Sunday, August 16, 2009

Jason Mraz - My Non List Related Post!

On Friday, August 14th, Corey and I went to the Freedom Hill Amphitheatre in Sterling Heights, MI for, what we have both agreed, one of the best concerts of our lives! I just discovered the greatness that is Jason Mraz earlier this year and after one listen of a few of his songs on my iPod, Corey joined me as a big fan. He has become the person I say now if someone poses the question, "Who is your favorite music artist?" because he is just absolutely AMAZING. His lyrics are profound and he can a rock a beat like no one's business! I saw him on Saturday Night Live a few months ago and bought one of his live albums so I knew that he was one of those artists that would be as good, if not better, in concert. Needless to say, we were stoked to have the opportunity to see him live.

This is going to be a long story, by the way, because I don't want to leave out any details. Last summer, when we were about to go see Jack Johnson in concert, my friend informed me that if you go to the box office within a few hours of the show starting, you might be able to snag some way better seats because that is when the radio stations release any tickets they have not given away and the artist releases any tickets they did not give away. The show started at 7 so I went over to the box office at 5 and proceeded to pay $20 in total to move us from lawn seats to 14th row, center stage! I was so geeked - I mean, how cool is that? This pic is from that night.

Fast forward to Friday night. Corey comes to meet me at work and we head over to the box office to see if we can get better seats. Now, we had never been to Freedom Hill before so I didn't know if our seats were very good or not but in my mind, they were not first row so we could improve. We get there and they tell us no, they only have lawn seat tickets available. Okay, no sweat, the seats we have will be fine. We were sitting in seats G607 & G608, see chart below and note that that means we were two seats over from the sound stage that is set up in the middle of the amphitheatre (the blank white box you see next to seat 605). You can also see that we were pretty much center stage, we had nobody directly in front of us (just an aisle) and even though it looks kind of far in this chart, it actually wasn't too far. Now is when I will point out that I was the most gigantic moron in the world for leaving my camera in the car. We asked after we got there if we could go back to the car and get it and they told us that we were not allowed to come back in if we leave. Worst night EVER to forget my camera.So the show starts and we enjoy the opening acts, which were honestly pretty good. The first was K'Naan and the second was G. Love & the Special Sauce. Very entertaining and good at psyching us up for Jason. Then at about 9:30 or so, Jason hits the stage and blows our mind from the first note. His voice is completely on point, he is getting the crowd involved and just projecting amazing energy to the crowd. Then, a few songs into the show, one of the security guys walks in front of us and says, "You guys have great seats tonight. Jason is going to sing 3 songs right here later." Were like, "Yeah right". So the night goes on, we are loving the show but gradually more and more security start showing up all around the sound stage and they start setting up mics and whatnot. We were realizing that the security guy was not pulling our chain! So at about 10:30, Jason acts like he is ending the show, all the lights go down and they leave the stage. We clap and scream for about five minutes for the encore that we knew was about to be RIGHT NEXT TO US! Not more than a minute later we see an entourage come out from behind the main stage and start heading our way. They head up the aisle and turn the corner straight toward us - we can see Jason and two of his band members in the middle of TONS of security, he is so close! His bongo player, Toca Rivera, is walking in front of him slapping audience member's hands (including Corey and I!!!!!!) as Jason is holding up a camera over his head and taking pictures of the madness around him. The crazy fangirl in me came out and I screamed "Jason!!!" as he walked two feet in front of me. In retrospect, I am absolutely mortified that that came out of my mouth, however, the screams were so deafening that no one noticed. So...it was crazy and amazing and wonderful and I cannot believe that we tried to mess with fate and change our seats! He played three amazing songs and then headed back to the main stage to play a final song to end the show. But you might wonder how you are seeing pics from the show below. It is because once I realized what was happening I had to seize the opportunity and ask the girl next to me if she would take a picture of Corey and I in front of them playing and if she would send me some of her pics and she was awesome enough to do that for us! She sent them to me the next day and I am forever in her debt! Like I said, worst night ever to leave my camera behind but I was so very fortunate to be sitting next to this wonderful person.


Singing "Lucky" with his friend, who was substituting for Colbie Caillat.

Can you freaking believe this??


It was such a fun night and will not soon be forgotten by either of us. I hope you have enjoyed my LONG story and absorbed a fraction of the excitement we experienced. Go buy his music!

3 comments:

  1. What an amazing experience, Jill! I am so excited for you!!! As a fellow music and concert lover, I can appreciate this from afar = ) I need to listen to more Jason Mraz, he does have such an amazing voice! Thanks for sharing your experience!!!

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  2. I cannot believe you forgot your camera!! Its very nice to have a fellow Jason Mraz lover - I can't wait for the CD to come out of the show!!

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  3. That is so awesome!! I am extremely jealous!! Jason is amazing, and it isn't always plausible to keep the fangirl held up inside!!

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