Rush Concert

I don't even know where to begin...what an amazing night for Jake. He finally got to see his favorite band, live in concert, just a few weeks and two years short of when was supposed to go the first time. Not sure if it made it any more special for him to be there now, but it sure did for me.

I was looking back over the previous few months of blogs and realized I hadn't updated you on a couple of things regarding the concert. You may remember that due to an outpouring of letters from friends and family, the band sent Jake a whole bunch of cool stuff while he was in the hospital. They also mentioned we'd be guests of the band next time they came through town. We were hopeful but didn't expect them to remember since it was two years later and they do have a few things going on. :-)  The band's management team came through with tickets for all four of us and an invitation to a meet and greet before the concert. We had no idea where our tickets would be and didn't find out until we picked them up at will call last night. To say we were stunned when we opened the envelope to see tickets 12 rows back from the stage would be a MAJOR understatement. We never expected such good seats and couldn't believe it.

About an hour before the concert, we got to meet two of the band members and get our picture taken (Neil Peart the drummer wasn't there). I was so nervous and excited for Jake, it felt like we waited in line forever, which in reality was only about 20 minutes. It was very quick but pretty cool knowing we were standing there getting our picture taken with some of the band. As we were walking away, Alex Lifeson (on the left) gave each of the boys a guitar pick which was pretty awesome. Luke kept saying "I can't believe I have a guitar pick handed to me by Alex Lifeson!"

From there we headed to our seats to wait for the show to begin. As soon as the lights went down and the first few bars of music started to play, Jake was beaming. I don't think he could have smiled any bigger. I tried to get a picture, but it turned out blurry. Within minutes, he had his phone up like everyone else taking video and pictures. We had two very tall people in front of us and the boys were having a hard time seeing. The guys behind us suggested we let them stand on the seats which was very nice considering the boys blocked much of their view. Luke stood up there for one song but then let Jake and it was hard to get him down. :-) I was amazed at Jake's stamina during the show, which was about three hours with a short intermission. He stood the majority of the time, singing along to just about every song and air drumming away. It was so cool to see, Todd was definitely enjoying himself as well. While admittedly, I am a not nearly as big of fan, I am so glad I was able to be there to experience it with Todd, Jake and Luke. I have huge respect for the talent and musicianship the band has. They put on a really impressive show.

It was a definitely a night we will all remember for a very long time. I'm so glad this was Jake's first concert experience too. We feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to experience it like we did. Here is a little video clip of all the boys enjoying the show and of course part of Neil Peart's drum solo. Jake would never forgive me if I didn't includ that. :-)  http://youtu.be/8SFhGYAJmgA 

P.S. Those pink things in the boys are are earplugs courtesy of mom. :-)