Our Burning Up Tour!

This weekend I reversed my age and went back to being 14 (some people in my family think I have never left that age but that is a whole other story!).

Flossy, two of her good school friends and I boarded the Jonas Brothers Bus (our car) and we travelled to Hershey, PA (yes Aussies, where the chocolate comes from) to see these boys in concert.


The journey started with plugging the ipod into the radio system and having the JB album pump out for the first hour, girls singing, me trying to talk to the Goddess (yes I had my ear piece in) with coffee's, vitamin waters, sour worms and M&M's to keep the sugar levels up. With an hour of JB done, we moved through the series of Disney albums, sang all the broadway musicals, played our favorite ones twice (Lion King) and discussed the history of Disney and its entertainment value.

We arrived in Hershey at about midday so we decided to do the Chocolate tour! Yum! As we walked around my freaky daughter would casually drop the word Jonas into conversation, just loud enough so that she could see who was interested! You know she is amongst friends when her buddies looked at her with laughter in their eyes but absolutely no puzzlement in their face, for they knew just how excited she was to be there. A sign of true friendship!

Then of course we moved up to the stadium to blow all our babysitting money (thank you Bronte and Kathleen!) on tour t-shirt, bag, poster, shorts and program.




We checked out the bus that is purely their autograph bus, then along with many others we tried to gain a glimpse of the boys as they rehearsed.

With the concert starting at 7:00pm, gates opening at 6:00pm and the time being 3:00pm...it was time for me to sit in the gate line and wait. All I can say is thank you Somerset Workshop! Reading all about the old fashioned but latest craze...paper mache...kept me very sane and instigated many conversations with those around me. So whilst I did what only good mothers would do (and there were a few of us), Flossy and her gal pals cruised the area, did the chocolate tour again (because you got a free "Bliss"...oh my oh my have you tasted this...chocolate).

And then we were in. Have you ever seen a grown 14 year old cry with joy? The first time was when she got tickets to see the Jonas Brothers and the second was when she realized we were 13 rows from the front!
Such a thrill to see such joy on her face and it was then that I truly realized just how passionate she really is about her music and how much joy it brings her. Of course listening to her sing every single song in the car on the way down should have given me an inkling and her ability to answer any trivial question that I raised about their favorite food, first big break, ages, likes/dislikes should have also turned the light on and perhaps the 132 posters (her friends counted them) on her walls is also a tell tale sign, but it truly wasn't until I saw her face shine with pure delight in that split second.


Of course we had Demi and Avril to listen to before the boys came out and for opening acts they were not that bad!! I actually knew most of the words of the songs (Rose was in shock) !

But at 9:00pm, after Demi and Avril had whipped this girl crowd into a frenzy ...the pyro show started and we were away... transported, to JB Land!





I had forgotten what it was like to have music pumping through your veins.


I truly enjoyed myself. The show was great, the music was great, the staging was great and I forgot I was "an old girl"...until the 12 year old beside me screamed her scream that only dogs can hear and then I thought how great it would be if we could all sit down, stop screaming, listen to the words of the songs and watch the spectacular scene before us and then I realized that whilst my heart felt like it was 14 again my head had certainly aged a little more!


At the end of the night, it was back to the hotel to review our photos and discuss every last detail whilst we all lay in bed with our bodies numb and our hearts full from a great day and night of girls on tour.


We had a great weekend together with lots of laughs. Flossy's friends are truly wonderful girls who have become very special to us. They reminded me of my highschool friends - Stokes, Coops, Bannigan and Hendo (we all called each other by our last names). I am glad that she has found her own little group (one was missing because she was at Ballet Camp with the Boston Ballet) and that she is content.

Memorable Moments?

1. Realizing my daughter can blow through $150 in 5 minutes when she is passionate about something.

2. Wondering if they had hand sanitizer off stage - the performers touched a lot of hands whilst they were out on stage.

3. Tears of joy.

4. Putting my hand to my chest and enjoying the sensation of the music pumping through my body.

5. Holding my camera up high to get "that" picture for my daughter to enjoy post event.


6. Realizing that I want to do it all again!

Postscript: Maxamillion and the Engineer bonded over Thomas videos, lawn mowing and learning that you don't leave your lap top within reach of little hands...

2 comments:

ellen said...

I am so glad you have the memory of thisimportant teen time. Rose will always remember this and it's something you can both share with her children. Now, mind you, Neil was the Thomas hero this year and with these two events behind you, how will you top them next year? Actually, I would keep you company on one of these journeys...How long would it take you to spend $150 at Garden Ridge?

Lost Aussie said...

I think my boys experienced the same level of joy when we took them to MSG to see Bon Jovi the other week! Sheer delight to see their thrilled faces!