This may belong in the concert/setlist forum..
I just came back from a weekend in Oslo with my best friend. We had gotten tickets for the second show (out of three) this saturday, and oh boy.. this evening ended up being one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
The official fan-club invited fans to a fan-club gathering at Konserthuset before the gig, and we decided to get tickets for this as well. It was a fun little event. We could order beers, chat with other people, watch videos and they had a little Guitar Hero-challenge that was fun
(I lost...).
To end the event Noxon had put together a quiz where the winning team would win after-show passes,and hang with the band after the show. I know Im a huge DT-nerd, but I didnt hope to win since there was a whole bunch of DT-fanatics in the crowd.
To my suprise, me and the other guys in my team won with 17 correct out of 19 questions!
Holy hell.. my world was shaking at this point. Ive been a DT fan for over 16 years, and finally I get to meet them? No way!!
We went to eat right before the show, writing questions for the band on napkins in the restaurant.
The concert started right on time. MAN! WHAT a performance! Everybody was on top form, the sound was great, the visuals were great. All in all a 10/10 performance,and probably the best DT-show I`ve ever been to.
After the show we met with Noxon and about 10 people at the side of the stage.
We were led to the catering area where we would wait for the band to arrive.
Noxon said that we should just relax, ask questions, take as many pictures you want, get them to sign stuff - just don`t turn into a crazy fan boy (oh boy was that difficult!)
.
We waited for about ten minutes, and suddenly John Petrucci was just standing there. Starstruck as hell at this point... JP looked a bit tired, and actually a bit nervous as well. He came over to our table first and just started chatting to us. He was such a gentle and calm guy. He signed my tour-book and commented that Oslo was the last place they would sell the "collectors edition"-tour book (the one with all the misspellings).
JP is one of my biggest heroes, so I was so nervous talking to him. However, it was so cool, and I managed to stay on my feet and not getting down on my knees, kissing his feet.
The next one to arrive was Mangini. Smiling as usual, with a bottle of Stella in his hand. He was tired as hell, and said that he would sign stuff, but he had to go to bed really quick. He stayed for decent amount of time, taking pictures,answering questions, signing stuff and just kidding around.
MM is so funny,and he almost mocked me for not being able to ask questions the way I wanted them to come out (I was really nervous!)
The first thing I asked him was if he remembered a clinic in Gjøvik he`d held a couple of years
ago. He did, and I said that it was so inspiring, and loud as hell!
He answered: "Well, what did you expect? I hit stuff - HARD!"
Then I asked him how he counted the intro to A Life left behind. I said that I counted so it added up to three bars of four.
I think I formulated the question really bad, and he answered:
"4/4? No, are you crazy? Its one bar of 7/4, one of 5/4 with me doing a lot of crazy stuff in between". I felt so stupid, but he said that he could understand what I ment, and that he was :)just joking around.
Then came Jordan, I believe. Man..what a guy. Such a lovely person, and you could see that he really cared for his fans. He singed some stuff and took some pictures, then he chatted with everyone of us. I asked him about the "click-track"-thing. I wrote down his answer here:
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=46148.0 To my suprise, he actually began to ask me questions! He wanted to know if we though it was challenging to sit through the entire show, and just generally wanted us to give him our thoughts on the show. He`s such an amazing guy...when you talked to him he stared into your eyes, really taking in what we were saying.
He stayed the longest, and before he left he walked up to every one of us, shooked our hands and thanked us for coming.
John Myung came in last (LaBrie was unable to attend). He was joking around a bit with Jordan at first, then he took pictures and signed stuff. He was really cool to talk to, and not as silent an introverted as you might think. As with Jordan, he really listened to what you said and answered the questions you had in great detail. I asked why he didnt bring his Taurus-pedals for this tour. He said that he wanted to, but it wasn`t really necessary for this tour. He said that he would bring them back though, because they`re awesome!
This was such a great experience..I am still shaking!
Thanks to Noxon and DTworld for setting this up.
You Rock!!
Here are some pictures:
Topic: I met the band! (Oslo after-show) (Read 2269 times)