This past Saturday, something very cool happened. 🙂 I got to see my favorite band, Queensryche, up close and personal, from THE FRONT ROW.
But let me back up just a bit.
Anyone who’s spent any time with me knows that these guys are my passion, my life, my happy. I’ve been a fan since the 90s (as a teenager — I’m totally dating myself here, oops!) and I’ve hung in there, mostly, through their “dark ages” album phase and their lead singer change (for the better!) — I mean, Todd La Torre saved them from oblivion in 2012, but that’s another story. They respect and love their fans, and make a point of connecting with them on social media. They care. Not just because we’re paying for albums, merch, or to see them live, but because we are real people and we matter to them. How often do you find a band like that? Or a lead singer who randomly tweets you (and he isn’t following you) on Twitter/X three minutes after you tweet that you are devastated about having to (TW: pet death) euthanize your elderly cat in an hour and he’s giving you his condolences?
Yeah. Okay, so I love these guys, and every time they tour and come to my state, I literally drop everything and move heaven and Earth to go. Seriously. I missed a few of Todd’s first tours with the band, due to some unavoidable circumstances, and I will forever never forgive myself for that. But now? Nope. Every show, I am there. So, they are currently doing their “Origins” tour, which is where they are performing their EP and first album in their entirety as they were recorded, straight through, no changes. Never been done before, and probably never will be again. It’s a big deal. So, they always come to the Detroit area. It’s a given. And usually another town as well. Hubby and I live maybe twenty minutes from Detroit. But when I went to buy tickets…when the presale happened….about a minute or two after it went live…I had a serious problem. I couldn’t get balcony tickets. And I need those, as with hip problems, I can’t stand for four or five hours. Not anymore. I’m forty-eight with fibromyalgia and a pinched nerve in my back. Just…wasn’t happening.
So it looked like we weren’t going after all. Damn. What horrible luck. Until I noticed that the other city, and venue, had actual SEATS. Buuut it was quite a distance away. Try about three hundred miles (2-3 hours). Um…
Hubby said he’d take me!!! Wha…? Was I dreaming? He’d never…but he did! We decided to make this our “early fifteen-year-anniversary trip” (our anniversary is actually in June). So I booked the tickets, got TWELFTH ROW TICKETS by some miracle (and I’ll explain how that changed) and we were off to the races!
Except…two nights prior to the show, we have car trouble. Put it in for service. Will it get done in time? Yes. Day before the show, another problem, unrelated to the first. Will it get done on time? Yes! (The car was actually pretty low in miles…but you know…as they get used and get older…shit happens…and apparently RIGHT BEFORE you really need them!) We also had a power outage that Friday, and I worried about the venue, but that worked out too. (And did I mention we ended up booking a hotel room? Because of the long drive home and how late it would be and all that? Yeah).
Okay, so all was well. So we got there. We had a bit of confusion about the hotel and parking structure, but that got resolved quickly as well. And almost got stuck in the elevator. Is it normal to have to use your room key to activate it? (Did I also mention that we haven’t taken a proper trip since before COVID? Yeah…life, man. Just haven’t been able to).
Soooooo here’s how the front row seats happened. I have a friend I met online who is a fan. She saw me tweeting to Todd about going to this show and asked if I was going. I said yes. She wanted to meet up there. I thought that’d be cool. So when we got there, she told me to DM her. So I did once we were settled (found seats, got shirts). She was already up front and said she’d wave at us, could I wave back? Yes! Hubby saw her first. I waved and waved. She came down. We met. It was awesome! She’s so nice. (And a fellow writer too!). Here’s the neat part: She and her friends had front row seats, and there were some unoccupied ones. Would we like to sit up front with them?
Um…is this even a question?
Hell yeah!
So there we were, UP FRONT, seeing everything so close. I’ve never been that close! Holy crap! It was amazing and magical and OMG I don’t think I’m ever going to forget it. Of course I thanked my friend and her friends about a zillion times for their kindness. OMG. What generous people!
The concert. GUYS. What…I was in heaven. Seriously. First off, I love both the EP and that first album, The Warning. So you know, that’s awesome. Second…they always put on a good show. Phenomenal performance. Always. I just…two of my favorite songs are on The Warning and well…the experience was almost religious for me. I thought my heart would just burst with happiness.
I wanted to take pictures, but I try not to get too bogged down in that because knowing myself, I’d get into that and forget to enjoy the show. So yeah, I only took about five, and no video! I know, bad Erin, no cookie! But there are lots of pics and videos online to look at. I will say this: Todd will, if he sees you filming up front, take your phone and film around the stage while he’s singing to give you some special footage. And he did that with three people that night, including my friend!!! So that’s really neat.
The best thing though? I was wearing a mask. I am considered high risk so in certain situations, I still mask up. I wasn’t sure if Todd would recognize me. And usually when he sees fans he knows, he points at them or somehow acknowledges them while he’s performing. It’s pretty neat. I had a serious dry throat problem, and apparently while I was in the bathroom, one of the road crew threw my husband a bottle of water (unused of course). I came back and was so grateful. I kept needing to take sips, which meant occasionally undoing my mask…le sigh. Anyway, during the encore, Todd looked right at me, gave me a big smile, and gave me a thumbs up.
So I think it’s safe to say that he probably recognized me. 😉
It’s all good. Best night of my life. Couldn’t have asked for better.
And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the opening act, Armored Saint. First time we ever saw them, and we were very impressed. Also phenomenal.
I think that’s it. I’m still on Cloud 9. It’s amazing how the universe orchestrates things so perfectly. Had we’d gone to Detroit as we’d planned, I never would have met up with my friend OR have gotten to see the concert in the front row. We were truly blessed. 🙂