Backstreet in Albany
Saturday, June 30, 2001
Jeanine Arrives in Albany:
by Jeanine & Maria
Saturday my friend, Louise, comes and picks me up at 10:30 and we're off. She was with her 12 year old daughter, Christie, who had NO idea where we were going. She thought we were going shopping at the outlets upstate and made a list of things they all needed, lol. Too cute.
:-) After driving for what seemed like forever we pass the exit for the outlets and is her daughter paying attention? Nooooo… lol. She's looking at something else. So me and my friend start laughing. Then we told her. She was so excited. Then she was bummed. "But Mom, I didn't
pack any of my good clothes." Ahh well, she's going to see the BSB, right? The rest of the ride she wouldn't shut up.
She called me back a few minutes later and came down to my room. We talked and went to the lobby with Emma, Louise and Christie. On the way down I did a really stupid thing though. I forgot to put film in my camera… Not that it mattered I didn't see anyone. Christie got to meet Kevin and see Brian so she was in heaven. Did I get to see Brian? Nooooo, lol. I had to leave at 5:00 to meet that guy and to pick up my ticket.
Maria arrives in Albany:
I took the 7:30am bus out of Montreal. I had to leave my house at 5:15am cause I live out in the 'burbs and the bus station is downtown Montreal which takes me 50 mins to get to by public transporation. I was so tired and it was HOT. But the excitment kept me going for the five hour bus ride. There were about six other BSB fans on the bus, one of whom I shared a hotel room with last March in Toronto (Hi Cara!).
I got into Albany at 12:45 and Emma was there to pick me up with her daughter Maren and Maren's boyfriend Mark. I refer to Emma as "mom." She's so cool. We went directly to the hotel and I couldn't believe the FANS in the lobby. Like Jeanine said, there was TONS of fans there. It was worse than February 2000. We had a room on the 14th floor. Emma and I opened each other's respective birthday presents then I checked the voicemail and J had left me a message. Emma and I went down to the 10th floor to see Jeanine who had brought me belated birthday presents! Gotta love friends who come bearing gifts. lol.
A little while later, J, Emma, Louise and I trotted down to the lobby to see who was around. Eda was there, too. It was great to see her again! We hung around for a while and saw Nick arrive. Well, I should say, I saw Nick's head. The fans were insane. Some girl was crying. People need to get a grip on reality.
Emma and I went outside when we noticed tour buses pulling up. Emma got to see Brian run out of his tour bus. He's short and so am I, so I didn't see him. lol Later we saw AJ and Sarah, who waved and smiled at the fans. So that was the big thrill of the afternoon. Emma and I hit the mall where I spent an hour looking for the perfect concert outfit. Never did find it so I settled for white capris and some cute t-shirts.
Jeanine's Saturday night concert review:
It's FINALLY a little before 7 and we leave. Get over to the arena. They aren't checking bags or cameras. I love this place :) I get to my seat and scare the crap out of the guy I got the ticket from. We were sitting next to each other. Krystal came out first and I have to say I still think she rocks. She has an amazing voice. I took pictures, which came out blurry. Next up Shaggy. I went to meet Krystal. I do not like Shaggy and I'm not looking forward to seeing him like 3 more times. Krystal was a sweetheart though. She laughed when I told her me and my mother were looking around all day last month for her CD not realizing the date was pushed back. Good find Kevin!
After Shaggy we had to wait like a half hour for the boys to come out. We kind of figured they were coming out when Sarah, AJ's girlfriend, and Leighanne came out… and sat in front of us… How can you cheer and scream (not that I do either of those, but anyway) for Brian when his wife is sitting right in front of you. FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY the guys came out. YAY. I nearly choked on the smoke though, lol. It was so thick and heavy. I was coughing like you wouldn't believe.
They came out and did their stuff. Brian was singing certain song parts to Leighanne. It was really sweet. Like in Yes I Will ... He was singing to her, looking right at her most of the song… It killed me to watch and be right behind her, lol. When the lights were out right before they started playing I Want It That Way I got the hiccups. Don't ask me where they came from but I did… Each time I hiccuped so did Brian. He was making fun of me… again… will he ever stop? I hope not, lol. He did laugh too before the lights went up.
I loved the old man skit. That was funny and I'm SO glad they added something like that in there. I was SO happy to have them play part of QPG too because that's my favorite song by them. It just rocked!! I was standing under the guys during Time, again, so I mainly got up the nose shots… Oh how nice. Thank god none of them had anything up there…
During Answer To Our Lives (which is one of my newer favorite songs) Nick was on drums (YUMMY), Brian was on guitar (YUMMY TOO) and Howie was hitting something? Was that a bell or something? I really couldn't see it. Someone (Kevin I think) came over and put a BK crown on Howie's head. He looked so adorable too. I'm not sure of the songs after that because they are changed around and all but during Shining Star… We should all really be warned about bringing an oxygen mask with us. . . Seriously… They are so… DAYAM during that song, lol.
Nick, booty, shaking it… That's all I have to say… Well, not really. When he was shaking that fine booty I was like YES! I want so bad to get a picture of it… again J So I took a picture as
he was shaking… AND HE TURNED AROUND… Damn boy caught me taking a picture of his butt… (It's okay though, I'll live). Then he laughed at me. (What is it with Brian and him laughing at me?????) Then, my god I could've died on the spot, he stuck his tongue out at me. I was in
heaven, let me tell you. So, Get Another Boyfriend comes on at one point… Nick with the
jacket, AJ with the "Good God" (I didn't hear it this time but others did…), Brian with the thrusting… Yes, you did read that right… Brian's thrusting his hips during GAB. I swear it. Next time you see them watch Brian, no matter how tempting it is to see Nick rip off his jacket
and throw it on the floor, and AJ do his AJ thing and all, watch Brian. I did, I knew it was coming and YES! He did it! Some point during The Call, which they changed. I can't believe they changed the dance for that, lol, Nick winked.. at me.. Holy shit, I was on overload… That boy… man… SHIT, he needs to be locked up *ducking from the flying objects Nick fans are sending my way* When they came up in the robes I couldn't find Brian, lol. It was too smoky L He looks
hot in his robe. AJ looked DAYAM FINE though… They were all killing me that night.
Shape of my heart was awesome but that also meant that the show was almost over L Every time I see those guys they do something that makes me love them more and more, you know? Well, during their bow Howie said Hi to me..., then he waved to me.. then he blew me a kiss and gave me
his peace sign (I'm sure you know what I'm talking about)... and he kept doing all of those things until I waved back. You can see him still looking at me in that one picture I got of the five of them bowing… I thought that shot was pretty cool. I also got a picture of AJ looking
into my camera. I really hope I didn't blind the poor man. That flash blinds me every time I'm on the receiving end, lol.
Maria's Saturday night concert review:
Emma and I had kick ass seats -- six rows up right next to stage on Nick's side. Thanks to Eda & Jeanine for getting us those fanclub seats! Eda was sitting one row below us. I was in heaven! Jeanine pretty much summed up the show, but I'll some share of my fave moments. The opening numbers are just totally awesome! I love the dancing in LTL. Nick was ON and acting like the crazy guy that he is.
I absolutely loved the "changing video." The blow up doll they gave Howie or is it AJ? I'm tired... but anyway -- priceless. Those guys can be really funny when they want to be. Then the "2050" video -- even funnier. Em and I were peeing in our pants. I love the line, "You wouldn't believe it, but Joey Fatone showed up." LMAO! When Nick turns around and shakes his ass, I was a goner. ;o)
During IWITW I had my first Nick moment of the weekend. I stood up after the people in front of me sat down and Nick was on the bottom part of the riser looking in my general direction so I took a chance did something with my face -- I can't remember what but it got his attention and he kinda looked at me, turned his head, then turned back (almost like a double take) and smirked/grinned at me. Well, Maria turned to Emma and screamed "He smiled at me!!!!!" But it was a smirky grin. I must've looked like a lust-sick goober. lol.
They changed Shining Star, but of course Nick does the booty shake thing ... oh ... my .... God!! He didn't shake it as hard as he does the next night, but it was still GREAT to see. My hormones are in overdrive by now and I'm panting. I have Emma snapping Nick pix for me while I drool. Mom rocks!
They changed the dance to The Call which I don't like. I preferred the old way they performed the song, but it doesn't matter. It was great as was the entire concert. Howie was awesome during HDIFIL, as he always is. AJ was crotch grabbing and stripping as we all love to watch him do. Brian in a bandana...you know the white one he wears during Everybody and a few other songs when they're in white? OMFG! I wanted to run up on stage, throw him down and just DO HIM!!!I'm sure Leighanne would've appreciated that. Can we say cat fight? lol. I love guys in bandanas and a bandana just does something to Brian that makes me pant. I actually tore my vision away from the blonde one when Brian was in the bandana. Now, if Nick was wearing one also, there would've been a serious hormonal charge in my body and I might not have made it out of there alive (or dry). Hehehe.
Emma, Eda and I left right after The Call so we could get back to the hotel before the massive exodus of fans. Good idea that we did, too, as you'll read in a bit.
Jeanine's post-concert activities:
After the concert Louise, Christie and I headed back to the hotel where it took us like twenty minutes to get upstairs to our room. We had to go downstairs to go back upstairs but, grrr, we finally made it. We dropped Christie off and went to join our friends at the bar. Maria,
Emma, Louise, my friend Angela and I took a separate table from our other friends because there weren't enough seats. We were sitting closer to the window and all, under the big TV.
We were sitting and joking (Emma, I STILL LOVE your shirt, lol). I, of course *big surprise* had my back to everything so I had no idea what was going on… But Nick had walked into the bar *fans self* (I'm officially in hiding from Maria, lol) and where does he sit? At the tabel right next to us. Now I'm mortified he's gonna remember me being the girl who took a picture of his booty, lol, but he wasn't there long enough. He did look over at Maria and I a few times. Once he gave us grateful looks (I guess cause we didn't scream or try to attack) and another time he passed his gaze over us. All he wanted to do was relax but could he? NO. Why? Because this idiotic bar allowed kids in it… Kids and teenage who tried to approach him. He had Billy and Raul with him. Raul was trying to get these two girls to step back but they "just wanted to say hi." Honey, if Nick wanted to say hi he would've turned around to do so. Billy was asking the waitress if there was anything that can be done about the kid/teenager
situation and her answer? Nope. As long as the kids were in there with there parents, and they were paying to stay there, they were allowed in there. The waitress told us later that she thought it sucked for him but there was nothing she could do about it. So he left the bar while people were taking pictures of him in it. So uncool people.
I still blame Nick for my intoxication that night. I was planning on only having one long island iced tea but him, and that booty, came walking into the bar, so I had another. Apparently when I'm in my intoxicated state I want cab drivers to take me to where Brian is naked, I bang
my head on tables *hard enough to bruise really bad* I spit ice cubes across the room to see if I could hit Nick if he was actually still sitting there. Anything else I did Maria?
Maria's post-concert activities:
Oh Jeanine, you did plenty! The girl was wired for sound. lol. As J reported, we were sitting in the "pit" part of the restaurant and who strolls in around 1:00-1:30am, but Nick. Emma was hitting me, trying to tell me that he was coming in. I was oblivious until I turned around and my eyes landed on him. He was wearing a white Nike tank top, baggy whitish pants and runners. He was sweating and his hair was flat on his forehead. He looked adorable. He had to walk behind me to get to a table and our eyes locked for a brief minute. I wanted to say hi to him, but I was so shocked that I opened my mouth and nothing came out. Once he passed me, I put my head in my hands and whispered, "Oh my God" about 20 times. lol. I couldn't believe that he was sitting a foot from me. I sent Emma to our room to get the CD I had made for Nick. I figured I'd ask Billy later to give it to Nick for me, if I couldn't myself. Billy was telling some chick to leave Nick alone. He said that Nick was unwinding. I was very proud of everyone at our table. We sat there and didn't try to approach him or take pix. I think he respected us for that, especially when he gave J and I that grateful look. Did I mention that he looked at me a total of three times that night? Plus the concert...that's four! AAAHHHH! Maria was one happy camper! So I watched Nick out of the corner of my eye while he chatted with his friend Tony. Our waitress went to see them and Billy asked her to get rid of the kids, but like J said, she couldn't. If you ask me, kids shouldn't be in a bar, especially at that time of night -- parents or no parents. We thought that's why he left, but apparently it's because he wanted to eat and the kitchen was closed so Nicky no eat. He was pissed and he left. :( Emma wasn't back by then. So that was my 7 minutes of Nick in the bar. Later we heard that he ordered Pizza up to his room.
Eda and Tiff (from Whodaman) were on Nick's floor and Eda was telling me that he partied in his room all night BLARING (and she said BLARING) his music until 6am. Geez. No wonder he looked half dead the next day. lol. All night partying. Why wasn't I invited? I could survive listening to Limp's Rollin' 200 times as long as I was in Nick's company. Hehe.
J was totally wasted by then. The others were drinking, but they were ok, and I was sticking to Diet Pepsi. I have to watch my sugar and I had two Strawberry Dacquiris at supper so I couldn't have more alcohol. *pout* Jeanine started shooting ice out of her mouth to see if she could hit the chair where Nick had been sitting. It was too funny. Some teenies came in and sat down on the chair that Nick had vacated. "Oh my God he sat here." Lord. J called Stef (Bobbi of BSB fanfic) and was babbling on about how Nick caught her taking a picture of his ass. She was afraid that Nick had recognized her. I thought she would start crying in her drunken state. She kept needing to pee and got up to go to the bathroom and walked into a wall. She stood there staring at the wall and talking on her cell until Louise pried her away and steered her to the bathroom. It was too funny. She also banged her head on the table and had a nice goose egg the next day. She kept staring at Emma's chest. LMAO! Em had a t-shirt on that said, "Everyone's watching you stare at my chest." Hehehe.
Around 2:30am we went outside for some air. I sat down on the ground and J proceeded to plop down really close behind me. She kept rubbing up against me. I kept telling her to stop feeling me up. lol Every time a cab went by, Jeanine would whine, "Mr Taxi driver, can you take me to wear Brian is naked?" LMAO! It became her signature line. Then she wanted to go sleep on the church steps cause she figured that since it was Sunday, Brian would go to church in the morning. Too much. Before she went up to bed, she planted a sloppy wet kiss on the side of my neck. Ok, she was totally blitzed. Gee and I always thought Nick should be the one slobbering kisses on my neck.
We heard that Kev, Howie and AJ had gone to the same place where Em and I had supper earlier. We debated on going there, but we didn't. Don't want to interfere on the guys' personal time. They came back around 3:30. The car drove straight into the garage so we didn't see them. We finally went up to bed and passed out.
Click here for Day 2