Nelson 25th Anniversary Tour (First Show of the Tour)

Concert buddy, Kate and I headed out on another--oh yes, another trip to see Nelson--this time in Appleton WI, where Nelson was performing "An Evening With Matthew and Gunnar Nelson," the first show of their 25th Anniversary Tour. 

Before I go any further, may I take a moment to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of my readers.  My last blog, and only my 11th blog so far, received approximately 550 reads!  I'm so thankful for all of you who have taken the time to read my blog, and I LOVE when you respond, which most of you have done through Twitter or FB.  I'm really thankful for your support and encouragement.  And do feel free to share my blog, if you like it.

Since Appleton is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Chicago, Kate and I decided to stay 2 nights in a hotel near the venue.  When we arrived in Appleton the night before the concert, we decided to hit the streets in search of a salad.  As we were strolling along, we heard Motley Crue playing through out-door speakers across the street from where we were walking.  (Pardon this inside joke for Kate, "when in doubt, follow the Crue.")  Just like the story of the Pied Piper, we followed the music into a bar, and I'm so glad we did.  Our little across-the-street-journey led us to a spot called Mill Creek Bar.  While Kate and I were sitting at the bar, having a beer and glass of wine respectively, the manager/DJ, "Toe Knee V's 80's," noticed that Kate had a Bon Jovi iPhone case.  Toe Knee who could possibly be better known as a "VJ," since he always plays the corresponding music video with whatever song he's playing, played Bon Jovi's Blood on Blood for Kate and me on Mill Creek Bar's BIG screen TVs--all 13 of them!  We mentioned to Toe Knee and Emily (the very sweet and upbeat bartender) that we were in town to see Nelson perform at the Fox Cities PAC the following evening.  Toe Knee and Emily told us that Toe Knee himself was a big Nelson fan, and he played us THREE Nelson videos right on the SPOT!  I can hear you, Nelson fans.  You want to know what videos Toe Knee played.  He played Love and Affection, of course.  And After the Rain, OF COURSE.   But he SURPRISED us when he played Keep One Heart, PROVING that he is indeed a true Nelson fan, since so-not-everyone knows that song!  Toe Knee invited us to the pre/post Nelson concert party at the bar the following evening.  After assuring him we'd be there, we headed back to the hotel.  We LOVED this place and couldn't wait to go back until the next day!

Kate and I moseyed around town Friday until it was time to get ready for and go to the concert.  We arrived at the venue early because Kate and I each bought a VIP package that included a meet and greet with Matthew and Gunnar before the show.  Upon arrival, the VIPs were greeted by Kari, Matthew's wife, who was our hostess for the evening.  (She was very friendly!  Both Kate and I really liked her!)  All of the VIPs were given a package containing a lanyard, a Greatest Hits and Rarities CD, and a black and white promo picture of Matthew and Gunnar.  (BTW, Nelson imaginary suggestion box - we would really like a guitar pick from one or both of you in our next VIP package!  You know, the kind that has your name on it.)  After a short wait, the VIPs were escorted to a room in the venue.  Matthew and Gunnar arrived moments later.  We sat on chairs around them in a circle, and at one point, Matthew made a joke about how it felt like we should have a campfire and make s'mores!  One of our VIP perks included Matthew and Gunnar performing a never-heard-before song from their upcoming album.  Before the song, which was called A Thousand Wild Horses, Matthew and Gunnar, in true Nelson story-telling spirit, related how the song came about.  Matthew sang lead vocals on A Thousand Wild Horses--a great song--I'll be glad to hear that one again when the new CD comes out.   After that, Gunnar wanted to sing a song too, and subsequently sang a beautiful love song that he's written.  The guys had a few minutes left and decided to take a request from the VIPs, with the stipulation that it had to be a song that they could play on two acoustic guitars AND that it could not be a song that they were performing later.  VIPs promptly starting voicing their requests, but all of the requests were either a song that Mathew and Gunnar were doing, or a song that was not viable with two acoustic guitars.

I have to take a side note here and say that MY FAVORITE NELSON song of ALL TIME is To Get Back To You.  FOR WEEKS, I had been saying to Kate, that if I could only hear JUST ONE SONG, I would want it to be To Get Back To You.  Kate kept reminding me that I had NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER of hearing that song.  But when opportunity presents itself, and the preverbal door opens, you just have to walk through it.  Back to the story--as people were shouting out requests that couldn't be fulfilled, I finally mustered up the courage to say, "To Get Back To You."  Gunnar pointed at me and said, "What did you say?"  I repeated, "To Get Back To You."  Gunnar immediately started trying to play it on his guitar, and Matthew joined in shortly after.  Gunnar said that they had never actually played that song live, and that it was, and I quote, "a good song."  Yes, Gunnar, I wholeheartedly agree!  Gunnar looked at me and said that he couldn't remember how the song started.  I hurriedly blurted out, "LOST AND ALONE!"  He began singing, "Lost and Alone...." and looked at me again.  I replied, "Yet nobody knows!"  He sang the next line...and the next...I had to help him here and there, BUT I GOT TO HEAR MY FAVORITE NELSON SONG!!!  Gunnar shared how he couldn't do the guitar solo, because, Steve Lukather, from Toto, played the solo on that particular song, so it wasn't one that Gunnar had learned.  When they were done singing, Kate looked at me and said, "Now you can die happy."  Yes, Kate, I can.

After singing, To Get Back To You, Matthew and Gunnar signed autographs and took pictures with us all.  Kate and I had the black and white glossy included in our packet and our lanyard signed.

Here is my pic with Matthew (left) and Gunnar (right).

Can I just say that sharing Matthew and Gunnar with a small crowd of VIP's feels like you have them all to yourself and is well worth the $150 investment.  Keep that in mind, Nelson fans, when they come to your town!

After our VIP meet and greet time was up, the VIPs were escorted to our seats in Nelson's "special section."  Word to the wise, Nelson's special section for this show was 12 rows back.  Kate and I feel like our seating is just BARELY close enough if we're hanging off the stage in the front row, so these weren't the "best seats ever" for us (not complaining, just informing future concert VIPs with similar front-row needs/desires).  In the future, Kate and I plan to find out where the special section actually is, and if it's not somewhere in the first couple of rows, we will buy our own seats in addition to the VIP package.  Fortunately, Kate and I bought seats when the tickets went on sale before the VIP packages were announced, so we sat in our previously purchased 5th row seats.

Moving on to the show...it was great!  It was similar to a Ricky Nelson Remembered show in the respect that it was Matthew and Gunnar on stage with their guitars, telling stories about each song--except that they did THEIR songs--which is FANTASTIC if you're a Nelson fan.  They didn't disappoint, as they performed songs expected by fans like Love and Affection, After the Rain, All Shook Up and More Than Ever.  They also did a few of their dad's songs like Dream Lover and Garden Party.  And for the uber Nelson fan, they even threw in a couple songs like Girl Like That (thank you, Matthew and Gunnar, we LOVE that song), and Keep One Heart (one of Kate's favs of all time).  Kate and I were fortunate enough to get a set list, although they didn't stick to the set list, choosing to be more impromptu.  (Here's a pic of the set-list below.)

The best part of the show for me came as Gunnar (pic above, or 2 pics above if you're reading this on your cell phone) was announcing Won't Walk Away.  He began to talk about a "young lady" (haha! he WAY overshot the "young" thing) in VIP who knew his words to his own songs better than he did (yeah, he was talking about ME--since I was the one feeding him the words for To Get Back To You).  He said that he wished he knew where she was so that she could be his teleprompter as she lip synced along to his songs.  Kate and I laughed and stood up and yelled, "I'm (she's) right here!"  That may go down as best Nelson concert moment EVER!

And I'm sorry to say that no video was allowed for the show.  Kate recorded most of Love and Affection, the first song that they did, until an usher relayed the "no videos allowed" news.  The venue may have announced that earlier, but we weren't there for the opening band, since we were en route to the hotel and back for our 5th row tickets, which we had left in our room.  Below is the "contraband" recording of Love and Affection.




As the show was ending, Matthew and Gunnar announced that they would stay after to meet fans.  Since this was a Nelson crowd (as opposed to a Ricky Nelson crowd) almost all of the people stayed to meet them, including Kate and me.  When we got to the front of the line, Matthew greeted me with a hug, and a "thanks for coming."  After we chatted it up for a couple minutes we took one more pic with them.

   
We gave our well wishes to Matthew and Gunnar and went across the street to Mill Creek Bar, where we were greeted by Toe Knee and Emily.  While having a nice glass of Merlot (me) and a beer (Kate), Toe Knee played more, YES more Bon Jovi for us!  This time he played Someday I'll be Saturday Night (one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Bon Jovi songs).  AND OF COURSE, TOE KNEE PLAYED US NELSON!  He played both Love and Affection and After the Rain, and THEN, he played an OLD version of Nelson's Be Still.  Kate and I, fueled by our Nelson high and a wee bit of alcohol, SANG Be Still LOUDLY.  (Nay, PERFORMED BE STILL!  Too much?)  Well regardless, we demonstratively sang along with the song (that's a fair way to describe it, I think).  As we sang a group of our very own fans gathered around to watch us.  Well, it was more like stunned, mouth agape, "What are those two girls doing?" looks.  But, whatever.  We were on a "I-don't-care-what-you-think Nelson high--or should I say, "You see, you can't please everyone so you gotta please yourself."  (#GardenParty)

After hanging out for a while, we thanked Toe Knee for an awesome night and headed back to our room around 1:00 a.m.  (By the way, if you find yourself in the Appleton area, you MUST stop in at this bar.)  Here is a picture of Kate and our with our favorite DJ, Toe Knee.

I couldn't end this blog without a few pics from the show.  Below are some pics that Kate snapped that we both like.

All of my Matthew pictures were blurry, so here a couple from Kate.

I really LIKE THIS ONE!

Here is Gunnar (L) and Matthew (R).

VERY NICE GUNNAR PIC! Thanks, Kate!

One last Matthew pic for the Matt girls.

Kate and I had a FABULOUS time and can't wait for Nelson to come around again.  I hope you get to see them soon too.

Best Wishes,
Erica

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