Chad's Meetin' Idina Story-- 1998 Tour ~ York Street
(7 November, 1998; Cincinatti, OH) -- York Street: Unbelievable!!!! Awesome!!!! Incredible!!!! Idina's concert in Cincinatti rocked. She is great. Where should I start?
I didn't know that I was going to go to the concert until about 5:30pm when the concert started at 8:00. None of my friends wanted to go, but, I talked a female friend of mine into going with me. We got there before the doors opened, and I could hear her doing sound checks inside (what a voice she has). They opened the doors and we sat down. When she finished the sound check, she went to the table right next to me and picked up her bag. I pull out my camera and take her picture. She got embarrassed and said, "Don't take my picture!" I told her that I was in Erin's fan club and she looked at me and said that she would talk to me later. I didn't sit down for 20 minutes after that. I just walked around my table thinking, "Unbelievable."
My friend Darcy and her boyfriend went down to the cafe for some food while I sat in the club. Well, I moved tables so I went down to tell them, and they were eating right next to Idina and her band. Darcy leaned over to the tour manager and told him that I was the guy she was telling him about. He started to talk to me and I told him that I didn't want to interrupt their dinner, and he said to go up to him after the show and I would be able to meet Idina.
Oh, god, let me tell you about her outfit. One, she is absolutely gorgeous. The autographed picture she sent me does not do her justice, and every picture I've seen of her is nothing compared to what she looks like live. Wow!!! She was wearing skin tight leather pants (these pants were tighter on her than they were on the cow)! I'm still blown away at how pretty she is.
Her set was great. She played almost all of her songs (actually every song except for "Reach"). She even talked to me during her set. She didn't know where she was, so she asked me what city it was, and she would look over at me during songs, and I yelled at her to do "Over the Moon" and she laughed and said that she hadn't figured out how to get that in the set yet. I was about 10 feet away from her during the concert by the way. She jumped around on stage and flung her hair. She forgot the words to 2 of her songs and got real embarrassed on stage and apologized that she would have the set down perfectly by the end of the tour (it sounded great to me; it is more real when there are mistakes).
She finished her set and went over to a table and signed autographs and stuff. I just sorta waited to the side while all the people got their autographs and left, and that is when I got to talk to her. She is so cool. She hugged me. It was sooooo cool. She hugged me again when I left. I had no clue what to talk to her about. I told her that I was in the fan club, and that I loved Rent and all that stuff. I was a total fanboy, and was just a total dork I bet. She signed my album, and she signed a poster that I took off the wall, and she signed my ticket. I don't know what to talk to her about, so I spent all my time telling her that she has a huge fan in Pittsburgh. She asked me her name and I told her how we know each other through the fan club. She thought it was great, and that she couldn't wait to meet Ava in Pittsburgh. I got a picture of her and me hugging, so I hope that turns out alright. When I left she actually remembered my name, and she said, "Ava is the girl's name in Pittsburgh, right?" I said yes. She thanked me again and I just smiled like a dork and thanked her for being so awesome, and she put out her arms to hug me again. I hugged her again, and left. Idina is so unbelievably nice. I can't believe how much she actually cares about her fans. You would never expect that a person as beautiful and talented as her would be so modest and shy and nice. I hope she will remember all of us when she plays in Madison Square Garden (I will be jealous if only Erin gets complimentary front row seats to that concert).
It totally made my day that she hugged me and talked to me for a few minutes. The whole concert was awesome. I was so excited and nervous, "Like a 6 year old kid on christmas eve," was what Darcy called me.
That's my story from Cincy. Thank you Idina for being you.