@Pedestrian: I'm in the process of getting money for an apartment and moving right now, but I'm going to be allocating funds to it starting in early September or so, after things have been settled.
***
I don't know how many people in the last fifteen years have attended a Kenny Loggins concert and had it be a "transcendental experience", but two of my best guy friends and I did just that on the evening of July 5.
At roughly 4pm that afternoon, I awoke with what I feel was one of the most severe hangovers known to mankind. Checking my phone, I saw that I had a voicemail waiting. My best friend, with whom I'd planned the entire Kenny Loggins concert experience, called me saying he was going to have to bail. The day was starting off to be complete shi
t.
Roughly 15 minutes after awakening, I was despondent. I didn't really feel like going to the concert by myself, because there's no way that was going to measure up to the experience I most desired to have in full. After all, Kenny Loggins was going to do a lot of 80s novelty numbers, and I didn't want to dance alone, right? Right. I shot a text to one of my other best guy friends, and he said he was on his way there right then, and he'd pick me up.
Quickly, I hopped into the shower, changed, then put my hair up. I was wearing nice, comfortable clothes, and one look in the mirror told me that I was looking like a million bucks on that day. My buddy arrived, and we went to the festival early (the opening act wasn't starting until 8 or so) and actually managed to get superb parking.
Once there, we tried to find any holes to get into VIP that might prove helpful when it got dark. We found many.
Now, at this point, I should probably state that Kenny Loggins was, in a way, opening for himself. He's a part of a new band called Blue Sky Riders who are country/americana/whatever you want to call it. As a horrible Barney Fife (Andy Griffith Show) impersonator took the stage, I texted another best guy friend who told me he'd be there stat. He wasn't about to miss Kenny Loggins' solo set.
Blue Sky Riders took the stage. They're a new band, so they were pretty raw, and their genre isn't really my bag, but standing off towards the back with another friend I'd run into, I was kind of digging it. An awesome hippie guy in his late fifties came dancing over to us and talked. It was a nice vibe, and Georgia Middleman (who we dubbed "homely Regina Spektor") had a pretty nice voice.
It's also important to me to note that Kenny Loggins was wearing a vest, and looked super-classy. Homely Regina Spektor was dressed something like a barmaid, and it was kind of alarming. Greg, the other fella, was just looking like a dude in jeans and a button-up shirt. As I've already mentioned, their sound was raw (they've only played a handful of shows together thus far) but really does have potential. At some point during their set, Mr. Loggins thanked his bandmates for the opportunity to completely reinvent himself musically for the third time in his career, and I loudly cheered him.
Their set was kind of short. Somewhere between 35-45 minutes, I'd say. During setbreak, a local comedian performed, and was actually pretty funny and clever, even if some of his mannerisms seemed to rip off the late, great Mitch Hedberg. At some point during the comedian's set, I was told by a woman who'd directed me previously in a few plays that her cast of Footloose was doing a flashmob during Footloose.
My friend and I jokingly asked if we could join, and she got strangely pissy and said no. It was at this point that we decided that we were going to steal her glory and do a Footloose mosh pit.
We wandered back to the friend near the fence, and formulated the moshpit plan. My friend tweeted and facebook updated to ensure that it would occur. Then, my other best friend showed up.
This guy is a pretty normal guy, if a little shy. He means well, he's intelligent, but somewhat socially awkward. He was, however, ready to have a good time. We filled him in on the mosh pit, and he agreed that it must be done.
Shortly thereafter, Kenny Loggins appeared on the stage. He had removed the vest, and was now wearing a button-up shirt, mostly unbuttoned, and looked legit. He said, "We'd like to do my version of kumbaya now..." and they launched into "Danny's Song". I was riveted to the performance, as were the two friends who were standing with me, where we'd decided to place ourselves on the lawn, right in front of the video screen (no smoking in VIP, so we said fu
ck it).
Mr. Loggins played through more songs, some known, and some obscure. Whenever the momentum would go down and he risked losing the audience, he skillfully came up to entertain. There was never a lull that felt too long. Everything was expertly placed, and catered to audience response; it seems that he's learned a little something about being a performer from the late sixties/early seventies to now.
During the encore, they came back out. My friends and I shouted "Danger Zone!" as soon as Mr. Loggins was back onstage, putting his guitar back on. He looked over to see the Danger Zone shirt held up, smiled, and launched into the song. We raged. We were jumping up and down, screaming lyrics and the happiest I can remember being in years.
Next, he cut into Footloose. We went wild. We finally remembered the flashmob and our mosh pit, and began moshing. I may still have bruises on my body for this. Finally, nearly spent, we rushed the fence for VIP.
We didn't jump it; there was no need. VIP was filled with chairs, and there was no room to dance. We instead opted to dance wildly just outside the fence. We cheered until our throats were raw. We sang. We danced. We were into the vibe.
He cut into a cover of Crossroads. Incredibly pumped, we shouted in glee and ecstasy. It felt as though he was playing just for us, since he had acknowledged us prior to launching into "Danger Zone".
He closed his FOUR SONG ENCORE on a down note, with "Forever". At one point during the song, my friends and I continued to dance, having the time of our lives, and he shielded his eyes from the spotlight to look directly at us. Upon looking at a video of the song, closer, it became apparent that he kept looking over to where we were standing.
He also appeared to be having the time of his life, and I felt the shared experience, and that made it seem all the more important. This moment is preserved on youtube:
After the show, we wound up meeting Kenny Loggins. He was extremely nice, extremely tall, and smelled amazing. I don't now how that's possible after playing one medium set and one long set, but he really did. He's also got to be at least 6'3". It was kind of alarming; most people in the entertainment industry I've met have been less than 6' at least. He shook our hands, thanked us for being at the show, smiled, and seemed the most genuine musician I've ever had the joy to meet.
Then, disaster struck.
Mr. Loggins looked behind me and to my left while talking to me, and his eyes widened. He began backing up. He looked directly at me and said, apologetically, "I've got to go..."
and sprinted into the building.
I looked where he had been looking, and the entire Footloose flash mob was sprinting down the alley at him, holding flyers for their stupid fuc
king show. I was livid. I'd been talking to one of the nicest performers I'd ever met in my life, and it was ruined by a bunch of theatre idiots in red Footloose shirts trying to pimp their community theatre show to the poor man.
In spite of this, I'd still met him. My friends had still met him. He was genuinely kind, and seriously legitimate performer. We'd expected a novelty act, and gotten a man who was seriously passionate about music, and wasn't allowing himself to stagnate. It was admirable to say the very least.
I felt the happiest I'd felt in years. My good friend said today that because of that, he'd had the best week of his entire life. My other friend who was with me urged me to learn Kenny Loggins and Loggins and Messina covers for our band. We're also fully intending to go see the man in concert and actually pay for it this time.
He's not a novelty act; he's still the real deal.
As cheesy as it sounds to you (I wouldn't believe it if it wasn't me and I hadn't been there), this really was something of a life-altering experience.