For those of you who don't know, Skillet is my favorite band. Of all time. The first time I went to go see them was probably one of the most epic experiences of my life, in more ways than one.
The concert was on October 27th, 2007. Yes, I remember the date. I remember every date I've seen them, but I have good excuses (for the most part) on remembering the dates. My mom didn't want me to drive down south, because the concert was in Costa Mesa and I live in Monterey. My parents live in Oakhurst (just south of Yosemite) so I drove home the night before.
Well, on my way home I got rear ended by a semi. Yeah, no, I'm not kidding. There was an accident on the freeway and traffic came to a roaring halt, and my entire car just shook and scared the sh*t out of me. I looked in my review mirror and saw a semi truck behind me. Yeah. Wtf. Luckily, nothing was really done. This is why my life is random. All that happened was my car had a little dent and the right side was tilted about an inch higher than the left. And my vents for the air conditioning flew out. For being hit by a semi, not bad.
I called my parents to tell them what had happened, and obviously they had the normal parental "Are you ok?!" stuff. When I got home I walked in the front door and my mom said, "How are you? Are you all right?"
Wanna know what I said?
"I'm still going to that concert."
I'm the most dedicated, die hard fan of Skillet. I'm really not kidding, I've shut people down before and made them feel bad for even considering themselves fans. Nothing...NOTHING...was going to stop me from seeing them...especially for the first time. I kid you not, I could have ended up in the hospital in a coma and I probably would've woken up in time to go to the concert. (Especially because the CD is called "Comatose" and it's about being in a coma and waking up. Ha. Ha.)
My mom drove me down to Costa Mesa the next day, much to her not wanting to. I was in MASSIVE amounts of pain from the whip lash. We picked up my friend Chelsea because she went to school in Northridge and she wanted to go with me.
We were the first people in line. Obviously. I've been the first in line every time I've seen them. I'm that hardcore. We met some fellow Panheads (who are extreme Skillet fans.) and we all became pretty good friends. And, part of the randomness, the Panheads were from right next to our home town, so they were locals for us. Wtf.
When the doors finally opened I went straight to the front...Which just HAPPENED to be basically on the stage. I rested my hands on the amplifiers, I was that close. There was no fence, no nothing holding me back. There were like 8 bands before them and I only like the first one, so I was getting really impatient by the time they'd finally come out.
The first time I saw them, I literally forgot how to talk. Before the show I saw them walking backstage. I forgot their names, I forgot my name, I forgot English in general.
Needless to say, they came out, rocked the stage, and I rocked harder than anybody else in the entire venue.
The massively large tall guy in the front with the fro...That would be me. This song is Savior, which is my favorite song of all time. I rocked so hard I passed out. Because I'm awesome.
And I feel like I have to mention these dumb people. They were right behind me and complaining that they couldn't see (like I was going to care or
something). Then, they made their way to the front in a different location...and DIDN'T EVEN ROCK OUT! THEY JUST STOOD THERE! If you've ever watched
"Comatose Comes Alive" (Skillet's Live DVD/CD) with me, you'd KNOW I complain about people just standing around and not rocking out. It's blasphemy. And to think, they wanted ME to move?!!?!?! I could've been nice and moved out of their way, and I probably would have ended up killing them from rocking out so hard!
This is probably one of my favorite parts from this concert. Lori (the drummer before Jen) was watching me the whole time. I got noticed by everyone in the band, but Lori was actually...watching me. After the show, she hopped down from her little drum stand thing, walked DIRECTLY over to me, and put one of her drumsticks in my hand and said, "Here you go." After that, she just chucked the other one into the audience.
Seriously?
I got a drumstick personally handed to me by the drummer of Skillet. (Trust me, later concerts have given me more exciting experiences.) I got to meet Ben (the guitarist) and he signed my skillet. Yes. I have a skillet. It was a present though. So STFU.
Before meeting Ben, I was at their merch table. I caught some guy looking at the drumstick Lori had just given me. He wasn't looking in admiration; he was looking as though he wanted to take it from me. So, I held up my skillet and said, "I see you looking at my drumstick." He put up his hands defensively and said, "I'm just looking!" And I said, "You better just be looking, because if you touch this drumstick, I WILL kill you."
He turned around and walked away.
During the concert, I touched John's shoe. John's the lead singer, and my hero. That was exciting for me. I touched Korey's guitar (she's his wife, the rhythm guitar, keyboards, and backing vocals), and I literally almost took John out rocking so hard with my skillet. I have since banned myself from bringing skillets to concerts, because I also hit someone behind me. I hope they were ok, because I frankly didn't care at all and didn't turn around to make sure they were fine. Honestly, go to a Skillet concert with me. You'll mock me for life.
After the concert, I had to physically hold my head up because it hurt so bad and I had lost all muscle in it. We went to Denny's after the concert and I had to slide down in the booth just to have my head sitting up. It was awesome. My neck hated me afterward, and this whole thing resulted in me getting physical therapy. (When I went to the doctor about the pain in my neck, he looked at me like I was a lunatic for going to a concert right after I got hit by a semi...Like that was something NORMAL people wouldn't do or something...)
That was pretty much the first skillet concert ever (for me, that is.) I think John is one of the funniest people ever, and I wrote down some of the quotes from what he said that night:
"If you haven't bought Comatose yet...WHY ARE YOU STUPID?!"
"You could buy Comatose for only $10...or...you could download it and burn it for your friends and go to hell. Just kidding. You wouldn't go to hell for that."
"Can I tell you a story about when I was a moron?" (this quote applies directly to my life.)
"We're named Skillet because there were no good band names in the 90's so just shut up and buy the music."
"YOU CAN'T STOP THE ROCK!"
Ohhh John Cooper. Lol.
Skillet is:
John Cooper- Lead Vocals (and only original member of the group.)
Korey Cooper- Rhythm Guitar/Keys/Backing Vocals
Ben(jamin) Kasica- Lead Guitar
Jen Ledger- Drums
Jonathan Chu- Violins (for the Comatose tour only. Sad day. Bring him back.)
Tate Olsen- Cello (for the Comatose tour only.)