Bon Jovi Concert Memories- 2000-2007- Part 3

 Saturday July 29, 2006- Giants Stadium

My driving anxiety was very high that day. I was so happy when I saw that Stadium and was almost there. I pictured JBJ telling me that it’s going to be alright during the drive there. Their “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” song was on the radio then.

   Two girls invited me to hang out with them and their guy friend in the parking lot. The guy adjusted the bass on my car stereo so it sounds better now. They offered me a drink but I don’t like alcohol so I said no. A friend of theirs who arrived later said that I was brave for driving there after I told her about my driving anxiety. She said that she would do anything for JBJ.

   They all thought that I was younger than I actually am which made me feel good.

    A water balloon was thrown and when it burst my glasses got a little wet. I wanted to wipe them off but my idiot side wouldn’t let me. Why was I thinking that they would be okay? When I got home I noticed that they were a bit spotty so this must’ve spoiled my view somewhat during the show. I can’t do a damn thing right.

  I also shouldn’t have listened to the one girl who said that the opening act, Nickelback, wouldn’t start until 8:00. I know that these acts usually begin at between 7:00 and 7:20 and thanks to me not listening to my smart side I missed 2 or 3 of their songs. I didn’t get to my seat until around 7:30 after using the bathroom.

   I had lied to my brother telling him that I was going to a Huey Lewis & the News concert at PNC because I didn’t want him teasing me and saying that I’m obsessed with Bon Jovi.  I was also afraid that he might be kind of mad at me for not asking if he wanted a ticket to this event.

   It turned out that the people that I had hung out with were in the same row as me, further down. The one girl stood next to me after she returned from the bathroom and asked if she could borrow my binoculars during one of my favorite songs,” Have a Nice Day”.

   I was worried that she might drop them and they would break. My brother would be so mad if that happened. She gave them back to me after 30 seconds but it seemed much longer than that. All that worrying and wanting to get a closer view of Jon myself took away from my enjoyment of this song.

   I felt foolish for dancing around/swaying to the music during “It’s My Life”,” Bad Medicine” and part of “Livin’ On a Prayer”. I also sang along during part of that” Home” song. It’s okay for everyone else to do such things at concerts but it never feels right for me.

   I was thinking “He’s such a ham” and “Such a nice smile” about Jon during the show.

   Afterwards, I was feeling really anxious because I couldn’t find my car. I was waiting in it for at least an hour so that the traffic would die down and I wouldn’t be as stressed out about the drive home.  Further anxiety occurred when a firework exploded nearby. I screamed. I had my radio on. One of the songs that played was “Stairway to Heaven”.

  Mom was spaced out from overdoing it on her meds before and after the concert so I was feeling angry and upset about this. It’s hard not to let that affect my memories of these events. They always seem to stand out more than the good times that I’ve had at them.

Bon Jovi Concert Memories- 2000-2007- Part 1

 Bon Jovi Concert Memories

Friday November 10, 2000- First Union Center, Philadelphia, PA

I was very excited about going to my first Bon Jovi concert. We weren’t able to get tickets for their show at the Continental Airlines Arena in the Meadowlands, NJ so Matt got us these. It was such a good show. We rented binoculars. He bought me the souvenir book.

  A couple of people in front of me were standing during a few songs which I didn’t feel like doing but now sort of wish that I had. I had to look around them which was annoying. “Livin’ on a Prayer” was one of the songs. I didn’t really look at the screen much which I’m also regretting.

 

Tuesday July 24, 2001- Tweeter Center, Camden, NJ

Mom had one of her bad hallucination episodes from overdoing it on her meds and had to be hospitalized before this. I didn’t use the binoculars at all. I probably wasn’t thinking straight because I was worrying about her and was mad that she did this.

   There were pretty lights in the background on the stage during “I’ll Be There for You”. A beautiful girl danced with Jon during part of” Bed of Roses”. Another girl touched him on the butt at one point during the show which was very inappropriate.

   I was feeling so ugly and also was ashamed that I was going a bit gaga over Jon, thinking that he is so damn cute. I definitely wanted to go to their Giants Stadium show after seeing this fantastic one. This was in 4 days but I was afraid that Matt would be mad at me if I got us tickets for it.

 

Saturday July 28, 2001- Giants Stadium, Meadowlands, NJ

I was afraid that Matt was mad at me for getting these tickets. He did seem a little annoyed and I was upset that he picked me up late and that he told me that his friends who he had been hanging out with actually had to remind him that he was supposed to be taking me to this concert that night. 

   We picked the tickets up at the will call (?) window at the box office. I missed part of Sugar Ray’s performance thanks to his lateness. We were in seats nearly in the top row of the stadium.

   A girl did the inappropriate touching of Jon’s butt at this show too. Matt and I were joking about this. They performed “Never Say Goodbye”, my senior prom song. During this I was afraid that Matt would get mad at me if I told him to stop touching my back which was feeling a bit sore from standing so much.

    I really got into “Bad Medicine” and “It’s My Life” which is semi embarrassing. There were fireworks at the end of the concert. It was being taped for a special on VH1 which we did watch. It looks like they might’ve filmed the 2 shows at this venue and used footage from both.

   Was part of the reason that I wanted to see them again so soon because I was mad at myself for not using the binoculars and looking at the screen during the Camden show? Perhaps, but mostly I wanted to have yet another enjoyable Bon Jovi experience. They put on such an excellent show.

Friday August 8, 2003- Giants Stadium

I worried that it might rain during this concert. Mike bought me the book. I had cigarette burn anxiety again because of the girl smoking next to me. The smoke was annoying too. She was moving her arms around a lot.

   Cell phone users were very distracting as was my brother a bit because he was asking some questions during part of the show. I was beating myself up, wondering if maybe I should have used the binoculars more and focused them better.

   Richie sang” I’ll Be There for You”. There were fireworks at the end of the concert. Jason Mraz and another guy were the opening acts.

 

Bon Jovi and US Open tickets

I had not intended on going to any concerts this year because I've mostly been saving for US Open tickets but this past Wednesday my brother informed me that he had been at the TicketMaster site looking into the ticket prices for both events. I was suprised that Mark changed his mind about not fitting Bon Jovi tickets into his budget. He seemed pretty excited about wanting to go which got me feeling the same way so I went to the site and ordered them for us.

It's my fault that he is into Bon Jovi now. He seems even more into them than I am. We have been to 2 concerts together. One was the Bounce tour- was that 2003? We were at Giants Stadium for that. It was the Prudential Center in Newark in 2007 for the Lost Highway tour. Crappy seats for both and likewise for the upcoming show in July. The tickets went on sale a few weeks ago so we are just glad that we were able to still get some.

This is only the second event that I've ordered tickets online for. Last time it was for the US Open in 2009. We did that like only a few days before so I had to print them out which was kind of frustating because our printer gives us problems often. This year I plan on ordering them early and having them sent by mail. We get the grounds pass and will be going for 5 days instead of 4 this time.

I always worry that tickets will get lost in the mail or sent to the wrong place. Until I have the tickets in my hand I will be anxious about this. I have always said my address twice to the person on the phone but I still worry that he or she misunderstood me. The tickets always get here, thank goodness. I worry too much about many things anyhow, I can't help it.

I heard You Give Love a Bad Name on the radio today and was feeling both anxious and excited about the concert. There are 4 shows in May but 3 of them are sold out and the 4th one had even crappier seats left. The opening act will be Kid Rock. I know a few songs by him. I am definitely not driving to the Meadowlands- it's too stressful. Luckily now they have a bus link from the Secaucus train station that will take you there so we'll be going to Linden station for the train. They only started doing this recently. They should've had that for many years- we would've went to more events there. I have driven there about 6 times and am glad that I don't have to again.

We aren't sure when the tennis tickets go on sale, maybe next month. If you are a member of the USTA you can order them now. The weather during the US Open had been nearly perfect the past 3 years. I have this bad feeling that this time it won't be and am praying that I'm wrong. Watch, it'll rain sometime during the first week but be perfect for the 2nd. I haven't gotten rained on for any outdoor concerts yet, I hope that this fortune continues for this one. It'll be interesting seeing the new Giants Stadium.

Bon Jovi Dream

I don't feel like being in reality today because I'm depressed about all the medical bills that I have to pay so I'm going to return to one of my dreams from February 5 of this year.

I won a contest - 2 tickets to a private Bon Jovi concert. Mom came with me because Mark was very sick. This was yet another alien abduction dream. This event was taking place on one of those big, nice buses which was very strange and they performed when we were on the road. I drove to the Meadowlands and saw the old stadium being torn down. It was the beginning of May. Mom was feeling cold and had her winter coat and hat on even though the temp was 62. There were about 50 other people on this bus. The seats were very comfortable. There was space in front for the band.

I saw a cute doggie- a border collie mix and about 10 seconds later my Mookie who has been dead for 5 years appeared on my lap. Obviously the aliens were reading my thoughts and memories. I was happy to see her. I was mad that they made my glasses disappear during a few of the songs. My eyesight is terrible. There was alot of talking going on between the band and the audience between songs. Not sure which road we were on; it might've been Rt 3 but it looked different- mountains, some of them snow covered, were here. Not much development either. Lots of countryside.

At one point Richie sat next to me. I was feeling kind of sleepy and dozed off for a bit. My head was on his arm. He was wearing a nice black leather jacket. Somehow my hand got caught on this when he was trying to get up. He left a flashlight on the seat right next to me. I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and sweatjacket.

They took a few requests. The actual music part of the dream is kind of fuzzy, unfortunately. There were a few from the new album. But I've only ever heard one in real life so I guess the others were in my imagination. Jon liked my eyeglasses and asked where I got them. He had his sunglasses on even though it was night but only for a little while. I was kind of annoyed that they hadn't performed that many songs and we had already been on this bus trip for 2 hours.

Jon asked us if we wanted to stop at a rest stop for something to eat- his treat. We all said yes. When we got out of the bus I told mom to stick close to me. We had to leave the 2 doggies on the bus. Mookie had been sitting on Mom's lap for most of the time. Only about a minute later Mom had wandered off and I couldn't find her. Where could she have gone that quickly? I thought that I had found her but it was only another lady with a similar coat. I was very worried even though she was just a hologram or shape shifting alien like everybody else.

There were alot of people at this rest stop. Another lady from our bus said that she would help me look for my mother when she saw how upset that I was. Luckily we found her a few minutes later. I got ice cream at the restraunt. We got back on the bus afterwards and headed back to the Meadowlands. The band performed some more songs and there were additional conversations.

It was daylight when we returned there which was odd because it had been around 8:00 pm when we had started this unusual trip. The total number of songs that they performed was 15 or 16. During one of the power ballads Jon was close to me and looked at me for a bit. I wondered why he did that. When we got to the parking lot he said "Let's do some more". The audience was excited and we went on a different road this time for about an hour and they did 5 more songs.

What a long trip/concert this was, like 5 and a half hours. I did have a good time and felt relaxed. I wasn't even freaked out about being abducted. Nobody seemed annoyed that they didn't do more songs in that long period of time. I wondered if I was on a holodeck on the alien ship or on their planet made to look like Earth as I always do in these abduction dreams. They seem to like taking me alot.

Seeing that report about Giants Stadium being torn down on the news and thinking about the 3 Bon Jovi concerts that I've been to there must've been the reason why they were in my night time thoughts. In reality most of the stadium will probably be torn down by early May but in this alien reality it was only half done.