Concert Reviews
Shooting Star Casino Mahnomen, Minnesota, USA
Friday May 13, 2005
Michelle and I met up in Denver, where her flight happened to connect to mine. We flew on to Fargo, where it was raining like crazy. We grabbed a rental car and headed for the casino, which was about 90 miles.
When we were about a mile from the casino, a big white limo passed us on the highway. The license plate said "Star 3." Michelle and I looked at each other and laughed. "There goes David!" So we sped up to try and catch up with it. The limo turned into the casino driveway and headed into the Valet/Limo drop off. So we just waited at the stop sign, intently watching to see who got out. The driver got out....went around, opened the door...and 5 girls got out! DRAT!! False alarm!!!
We checked in, only to find out that our rooms were in two entirely different buildings. The desk girls were very nice and switched us around so we had rooms side by side. Excellent! We dropped off our suitcases and headed down to check things out.
We could hear some drum pounding so we knew a sound check was going on somewhere. We followed the noise and found the arena, where the entire band except David and Candace were onstage setting up. Lisa was warming up singing Rock Me Baby. The room looked huge and the stage was very tall.
We headed toward the casino to find something to eat. We stopped at a little deli and got some sandwiches. As we were eating, Lisa came in, then a few minutes later, Lon and Frank. Lisa and Frank didn't stay, but Lon did, and sat and chatted with us for awhile. He is such a crazy guy, continually cracking jokes. (My heart was pounding and it was only LON!) When we were all finished eating, Lon said "guess I'll catch you girls after the show then" and we were like OK! :)
We went over to the Players Club booth to pick up our tickets. As I was opening the envelope to look at mine, I heard the girl behind me say "Rosenberger." I turned around and grabbed her sleeve and said "Wendy!" So we met Wendy and her daughter Sparky there, chatted a bit, and then headed up to our rooms to shower and get ready.
At about 7:30 we headed down to the arena. I still needed to find Mary Beth. She had told me she had red hair and her husband was cute. So every couple that walked by, if they could possibly be them, I quietly said "Mary Beth?" and if they didn't respond, I just turned around and continued to say "Mary Beth?" Thinking back I probably looked pretty silly LOL. I happened to look over by the ticket windows, and I saw a girl looking at me. I mouthed "Mary Beth?" and she shook her head up and down and laughed. So I ran over and met Mary Beth LOL, then her husband too (yes he is cute!) and then we all headed into the arena.
My seat was in the front row but Michelle's was in the 3rd row. There happened to be an empty seat next to me.....I told Michelle to come up and sit there until somebody kicked her out. The girl in the next seat said she had bought the ticket but her friend couldn't come....so Michelle sat there in the front row with me, and we were in the very middle, with a completely unobstructed view of the most gorgeous man on earth. Heaven!! I think for the first 3 songs neither of us moved an inch, we just had our eyes affixed on the eye candy in front of us LOL.
There was a very comfortable feeling to this show. From the minute David ran onstage, you could just see that he was in a terrific mood. He was so smiley, his eyes were so sparkly, oooooh melt, yep, he looked GOOD. The audience was screaming so much, I could not believe he had so many fans in a place so remote. The security attempted to keep us in our seats for a bit, but gave up after awhile, and at times it was a bit wild and rough! There were so many women who wanted to touch David, and it was so hard to get to him, because the stage was soooo tall! He could barely shake hands, and several women pulled him, which he does not like and said so! Fans behaved...nobody looked or acted trashy, it was a respectable, enjoyable, great show with a lot of love in the air. I enjoyed this show more than I can explain.
When David played the acoustic version of I'll Meet You Halfway, it sounded like the entire audience was singing along. It was beautiful, and David looked delighted. I can't believe so many people knew the words, I felt like crying! When he was finished he blew the audience a kiss and said "you are fantastic!"
At the end, there was much screaming and chanting "DAVID! DAVID! DAVID!" until he came back out and sang Cry as his encore. A perfect ending to a perfect show. Sigh.......
After the show we headed to a little lounge where the band had hung out the night before singing Karaoke (Frank claims that Lon sucks at karaoke). It was virtually empty, maybe about 5 people inside. Michelle and I grabbed a couple drinks and shortly thereafter Lon came in, followed by the entire band (not David). That group is the silliest, craziest, goofiest bunch I've ever seen LOL, they are continual jokesters. Terri and Matt had sang I've Got You Babe the night before so they were calling each other Matt and Terr (Sonny and Cher).....
Candace was discussing who was leaving when the next day and what time they had to get up....4 of them were on my flight to Denver....:)
Suddenly it was time to close and they turned all the lights on in the bar....eeeeek!!!! I felt silly and dizzy after drinking one and one-half screwdrivers LOL...I am such a lightweight to begin with....they shoo'ed us out of the lounge and it was the end of a completely fun night.
In the morning, Michelle and I went down to the breakfast buffet (which was free because we had $10 worth of food coupons that came with our rooms....excellent!) and then headed back to Fargo.
For some reason, the Mapquest map that got us just fine to the casino, was different on the way back....it was taking us down some county roads, and then a dirt road....and we ended at an airplane hanger that said "West Fargo Airport" and had five 2-seater airplanes parked on the side....!!! We weren't sure whether to laugh or cry, but we definitely were in the wrong place....we turned around in the mud (remember it had been raining 2 whole days now.....)...the car looked a fright. We stopped at a gas station, got directions, and got the rental car returned at 12:15 pm, when my flight was to be leaving at 12:25 pm. Guess what, missed the damn flight!!!
So they put me on the next one to Denver, which happened to be Michelle's flight anyway, so at least we could wait together. Then that flight was delayed for an hour and a half....we spent 4 ½ hours in that Fargo airport. And when I finally went through Security to get to our gate, the security guy looked at my David tote bag and said "Is there a convention or something? He was just through here a while ago." and I said "how long ago" and he said "about an hour and a half." So not only did I miss my flight that the band would have been on, but I missed David going through too!!
Oh well....that's OK, it was a great trip. Really great. The End.
Carol
