It is a new calendar year for "Backstage Experience_ eligibility at Keith Urban's fan club website so I have been trying my luck when I can. I applied for the Houston meet and greet.......no luck. Then I tried for the Florence meet and greet and, once again, when it was announced on the .net board that emails had been sent to the winners, there was no winning email for me : ( . But about 7 to 10 days later I was shocked and delighted to receive the following message:
We have had a last minute opening for the Keith Urban Meet and Greet in Arizona, and you are next in line! GLORY BE!!
So don’t ever give up - you might receive a last minute surprise!! I knew there would likely be only short meet & greets at the summer festival shows, rather than the full backstage experience treatment, but ANY brief time with Keith is precious and I had hopes that the meet and greet might possibly offer the opportunity for an individual photo with Keith.
The email gave the usual instructions - pick up your envelope at the venue box office a few hours before showtime. The meet and greet, it said, would probably take place 90 minutes before Keith goes on stage. Don’t be late or you might miss your opportunity. Well these instructions turned out to be much more difficult than they seemed. First off, the largely temporary staff at the huge Country Thunder venue is also largely uninformed. As you drive into the grounds you pass several security checkpoints making sure you are ticketed and going to the right area. At each checkpoint I asked the location of the box office and NO ONE KNEW!! Finally the 6th person I asked said “There is no box office, but there is a will call located in that little portable box of an office 500 yards to my left.”
So I stopped at will call about 1 pm but they had no meet and greet envelopes. “Come back later in the afternoon.” This location, unfortunately, was 1.5 miles from my parking lot and probably 2 miles from the performance area! But I made my way back there at 3:30 - still no envelopes and they had been told the envelopes would be delivered to the merchandise booth rather than will call. So back to the concerts I went.
I visited Keith’s merchandise booth at 4:00, at 5:00, and at 6:00 - still no envelopes. I ran into 3 other worried Monkeyville winners (one local, one from Louisville, and one from Colorado) - had Monkeyville forgotten about us? I talked to Keith’s man Carson (who often mans the Monkeyville table at concerts) and it didn’t help that he sounded very doubtful. “The backstage passes are ALWAYS at the box office, not the merchandise booth. All my years with Keith that is where they have been.” he said. What to do? Bumper to bumper traffic was now pouring into Country Thunder for the big evening shows so I doubted I could even buck the traffic and make it back to the will call box, then back to the concert grounds in time. One helpful young lady at the merchandise booth tried multiple times to call or run and find Keith’s staff to help us out without luck, The envelopes seemed to have disappeared somewhere at Country Thunder. Finally at 7 pm she told us one of the Sheriffs on the grounds was hunting them down!!(Florence is a prison town and overloaded with law enforcement personnel of different types and it was these guys who provided almost all of the security functions at Country Thunder). At 7:25 the envelopes finally appeared - much to out relief. We put on our backstage stickers and went to line up for the meet and greet. But our worries were not quite over yet. We were pretty excited, thinking that only 4 of us were going to meet Keith, but lo and behold maybe 30 others from radio stations and possibly sponsors were lined up as well. Chances for individual photos with this number and the late hour seemed slim. Then we waited and waited and waited - nervously watching our watches as Keith’s 9:00 showtime drew closer and closer.
Finally at about 8:15 we saw Keith riding over in a small vehicle. The guard told us he had to stop and autograph a few things (for the charities and radio stations I presume) first before meeting us. We were issued strict instructions - don’t ask to have anything signed. Don’t bring in any alcohol or any beverage of any type. This was repeated more than once and was something I had never heard before. I guess, practically, beverages would be a hassle and a slow-down for the quick meet and photo routine. But I also wondered, in the back of my mind, whether it had anything to do with the abundance of Crown Royal drinks at Thunder since Crown Royal is one of the main sponsors. I thought I remembered hearing once that Crown Royal had been Keith’s drink of choice so maybe he wants to steer completely clear of any reminders of that.
At last we saw Keith again being shuttled from the autograph location to the makeshift black tent they had set up between buses for the meet and greet. He smiled and waved at our anxious, anticipating faces and a cheer went out that the awaited time had FINALLY arrived!
No time for individual photos the staff told us - it will have to be groups of at least 4. It made sense for us 4 Monkeys who had commissurated during the last few hours should go in together. The tent was rather dimly lit, maybe 20 ft square, with nothing inside except the photographer and our favorite guy. He is wearing a long sleeve blue shirt a shade darker than his eyes and his hair is shiny and silky. I never look down so don’t know about jeans or shoes. As each person entered Keith would greet them with a handshake and ask their name.
At last - my turn!! As I took his hand and looked at that smiling face I said “Its so good to see you again Keith!” and, at his expectant look, I added “I’m Linda.” And he responded “And it is so great to see you again Linda!” aww : ) and pulled me in for an unexpected hug!! double aww : ) The remaining Monkeys introduced themselves and we jockeyed for position in the photo (I lost) until Keith said “Let me get in the middle here.” and then he stretched out his arms to pull all 4 of us together. I rubbed his back a bit with my hand and it took effort to look at the cameraman rather than Mr. Urban.
Well of all the many amazing things about Keith, one that I cannot get over is his ability to really focus, listen and remember. He meets so many people in such short time periods - gives so many quickie radio interviews, probably one after another - yet seems to be able to really be there and remember the last of so many introductions. How does he do it? After the photo it was obvious that the staff wanted to rush us out to make room for the next group. But I touched Keith’s arm one more time and said “ Thanks so much for having the patience to do this!” And he said “You’re very welcome LINDA. Take care baby,” !!! triple aww and knock me over with a feather! So even after a few more introductions after me he remembered. I’m impressed and just beamed all the way back to my seat to get ready for his show.
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