Jan and Toni’s Recap: Danny Gokey at World Arena (Colorado Springs, CO)

Jan and Toni’s Crazy Gokey Adventure

World Arena, Colorado Springs, CO

May 8, 2010

Introduction:

Seeing Danny Gokey perform at two different large arenas on two consecutive days?  How does that happen?  It helps if you’re a little crazy and a Gokey-holic…..

Toni suggested we see Danny perform on her birthday ( May 8 ) in Colorado Springs (COS) –it sounded great to me, but I really wanted to tour the area, too.  The idea to see Danny perform at Salt Lake City (SLC) came later, but you already know about that.

We flew into Denver the morning of the show, we grabbed our rental car and drove the 80 minutes to COS.

Meeting up with Ihearties

Toni and I arrived at our gathering point, a hotel near the World Arena, and desperately needed a nap!  Soon Pam, Michelle joined us and we all went over to the arena to get our Meet and Greet passes.  We met up with Lori at the arena.  With our passes in hand, and knowing we didn’t need to be back until 6:30, we headed out for dinner before the concert.  We were excited to meet Steph who also joined us for dinner. One thing you should realize when getting to meet an iheartie in person is that there is going to be a lot of hugs and squeals of delight.  We are not a quiet group…..

The Meet and Greet

If you are going to a M&G, don’t worry too much, it will seem unclear, but you will find your right place to stand and a group of anxious fans to join!  We milled around until we were taken in an elevator to see Danny.  All 30 of us were lined up to see Danny.  For a bunch of confident women, it was amusing to see how suddenly how discombobulated we all become.  Even those of us that may met Danny 2 or 4 or x times before….everything you thought you were going to say floats out of your head.  Danny was looking fabulous:  black leather jacket, form fitting black t-shirt and jeans, black boots, two chains around his neck and the scruff on his face growing back in from being shaved a couple of days before.  Did I tell you he looked awesome?  And then there’s those eyes that connect with you…..

M&G World Arena COS:  Toni

So our plans were set to attend a Danny concert on my birthday at the World Arena in Colorado Springs and the day finally came. My sweet dear friend and traveling buddy, Jan, that I have met because of our common interest in supporting Danny, she surprised me with a gift for my birthday. And what a beautiful thoughtful gift it is, a photo album with all of our Danny concert adventures together including lots of Danny pictures. I was really touched by the dedication in putting this together and how perfect it is for me. Plus I would also have the opportunity to show it to Danny and have it autographed.  THANK YOU, Jan!

The day we arrived in COS we were so tired from the night before we literally had only had 3 hours of sleep.  By the time we arrived at the hotel we told Pam and Michelle that no matter what, Jan and I had to take a power nap. So we did, and then met up with Pam and Michelle in their room to plan out the rest of the afternoon. At the M&G promptly at 6:45pm a group of fans were taken by elevator to the area where Danny was greeting fans and when our group turn came I was the first one in the group to go meet him and I believe if my memory is correct we briefly touched based on the night before concert and he remembered Jan and I being there.  So just as I was telling him about the photo album the group yells out “it’s her birthday today!“ Danny turned to me and says “Happy Birthday”.  I wanted him to see some of the pictures in the album but there wasn’t any time.  I asked him to autograph the photo album and you will see from the photo what he wrote in the book.  What a sweetie he is!  I wished him to have a great performance (please note that my memory is fuzzy from the M&G and I am almost 99.9% sure we hugged at this time). He told all of us during our time to please send his thank you to all of the iheartdg fans for their support.

Meet and Greet –Jan

Once again Mike Childers (drummer) graciously took photos of us with Danny.  Who would imagine I’d get two decent photos with Danny?  So rare…..  I know it must seem “usual” for Danny to see fans at two consecutive meet and greets/shows, so I told Danny that I wouldn’t be at any other Sugarland concerts, but that I would be at others.  I told him he sounded fantastic last night.  He thanked me. I turned to stand next to Danny for the photo, I thanked Mike for taking the photo.  As I turned to leave Danny told me to say Hi to my son for him.  Frankly that personal comment (Danny had autographed the photo of Joe and he together from the Chicago show last night) was just so cool.  I responded that I would let Joe know he said hi and I floated off in a daze.

The Concert

As you all have seen from the awesome photos, Danny was looking really great at the COS show!
The set list was the same as the previous concert with the fundraiser for flood victims in Nashville.  I also think his confidence, while really good at SLC, was greater.  He sounded just as great and this seemed like a more enthusiastic crowd.  When he asked if anyone had watched American Idol, he received loud applause and cheers.  Before he started his 2^nd song (or was it his 3^rd?)  Danny took his jacket off; there was a definite cheer that when out from the crowd.  The Ihearties in the audience looked at each other and cheered knowing that Danny was going to attract even more “appreciation” when singing in that tight black T-shirt!  We all wanted Danny to keep on singing, but Danny had sounded great and I believe he impressed a lot of people new to his music.

Toni and I talked to a usher for a while between performers and she showed me her original instructions.  In it, it showed Julianne Hough as being the opener and Danny going on second.  She didn’t know why the order of performers had been changed.  She was also able to tell us exactly where to go (and which way out) to get to Danny’s autographing table.

Autograph Line

We all got in line to either get something autographs or to tell Danny that we enjoyed the show.  It was so cool to watch Danny with his “newer” fans.  One little girl had taken off her pink shoe and she wanted Danny to sign it.  He leaned over the table to talk to her and said “Are you sure you want me to sign this?  I’m going to ruin it!”  She nodded, Danny signed it and he talked to her mom for a few minutes.  I also saw people flash a camera right in his face, temporarily blinding him, but he laughed about it and had such good humor through the whole experience.  He is so good with all of his fans.

The End–Toni

Jan and I have had a wonderful few days in Colorado Springs and have visited many sights and took many pictures. Once I get home I will establish a photobucket account if anyone is interested in viewing them.  I am on my way to Cincinnati to see my son perform in an opera “Of Mice and Man” at his University which he does have a solo hopefully another star in the making (I am so proud).