... and all this thanks to Genesis. The man, the myth, the legend, Phil Collins. I really think Bob peed when they took the stage. Might be a little bit true ;)
We arrived just before the show started... after a bit of a delay getting to e-ho's house ('cause in her directions she didn't exactly tell me she lived over-the-river-and-through-the-woods, right next door to the proverbial "grandmother's house" we went...).
We were unaware that our tickets were, um, in the nose bleed section of the "TD Banknorth Arena At The Boston Garden". See the yellow wall behind Bobio? Yeah, that's THE wall, as in the wall that doesn't allow ANYONE to sit behind you, because you're it. That's a lot of pressure, ya know ;)
Let me give you a *little* background before we continue with the story:
The first concert Bob ever went to was in 2002 when I scored tickets to ::cough cough:: Michael Bolton at the Opera House in Boston. shhhhhhhhhhhh.. don't tell anyone, but Bobio *loves* MB. We were by far and away the YOUNGEST people in the entire audience. He stared, wide eyed and disbelieving, the entire first part of the show. Didn't utter a word. Totally flabbergasted. It was awesome to watch.
Event #2: Phantom of the Opera in Providence, RI. Okay, so this one was sort of for me, but there he sat, wide eyed and awe stricken the whole time, even though it was a bit hard to follow for a first-timer.
The BIG one: Rascal Flatts in 2005:Woah, Nelly. Prepare yourself to be *amazed*. Bobio rocks out the whole show. This is the first of three Rascal Flatts shows that we have been to together. Probably one of the defining moments in my sweet Bobio's life :)
Then there was the infamous Red Sox trip... it was an adventure. I really could have written a children's bbok about it, and it would be called "Little Bob in the Big City". We parken in a garage. We rode the train. We walked through Boston and ate at Fire and Ice and watched a baseball game. The picture above? You could totally crop Bob out and paste him over a snapshot of the stands at Fenway and get the same exact picture that would have been taken the night of the game. Same exact look on his face. He really said only about a dozen words the whole Boston/Fenway experience. Anyone else would have thought that he had a miserable time, but I know better. My little Bobio hasn't traveled far from his Cape Cod "bubble", and is quite overwhelmed with the sights and sounds of busy places.
Flash forward to last night: Not only was the event special because Erin scored the tickets on Bob's birthday way back in March ( coincedentally, the same day we were driving to the airport to pick up Miss Buttons!!!), but Bobio is in love with Phil COllins. Not a joke OR dramatization. If he could be reincarnated as anyone, PiCo is in the top 3, I believe.
While the seats were NOT **quite** the 3rd row 4 life kind of seats that I am accustomed to at the Garden, we had a great view of the big screens and the stage was clear as day as soon as the house lights went down and the stage lights took over.
Let me just tell you, that ANYONE interested in time travel should attend a Genesis show. You are immediately transported to 1984. Maybe even earlier than that. Synthesized keyboard lovers, take heed: you will be in heaven! Computer animated graphics junkies... pure bliss! Threre were really times when I was wondering if the background big-screen effects were from one of the original Genesis shows, way back in the day. It was a bit surreal.
The band played for well over 2 hours.. the show started at about 8:20 and ended at... 11? Fireworks at the end of the show COMPLETELY made my night.
The people watching was seriously my favorite part of the night, since out of the 2 1/2+ hours of music I only recognized 5 songs. There was the "section 303 guy", who was the epitome of dork. Swishing and swaying and bouncing and limp-wristedly clapping along to the first half of the show. Then there were the two "we stand up for the whole show even though we are seated in the balcony" people... they were ROCKING OUT. he had his groove thing in the works, and she was jumping and flailing her arms all over the place... Iam SO glad we weren't sitting behind them 'cause I would have been pissed that I paid good money to watch a show and got stuck wactching a flailing drunk lady instead. Oh my, last but not least there was "red shirt guy" who was standing on the floor of the arena. At first we thought he was an employee, because he was facing away from the stage, raising his arms in the air in an effort to get the thousands of people in the stands behind him to stand up and participate. Them we realized he was just a paying customer like ourselves when an usher had to keep ushing him out of the aisles and back to his seat. He was one of those people who dances like a dying fish, flopping limbs all over the place. Apparently Erin has a friend who is a "dirty hippie" who also dances in a similar fashion, which she refers to as the "drowning dance". Nice visual.
The whole show was a pretty good deal, not the best I've ever been to, but certainly memorable. Erin took the pic of Bob using her phone, and i think she's using the pic as her wallpaper on her phone. Yes, Erin sent the pic to my phone (I have that technology now!!), which I saved and emailed to myself, then saved to my computer, then posted on my blog!! WOW!! Yay, me! I'll lose the thech-tard reputation sooner or later if it KILLS me!
So, a rather long winded post after a few weeks of not-so-much... we'll see what I can continue to muster up in the upcoming days :)
... and hoping bobio doesn't wet himself tonight from the excitement of being in the presence of mr.pico himself ;)
