February 1,2006: OAR
Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
Me, Sarah, Jill, Ashley and Cole went to this show. I only know one OAR song, but they are one of Sarah's favorite bands so I decided to go with her. It was a big boozing concert which made it fun regardless of the music haha. One funny thing that happened was when Sarah dropped both of our coats in throw up, and still carried them around all night, dropped them off at the dry-cleaners the next day and never picked them up. I miss my coat. Haha.
February 8, 2006: Ricky Martin
Opera House, Boston, MA
What an experience. Me and Sarah went to this show not knowing what to expect. What we found was an audience full of 40+ year old Latino women that salsa danced up and down the isles during the concert. HILARIOUS. Most of the concert was in Spanish, and we were definitely the only white people there. By the end of the night, be both though we would be able to speak perfect Spanish after hearing it so much. It was a big CRAZY Latino dance party all night and we had a blast. Ricky Martin is so sexy! His dancing is amazing.
July 5, 2006: Ashlee Simpson
Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, Hampton, NH
Me and Allison went to this show primarily to see the opening act, the Veronicas. HOWEVER, when we got there, we found out the Veronicas were not going to be there that night! We were so mad (especially Allison). But we still had a good time-- Ashlee Simpson was rocking her blonde hair and new nose. I love her angry girl rock music.
July 6, 2006: American Idols Live!
Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH
This was a Stanway family event. Me, Jaye, Joanne and my dad went to the show. It was the season that Taylor Hicks won, and Joanne was totally obsessed with him. I loved Ace, and during his rendition of George Michael's "Father Figure" I repeatedly yelled "take it off!" Haha.
July 14, 2006: Ryan Cabrera
Axis, Boston, MA
Another amazing RyCab show! Me and Allison went once again to see him and he never disappoints. Funny thing about this show was the opening act looked so familiar to us, and we were both trying to figure out why. Then I said "oh, isn't that the lead singer of that band Averi?" It turns out Chad Perrone had left Averi and was now working on his solo career. I bought his CD, but we were to nervous to meet him-- haha.
August 11, 2006: D-Tour Live featuring the Jonas Brothers
Square One Mall, Saugus, MA
Technically, I didn't see this concert, but I went early and met the Jonas Brothers! I was writing an article about them for the Lowell Sun. I honestly had no idea who they were (neither did anyone back then) and had bought their CD the day before and listened to it a couple times. My biggest concern was remembering their names.
I got there and called their manager (Uncle Josh) and he said they were just having lunch and wouldn't be ready for a half hour. There was a small group of fans waiting at the stage (maybe like 30 people) so I decided to ask them what they would want to ask the Jonas Brothers if they got the chance. One of the people I went up to was this 15 years old blonde girl named Amy!!!!! That's how we met, and the rest is history. I certainly didn't know she would end up being one of my closest friends. :-)
I interviewed the Jonas Brothers for over 30 minutes. They were SO nice and genuinely excited to talk to me. Kevin asked if I would want to work for Rolling Stone one day, and I said "omg yes that would be a dream come true" and I said if I did work there, I could put them on the cover-- we all laughed like "ya that won't happen".....
It was an amazing experience meeting the boys. I didn't feel like staying for the actual concert, so I left after meeting them.
August 21, 2006: Mariah Carey & Sean Paul
Fleetcenter, Boston, MA
I covered this concert for the Lowell Sun. Unfortunately they would only give me one ticket, so I had to go alone. I loved Sean Paul, he was a great opening act. Mariah has never been my favorite artist, but she did her thing and rocked the house.
August 24, 2006: Black Eyed Peas
Tweeter Center, Mansfield, MA
This show was awesome. Me, Allison and Joanie went because we got $10 tickets on "$10 Tuesday", a deal that LiveNation use to do. Sarah and 3 of her friends also went and we all sat together. We were made because the Pussycat Dolls were suppose to be the opening act but they weren't there that night. Instead, Danity Kane performed, but we didn't care about them back then-- too bad.
The Black Eyed Peas have SO many good songs, and they have so much energy at their shows. Fergie also did her solo stuff which was cool.
August 26, 2006: Kiss 108 Future Superstars (Jonas Brothers)
NARA Park, Acton, MA
Me, Cassandra, Jaye, Chloe and Aekta went to this show. It was right down the street. There were probably less than 200 people there. Corbin Bleu was the special guest host- so random. This is the first time I got to see the Jonas Brothers in action, and I loved their high energy show! Joe was bouncing all around the stage. Kevin saw me and winked at me (haha). This is the day that Jaye officially fell in love with Nick Jonas-- I remember her looking back at me with this look of excitement/obsession during the concert. I got to hang out with Amy again while we were waiting in line for the "Meet and greet." I went up to the table and Kevin FREAKED OUT and hugged me and held my hands and said "Haleigh, your article was amazing! Thank you so much!" and was totally sincere. Joe was so excited too and said "you have to show it to our dad, he will love it!" and Nick looked up and saw me and said "Haleigh..." all like soft and cute so I didn't really hear him and kind of ignored him. I still feel bad about it-- oops. Me and Cassandra saw them leave in their red van and they waved to us. I thought it was so cool hanging out with this band that probably wouldn't get really famous...
September 20, 2006: Jonas Brothers
Axis, Boston, MA
Me and Cassandra had another JB adventure. Joanne also took Jaye to this show, and I met up with Amy too. Amy was participating in a Street Team contest where which ever fan brought the most friends to the show would be sung to live on stage. We all signed up under Amy's name-- the girl she was competing against was totally cheating and asking random people to sign it. We were pretty sure that the cheater was going to win. All of a sudden I looked over and Amy was gone-- I looked up and she was on the side of the stage!! We were all screaming "AMY!!!" and freaking out! They brought a chair to the center of the stage, and the Jonas Brothers sang "Please Be Mine" to her!!!!! It was this beautiful moment (Joanne didn't even know her and cried). Me and Amy had a freak out moment after the show. The awesome thing was that her entire list of "friends" got to do a meet and greet (of course everyone in the place snuck in it anyways). We said hi to the boys, and I have them a note and the pic I took with them.
Afterwards, me and Cassandra were hanging outside. The boys dad, Mr. Jonas walked by and I introduced myself to him. The opening act, My So Called Friend" came out and were all wasted-- we took a pic with the lead singer and he gave us a signed poster.The JB band was packing up their little trailer. Then we ended up chatting with Greg Garbowsky, the JB's bass player. He was so awesome and told us how he almost went to UMass Lowell but instead joined the band. We took pics with him too. Then the boys came out, and I got pics with Kevin and Joe. We were loving our lives that night-- what an awesome experience.
November 18, 2006: Panic! At the Disco
Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
I covered this concert for the Lowell Sun. I brought Jenna with me. We were sooo excited because we had our own little box to ourselves! We felt very VIP. :-)
Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
I covered this concert for the Lowell Sun. I brought Jenna with me. We were sooo excited because we had our own little box to ourselves! We felt very VIP. :-)
December 14, 2006: Kiss 108 Jingle Ball '06
Tsongas Arena, Lowell, MA
I covered this Jingle Ball for the Lowell Sun, so I had to go by myself. I got to hang backstage-- they had a special press room set up that all the artists would come into and be interviewed by Billy Costa. The press covering the show could sit and listen, and ask questions at the end. I was sitting in one of the chairs not really knowing what to expect, when Nick Lachey walked right in the door that was like 5 feet away from me. I DIED. He is waaaaaaaay hotter in person!!!
The acts at this show were The Fray, Fall Out Boy, KT Tunstall, Nelly Furtado, Nick Lachey, Pussycat Dolls, and Chris Brown.
I needed to write a review of the concert, so I had to stay out and watch the show most of the time. I got to sit in the press booth. At one point on one side of me was Billy Costa, and on the other was Kurt Schilling! Nick Lachey and KT Tunstall were definitely the best acts of the night. Nelly Furtado sucked.
In between artists I would go backstage to scope out the area. It was basically this really narrow hallway and all of the press and Kiss 108 staff were getting in each others ways. I was standing in front of a door when Chris Brown walked out and said "excuse me"... luckily he didn't punch me in the face. Then the Pussycat Dolls walked by. And a little while later I got in the way of Pete Wentz and he said "oh sorry hun" and scooted past me-- super cool moment. :-)
The funny thing was hearing Matty Segal and Billy Costa talking backstage. They have the worst mouths ever and are total jerks. It's not an "act" on the morning show.
December 31, 2006: Jonas Brothers
Boston, MA
This was part of Jaye's Christmas present. Nick Jonas was kind enough to personally tell Jaye that I was taking her to this concert on Christmas Day. Cassandra and Chloe came with us too. We left super early in the morning, like 6am or something and took the T into Boston. She show was outside... yes outside in December. We got there and got our special VIP passes from Mr. Jonas for the meet and greet after the show. Then we got our spots for the concert. There were a bunch of pop bands there-- T-Squad and some others. We stood in the same spot, freezing to death for 6 HOURS. I felt frostbite coming on. The concert was awesome-- they sang "I Want a Hippopotomus for Christmas" and my favorite, "Poor Unfortunate Souls"!!!
We had to wait in line for the meet and greet after. I was almost crying from being so cold. The boys were super nice though, and Jaye got her famous picture with Nick.
Then Mr. Jonas let us stay up there to take pics with the boys after they met everyone. Joe was freaking out because he was so cold, and he was singing "it's really cold out here, i'm freezing off my--" and stopped because Jaye was there haha. It was a cold, but very awesome and fun day.
