ben rector & graham colton / 09.30.2011
on friday night, i went to a show in boston (at the red room at cafe 939 at berklee) (lots of at's in there) and saw ben rector and graham colton. well, technically
i only saw ben play, but we did chat with graham for a minute or two.
but let's back up.
this show has been on my list since i realized i wasn't moving to nashville in september and literally created a list of fall shows i needed to go to since i'd still be here. that's right. shows i needed to go to. so you can imagine how much my heart sank when i went to buy tickets for this show and saw that it was sold out.
i only panicked for about a minute and a half before doing what any normal fan would do and emailed ben's management company and asked if there was any other way to get tickets.
before you judge me for being that girl, let me just say that the only reason i felt comfortable emailing them is because i plan on interning there when i move, so i've talked to them multiple times before. AND i also helped promote the show and was sent posters and stuff.
i got a response that there definitely weren't any more tickets, but there was still room on the guest list and i could also have a plus one if i needed it. but the problem was that me, leah, and sarah were going to this show. so we still needed one more ticket. leah ended up tweeted about it and got herself on the guest list as well, so it all worked out. especially since being on the guest list means it was FREE. (thanks trivate entertainment for being awesome.)
okay. fast forward to friday night.
leah and i both drove ourselves to sarah's apartment in quincy because leah had plans to sleep over and hang out with sarah all day on saturday and i had plans to go home and sleep. it was our only option, so we just kind of went with it, but OH MY WORD. i will never do that again.
basically, leah was following directions from her phone and i was following leah. which wouldn't have been so bad, but there was LOTS of traffic and there were LOTS of times when cars got in between us, during which times i would literally yell at the cars, "CAN YOU MOVE?" but we finally made it, and from there, we all took the t to the show.
by the time we got there, ben was already playing and we had completely missed graham. and we had to stand in the back where you could barely see anything, with these two older ladies who were looking at each other going, "who's this? ben rector?" it wasn't that bad though. we managed to find ways to peek around people's heads and at one point, ben came out into the crowd and stood on a stool, so that was exciting.
after it was over, i took pictures with both of them (because leah and sarah didn't really know who graham was and, even though i missed seeing him play, i'm still a fan) and leah and sarah got a picture with ben. after that, we went to tasty burger, which has become somewhat of a tradition after shows in boston. and then we all went back to sarah's and they stayed there and i drove home.
it was definitely an experience, to say the least. much different from what normally happens when i go to shows. mainly because i'm never in the car alone and i'm never the one who's driving. and i usually am more obsessive when it comes to shows and arriving early enough to be right next to the stage. you know.
here are some things i learned:
- it costs $1.25 to enter and exit boston. PLUS $2.90 in tolls. each way.
- driving in boston is no joke. i am not a fan.
- the same goes for driving home from boston at midnight. in the rain.
- it takes a certain skill to know how to navigate travel on the t. i do not have this skill.
- ben rector's smile looks less like a smile and more like a nose crinkle.
- graham colton is very friendly and frequently loses his sharpies.
ben rector (left) & graham colton (right)
and those are the only two photos i have from the night. which is definitely different than the norm because usually i either run out of battery or space on my memory card before the night is over.