This is the Moment, St. Louis, Part 1

Here I am, 2 days after attending one of the most exciting and entertaining concerts I’ve ever seen, and now I’m going to try to re-live it through a few words.  The concert in question is the Paul Byrom “This Is The Moment” concert tour and this show happened to be in St Louis, MO.  But before I get to the show itself I want to go back to the beginning when I learned Paul was going to do a solo tour and that one of the stops would be in St Louis.  Now, I don’t live in St Louis, but I am only 3 hours away, so it’s nothing for me to head out after work, attend a show, and come home the same night.  It makes for a long day, but it’s usually well worth it, and this was no exception.

Of course it’s always more fun to attend a concert with friends, so again when Paul first announced he would be in St Louis, I called around to see if any other of my CT friends wanted to go to the show.  I won’t say I was completely surprised at the response, but I was a bit taken back by the rapid answers everyone gave me. All my friends wanted to support Paul in his solo tour so I ended up having a group of 23 friends that all got tickets together.  We took up the majority of the front row and a part of the second row as well. What a great way to welcome Paul to St Louis. We had people from many different states and 1 special visitor from Australia that we added at the last minute.  How cool is that? I’ve made a new friend that I’m certain I’ll visit some day in her home country. 

So on the day of the show, people were heading to St Louis from all over. We had people from Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Illinois, Texas, KY (me), Chicago, and of course a few folks from St Louis. I hightailed it out of the office a bit early so I could go home and get ready for the show and then hit the road. I’m not sure how I managed it but I showered, washed my hair, redid my makeup, dressed and was out the door in 25 minutes. That may be a record for anyone, anywhere.  Once I was on the road I was very lucky not to hit much traffic but I did run into some pretty heavy storms. However, nothing was going to keep me from getting to the show on time.  

Most of us met for a bite to eat before the show and the introductions were begun since a lot of us had never met “in person”, but only on Twitter or Facebook.  I also had some friends that I knew from being a fan of Gerry Butler and they had to meet all my CT / Twitter friends.  There seemed to be a frenzy of people talking and getting to know each other all at once.  Of course it didn’t help that there was a play going on at the Fox Theater right down the street.   Everyone finally got fed and started making their way to the theater, The Sheldon Concert Hall, and the excitement was building.  

Once inside, the immediate attraction was the MERCHANDISE TABLE!! Paul had prepared perfectly by giving us a few things we just had to have but wouldn’t break the bank if we bought them all.  Of course his CDs were available, but he also had a poster, a tour tee shirt, a “swanky monkey”, and the cutest “paul pens” I’ve ever seen.  Believe me, they really look like him!  After picking up some of everything on the table it was finally time to head to our seats, and it’s not hard to find your seat when you are front row center stage!!  After a few final chats with everyone and some pics, the lights went dim and it was time for Paul.

ciao for now,
Pat