While waiting in line with my friend Katie, we met some teenagers from around Laconia, New Hampshire, and hung out with them for pretty much the entire time.
There were three openers before Secondhand Serenade came on stage. I don't think I had heard any of their music before, but they were all pretty good!
The White Tie Affair
Meg & Dia
And of course Secondhand Serenade. He started off in complete darkness with Like A Knife and then the lights were turned on and everybody screamed. Here's a bunch of pictures, with videos and more commentary further down:
Ryan from Rookie of the Year came up on stage and made a quick toast with the crowd and our invisible glasses, and then began singing Vulnerable.
The lead singer/guitarist/songwriter of Secondhand Serenade, John Vesely, had his birthday last Thursday. I thought it would be a fantastic idea to sing him happy birthday. Between songs where there was a short silence, I got the guys I had met earlier to start singing Happy Birthday to him. Surprisingly, the entire crowd joined in!
Besides the old-school acoustic music from Secondhand Serenade, he played some pretty rockin' songs off his newer album A Twist In My Story will the full band. John's very talented brother Lukas Vesely was playing the keyboard this time around and there was a new band member on lead guitar who played some fantastic guitar, especially in Goodbye at the very end of the show.
Sometime during Meg & Dia, I heard that John Vesely was over at the bar, so I cut back through the crowd and found him! I got him to sign my new A Twist In My Story Deluxe Edition and take a picture with me!
On my way out of the show, I was walking down the aisle and Meg & Dia approached me with that "sad puppy dog face" and I just couldn't resist when they wanted to sell me their CD!
