I'm so glad I went to this!!!
Got there a little after 1:30, and the band was just finishing soundcheck. I got to say hi to everyone (band and crew) when they were done, and got a nice hug from Dino (awwww!). I asked Marty if he knew if there were any vendors selling Cokes around there. He said, "I haven't seen any, but if you take a couple of bucks over to some of the tailgaters, maybe they would sell you some!" We had a good laugh over how silly that was. ;D They took off to go get some food, so we fans just hung around the tent and talked to other Hammerheads as they got there. Lots of familiar faces!
I ended up in the front row, and Lisa (Martymanic), who takes such wonderful photos, was just to my left. There was no barrier in front of the stage, so we were right up against it. I'm sure we will soon have some excellent photos of Marty's nose hairs for everyone!
She and I had a good time talking photography and sharing photo tips. She had some suggestions for me about Photoshop settings that should help reduce the digital noise that I've been fighting when my film negatives get scanned to disc. Watch for some big improvements in that once I learn this. THANKS, LISA!!!!
The guys played for a little over an hour, and it was a very high-energy, fun show. They were originally scheduled to start at 4 pm, but things didn't get going until about 4:30. The tent was pretty good sized, and was about half full when they started, but as soon as they started playing, more and more people kept coming in to check them out. The stage was fairly small, so Marty was all over it, moving really fast. He was in a playful mood, and interacted with the audience a lot. He had some college guys in the corner sing "Let's get wasted!" into the mic, and they passed up a couple of cans of beer for him and Billy.
They played "Faded Grey", and joked about trying to do it with only one guitarist. Billy did a super job, though. They really CAN do that with just one.
My big moment for the show--I finally got the microphone in my face!
During "Better Off (Walk Away)", when Marty got to the middle section, he was watching me sing. He started getting the naughty grin on his face, and I knew what was coming. It played out something like this:
Marty: "Indian style on the bedroom floor" (watching me sing)
Marty: "Getting a kiss and wanting more" (he's got the naughty grin, and starts leaning toward me--uh oh!)
(microphone in my face ---In a split second, my brain goes into autopilot, while wondering to itself, "Gee, am I singing the right words to this song? What song is this? Where am I? Who am I? OMG he's looking right at me and grinning while I'm doing this!")
Me: "We all know how the story goes"
(Thinks to self, "I think I got it right! YAYYY!!!")
Marty gets back up and continues the song, still with the silly grin!
OK, I never said I could sing! ;D It's just a good thing that this show wasn't last week, or all I would have gotten out would have been " squeak eek eek squeak!" I had gotten the Hammerjam cold and got so sick that I lost my voice for over a week. I hope I didn't offend everyone's ears too badly!
Lots of joking around between band members, and with the crew, too.
Marty pointed out that they had stuff to sell at the booth, and the NIU cheerleaders were there staffing the booth. He said that was pretty cool.
I will post the set list later. They didn't do an encore, because they had to get over to the stadium to get ready for singing the national anthem.
I didn't get a ticket for the game, so I stood with some other Hammerheads by the gate to the stadium and tried to watch the Jumbotron. They had barriers so you couldn't see the field from outside the gates. I was going to take photos of the Jumbotron while they performed, but the picture was cut off to the Jumbotron before they did it, so I just got to hear them, not see them. It sounded like they did it a capella. Marty had said during the show that they all were going to sing, and joked about Bobby being a terrible singer. Well, the guys did some very nice harmonies to back up Marty, and I thought it sounded great. Marty hit all the high notes, too. I hope I don't sound too sappy if I say that it was actually very sweet and moving, and I thought I was going to have a tear or 2 slip out.
I got the chance to talk to Marty's parents as they were leaving after the national anthem. They said that the guys were up in a VIP box watching the game near Doug Flutie, who was calling the game for TV. His parents are real sweethearts. They seem to love talking to Marty's fans, and I think they love all the Lovehammers like they are all their sons. It was pretty cool that they remembered me from when I met them at the Tinley Park Best Buy show, and talked to them again at Park West. (I had congratulated Mr. Casey on having the guts to try something new at that stage of his life--Marty presented a guitar to his dad at the Park West show as a belated Father's Day gift. He said that he had asked his dad what his favorite song from his performances on RS:INXS was. He said he was so surprised when his dad said "Lithium", by Nirvana, and that he wanted to learn to play guitar! Good for Marty's dad!!!)
I was impressed with NIU's campus. It was much bigger than I thought it would be, and quite attractive and clean, as well. They have a lot to be proud of there.
All in all--another exciting and excellent Lovehammers show, a beautiful fall day and evening, much fun rocking out with other Hammerheads (hee hee--Cyber Kelly, we kept catching each other headbanging!
), and a really enjoyable setting. Good times!!!
. 
. I'm so looking forward to seeing your pics and Lisa's pics.
It was great to be there with NancyBBE and Lisa and others........Marty must have had a thing for "fan sing" that day 'cause I got the line "Mayday, Mayday!" from "Call of Distress" which is incredibly ironic. I'm an Amateur Radio Operator, and since the word "Mayday" is the Internationally recognized voice distress call for radio operators, it was kinda cool for him to pick me for that line. Thanks Marty!