American Girl on a Saturday Night

Saturday night was crazy!! It still amazes me to think about it. I am pretty sure this kind of experience will never happen again. Ok let me explain. Here's a recap.

Thursday evening, I received a DM on twitter from @LiveNationPhila telling me that I'd been chosen to receive a pair of tickets to Saturday night's Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers concert in Philly. I was beyond excited! I love Tom Petty and was really looking forward to a night out. So then Friday, while confirming my win with @LiveNationPhila's twitter rep, they told me I was sitting in the most expensive section. So I'm thinking floor seats. Now this show was at the Wachovia (soon to be Wells Fargo) Center in Philly. This is where the Flyers and Sixers play. This is a big venue! Floor seats were over $100 bucks each. So I'm thinking, this is a big win. I'm even more stoked. Then later that day, TomPetty.com calls to congratulate me and let me know that I need to pick up my tickets at the band will call, not the regular will call and to bring an ID. This lady tells me my seats are in the first 15 rows!! This is crazy. In the first 15 rows!!

Ok so Saturday comes...around 4:30 we left and drove into the city. We parked, walked over to the venue and found will call. At first the guy told me the band stuff wasn't there yet and to hang tight. I have to admit, I had flashes in my head that this would be a bust. We wouldn't even have tickets to the show, let alone floor seats. We waited like 10 min and then got back in the line to ask again. The guy took my ID to check again and this time, he came back with an envelope!! He says, "Ok Jode...here we go. My older brother had them. I should have checked with him first!" Strange right? And only a few people in this whole world call me Jode, so it was pretty funny. He slides the envelope out with a pen for me to sign and that's when I notice, the envelope says Row: 2. 2?!?!

Yeah that's right, Row 2! Our tickets said Row 2. Yeah I was super excited. Like beside myself excited. Once we got inside, we went right down to find our seats. And they were insanely close. I looked up at the mic and said outloud, "Tom Petty will be right there!" LOL

So once I got a soda and settled a bit, I was good to go. I had my camera with new batteries. I had my beverage. I was sitting in the 2nd row, and pretty soon I'd be 2 rows away from Buddy Guy. Yep, Buddy Guy opened the show. But this is where it got briefly scary and sad all at the same time. Buddy Guy walks out, everyone's screaming. I turn on my camera and it says, "Change Batteries". Change Batteries?! I DID! I put in brand new ones. (Ok they weren't brand new, but I tested them in the battery tester thing we have that they both were off the charts charged!!) I thought maybe I put them in wrong. So I switch them. This time the camera doesn't even turn on. NOTHING. I'm thinking, "I am in the flippin 2nd row and my camera has NO BATTERIES. This is NOT happening. I was panicked and so sad. But there was nothing I could do now.

So I settled back and really enjoyed Buddy Guy's set. I was so impressed. He put on an incredible set. I've never seen him live, so this was a real treat. He played Damn Right I've Got the Blues, Hoochie Coochie Man, Nobody Understands Me Like My Guitar, Skin Deep & Slippin In (among others!). He even walked off stage into the crowd to play, which was pretty cool! He was so so good, and really helped me forget about my camera dilemma. But once he was done, I was bummed again. I thought, ok maybe they sell batteries here. I knew I'd have to pay like $20 bucks for 2 batteries, but I was willing. It didn't matter, I needed pictures from this night!

So we walked the entire concourse. Nothing. No one sold batteries. Lots of beer, french fries and tshirts, but no batteries. I even saw some Best Buy guy sitting at a table trying to get people to sign up for a credit card and asked him. Nothing. So we walked back towards the ramp to our seats and I saw the WMGK table. WMGK is Philly's Classic Rock radio station and they were broadcasting from the show. I thought, it's worth a shot. So I went over to the DJ (Ray Koob) and asked. And he was sorry but he didn't. He said if they were using wireless mics, then they would have, but they were wired that night. UGH. No luck. I explained to him that I had won these tickets and I was in the 2nd row and how bummed I was about my lack of batteries. He was really sorry, but he didn't have any.

So Dan and I walked away from the table to think about what we should do. He asked if I wanted a drink or anything, but I didn't. I was just bummed. I said, well let's just go back to our seats. So we walked back towards the ramp to our seats when Ray waved me over!!! One of the guys with him, Joe, had found some!! Joe had batteries!! I was so excited. He gave me a set to try and when they worked, he gave me a 2nd set just in case!! How great are they?! I was beyond thankful. Ray even asked for my name and where I was from and said he'd mention me on the radio!! (No one I know heard it, but still nice to know my name went out on the radio waves that night!!)

So I went back to our seats happy as a clam. Ready for some Petty! (sorry, couldn't resist!)

When they came out, the crowd went nuts!! It was unbelievable how the place erupted. The band went right into the music, after telling us they'd been waiting for this show for a long time and they had great songs planned! The played so many hits... Free Fallin', Won't Back Down, Last Dance of Mary Jane, You Don't Know How It Feels, Don't Come Around Here No More, Learning to Fly...and then they closed the show with Runnin' Down a Dream and American Girl. So so so good. They did 4 songs from the new album, MOJO, also. This album has a very bluesy feel and it played so so well live.  My very favorite moment was during Learning to Fly. I've always thought that was a beautiful song. One of my absolute favorites. Well, it was gorgeous live! Tom Petty had the whole audience singing the chorus with him and it was magical. It really was an incredible show. And I got some pretty amazing pictures!


Here are a few :)

It was an amazing night! We couldn't have asked for a better experience! Thanks @LiveNationPhila and WMGK!! You both rock!


I'm still catching up on sleep from being out so late, so I'm gonna head to bed. Hope you all have a great week. Happy August!!