I appear to be on a pretty good streak of getting photos during meet and greets at a lot of the concerts I’ve been to over the past year and took notice that all of the above people are at least a whole head taller than me. To be honest, it is not hard to be taller than me as I’m only about 5’2. I decided I would share my stories about meeting the four singers I’ve had the absolute pleasure of meeting and getting photos with. Before anyone asks if it is just a coincidence that they’ve all either been on One Tree Hill or at least had their music featured on the show more than once, it’s not. That show had a fantastic music supervisor and knew how to pick the perfect music, including music by all of these people.
Matt Nathanson: Where do I even begin with this one? If someone asked me who my favourite singer was over the past year, he is the answer. So what happens when I get passed a meet and greet wristband at the merchandise table during the Matt Nathanson and Gavin DeGraw concert during the summer? Smile like a little kid on Christmas day. When it came time to line up, I was one of the very last people in line and had quite the amount of time to actually think of what to say when I met him. What did I decide to say? I called him out on a false fact he stated during the concert, stating that “Wedding Dress” was his only contribution to One Tree Hill, naturally. Way to go me. Meet your favourite singer and correct him. After all that, he still let me take a photo with him and my boyfriend, as well as a selfie! The person taking the photos took a photo every few seconds of this whole interaction, so there’s a great shot of his face when I corrected him. If you want to see that photo, my boyfriend has kindly posted that photo on Instagram here, it’s worth a good laugh! Definitely a highlight of my year.
Wakey!Wakey!: Coming in at a close second for favourite of the year is the band Wakey!Wakey!, fronted by Michael Grubbs. I don’t know what I have done to be lucky enough to meet Michael not once, but twice! I first got the chance to meet him back in March, which was one of my worst nights of the year (you can read about here). Even though that night turned around when I got to meet him, but I now have a second meeting to document! After the release of his second album, Salvation, he announced a new tour, including another stop back in Toronto. Tickets were purchased as soon as they went on sale and then I just had to wait until the day came until I got to attend the concert. That day has come and gone, but with no horrible moments associated with it. After the concert I stood in line with my friend Sarah to meet him, and I was making up my mind if I dare to mention what happened at the previous concert and see if he remembered me at all. I ended up going ahead and mentioning it and he said he did remember me! Now he could have just said that to be nice, but he went on to add that he noticed that my hair was now blonde. It took me a couple seconds to come back down from Cloud 9, but after coming back down to Earth I carried on gracefully as he signed the print I bought and got my photo taken, which could be my favourite photo ever taken with anyone famous, like ever. I’m just really passionate about getting people to listen to his music because he really deserves all the success in the world. Michael Grubbs is the man!
Tyler Hilton: Sometimes the saying is true: Third time’s a charm! I recently attended my third Tyler Hilton concert with my sister and he admitted to being really sick, but not wanting to cancel because he loves his fans. The man can be as sick as a dog and still sound flawless! The crowd helped sing the words when he needed to hold back, but he had to cut his set a little short due to the sickness and strain he was probably going through. I would have been happy with what I did witness, but his graciousness and dedication to his fans really shined when he offered to take a polaroid photo with everyone and sign it for a really low cost, since most of her merchandise had already been sold throughout the tour. Waiting until the line wasn’t a mile long, my sister and I finally jumped in and eventually it was our turn. I had nothing clever to say this time around, only continuing to make a fool of myself by referencing his “in your face” line from his cooking videos on YouTube. The photo turned out amazing and I will keep it as a treasure forever.
Joshua Radin: This was the first singe rI got to meet actually, way back last November. Joshua Radin was the opener for the Matt Nathanson show last year, so it was definitely a double feature for me. I’ve been a fan of Radin for years and refer to him as the “acoustic master”. After the concert, my boyfriend and I made our way down to the ground floor and waiting in line for him to come out to start the meet and greet portion of the event. We finally made our way up to meet him and because I had a non-flash photo taken, the quality wasn’t the greatest, but the fact that I do have this photo for memory is amazing. The only photo that I chose to wear my glasses, I guess I really wanted to make sure I was seeing and believing that this was all happening for real.
Well there you have it! Those are the stories of how I met four very talented and tall singers that I admire greatly and listen to all the time. Also, I have realized that I really like to wear my red plaid flannel to concerts. I guess it’s my concert thing. Here’s hoping I get to continue meeting them as they pass through on tour and that I can maybe stop making a fool of myself to some of them eventually. Until that day comes, it’s all worth it for the story!
