Due West!

As mentioned in yesterday's "Dilemma" blog, I really wanted to go see the band, "Due West" play tonight, but I had no one to go with me. So I put myself "out there" as they say, and publicly asked for a friend. There's nothing quite like saying, "Hey, so there's this band playing an hour away from here. You've never heard of them, they are the opening act for a teenybopper act, and oh yeah, the show is sold out. So I'm just going to go and try my luck. Oh, and I know the band, but I'm not sure if they'll remember me!" In spite of this great invite, I got a taker. New friend Craig (met him on Linkup and at the camping trip last weekend) was kind enough to go with me. Now that we got that out of the way...

Due West rocked tonight! Brad Hull, Tim Gates and Matt Lopez are the boys in the band and they opened for Taylor Swift (more on that later) in the apparently first ever sold out show at the Sandy Ampitheater. It was a lot of fun to see the guys perform on a big stage (and hear them on the radio this morning). I recognized a few of their songs and truly enjoyed myself. Craig agreed with me that they did a great job. They have a CD out as of today apparently. (See my autographed copy?!) And they are working on getting on the radio now. I declared it back in December that these guys would be big, and if the reaction on the radio and at the show tonight is any indication, I was right.

I was a little nervous about trying to "meet the band." I wasn't sure if they would recognize me, but I figured I would look vaguely familiar to them if nothing else. They were selling CD's and signing autographs during intermission, and Craig and I got in line to meet them. Not only did they recognize me but it was also a lot of fun to see the surprised look on their faces as they saw me. I only had a quick chance to say hello and get my CD signed by them because they had FANS lining up to meet them. Great for them! After the show we ran into Brad Hull as we walked out and he gave me a big hug and introduced me to his mother. Such a nice guy! And a very talented performer!

I still say these guys are going to big and very soon. Many of the songs they played tonight definitely have the markings for being big time radio hits. I look forward to seeing it happen for them! (If you do go check out their MySpace pages, be sure to listen to "Raise a Little Hell" on Brad's page, "Country Music" on the Due West page - actually all of them on that page, "Live and Die Tryin'" on Matt's, and "Everything I Love" on Tim's. Those are all my favorites!)

Now, for Taylor Swift. Holy freak. What a stinking little stage snot. She's talented and pretty, especially for a 17 yr old. But ugh!! Her personality!! I couldn't stand her personally. But she did put on a good show. It was pretty funny though. The way the teenage girls and boys rushed the stage, sang along and waved their lit up cell phones in the air, you'd a thought you were at a Backstreet Boys concert. It was crazy!! The police had to actually do crowd control cause the kids ran down from the lawn seats and swarmed the stage! One boy even jumped on stage and got the full body press carry out by the cops. She's good, but come on!

All in all, a great night. I had a blast!!