Sorry ya'll...I've been so busy oh Lh board and in real life that I haven't been here in ages really...but I figured - as far as my reviews and pics go - better late than never, right?
Review:
So folks, this was one kick butt show! I’ll go from beginning to end cause I just gotta cover it all!
YNOT, her daughter, MyOhMy, and I were essentially the first ones there because, for gawd knows what reason, we thought the doors opened at 7pm,
haha! Well, after awhile other folks started to come and mingle. Eventually I started getting bored and decided to do an impromptu Lovehammers trivia quiz and, since Yerba had given me a box of Lovehammers matchbooks to give out, I could give those as prizes for right answers. So I stepped out of line, got the crowd’s attention, and introduced myself and the band in general (“Who’s here to see the Lovehammers?” type thing). I asked general sorta questions that fans of varying degrees would be able to get (who plays what, what was their original name, what was their first major label CD, first single, first CD ever, etc) and gave out a matchbook for each correct answer – some folks got more than one question right and so I jokingly told them to give their second matchbook to their girlfriend/bud/person next to them. – I’d like to give a major shout out to whoever the guy was in the LH helping me think of questions when I got stuck, very cool dude – thanks! I ended it when the staff unlocked the door with a thanks, a mention of the band, the site, and a call to enjoy the show and rock (or something like that, haha).
When we got inside the group of us got are spots front and center but I had so much fun doing the trivia and decided it would be a far more useful way (for the band and crowd) to entertain between sets that I went to the DJ and asked if I could do it between sets – after some discussion he agreed that between sets we would do it. …While this worked out alright I think it’s best for future shows to do it just while people are in line cause once folks are in the venue most wanna stick to the spots near the stage that they’ve got…but there were some fans (mostly girls I recognized as being from here
) who went and played along, thanks for that! I did get to meet Velvet’s son who was a great kid and, yes, I made him sing some of the Trees chorus to get a button but I figured it was only fair cause I made everyone either answer a question or do something LH related to get things…he was a good Hammerkiddie and indulged me, haha.
So, the first band was pretty good…the drummer was friggin hilarious – I was supposed to do shots with him after the show but I’m not sure where he went, haha. The second was fine but not my style really. After that I went back to talk to the DJ again and he told me to hold on and wandered off…the crowd was really starting to come in towards the stage and I didn’t want to loose my sweet spot so I went back the stage. …I went back directly after the show to explain my absence (he’d mentioned he’d lost “segue-way girl”) and apologize but he just smiled and said something to the effect of it being fine and I coulda sworn he said something about me being beautiful (or maybe just my apology, I have no clue, haha). I thanked him for the compliment and letting me do the trivia and gave him a matchbook…he seemed happy.
Anyhow, let’s get to the actual show! It started with the opening of Ultrasound then transitioned into Straight As An Arrow, which ya’ll know I dig hardcore
. Marty was in a fabulous mood…the guy could not have been happier if you told him he’d won three puppies and a Disneyworld! There wasn’t much for him to climb but he certainly made up for it – hanging onto the ceiling pipes and leaning his entire body into the crowd and once jumping off stage to dance/bounce around in the middle of the audience (he nearly fell on top of me twice, haha). Dino made his classic rock-the-bass stance a few times and talked to a bunch of fans on his side every once in awhile. I learned an important lesson: no one is allowed to take Billy’s hat off – Marty was messing with him and flipped the lid of his hat up which Billy smiled at, but when Marty tried to take it off Billy grabbed his head to stop him. Bobby was oh so killer with his beats despite being occasionally blinded by camera flashes – something he admitted to YNOT and I after the show.
Marty was a bit of a comedian during the show making a number of cracks (something he did in the Boston too – I review I’ll write later if I ever have the time, haha). One joke was about the cameras…he asked the audience, “don’t you guys have enough pictures of me yet?” and essentially commented that the crowd should focus more on the enjoying the show and less on taking pictures. He explained that hands are “not for this, [moves fingers like clicking camera] clicky clicky, they’re for this [pumps fist] woo woo…so I wanna see less [camera click action] clicky clicky and more [pumps fist] woo woo” …If that wasn’t funny enough there was a girl near Dino who was just about to take another picture and Marty spotted her; he jokingly sighs and goes, “You want one more?” I think the girl nodded or something cause he said okay and made a face for her, after the camera flashed he said, “Alright now, that’s it!” and began his next song. He also went over to Dino for a moment or two and pushed Dino’s head into his ear so it looked like Dino was whispering to him (I saw Dino’s eyes and he certainly wasn’t cause Dino’s eyes were the size of saucers, lol) and then walked away and claimed that Dino had whispered to him that he wasn’t quite feeling the full energy of the crowd, and other such things and then said – “You see, Dino speaks a secret language that only I understand and it’s really fast so while he said a paragraph it only took, like, two seconds.” Marty seemed to, occasionally, forget that the show had been made all ages cause he did occasionally drop the f-bomb while on-stage but no one seemed to really care. Marty also mentioned something about he and the crowd being “lovers”…except for the guys, they could just be friends, haha.
The guys stayed after the show and hung out with everyone in the bar til we all got kicked out! I gave each of the guys a small gift or two and talked to them a while – I’m pretty sure Dino thinks I’m either insane or a complete idiot cause I made a crack referring to the Fearless Radio interview (from back in Feb) and I don’t think he had ANY clue what I was getting at. They were all very sweet though and more than willing to hang and crack jokes. After spending some time with each of them I mingled with fellow fans and also got to talk to Randy and Dan (the roadies). Randy was awesomely cool – we talked for, like, 10-20 minutes about a whole range of stuff and he asked me if I was going to the NYC show – I told him I was trying to make it and he said he hoped to see me there. At the end of the night I decided I’d just ask him for a hug and he gave me a great big hug and a kiss on the neck and thanked me for giving him info on some drinks and stuff. Dan was great too, we talked for about 5-10 minutes and he also asked if I was going to the NYC show and warned me to “act fast” cause tix were almost gone (they sold out the next day
!) – I told him I needed a place to stay and he looked out at the crowd and said “aren’t any of them going? You should hook up with one of them” – I laughed and said I’d try.
There’s a great deal more to tell but this is SUPER long so I’ll stop here – It was the BEST show I’d been to…EVER!!! I can’t wait to do it again and if there’s anyone going to the NYC show who’s willing (and able, of course) to meet me at Penn station (or somewhere in NYC), go with me to the Canal Room show, and let me crash on their hotel floor, I’ll be more than willing to pay my share and give ya’ll free Lh matchbooks …If not, then have fun at the NYC show everyone and give all the guys my love!!!
PS: Nice meeting you Sjjo, Velvet, Chay, MartyMania, MyOhMy, RockDivaGirl, Jodi, everyone else I can’t remember at this point!
Can't wait to hear the rest. Don't keep us waiting too long 
Great Pics Betsi!! 
