2011-12-04 - Ikeda Theater - Mesa, AZ

[RaiseTheKnife]

Jaffa--- fanboy!  But seriously it is a cool feeling to have JLB finger of acknowledgement.  Got one in Texas meself.

[02T]

Sorry I had to bail early.  It was nice meeting chknptpie and her intended.

Phenomenal show.  Great venue.  One of the best setlists ever.

Got my ADToE and SFAM vinyls signed, as well as my Suspended Animation and Jelly Jam Shall We Descend? cds.

Both James and JP commented on the SFAM one.  Made me wonder if it was the first time they had seen it.

[chknptpie]

Jingle.boy - glad your luggage did truly arrive! And I'm pretty sure we saw you get a huge fist bump. Funny stuff.

My fiance said he thought it was going to be weird without MP, thought that he would notice too much. After the show he said he didn't miss him. Mangini is incredibly fun to watch, just wish there were shots of his feet too!

Edit: here is our picture!

[jingle.boy]

Jingle.boy - glad your luggage did truly arrive! And I'm pretty sure we saw you get a huge fist bump. Funny stuff.

Yeah, that was me and the guy beside me... right after the intro of BAI.  It turned me into such a fanboy!

[chknptpie]

I posted the picture in the dtf.org group on facebook. I was going to tag everyone, but then realized I can't ha. So if you're in the fb group and want to, feel free to tag yourself!

[Lark the Starless]

you really can't appreciate what Mangini brings to the band until you see him play live.   

Seriously.  The man is literally the most infectiously happy human being I have ever seen.  Every time he smiled, I couldn't help but smile too.  And he's always smiling.

Also, funny story.  Smallfonting it because most people won't care about this. 

There was a point during the concert where James Labrie stuck his hand up in the air and held up one finger.  I know, I know; he did that like a billion times.  But at one time in particular, I had been holding up my closed fist already, and when he held up his one finger, I held up mine to match him.  And at the moment I swore me pointed at me. 

Now, at the time I was thinking, y'know, 'Don't be an idiot, Jaffa.  He points into the audience like that in every direction intentionally, so that everyone thinks they're getting his personal attention.'  I knew it was my imagination, that he was just pointing in my general area. 

Then, after the show, my brother said, "Dude, the singer pointed right at you."  And the guy sitting on the other side of me said he thought so too.  Neither of them thought he was pointing at them. On both sides of me they thought he'd pointed directly at me.  So, even though I feel like it's kind of ridiculous to think this, I kinda think JLB saw me lift up one finger in direct response to him and pointed at me in recognition.  And call me a fanboy, but dammit, I felt fucking cool.  =D

The same thing happened to me at the Anaheim show 2 days earlier. I was giddy, to say the least. 

I also got the John Petrucci nod of approval during "Breaking All Illusions."

Oh and I was wearing my Genesis "A Trick of the Tail" shirt and I THINK Jordan Rudess also gave me a nod of approval. 

[02T]

Pictures from the meet and greet are up.  I'm such a fanboy.

[dominion654]

So since I am new, I went looking for this thread. One of my fraternity brothers has a step dad who is the production manager for DT. His name is TJ. I got to go back stage before the show and watch sound check, then we got free tix, then I got to meet JP and JR. They both signed my pick guard as well! I got to say a few words to Mangini but apparently he was really sick or something. I have a picture or two on my facebook but I have no idea how to share it on here. I am a forum noob. It was a cool night, and JR was maybe the nicest person I have ever met. JP seemed rushed and didn't want to be there, probably because he said he had to go and I ran up to get an autograph and a pic before he left haha.