| Toys for Tots Concert San Jose, CA December 16, 2007 |
| Here's my recap of last Sunday night's Toys for Tots event in San Jose. I'm not going to write a whole narrative of the 16 hour ordeal because it'll turn into a rant that no one will want to read. I'll start with the good things that happened because, for my peace of mind, I'm trying to focus on the positive. There were a lot more negatives though, unfortunately. Pros -It was in my hometown, so I only had to travel 10 minutes. -We were about the 12th people in line. All of the people in front of us were BSB fans too. In fact, I'd say 95% of the audience was there to see BSB. -We got seats in the front row. -Nick, AJ, and Brian seemed to be in incredibly good moods. They were very energetic and silly, running all over the stage and playing hide-and-seek behind the curtains and Christmas trees. lol -Debi, Diana, and I met Nick, AJ, and Brian thanks to winning meet & greet passes from the radio station. -Everyone who won m&g passes was there for BSB. No one cared about the other performers. -The Boys were really friendly at the m&g. They were all laughing and smiling. In fact, I think Nick was the most personable he's ever been when I've met him. Debi and I hugged all of them, told them we were happy to have them in the Bay Area, and said that Panic should be the next single. -When I walked up to Brian I shouted, "Brian, I've never met you before!" lol I'm a dork. -I fulfilled a long-time dream of talking football with Nick. Even though our conversation was only about 10 seconds long, it's definitely the highlight of the night for me. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this... Me: Are you coming up for the Bucs/Niners game next weekend? Nick: Ooohh, I don't know. Me: You totally should. I have season tickets so I'll be there. Nick: (excited) My Bucs are kicking ass this year, huh? Me: And my Niners are sucking, so the Bucs will win! You should go! Nick: You're right! I'll tell ya this, if you get me a ticket, I'll go. Me: (laughing) How am I supposed to contact you? Nick: (making hand gestures like he's typing) Hit me up on myspace! I know he wasn't serious about me getting him a ticket, but still, it kind of made my LIFE. In my fantasty land, Nick and I have a football date on Sunday. lol -While I was talking to Nick, I was holding his hand. I honestly don't know how that happened, but I'm NOT complaining! For the record, his hand was soft and warm. *swoon* -All of the performers were very good, even though I'm not a Vanessa Carlton or Collective Soul fan. Elliott Yamin was fantastic, and his flirty tamborine player Aaron was damn entertaining too. Cons.... stop reading now if you don't want to get frustrated. -Debi, Diana, and I only got about 3 hours of sleep each so we could get to the venue by 6 am, 12 hours before the doors opened. -Mandy Moore cancelled at the last minute due to illness. I was looking forward to seeing/meeting her. It was going to be a Millennium tour reunion! -BSB was on stage for about 5 minutes total all night and they didn't sing a single note. Not surprising but disappointing none the less. The least the station could have done was interview BSB on stage instead of backstage. As it was, the people listening to the radio at home got more BSB time than those of us in the audience. -Apparently the radio station staff has no clue how to organize anything because rather than setting up one m&g with all of the performers, they planned separate staggered m&gs with each performer. This led to a lot of unnecessary chaos and confusion for the staff as well as the fans. It also led to us only meeting BSB instead of all of the performers. -We were told to check in for the m&g as soon as we got inside the venue. Naturally when we tried to do that, no one we talked to knew anything about a m&g. After about half an hour of scrambling around, we were told to line up next to the stage. We waited there for at least another 15 minutes. Then we were brought to the side/backstage area where we waited some more. When we asked if anything was going to happen on stage while we were waiting, no one could give us an answer. When we asked if we were going to be meeting BSB then or later, no one could give us an answer. When we asked how long we'd be waiting in line, no one could give us an answer. Finally they told us that we were in line to meet Vanessa Carlton but that she'd be performing first, which meant that (1) BSB would be on stage soon and (2) we didn't need to be waiting there at that time. So we told the radio station staff that we didn't want to miss BSB on stage and went back to our seats. All of the other m&g people did the same. -The security inside the venue couldn't make up their minds about whether they'd stop people from rushing the stage or not. As soon as BSB appeared to introduce Vanessa, all hell broke loose and "security" just watched it happen. We were virtually trampled while hundreds of people poured in front of us. It was BAD but not entirely unexpected since I know how enthusiastic BSB fans usually are and also how poorly prepared security usually is (even though I emailed the radio station 2 weeks ago warning them to expect the worst). It didn't help matters that once the fans started rushing the stage, Nick said, "Yeah, everyone come up here!" Thanks Nick. -"Security" eventually cleared the area in front of the stage, but not until after Vanessa finished performing. They made everyone go back to their seats and positioned the biggest guys in the aisles so it wouldn't happen again. Before the next act, Collective Soul, some of the radio personalities came on stage to talk. It sounded like they were introducing BSB again, so people tried to rush forward and surprisingly security stopped most of them. However, the Boys didn't come out, so the radio people just introduced Collective Soul themselves (it was awkward). Then for some unknown reason the head security guy told the other security people to let everyone up to the stage, so away they went again! How stupid -- they actually did their jobs RIGHT by maintaining some semblance of order in the crowd, and then they randomly changed their minds and let the chaos start all over again? WTF? -Diana kept checking in with the m&g people every 10-15 minutes to see when we needed to be in line to meet BSB, and they kept telling her they didn't know what time and that it was going to be "a while." Towards the end of Collective Soul's performance she checked in again, and apparently the BSB m&g WAS ALMOST OVER. She ran to get us and we ran to the backstage area just in the nick of time. We ended up being the very last people to meet BSB. -Despite the Boys being wonderful, the m&g was a DISASTER. First, the staff wouldn't let us use our own cameras. They were having a "professional" take the pix for us and said we could get them off the radio station website. Excuse me? What if I don't want to be on your freakin website?! When I asked if I could get a hard copy of the pic, they said the one off the site would be good enough (and it isn't -- the quality SUCKS, someone told me today that it looks like it was taken with a camera phone -- some professional!). Then I asked what if the picture didn't turn out well? Would they fly BSB back to SJ to re-take it? They laughed. I wasn't kidding. Idiots. They wouldn't even let us hold our cameras. We had to put them on the floor in the hallway with our purses. We couldn't have anything with us when we approached them. We had brought gifts for the Boys -- Diana somehow managed to give Brian his, but the radio staff literally ripped Nick's and AJ's from our hands. We said, "But it's for them!" and they yelled at us that they had to search the gifts first for security reasons. In all of my years of attending fan events and giving celebs presents, I've never heard of something so ridiculous. Debi told AJ, "I don't know what they think we're going to do to you," and he laughed. I told Nick, "We have presents for you too but they won't let us give them to you," and I think he said, "Aw that's ok." I'm fairly certain Nick and AJ never got theirs, which pisses me off. The staff also wouldn't let us get our own items signed and again they yelled at us to put everything down. Instead as we were leaving they handed us pre-signed pictures, which included Howie's autograph too (which was lame since he wasn't even there). -When we approached the Boys, the Star 101.3 staff was literally yelling at us to hurry up -- the whole time, from the second we got there. Like, "Let's go! Get over there! Take the picture!" It was awful. They were the most rude, unprofessional radio employees I've ever encountered. I understand being stressed out, but come on, this is YOUR JOB. If you can't handle these kinds of situations, find a different line of work. They took an experience that should have been fun and exciting and made it frantic and frustrating. I could have done a better job with my eyes closed. Seriously. And I wouldn't have been rude either. -When I was talking to Nick, I had my back to the staff, and Debi said that one of the security guys was getting ready to grab me and pull me away. WTF? It's not like I was monopolizing his time. I talked to him for 10 seconds and I was the very last person. As it is, one security guy was coming between me and Nick as we were finishing our football talk. What were they expecting people to do at a m&g? Not speak? Apparently it should be called a meet & run instead. Or just a meet. Heck, I wouldn't even call it that. The whole experience lasted for maybe a minute and consisted of more yelling from the staff than "meeting" with BSB. It was more disappointing than I can even express. I know I should be grateful to have had any time with the Boys and I probably sound like a spoiled brat, but the situation was mishandled so badly that I can't help but be frustrated and bitter. -BSB came on stage for the second (and final) time to introduce Elliott Yamin. We made a break for it and ended up crushed against the stage. But we were in front. Woohoo. To me it was obvious that the Boys weren't coming back again because they were thanking everyone for coming, thanking the radio station, etc. Apparently this wasn't obvious to everyone else though. We stayed crushed up against the stage throughout Elliott's 7-song set (right in front of flirty Aaron, which was enjoyable) along with a couple hundred other BSB fans. After Elliott finished, some of the station's DJs came out on stage to say goodnight to everyone. The crowd was chanting "Backstreet Boys! Backstreet Boys!" but the DJs just stood there kind of dumbfounded. Even after they left the stage and the lights came on, the crowd was still chanting. It was very sad. Obviously there was a large BSB fanbase at the event, and everyone went home disappointed. -I hardly took any pictures because the Boys weren't on stage very much. You can view what little I have HERE. |
 |