I don’t think my brain has ever hurt so bad before

But I am not going to complain too loudly.

I just saw Blue October live in concert for the 3rd time tonight.  In Dallas, at the House of Blues.

W.O.W.  

What a great show!!  Ours was the first opening act, they were pretty decent.  I liked them.  I wouldn’t necessarily go out to buy their album, but I enjoyed listening to them.  They had kind of a static set…possibly due to the fact that they were so far forward, because of Switchfoot’s and Blue’s sets behind them,  but they didn’t move around a whole lot either.  One of the coolest things that happened during Ours’ set was that Ryan came on stage during one of their songs and played the Blue Dragon alongside the bassist.  That ROCKED.  I tried to video it but there wasn’t a whole lot of light…still, the video looks like of cool.  And you can definitely hear Ryan playing, so it’s all good.

The setlist for tonight went as follows (the ones with * are ones I’d heard live previously):
Independently Happy
Clumsy Card House
Say It*
Dirt Room*
Been Down*
My Never*
Ugly Side (which I sobbed through)
Calling You
Picking Up Pieces*
Should Be Loved*
Congratulations*
Into The Ocean*
Jump Rope*
She’s My Ride Home*
James (wow!  What a great song to see live!!)
The End*

Then they encored acoustically with:
It’s Just Me
Graceful Dancing
Let It Go
18th Floor Balcony

And then the last two songs of the night were:
Italian Radio*
Hate Me* (which segued into Justin’s end poem)

I ended up scoring their setlist for tonight – one of Ryan’s.  He tore it up from off the stage and brought it over and tossed it out into the crowd – I snagged it.  Probably acted more rabid about it than I’m willing to admit to anyone, lol, but it’s a neat thing to have.  

The guys were really energized, pumped up for the show, and they gave us their all, as usual.  I had a pretty good spot because a) I was on the rail and b) I was right in front of the great Ryan Delahoussaye.  Lots of opportunities to see him play up close!!  The man was born to be a musician, that’s for damn sure.  And he’s got great stage presence – he made the violin "cool" again 🙂  Not that it ever wasn’t, in my book, but not very many rock bands can boast a violin player.  None but Blue can boast Ryan XD

I spent a lot of the show focusing on recording live video, so I don’t really have much to say except that it was hard to hold still and tape while all I really wanted to be doing was dancing around and singing my lungs out.  However – the videos I got are certainly worth it.  Again, not going to complain too loudly…

Afterwards we went out around back to wait and see if any of the guys came out.  Justin ended up coming out first, which I guess is rare for him?  Friends said that he usually comes out last.  Anyway, there was the typical throng of people in front of him clamoring for pictures/signatures, and he was very patiently and graciously doing so for each of them.  I had decided previously that I wanted him to sign my Crazy Making book, and I ended up choosing the page with Amazing on it (that song has been the anthem of my summer, for reasons I’ll lay out in a different entry at a different time).  When it came my turn I think I caught him a bit off guard because I introduced myself and stuck my hand out for a handshake.  Then I thanked him for being generous enough to come out and talk to us – I said, "You don’t have to come out but you do!" and he responded with something like ‘Well you all don’t have to come out and wait around for us either, but you do!"  He seemed very genuine.  I told him that their music had saved my life, many times (he thanked me), and that it was helping me through my divorce.  He said something to the effect of, "Hey, me too…divorce is a fucker, ain’t it? Just a big mind fuck…" and he signed the page "You’re amazing", then his signature, and then "STAY STRONG".  What a tender heart.  Haha, then as he was turning to put his arm around someone else for a picture his elbow caught me in the temple – he was like "Ooh, I’m sorry sweetie!" but it didn’t hurt, and it made me laugh actually, so I gave him a break 😉  

CB also came out and talked with us, I asked him to sign the page with Somebody on it since I love love love his guitar in that one.  Then he’d been talking with some other girls right next to me and I hadn’t really been paying attention until he started quoting Tropic Thunder, "You’re the dude playin the dude who don’t know what dude he is!" and he couldn’t remember the name of the movie so I hopped in and told him, and he was like "Oh my gosh, you win!" and gave me a high five.  Pretty neat 🙂 

We saw the other guys out and about, they didn’t come over though, which was totally fine.  I can understand them not wanting to deal with fans – they have to almost every night, so I don’t blame them in the least bit!  Ryan’s mom, Gina Delahoussaye, was there and we got to meet her – such a sweet lady!  She was a lot shorter than I pictured her and prettier in person than in her picture.  I told her kudos for raising Ryan to be the music afficionado he is and she said, "You know, that boy was born to be a musician.  It’s in his blood."  Which is true – he only plays like 12302459234912 instruments perfectly, lol.  I told her I’d gotten a lot of footage of Ryan and that I knew where to send it – straight to her 🙂  She collects pictures and videos of her son like it’s going out of style.

Overall it was a really good night.  I feel like I definitely got my money’s worth,  and it was nice to meet Justin in person – a person I admire greatly for having gone through the shit that he has – that he is – and still coming out on top of it all.  Keeping his career and his life together.  It’s clear that his daughter is one of the most important parts of his life, and that’s a good thing for a man to have.  It has helped him change for the better.

I’m going to go…these videos are taking forever to load…but I want to get them all done before I leave my friend’s house because I took them with her digital camera and so they are all on -her- hard drive, because my laptop is a piece of shite that won’t turn on anymore…sigh…