| On Valentine's Day, 2002, my cousin, Jamie, and I were at my house getting ready to go to our first Aaron Carter concert. We were really excited about going, since we had 3rd row seats. I couldn't wait to see Aaron, too. Jenny came by to give me money, so I could get her a shirt at the concert. After that, we got ready and started driving. It only took us about an hour to get down to the Peoria Civic Center, where he was playing. We were pretty determined to get a chance to meet Aaron, since Jamie had been backstage there before. I was so glad we didn't have to wait outside before we were able to go in, since at my other concerts in Chicago, we had to wait outside in the cold. They just let you in down there, though. Anyways, we went in, gave them our tickets, and went to find our seats. When I got down there, I could NOT believe how close I was to the stage! We were like 6 feet from it. Jamie and I just started laughing and freaking out. I was so happy that I was going to be that close to Aaron. As soon as we got there, though, we started looking for people who might be able to get us backstage. This one guy we talked to, right away said no, that there was no way that we were going to be able to get back there. For a second after he said that, it almost looked like he was going to change his mind, but he ended up not letting us do it. That was disappointing. Jamie found this one guy she liked. She told me that she would try flirting with him and see if he would let us back there. He only smiled at her when she kept trying to get his attention. It ended up not working haha. Before any of the opening acts came out, something really exciting happened, though. There is this hall kind of thing that separates part of the bleachers. I looked over there, and I saw ANGEL CARTER!! I was too shy to go up to get her autograph, though. She was behind this security guard guy, anyways. It looked like she was with this guy, too. He had dark hair and stuff. I wish I would have been able to go up to her and get her autograph. By the time I told Jamie, Angel was already leaving. I didn't care too much at the time, though. I started freaking out! I was hoping I would see Aaron's mom, since I had heard she would sometimes walk around before a concert. If I would have seen her, I would have definitely gone up to her. But, unfortunately, I never saw her. Jamie and I were still determined, though. The first opening act was Lindsay Pagano. At first, I had no clue who she was, but when she started singing "All I Need," I figured it out. She was a really good performer. Jamie seemed to enjoy her even more than I did. I still liked her performance. After she got off the stage, the next opening act was going to be Dreamstreet. I had heard that their performance was REALLY long, so we left to go to the bathroom and look for more people to get us backstage. After we went to the bathroom and everything, we heard something that totally freaked us out. Since the sound is so loud on the stage, we listened to part of it as we were walking around. All of a sudden, we hear something about Nick Carter being at Aaron's Valentine's Day concert. I will never forget how we reacted to it. I was hoping all night that I would get to see both Nick and Aaron at the concert. Jamie and I screamed. While Jamie kept screaming, I was laughing hysterically. We just freaked out!! Nobody was even paying attention to us, either. I guess they were all used to it. Unfortunately, later on, we figured out what we really heard. It was just a commercial for Aaron's Valentine's Day concert special on Pay Per View, which featured Nick. When we saw that, we got kind of disappointed. We wanted to see both of them. But I guess one Carter boy was good enough. After we got back to our seats, we watched a part of the performance of Dreamstreet. They were pretty good. A couple of those guys were pretty hot. I didn't know any of their songs, though. They were onstage a REALLY long time. When they finally got off, all I cared about seeing was Aaron. Our wait before his performance seemed to take FOREVER. One really exciting thing happened, though. There was a door in the back of where I said Angel had been. I was like 4 feet from that hall, but it was fenced out. The thing about it was that Aaron kept coming out of it, so people would scream. He did that twice. The first time, the people in the bleachers and in front of me kept screaming and pointing back there. They were all saying Aaron was back there. I remember this one little boy in particular. Before the second time Aaron came out, the little boy was just kind of staring back there. When Aaron popped out for the second time, the little boy jumped really high, like he had been startled. He then went to his mom or someone, pointed, and was saying Aaron was there. All the little kids started waving and stuff. With my luck, I missed him BOTH TIMES. I was off at a kind of angle where I couldn't see back there, so I would have to hurry to get up and look back there. By the time I would get up there, he would be gone again. That kind of pissed me off haha. I thought it was kind of sweet of him, though, to come out in front of the fans. I still wanted to see him SO badly. After another long wait, another exciting thing happened. The security guard next to us walked up to us. He started telling Jamie that when the lights went down, we could GO UP TO THE STAGE!! He was kind of telling her that we could not attempt to get onstage with him or something like that. I wasn't paying too much attention, since after he said we could go up there, I started to really freak out. I just kept thinking that I was going to be so close to Aaron. As we were waiting for the lights to go down, we saw some girls trying to act like they were in our row, so they could go up to the stage. They all ended up getting yelled at. Then, all of a sudden, the lights started to dim... I ran all the way up to the stage. I had got right up to the front, where I wanted to be. I knew I was going to be in the front, since I'm the type of person who will just shove my way through. I did that at my last Backstreet Boys concert, when I thought they were coming up to a fence. The only bad thing about where I was, was the speakers that were right next to my ears. Anyways, I looked back, and Jamie was right next to me. We started getting really excited. Then we saw Aaron appear. I was shocked. I had been waiting for that moment for so long, and it was finally there. He kept on running by us, and we would stick out our hands, hoping he would touch one of us. He ended up touching Jamie's hand first. I'll admit, I got a little jealous of her, but he ended up touching mine a few seconds later. We just screamed and jumped up and down. Throughout the whole entire concert, we kept on touching his clothes, whenever we wouldn't touch his hand. I was thinking afterwards that I should have pulled his pants down haha. It would have been a nice sight, but I probably wouldn't have had the guts lol. We were happy just touching his pants and shoes. After that, he asked us if we were having a good time, and then he wished us all a happy Valentine's Day. I kept waiting for "I'm All About You" to come on, since I had heard that he brought a girl up for that song. I was hoping so bad he would pick me. When he was looking for someone to bring up, he was on the opposite side of the stage, so he ended up picking another girl. She was pretty. She seemed nervous, excited, freaked out, and happy all at the same time. She was very lucky. They walked to one end of the stage, then back. Then, she had to sit back down. I wish I could have been her. The song was great, though. Later on, he ended up touching my hand again. That time, he held it a little longer, though. I was SO happy. All of the songs were amazing. After it was over, we went to go buy some shirts and stuff. I got my shirt, and a shirt for Jenny. I saw this one girl with one of the roses Aaron had thrown out to the audience. I didn't get one. I wish I could have. After that, we left and went for McDonald's. We never met Aaron, but we had a BLAST. That was the best Valentine's Day I'd ever had. When I got my pictures back from it, it looked like a professional had taken them, since they were so close. Jamie and I opened them together, and screamed when we saw them. Jamie didn't even really like Aaron at first, but I've converted her. She has the "Oh Aaron" CD, and she loves the "Cowgirl" song. I will never forget that night. It was definitely one of the best concerts I had ever been to. :) |