Omaha Review...

I know, I know, it took me long enough to get this out.

We took the shuttle to the venue and arrived about 6. After wandering around for a while, and asking the locals if the happened to see a tent outside which was answered with a confused look, we finally got directions from one of the workers at the box office to the Backstage tent. Now to get from the main entrance to the tent you have to go to the back of the building. And you can't just walk around the building, you have to go over it. Like up 60 (they were counted) steps, over the building and then down 60 more steps. Did I mention it was raining? So we finally get to the tent (which only keeps Jullian, and Matt when he's there, and the tickets dry) and of course there's people in front of us. We overheard the people in front of us talking to Jullian and they must've been talking for a bit because he's joking with the woman and asks her, "That's like asking which came first the chicken or the egg." At which point I turn to my friends, feeling the breakdown that we've been successfully suppressing all day coming, and say "You do realize if he asks me that it's gonna end in tears and I'm gonna be damn near inconsolable because he's gonna hear ALL about Javier and Milwaukee and Minneapolis and being homeless." Thankfully he didn't ask (because god knows what we look like at this point) and he gave us our tickets. And they were he right tickets, which is the first and ONLY thing to go right all day.

Thanking him, and counting our few remaining lucky stars, we treked back over the 120 steps back to the main building. Checking out the merch stand (omg Jon why is everything SOOO expensive) I walked over to a nearby bench where everyone was lined up waiting to be let into the arena. Evidently this is highly offensive in Omaha, though I have not yet discovered why. People were staring and whispering, which sincerely confused us. One woman went as far to say "Not even I would do that." She was on crutches, with a broken/sprained foot/leg/something. I wish I would've heard so I could've asked why. So anyone out there reading who would like to shed some light on the topic, I'd appreciate it because I am now sincerely curious.

Anyway, we finally got up off the forbidden bench and made our way through security. On the way to our seats we were kinda backstage-ish (we passed the Dashboard Confessional dressing room) and on to the floor. We had AWESOME seats (as you can kinda see from the pics). My friends were 4-ish rows back from the circle and I was 6 rows back from them on the aisle, Hugh/Richie side. Dashboard Confessional (yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck, YUCK) went on at 8. They were loud, like organ vibrating, 10 times louder then AAR loud. Boring, like every song sounded the same and I was starting to literally fall asleep, even though I would've vibrated off my chair. Just not good, we are SO not seeing them again. And I almost wanted to cry when I saw that they were doing New Giants. Anywho, I lasted about 2 1/2 songs before I gave up and walked back out to the hall. Everyone had said they only played 20 minutes so I was expecting it to be over soon but of course, with the day Omaha was giving me, they went on and on and ON until almost 8:45. When they finally left I made my way back to my seat, passed Rew, and tried to recompose myself from the whole DC experience. A couple minutes after I was back in my seat Paul Korzillus (the band's manager) was walking by me and I was SO tempted to stop him and tell him exactly what I thought about the opening act. I decided it was better to hold my tongue because a) I didn't want to be thrown out and b) I knew damn well it wouldn't have stopped with DC sucks and I won't be back to a show before 9 the rest of the tour unless you get rid of them. So I let Paul pass, but in my head we had a wonderfully pleasant conversation.

The show started at 9:15, with This is Our House, over the PA system before the band took the stage. (Full set list at the bottom) During the course of the show I swear half the crew walked by me. Paul walked by me again, and again I was tempted to give him a piece of my mind, I saw Rew at least once more. Matt and Jesse must've passed me at least a dozen times each, and one of the new camera guys was out filming the crowd for BJTV and Rob was out filming/taking pictures while the guys were on the circle. I swear there was a party at the soundboard that I felt I was missing. LOL Cutest, not band moment of the night, Matt gave gave one of Jon's guitar picks to a little boy who was 8-ish years old in the front row of the "100 level" sections. The kid was so confused and then so excited once he realized what it was. Total AWW moment.

The crowd was well, interesting. I think I was one of 15 or so that weren't falling down drunk. Like a literal, falling down drunk. As in the three women in front of me fell down so many times I lost count at about 15. And the people in front of me were SO tall. Now I'm 5'8ish, so I don't usually have problems at concerts because unless I have a huge guy in front of me I'm pretty good. All of these people were SO tall and in heels I felt short, which is why there's a ridiculous amount of hands and heads in my videos and pictures.

The show itself rocked and was worth the day of hell, as if there was any doubt. The new set up was amazing and there were crazy things going on with the screens, robots excluded. The robots are freaking ridiculous on a whole other level. If you haven't seen them in action yet, youtube a recent We Got it Goin' On. He's all over those things. Amazing. Go youtube it now. Here I'll do your work for you, this one's from Denver. It looks even better in person. I'm totally LOVING the idea of the circle, love seeing ALL of them up close. And Richie was drinking out on the circle, like he's never drank before. Jon felt the need to strip right after the circle as he ran off stage. It was a good 4 seconds before he disappeared. NSG was a WONDERFUL surprise. Love's the Only Rule, was amazing live. If you haven't heard Jon's whole schpiel about it, go youtube it. (No I'm not doing that one for you.) It was nice to hear Sleep, back in the set since it became such a staple last tour, but I did miss Richie giving me the finger :-( probably because I always give it back to him and I kinda needed to give it back that day LOL

I think that's all for the show. It was a great show when all was said in done, DC included. But I bought enough postcards at the airport so I never have to go back to Nebraska. Fun Fact of the day...the Omaha airport is in Iowa. That kinda summarized my trip LOL

I'll be back next week after the Michigan show. NO travel drama there, because we're driving and nothing is going to happen to my car! *Knocks HARD on wood*

<3, style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Forgot the set list last night here it is:

1. Blood On Blood
2. We Weren't Born To Follow
3. You Give Love A Bad Name
4. In These Arms
5. Born To Be My Baby
6. Lost Highway
7. When We Were Beautiful
8. Superman Tonight
9. We Got It Goin' On
10. Bad Medicine/ Roadhouse Blues
11. It's My Life
12. Homebound Train (Richie Sambora on lead vocals)
13. (You Want To) Make A Memory
14. Never Say Goodbye (acoustic)
15. Something For The Pain (acoustic)
16. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night (acoustic)
17. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
18. Work For The Working Man
19. Who Says You Can't Go Home
20. Love's The Only Rule

Encore:
21. Runaway
22. Wanted Dead Or Alive
23. Livin' On A Prayer