Okay. Now that I have time to finally gather my thoughts and to sit down and write this review, I'm gonna have to make sure that it's good, huh? I'll try to be as thorough as possible; saying everything from my own point of view (but of course, Jelly was there too, so she may have some things to add that I may have forgotten about). Alrighty. Time to take a deep breath and take the plunge... And I apologize if this turns out to be more like a short story or a novel. I just don't want to forget any of this...
I. The Prologue
I suppose that I need to explain the circumstances for this concert before I go and actually describe it. I had seen Straight No Chaser in the winter of 2008, after realizing that it was the group I’d seen the year before on YouTube with the super awesome viral video, “12 Days of Christmas.” After begging my mom to let me go see the concert as a Christmas present (I remember that it was on a Thursday; my last day of finals and my last day of school), she agreed, and we went together. That concert was, in my humble opinion, utterly amazing, and as soon as I got home, I registered for this website!
I wrote my choir critique/midterm on that concert, and was somehow able to convince my choir director that we should go see the guys perform as a possible field trip for the next year. I kept him updated about it, and by the time September rolled around, he was all up for it! We bought the tickets and eagerly awaited the performance date (or maybe that was just me).
Then, when the Napa concert rolled around in October, I happened to see a photo of the Napa Valley High School singing to the guys. Jokingly, I sent Ryan a Tweet: “Saw the photo with the Napa HS; does that mean that we (my choir, our director, and I) can sing for you guys too?”
To my surprise, he responded with a Direct Message: “Hi, Shaina! That'd be fun, but it's gotta go through our tour manager. Send him an email at [insert email address here] and tell him i sent ya.”
Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and very excited! I decided to give it a shot and sent their tour manager some emails. As the tour date got closer and closer, we began to solidify our plans.
Also as we were getting this meet and greet together, I was trying to get my friends excited about seeing their concert, but it didn’t seem to work. They were happy to be going, but weren’t as excited as I was hoping. I tried showing them a video of the “Christmas Can-Can” and we were singing some abridged versions of their songs from “Holiday Spirits,” but it wasn’t working! L In addition to this, I was trying to prep for the concert by figuring out what cookies I was going to make the guys. Then I had this idea to make them books/tour journals as well. Crazy, I know…
But anyway, to make a long story short, we figured out what to do about the meet and greet (because my choir director called their tour manager the day before the concert to make final arrangements), almost all the girls were going to come to the concert, and I ended up making ten handmade mini tour journals (which I finished making as I was standing outside the theatre), a tin full of mediocre chocolate chip cookies, and ten ice cream cone cupcakes (which I had baked that morning).
II. Meet and Greet
We all met outside of the Wiltern Theatre at 4pm. I was the last one of those who were meeting for the before-show meet and greet. There were quite a few of us, though we’re small for a choir: nine students, three parents, and our director for the meet and greet (though three people, one other member and her parents, would come later). It turns out that we were going to sit in on their soundcheck, and then we would meet the guys afterwards. I was SUPER excited, and couldn’t wait to get inside. We stood outside for a while, taking pictures and buzzing with excitement, and then our director told us that we were going to enter the theatre from the back and someone would meet us.
We walked around to the back, and suddenly, I saw Dan and Seggie walking towards us. At the sight of them, I involuntarily let out a scream of pure excitement (sorry about that, guys), and everyone looked at me like I was insane. Our director introduced himself, and they led us into the theatre, where we sat in the second section and watched their soundcheck. It was very interesting to watch, especially as a fan who has listened to their CD nonstop since getting it. As I watched them set up the technical stuff, and then they came out and started setting up their mics. After a while, they started singing, and I was amazed to see how they were working out their choreography and working on so-called “problem areas” of certain songs (they sounded utterly amazing to me). They practiced “Jingle Bells,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “Christmas Can-Can,” “Carol of the Bells,” “Indiana Christmas,” “Straight No Chaser,” “Rehab,” and probably some others that I’m forgetting…
After listening, awestruck, at their rehearsal (and as we were getting hungry), we got to meet the guys in person! First, Ryan and Seggie came out, then the others started coming over. I thought it was so cool that Ryan recognized me without me even needing to say who I was… Anyway, I gave them the cupcakes (without mentioning what they were – they were covered with foil), the cookies (with which I made a point that there were no nuts), and then the journals. It was so funny that they seemed amazed at them… Ryan said stuff like, “Dude, that awesome!” “Shaina, thanks so much! These are amazing! (Aside) She handmade these for us!” Someone else said, “Holy crud!” but I don’t remember who… But anyway, by this time, the other guys came out and were saying hi to all of us, and I gave them their books. The rest of what happened can be seen on video:
Then we took some group photos (both normal and fun, like “Shaky Face”), said our goodbyes until the concert, and got our tickets.
("Shaky Face")
We were all hungry after that, so we went around the corner to eat at Denny’s, and when we were finishing eating, Kathy came up to us and said hi! So cool to see her there!!!
III. The Concert
As it came closer and closer to 8pm, we started seeing a REALLY long line outside the window of Denny’s for the concert! We finished eating, then walked to the theatre, took some pictures, and went inside the theatre. We found our seats and found a lot of people buzzing before the concert. We soon found that the cause of all the laughing was coming from the comments that were being projected on the screen over the stage. A lot of my friends then started texting random things to put on the screen, and it was really funny!
Then the screen went blank, the lights dimmed, and everyone started cheering. It was finally time for the concert! As the announcer went on and the guys started singing, I got really, REALLY excited and started screaming my lungs off! Here’s the breakdown:
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours / I Was Made To Love Her
- I’m Yours / Somewhere Over the Rainbow
- Africa
- Hi-De-Ho (with a hilarious intro where Charlie talks about the woes of being a bass)
- Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You (during which each guy introduces himself, and Charlie took advantage of the other guys’ vamping…) which led straight into…
- Straight No Chaser
- Hey Santa!
- Jingle Bells (Upsot?)
- We Three Kings of Orient Are
- Indiana Christmas (written by Dan Ponce of Illinois)
- Christmas Can-Can
INTERMISSION (which may or may not have included some rivalry between us, an all-girls choir, and an all-boys choir… They were all pipsqueaks anyway.)
- Rehab (there wasn’t a chair there for Jerome to use to get back up on stage, so he said “Too high!” during the song, and their tour manager ran in and put a chair there for him)
- You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight (before the song, Seggie took his revenge on Charlie for making them vamp for forever)
- Sitcom Medley (While introducing the song, Charlie used the word “harken”? Yeah, “word of the day” toilet paper… And the audience fails singing the “Cheers” theme song… But we’d make great basses! Oh, and Snuggies! Lakers Snuggies, Schroder Snuggies… Heehee… And poor Seggie messed up on the whistle solo again! :-P)
- City of Angels (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- Lion Sleeps Tonight (“Most best,” 1st tenors, “Award-Winning Choreography,” “Don’t worry, be happy! At least they don’t call you Carlton!”)
- Little Saint Nick
- Who Spiked the Eggnog? (Debut of the music video was the next day)
(Audience photos)
- Auld Lang Syne
- Carol of the Bells (I think Dan messed up on this… He said, “OH! Yeah! That song.” Then tried to start again but kept laughing… Mike said, “That’s planned! Like the whistle solo? That’s planned too!” Then Charlie quipped, “Note to self, Dan, wear your glasses on stage.”)
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town (with the “proper choir” joke: Jerome as conductor and Ryan hitting a nice high note)
Encore
- The Twelve Days of Christmas (Walt doesn’t know the rest of the Dreidel song after the part he sings for the song... Heehee! And before they started, a little girl ran up and tried to request a song!)
- O Holy Night (Unplugged… And beautiful.)
After the amazing show, which got nothing less than enthusiastically positive responses from EVERYONE I knew, we went to the back of the theatre and stood in line to meet the guys…
IV. After-Show Meet and Greet
As we proceeded towards the meet and greet area, we saw that the line for the meet and greet was getting pretty long, so we quickly got in line. While the others were in line, I decided that I wanted a tote bag and t-shirt. I ended up buying the tote bag but didn’t get the t-shirt, because all the shirts they had left were waaaay too big for me. As we inched closer and closer, we got more and more excited. Finally, it was our turn, and first up was Seggie. I took out my copy of “Six Pack” and “Christmas Cheers” for him to sign, and asked if they could sign my brand-new tote bag as well.
I proudly told Seggie that I hadn’t blown up during the concert, so he didn’t need a poncho. He said to me, “There’s still time!” Then, I took a picture with him and moved around behind the table to get more photos, as Ryan told me to “make Dave jealous.” I got compliments on my ice-cream cone cupcakes from Charlie and someone else (forgot who). Charlie said that they were already half-gone! (“It’s not like we’re gonna tell the others about it!” in response to my “What? They’re not all gone?”) Then I chatted a bit with Jerome and Mike with my friends, saying how much we loved the show…
Then, inevitably, it was time to go, since we all had school tomorrow. We said our goodbyes as we exited the theatre, and I skipped home with a smile on my face, clutching my SNC tote bag with the CDs inside (and I ended up using the tote bag every day since I’ve gotten it!). Thank you guys for such a memorable afternoon/evening; it’s one that I’ll never forget! Hopefully I can convince my mom that tickets to your show in Anaheim at the Grove will be a wonderful 18th birthday present…
