good to see her. She told me she came with her sister whom had just broken up with her bf. So Lindz thought it'd be nice to bring her along to get her mind off things. Her sister was standing by the bar... w/a drink on her hand. Apparently, this big old man was hitting on her and buying her drinks and she didn't mind. Hell, I wouldn't mind either. It's FREE drinks! LOL. Lindz and I caught up for a bit. I asked her what she's been up to this summer. She lives by the beach, so she's always surfin'... soakin' up the sun. Hehe. Lindz and I were like hardcore Michelle Branch fans... and we still are, I think. Heh. So anyway, an hour and a half of waiting, the curtain finally rolled up... the band emerged... followed by the hot duo, waving Hi and smiling @ the crowd, Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp a.k.a. The Wreckers, each holding a guitar. The crowd went crazy! I was so excited myself! I've waited almost 4 long years to see Michelle live again! Michelle was wearing her good ol' self. Pretty much the same MB we know. Heh. She was jeans... boots, and a black vest over a wife beater. While Jessica was wearing her lil' trademark cute dresses. First song they played was Cigarettes which was performed very well. After their first performance, they introduced themselves and both greeted everyone and thanked 'em for comin' to the show. They were very chatty actually and quite funny. Michelle for one pointed out that they've been having shows @ casinos which is nice but they just don't have any luck when it comes to gambling. She said she'd say she loved casinos if they actually won some money. Haha. They told lil' random stories before and after performing a song. Michelle asked if anyone went to the park (Disneyland) that day... and she seemed surprised when no one said Yes. So, she told everyone that she took her daughter earlier and went on some rides/attractions... and everyone just went "Auwwweee...". Haha. I gave Michelle a lil' late bday card. Kim wrote something in it, too. Halfway through, there was a "getting to know part" as Jessica put it. A solo performance w/o the band. Jessica went first... introduced herself and said something about the song they just performed. She was surprised to see the guys singing along to it too, 'cuz they usually don't get that kind of response from the guys when they play "Crazy People." Guys rather give them that bad look. Haha. Anyway, she sang one of her own songs called "Memphis." She sounded really nice. I like her voice a lot. Though almost in the end of her performance, Michelle suddenly appears on stage, just to get her cup of drink on the floor. I swear, everyone just turned and looked at her. Talk about a scene stealer! Then she had that "oops, excuse me" look, smiling. Jessica laughed. Must have been some alcoholic drink in it though. She had to refill for her next performance! Heh. Then, it was time for Meech acoustic solo. I hoped she'd sing All You Wanted, but she performed Goodbye To You instead. It was a nice choice but I'd have preferred AYW. It's the song that did it all for me. It was just really too bad my camera got confiscated. I could have taken some really good pics and make the night much more memorable. So, that was really buggin' me, but I tried to enjoy the show anyway and I did, of course. After Michelle's solo, the band came out again and so did Jess. Their band was awesome, by the way. The bassist is Michelle's hubby. Speaking of her hubby, Jessica asked Michelle if she knew her husband could juggle. Michelle retorted: "I know he could juggle, but what did he juggle." Ooohhh... lol. Jess was referring to the juggling went on backstage while Meech was performing solo. I think they were juggling apples and oranges. I'm not really sure. lol. Back to performance, they played "Way Back Home" after their solos... and after performing it, Meech made the band play the intro again 'cuz it didn't sound right @ first. She just wanted their 45min practice of it to be worth it... and the band did and got it right the 2nd time around. Meech is the boss, I'd say. Heh. I almost jumped to excitement when they played "Rain." It's one of my personal fave songs in the album! It's rockin'! Hehe. The girls sounded so much better than I had imagined. It was great hearing 'em performed those songs... those tunes I've always been raving about. There was a point where I just stopped singin' along and just looked at the girls do their thing... singin' and strummin' their guitar. They're really talented people! They'll always have my respect and devotion. Ooohhh, I was also checkin' out Meech hubby... I think he saw me staring @ him, too. But, I've been meaning to see for myself what he was like. This guy is like 20 years Meech senior. But, he did seem interesting. He looked mysterious. I like that in a guy. Well, Meech seems happy, so I'm happy for her too. Heh. So it was time for the "supposedly" last song... Meech and Jess thanked everyone again for comin' to see them and for supporting and hope to see some familiar faces again when they're on tour, opening for Rascal Flatts. Meech also thanked the country radio for playing "Leave The Pieces." The song ends... Jess tossed her guitar pick in the air, I followed it w/my eyes... and saw it dropped just behind me but, I couldn't find it on the floor! Good thing Kim found it for me in the end. Thanks again Kim! Haha. The lights turned off... but the curtain still rolled up... everyone knew there was an encore! AND like 30 seconds later, they all emerged on stage again... and performed 2 more songs. Strawberry Wine originally by Deanna Carter... and Stand Still, Look Pretty which is probably the deepest song in the album. I was just bummed that they didn't perform my other fave song, "Hard To Love You." That one's deep too. I felt like the concert was a lil' short somehow... Then again, maybe I just couldn't get enough of them! Haha. I managed to take some pics on my camera phone but the quality's pretty bad :( We paid $20 for parking. I really felt like I was ripped off right and left that day. The money I wasted. Geez! Haha. I wanted to kick HOB Anaheim's security people's asses. Ugh. But, the concert itself was still very good. I still enjoyed it despite of the lil' unfortunate events that happened before and after the show. But it was still worth it even though I didn't get to meet Michelle for the 3rd time. I certainly got WRECKed, both in a good and bad way. I don't blame the band at all. It's the friggin' venue people... this is why I'm boycotting HOB from now on. I'll just stick to the Key Club and The Roxy. All in all, I still had fun. I guess you'll just have to take the good w/the bad, and take the bad w/the good. Such is life anyway.

Here's the SET LIST:

1. Cigarettes
2. Love Me Like That
3. The Good Kind
4. Tennessee
5. Crazy People

*getting to know part* w/o band
6. Memphis (Jessica solo acoustic)
7. Goodbye To You (Michelle solo acoustic)

8. Way Back Home
9. My Oh My
10. Rain
11. Leave The Pieces

Encore
12. Strawberry Wine
13. Stand Still, Look Pretty

P.S.
I don't know how I remember all these friggin' details... I have a good memory, perhaps? Though thank you for reading my rambles. Heh.



Me, myself, and my fat cheeks wondering, "Where's the line?!"


Kim