Sooo.. it's been like FOUR months since this concert. But it's still fresh in my mind. This was a very memorable night for many different reasons...
Let's start with the day of the concert...
So, I woke up earlier than usual because of my excitement and nervousness and realized that this day has finally come. The start of Third Day's Spring Revelation Tour, the day I see Third Day in concert for my second time, the day I see Revive my third time, the day I see Brandon Heath my first time, the day I meet Third Day for the first time, and much more I had no idea at that moment. So, I got up and got ready. It went by soooooo slowly! But I had the tweets of Mark to keep me company every once in a while. And then long after I was ready to go.. we finally left. I wasn't aware that we had to go see my brother in college first. Oh my.... I was getting really anxious! And so, we went to see him and he decides to tell me that he saw a Third Day shirt at some store he was at and he was going to get it for me, but decided to get his FRIEND a shirt instead. (You've gotta be kidding me!) So, FINALLY!!! After forever, as it seems, we left. Champaign, IL. HERE WE COME!!!
So, this drive seemed like it took forever! I couldn't stop talking about the concert. This concert is my sisters first Third Day concert. So, I was telling her how I thought she would have fun and like it a lot. And when we were about to the Illinois state border.. my sister says, "Uhhh... I think Illinois is an hour behind Indiana." Uhh-ohh... JESS!!! So, my sister was planning on being an hour early in the first place so we could eat dinner before the concert. It looks like she got that... and AN EXTRA HOUR!!!!! AUGH!!! So, I was impatient. We found the Assembly Hall and as soon as I saw Third Day and Revive's tour buses.. I felt like I was going to stop breathing! So, then drove down the road a couple of miles to eat. I couldn't eat because I was really, REALLY nervous and excited. I was bouncy and I was shaking. While we ate my sister studied. She had a test the next day in Anatomy. (She's so great for taking me to the concert and getting home at 3:00 a.m. and waking up at 7:30 a.m. the next day to go take a test that she did very well on!) And I just sat there and watched her study and eat. If I ate I probably would've puked! So, she finally got the clue that I wanted to go. We went out to the car and we drove to the Assembly Hall and parked. We listened to some Third Day while waiting and she studied some more. And we finally got out and we waited in line for 30 MINUTES!!! The wind was blowing, it was FREEEEEEEEEZING! And I kept apologizing. I felt so bad. I tried to block the wind for her. The people were just standing in there. In the warmness, non-windy heat. While we were standing out there wishing we were them in the freezing, windy, sunlessness. Then I saw Mike from Revive. And he saw me and waved. So, FNALLY they opened up the doors and let us in.. SLOWLY!! They had to check our bags to make sure we didn't have any outside food/drinks. So, we finally got in. I checked in with Mike at the Wired table. Then I went to buy a Third Day Revelation Tour and Third Day poster. Then got a Revive poster. Went to the bathroom to put my new shirt on. So, then we went to our seats... and my sister sighed. We had nose-bleed seats. Yipee! So, she went back down to see if they had any of the Third Day shirts she wanted in. Still none. She came back and we waited. Took pictures. I saw the Revive guys on the side of the stage. And I also saw Tai from Third Day on the other side of the stage with the sound guy. And finally Revive came on. No one was standing up in our section. I was the only one and I was clapping and I'm sure I embarrassed my sister and myself, bu who cares! I love Revive and nothing can change that! Then my sister and I went out and looked over the ledge to see how many people were at Third Day's merch booth and there was a BUNCH!! And I spotted David from Third Day. My sister dared me to yell his name. So, I did and he looked up, said hi, and waved. I was red. So, we went back in to see Brandon Heath perform. The crowd was a little more into it with BH. After Brandon was done my sister and I went down stairs to stand in line to meet BH and Revive. I saved my sisters spot in line while she went to see if they had that shirt in yet. She came back with three CD's in her hand. WHA?? She had gotten thi deal where you pay a pretty reasonable amount of money for all three artists CD's. NO FARE!!! And the reason why that was not fare AT ALL was because Revive's CD wasn't supposed to be out for another FIVE DAYS!!! So, she got one of the first copies ever! Not fare! So, we waited in such a long line. And we were about 5 feet away from Revive's table and my sister had asked me if Revive would remember me. I told her that I wasn't for sure. And we were still talking about that when she says.. "Uhhh.. he just said your name!" I asked her who and she says, "The one that called Mom!" (That's a WHOLE different story!) Rich. I looked over there and Rich was showing Ty where I was. Rich said, "IT'S CHELSIE!!" About three times. When they noticed I was looking at them Ty, Rich, and Mike starting waving like I was going to disappear. Rich started talking over people just to talk to me. (Weird!?) Everyone in line was looking at me like, "No way!" or "You're so lucky!" or "Nuh-uhh.. NOT POSIBLE!!" When my sister and I got up to Dave he asked me what my name was and before I could say my name Ty, Rich, and Mike were like, "DUDE, DAVE!!! IT'S CHELSIE!!!!" and Dave looked at me a second time and says, "Oh yeah, sorry, I didn't recognize you!" And then Dave gave me a high five. Ty pounded my fist, Rich gave me a high five, and Mike pounded my fist. We all talked for a while and Rich asks if I can come back and hang out with them after the concert. And Mike says, "When's that thing with Third Day?" And pointed to my sticker. So, yeah. We talked forever. The stinkin' security guard made us move on to Brandon. So, we went up to Brandon and my sister put her hand on his arm and told him how amazing he was. And he kinda looked at us surprised and said, "Well, thank you! I don't always take compliments lightly. But this one's great! You guys are awesome!" And we all introduced ourselves and my shyness kicked in for him. Oh my! I was hoping that I wasn't going to be this way for Third Day! And we talked for awhile and the security guard was very pushy! He wasn't my best friend at all this night! So, we went to our seats and on the way my sister couldn't stop talking about the Revive guys knowing me like that. She's still shocked to this day! So, we got up there just in time Third Day was about to start. Third Day rocked the house as usual! They never disappoint! During the song 'Thief' Mac got off the stage while Mark did his amazing guitar solo and he went backstage then appeared right in front of the section to our right. So, they got close. Then all the others joined him to do an acoustic set. It was nice. And then they all went back on stage. And continued rocking. During Mac's prayer and 'Cry Out To Jesus' I heard some sniffles and looked over to find my sister balling her eyes out. Because of Mac's prayer, she came closer to Christ that night. Seing her cry made me cry. It was great.
So, after the concert I had to go straight to the Wired M&G. I was soooo stoked! So, when I arrived Mike had everyone in a circle. I joined in and he was talking. The first thing I heard him say was, "Sorry, but all the guys are married. So, you don't have a chance!" Tehehe, funny Mike! And David came out first to talk to us about the "A Thousand Hills Coffee". And then I saw the rest of the guys come in. My knees started shaking and I started to egt even more nervous. David was the first one to come to me. He remembered me from the little 'Shouting-His-Name-Dare' from my sister and he laughed. We talked for awhile. I didn't get my picture taken with him, though. :( My neighbor asked me if I wanted her to take pictures of me and the guys with my camera for me after David left. Mark was next. I was very excited to see Mark! I had been following Mark on Twitter for a loooooong time and we had talked a bit on there. So, my mission was to tell him about Twitter. So, He came up to me and introduced himself. I told him my name. Then he asked me where I was from and I told him and he was like, "Wow, than it took awhile for you to get here! How long?" I told him and he was like, "Woah!" And then I blurted out... "I follow you on Twitter!" And he was like, "Oh really? What's your (he used a really fancy word here) username?" I told him and he was like, "Oh yeah! I have seen you around quite a bit! Man, I wish I had my phone with me so I could take a picture of us and put it on Twitter! Oh well, you'll just have to send me this one and I'll repost it!" Wait... WHA?? Are you JOKING me! I'm sure my eyes were about to pop out of my head! I was sooooo... shocked! So, we took the picture and talked for a bit. It was crazy! (And he DID repost the picture on Twitter!) The whole time... Mac was about to overlap Mark! So, I didn't have too long of a wait until Mac came around! This moment was soooo... awesome! It's hard to explain over typing! He introduced himself to me and I introduced myself to him. We talked for a while and he asked me some questions. He was about to leave me when he turned around and asked, "Oh... do you have the new album?" I don't know WHY he asked me that because he had just signed TWO Revelation albums! I took my sisters to get it signed to be nice. So, I just said that I did and he asked me what song was my favorite and I told him 'Take It All'! And he agreed that it was a good one! Right now, my favorite is 'Born Again'! It changes a lot! And then Tai was the last one. He came up to me and introduced himself and I introduced myself. We talked for awhile and one thing that sticks out to me is when he asked, "Are you going to listen to BOTH of these albums?" And I told them one was for my sister. He was like, "Oh! Awwww... you're such a good sister!" And we talked some more. Then I went to go get in line to get my Wired picture taken. When I got up there. And stood between Mac and David someone made a weird noise that made me laugh between my smile. I started cracking up afterwards and so did the guys. It was awesome!
So, on the way home we had to blast my sisters new CD's to keep her awake. She doesn't seem to remember driving a pretty long length of the time. I stayed awake to keep her awake! So, we got back to her house at abotu 3:00 a.m. But it was all worth it!
Well, that's the Champiahn, IL. concert experience for ya! Hope you enjoyed it. Any questions.. don't hesitate to ask! And think.... this is just a summary of my night! You should've been there!
