HOW ALMOST FAINTING TURNED INTO MEETING MAT KEARNEY

So, I know what you're thinking. The fainting is supposed to come after an encounter with one of the coolest people on the planet, isn't it? However, almost passing out had nothing to do with being starstruck.

Here, I'll set the scene:

It's our fourth year of going to Basilica Block Party hosted by Cities 97, and we are beyond pumped. Per usual, the July heat leads us straight to the food ticket booth so that we can stay hydrated. We get a piece of pizza and some drinks, run into some old high school friends, and walk around to check out the different stages. We're looking at the schedule deciding who we want to see most and when. Ultimately, we decide on first seeing Mat Kearney, staying a bit for O.A.R., and then heading to catch the tail end of Weezer.

Lauren, Shelby, and Me

So we end up getting pretty decent spots for Mat Kearney. We get there a little bit early and listen to whoever was on before him, while more and more people pile in around us. Before we know it, we are belting out songs like "She's Got the Honey" and "Ships in the Night." Mat is absolutely killing it. And it has already made the books as one of the best nights as Basilica.  

Eventually, Mat sings his final song and crowd shows their approval with an appropriate amount of whoops and hollers. And then it's over. The temperature is hovering somewhere around uncomfortably hot, and being in a massive crowd of people is not making it any better. We gaze longingly at blue guitar shaped fans that the people next to us were using to cool themselves off. Meanwhile, the people on the other side of us decided it would be a good idea to start elbowing people around them to box them out and have plenty of space (this is a game plan they decided to make out loud as we gave them dirty side glances for being rude concert go-ers*). But you have to make sacrifices. As people ran off in sight of food and hydration after Mat Kearney, we moved even closer, so that there was only a few people between us and the stage. 

Finally, O.A.R. takes the stage with "Love and Memories" and a few other opening songs that I don't really recognize. My friends decide that they want to hear "Peace" and "Heaven." Everything is going great. Again, we are singing and dancing, enjoying a view we rarely get close enough for. A few songs in "Heaven" came on, and we were all excited to hear it. Then out of nowhere, I feel like I am going to see my pizza again. I turned to my friend Shelby, and I was like "I have to get of here, but you guys stay. I'll be just fine." Clearly, they could see on my face that I was not going to be fine, and they followed my out of the crowd like the awesome friends they are. 

As I am pushing through this massive hoard of people, I can barely see where I am going. I'm seeing spots, and I can't figure out how I am actually still standing. Just when I think I am at the edge of the crowd, I feel a fence, and I look up to see I had reached a fenced in grass area surrounded my people. At this point, standing is barely an option, and I drop to the ground gripping the poles of the fence. I vaguely recall some women standing above me saying (read in snotty voice), "If she's going to throw up, will you please move her?" to my friends. 

I know that I have to make it out of the crowd, and continue to push to edge of the crowd. I sat with my head in my knees right next to the fence that marks the boundaries of the concert area, as one of my friends went to get my water. And this is when it happened: I don't remember exactly what Lauren said, but it was something like "Is that Mat Kearney? Yeah, that's totally him right there." So we all look over, and sure enough he's standing only yards away from us on the other side of the fence. We watched as he talked to Cities 97 people, until some girl manages to get his attention and was taking a picture with him. I quickly assure my friends that I am good enough to get up and that we have to get a picture. 

First Lauren managed to get a quick selfie with him, and when Shelby and I caught up, I asked him if it would be okay if we got one with him, too. I SAID WORDS TO MAT KEARNEY (I know that is the least eloquent way to put that, but that describes my mental state at this point). And then we snapped this awesome picture, which I am still a little disappointed isn't the best quality, but still. I have a picture with Mat Kearney now. Shelby kept saying that she was really sorry I had to get sick, but she was really glad that I did, because otherwise we would have never met him. And I agreed. 

In reality, this probably occurred from being super dehydrated since it was so hot out, and I had barely had anything to eat or drink that day, since I took a 5 hour bus ride back into town that day. However, I would still like to think that it was meant to be so we could meet Mat. 

Cheers to more years of Basilica Block Party ahead!

Have you had any unexpectedly amazing concert experiences?

*It was at this time that I decided my blog post about Basilica would be on concert etiquette. But meeting Mat Kearney was way cooler. So the date on that blog post is TBD.
(Also, shout out to Becky. We wish you could have been there to experience this one with with us. But I still plan on photoshopping you in on this pictures.)

Na Na Na

Basilica Block Party has become some what of tradition. For the last three summers my friends and I have gone to the "historic grounds of the Basilica" as they always say on Cities 97 building up to this special weekend. For two nights artists--some big names, others not as well-known--take three stages. BBP goers anxiously await the line-up each April, and Cities 97 never disappoints. This year my friends and I decided to go to Night Two. We ended up staying at the Sun Country Airline Stage the whole night, because we wanted good spots for Ingrid Michaelson and Train.

A Few of the Artists at the 2014 Basilica Block Party

Alpha Rev

Caroline Smith

Alpha Rev (why is his guitar so small?)

In our time in the crowd of the Sun Country Airline Stage I was reminded of a few things:

• The actual amount of people with curly hair becomes more apparent with rain and humidity. (Thankfully it didn't rain during the concert, just before, and my anti-humidity hairspray worked pretty well that night.)
• People are rude. It's not like I needed to go to a concert to learn this, but I thought I would throw it out there. Some people are just so rude.
• Short people are at a great disadvantage in crowds.
• You are not always going to be able to see the artist you paid to see and not just hear. 
• Standing in virtually the same place for 5.5 hours does a number on the body. I'm talking back pain, sore knees, sore feet, slight-dehydration. 
• Other people taking selfies/snapchats is distracting. I'm not just talking about people in the crowd. Pat Monahan of Train invited some girls up on the stage during "Mermaid", and the girls basically danced around and tried to take selfies with him. He made it pretty humorous by expressing how frightened he was.  

Ingrid took the stage with a loud, slightly sarcastic persona. She introduced "You and I" by saying she didn't like being called "cute", as she often was for this song. It's funny because from some of her earlier stuff I imagined her to have a much different stage presence. I pictured a quieter, calm singer who spent her time drinking tea and writing songs in quaint coffee shops. But Ingrid was playful and sassy, the kind of person that people would take notice of when she walked into the room--and not just because she is a famous singer.

Finally, a little after nine, Train came on, and the crowd erupted. It was the final act on the final night of the 2014 Cities 97 Basilica Block Party. Oake and Kerri, the Cities 97 morning show hosts, reminded the crowd one last time to use the hashtag #Cities97BBP to get the Block Party trending on social media, and the finale began. The started with some new songs, played some hits in the middle, and even came on for an encore. Their most popular song was yet to be played: Drops of Jupiter. Everyone in the crowd, young and old, new the lyrics to this one. As we all sang along, we were reminded this was the end of concert, the end of the Block Party, and the end of the third year that I had attended BBP with friends. 

And tell me, did you fall for a shooting star,
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na

Pat Monahan

Pat taking Selfies with people's phones

Bachelorette Party?

Oake and Kerri also reminded concert go-ers that their wristbands (for those 21+) would get them into Sneeky Pete's for free after the concert for the BBP After Party. My 21 and under friends and I had an after-party of our own.