I Heart Rob Thomas

Warning ... there is NO knitting to be seen in this post. Not even one yarn strand.

But ... as an apology to those folks that consider this a knitting blog (HA! .. that still cracks me up) ... I will try to make up for it by instead showing pictures of some Pretties (ie "cute guys" to you newbies). ALSO ... in one of the pictures you can see pink furry slippers. So no knitting .... but Pretties and pink furry slippers. Hope that's okay! ;)

Okay, I've been slacking on my concert updates lately. (ie never really did a Foo Fighters or Weezer review). BUT ... went and saw Rob Thomas (Anna Nalick opened) last night and have some pictures to share.

First ... the ticket!*

And here's the marquee at the Arlene Schnitzer auditorium.

Okay, first up .. Anna Nalick:

Now Anna I've seen once before when she played with The Afters and Vertical Horizon. But this time she stuck around to meet and greet (which I still think she didn't do last time due to the Freaky Banana Head Guy).

So T1 and I got autographs ...... (errr, disregard that whole "Linda" thing ... these rock stars know not what they do! ;))

She again did a great job. This was only her second show opening for Rob (Antigone Rising had been touring with him previously) and since she said she's such a fan of his she wanted to make a good impression and went out and bought some 2-for-1 Payless shoes. Unfortunately, the shoes were giving her blisters so she had us wait while she took them off after a couple of songs (along with a piece of tape she had covering one of the blisters). Pretty funny. She definitely comes across as very down to earth. Plus, how can you not like someone who will sign autographs in pink furry slippers?!! (see? .. I told you there would be slippers!!)

Here's her bass player, Joey Ramone .... errr, I mean, Tim Hogan.

And here we are with Anna. (Dang Anna. Talented, famous, funny AND gorgeous! Yeah, you've just got to hate her a little bit, dontcha?!! :))

Okay, now on to Rob Thomas (* insert wolf whistle *)

A couple of pictures I took during the show (errr, unless that's illegal. In which case I got these pictures from ... umm ... (oh I know) ... Rob sent them to me (yeah, yeah ... that's the ticket). I got them from Rob ...with a signed letter giving me permission to post them. (see? .. it's all good! ;))):

(say it with me, ladies .... "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM")

I've seen Matchbox Twenty twice before so knew I'd be in for a great show. Rob Thomas is one of those singers who can inject such emotion into his songs. I LOVE that. In fact, when "Yourself or Someone Like You" first came out I was SOOO addicted to the song "Long Day" even though the lyrics didn't really speak to me (err, sorry Rob). But the emotion and intensity in that song just held me captivated and I would play it over and over and over and over (well, you get the picture) again. LOVE that song. Would have loved to have heard it again last night but, alas, was not meant to be (*sniffle*).

That several Matchbox songs were played though was VERY cool. Some were played fairly true to the originals ... but others were changed up a bit to be much slower. (And if I had any decent memory at all, I'd go into details on which was which. And wouldn't a set list be cool too? Yeah, well ..... sigh....almost 20 hours have passed since the concert. That I can still remember that I went last night is amazing enough! ;))

Oh, and before I forget ... let me tell you about Frank. I THINK his name is Frank Romano but don't quote me on that. (could that be what he signed here?... I don't know)

Anyway, he's playing guitar on this tour with Rob. He said he's also played with Mary J Blige and some RnB bands. Here's a pic of him onstage during the show.

T1 and I ran into him after the show and chatted for quite awhile. SUPER nice guy. Really, a sweetie. Here's us with Frank and Abe (still not sure who Abe is ... but he fit The Pretty profile so he was very welcome in the picture!! ;))

(Isn't that a cute pic?? :))

Anyway, Frank was saying he's been touring with Rob since March and that they head out on the busses right after the show to the next location and then have hotels there. Rob (who had left already) usually does all his meeting and greeting prior to the show (in more formal atmospheres ... like with the winners of the radio contests and such). But that some of the band guys like to meet some folks who are hanging by the busses (err, which apparently would be us. (What? Me a wannabe groupie?? Pshahhhh. :)))

So they had arrived in Portland Monday night and had the night off. Stayed at The Hotel Lucia which he said is right next to the Typhoon restaurant on Broadway in downtown Portland. All meals on the tour are catered and you can order food to have waiting for you on the bus for after the show (I would weigh 900 pounds if I were touring with the band!).

He said he was enjoying touring with Rob, not only because Rob is so mellow and down to earth, but because Rob's fans are too. Isn't that sweet?? And oh so true! :)

Anyway, it was a great night. Thanks Anna for being so down to earth! Thanks Rob for ... well, OH so many reasons! ;) And a special thanks to Frank ... for yabbering with T1 and I for so long even though we were all freezing our arses off!


*And look, T1 ... no complaints here cuz it's the paper one and not the fancy-schmancy one they'll send you for free. Nope. :)