I'll write a bit about my trip to the Gala and I'll try to highlight what I remember most.
I just want to thank my generous friend for providing me with a ticket for this amazing experience!
I left work early to make it down to Times Square and got there about 5pm. I parked in a garage (racketeers!) but it was just around the corner so definitely worth it.
The line was enormous, ok not that large but by the time I got in line it was about 1/4 of the block long. By the time they let the public in it was down the block! I was texting
njdevilsfan because I couldn't find her.
We all got in and I found her and her crew :) some who I had met before in Providence, some I hadn't. A lot of people, besides us, were kind of hanging out around the doors to the concert area but we were shooed away by a woman basically yelling "Hey, you can't stand here!". I love New York :) really I do. So we moved into the restaurant area which had the food spread already out. I was hungry so I went and got some appetizers and a piece of pizza. The appetizers were like spring rolls, pot stickers, crab rangoon stuff like that. There were waitstaff walking around with platters which you could pick from. The main food was the pizza, mini burgers, chicken francaise, and some other stuff which I forget. I didn't eat much but what I did eat was pretty good. I had a beer as well.
After a while it I checked out the area near the red carpet and a few people were lining up at the venue doors so I suggested that we move out that way though the doors weren't scheduled to open for a bit. When they did, there was a rush but we all got down to the front, right near the stage. There was a small roped off area for people who had vip/all access passes. I guess some of them were big-wig-ish (is that a word?) and were nice. The security guy standing in front of me was cool. He told me to keep a bit of space to clear the way for people accessing the front area and I was like "ok" but then these two byatches horned in on my area. I mean really, I was gonna have to punch a bitch because she kept bumping into me and trying to move me away. I don't think so!
Finally the lady from the Elvis Duran morning show on Z100 came out to start announcing the live auction. She brought out David Wright, who just adorable! They revealed how much money initially was raised ($200,000 I think) with the live auction still to come.
To make a long story short, David Wright thanked all the David Cook fans for coming out and said it was because of them they were able to raise so much money. David Cook came out and they chatted a bit and something was said about bidding and Cook strutted his stuff on the runway :)
The live auction did well. Some guy named Stuart (Stewart?) bid 10k on one of the packages.
After that David Cook was intro'd and he came out with the band!!
I was right in front of Andy, just off to my left as you faced the stage. I didn't have a good view of Kyle (boo!!!) but saw plenty of Andy, Joey and David. Neal was on the other side of the stage which I was kind of bummed out about but hey, he was in the same room!!
You'll have to forgive me for not remembering the order of the songs but I loved loved loved "Life on the Moon", "Declaration" of course :) and "Bar-ba-sol". During one of the songs I looked up and saw Andy mouthing the words to what David was singing. It could have been during "Lie". Actually it must have been because that was when David was singing solo and playing acoustically. Anyway, soooo cute!
Neal rocked the fuck out, that's all I have to say about that. I just love him. I do. He much hotter in person.
David really worked the stage. He came over to where we were standing and stood on the amps and was OMG RIGHT THERE!!!!!.
During the clever chats he has with the audience he mentioned that he went to dinner with DWright and DWright said that he's gonna hang out with DCook to get the chicks because rockstars always get the girls. So DCook said he was going to school him on how to be a rockstar and one rule was that he had to wear the guyliner! DWright went up on stage and the stylist/makeup artist Ramie came out and put the guyliner on him. He had this look on his face kind of like "WTF am I doing?" but was smiling and DCook and the guys were laughing at him. It was brilliant.
The whole night was brilliant.
DCook introduced the band at some point during the set and the crowd went wild mostly for Kyle aka "Peek-a-Boo", Neal and Andy. Poor Joey. Though everyone showed him love it wasn't as loud as the others, I thought.
What else happened? They played "Heroes". "Declaration" was f'ing amazing live. That's definitely a get the crowd going song. "Mr. Sensitive" is definitely not a sensitive song, lol but it rocks so hard FTW. "Light On" = Fantastic.
Damn, I can't wait until he goes on a real tour. I just can't.
So that was all. I hung out a bit with
njdevilsfan and her crew for a bit after. I ran into my friend who gave me the ticket. I told her I would be right back but then I couldn't find her. I'm seeing her on monday so it's cool.
We went outside to try to find the stage door but couldn't and I finally had to leave because I had to work @ 8am and had a two hour drive ahead of me. I got home around 11:30pm but the driving made me so f'ing tired that I actually zoned out. From 6am to 11:30pm is on flippin' long day but I'd do it again all for DCook and Neal.
Up next: photos!!