aint goin down til the sun comes up
so, where do i start???
for christmas my mom knew of my obsession with garth brooks and was so incredible to get me a ticket to the show in vegas that i def told her about a million times (cause, you know, a dream is like a river) linds and al got tickets too and my cousin christopher and tiff.
lets start by saying a little bit about our man garth. (he's sun and rain- hes fire and ice; a little crazy but its nice) garth is so amazing that he only wanted the tickets to cost 143 bucks for every seat, from the front to the back. he knew that some of his fans couldnt afford to come to vegas, pay for plane tickets and pay 1000 dollars for concert tickets. (apparently beyonce had a similar gig and she charged like 500-1000 dollars a ticket.) so, because he wanted to keep it cheap, he made a rule on the ticket that they can not be resold for more than 143 dollars and you can only buy them in groups of 6.
we didnt know that when we got the tickets and they were sold out before we could buy them. so we got them from a broker online for more than $143. we didnt know that it was illegal but we did know that it was pretty hard to get in touch with the guys that we bought the tickets from. we could never get a last name or a cell phone number and they were pretty bad about calling right back...
so, all that said, *tom, a coworker of the guy who sold us the tickets called about 4 on sunday for us to go with him to get our tickets. we all had to be there to pick them up with our IDs and we talked to him for a while outside while he tried to memorize our names and things like that. he was nice but once we went to get the tickets he was very quiet and distant. it was taking a while to get the tickets and we thought it was pretty weird. then they asked to talk to him alone. then security escorted him outside and down the hall. then they took us outside and told us they needed to ask us more questions and we went downstairs to the bottom of the hotel very oceans 11 style. it was NUTS. (we were def not standing outside the fire)
we were so thrown off and did not know why all this was going on.
it started to get crazier when they brought us paper to write out our statements and the sheriff and more police and security showed up.
at this point, i just knew that we werent gonna get to go to the concert and that we had been ripped off. we were kinda all in tears.
then the VP of security showed up, james is his name (we LOVE him) and took us upstairs.
he told us that we had been ripped off and that they hoped that they would be able to get tickets for us from somewhere but that the people who sold us the tickets were scammers.
the wynn people found all of this out because the night before the same brokers that sold us our tickets had sold tickets to people for the saturday night show. they had only wanted two tickets and our brokers made them buy three. then when it came time for the concert the brokers would not let the people have the third ticket that they had been forced to buy. this made them mad and they got into a fight in the lobby (face to face). security arrested the brokers and searched their rooms. they found drugs, all kinds of crazy things and a list with our names on it and *tom, the guy who brought us the tickets, on sunday.
so, when we showed up with *tom to pick up the tickets at will call, his name was flagged, as well as ours, and they had just been waiting for us to show up.
when we were in james's office he was so kind. he felt so bad for us because we couldnt go to the concert and we kept crying and laughing and talking about the infamous shirts we had made and we had also paid more money than we should have and got major ripped off. we were detained in his office and then i went with the detectives and gave them my statement (for all of us really. a lot like a lonesome dove) for about three hours. inspite of the craziness of the afternoon it was so much fun and the biggest adrenaline rush ever!!
and then they told us the best news ever.
we were still gonna get to go to the concert!!!
we were so grateful and ecstatic. then they comped us a meal before the concert and bought us drinks. (i mean, bring us two pina colodas!) unbelievable. then james escorted us into the concert area and we didnt have to wait in line at all. we were split up at the actual concert and almost in the last row, but because it was such a small room it was not that far away.
since we are total geeks about our shirts we rushed to put them on after dinner (but we didnt have time to shower so excuse my crazy hair). we had made a shirt for tom because we thought he was going to the concert with us but since he screwed us we gave the shirt to james. (he was super sweet about a homemade screen printed shirt when he works directly under steve wynn).
and it gets even better.
we had to sit pretty high up but we were just so excited to be there and be done with the drama and still be getting to see garth. we didnt get to sit by christopher and tiff but al and linds and i got to sit together.
the concert was amazing. just him and his guitar. and a hoodie and a baseball cap. un be lieve able. truly. we cried multiple times, the girl next to me kept her tissue out at all times and i think cried the whole time. everyone sang so loud. it was perfect.
then he ended it with piano man by billy joel. i mean, c'mon. not even ending with your own song??? we of course werent ready for it to be over at all so even though the lights came on and people left and tanya tucker songs were being played we screamed 'encore' and went crazy from our balcony seats. he eventually came back out and the crowd that had stayed went wild. he sang for an hour more after that. and in the middle of all of this our and our screaming, he yells up to us (because we were so loud and jumping up and down so much) and asks allison what her name was!! so we all yelled back and he asked where we were from and we yelled "texas!" and then told him we made shirts for him (we are soooo obnoxious about our shirts!!) and he asked us what we wanted to hear and we said "shameless". he said he couldnt do shameless because he cant play it on his guitar. but he did it guys. acappella. unreal. it was unreal! then he made the symbol of our logo/crossed his heart and held up three fingers to us!! we could have literally died in that moment!!! it was just so unbelievable.
afterwards we told james thanks for everything and he said he would have garth sign something for us and send it to us!!! woo hoo!!!
and, people came up to us after and said that WE were their favorite part of the concert!! best night of our lives!!
it was just so surreal with the gambling, meeting up with tom, the detainment, getting to go to the concert, garth talking to us and spending 3 days in vegas on top of it all!!
really the best weekend of my life.
he is definitely moooore than a memory.
Oh my gosh Kristen! That is AMAZING!!!! What a weekend!!!!!
Camila said...
This story is NUTS! I would have peed in my pants with nervousness when they took you underground and sheriff came! So did he not have the tickets or did they just know he was a con man? I hope you can get your money back from him!! Agree that this was the best concert of my life. Seriously. T shirts look awesome. Ya'll let us know when you go for Celine. Sean will probs want to wait in the casino while I go to that one alone. hahaha!
jojo said...
You three girls brought a whole new level of excitement to Vegas. I am so glad it all turned out ok. I love seeing you guys having so much fun. You all are great moms and deserve a fun weekend in Vegas!!!
It was seriously the best night of my life...I can't even explain it.....just fantastic!
I want to be your friend. like real friend. I laughed out loud at this several times. I love it so much.
Shelbi and Preston Rampy said...
BEST. STORY. EVER!!! I love it!!! I want to come when you go to Celine!!! We saw her in 2007 in Vegas and I most definitely cried!!!
The Benders said...
UM I feel like I just read the script to some CSI show or better yet that Las Vegas show with Molly Sims and Fergie's hubby. I just love this story, told well, I feel like I was there. PS my second fav is Jeff's massage. What a life, so James Bond: Casino Royale.
Aw, what a great story!! Just stumbled across your blog through party perfect, and I'm finding myself reading the whole thing!
I feel compelled to tell you my GB story (hope that's not too weird, but it affirms what a great person he is!!) - back in 1998, my 2 roomies and I bought tickets to his concert in College Station, TX. They were nosebleed seats in the last row of the top level. We got there kind of early and we were in our seats and one of the roadies came up to us and asked us if we would like front row seats. At first we were skeptical, but he was entirely serious!! He explained to us that Garth likes the fans in the first 2 rows to be people that are so excited to be there because they'd been surprised with the tickets! It was an AMAZING night, of course!!
snow day/sew day!
props to anna
elastic waist skirts
flower children
Viva Las Vegas!!!
avery's valentines
crochet cupcake
bowlin'
party hearty-ing
tacky...but thoughtful
heart hair clips
heart and soles
knitted circular scarf
matching monday