Mongers! What a day, what a night, what a show, what a feeling, what a sensation eh? :)

I arrived around 12:30, but thought...nah......"nobody will be in line this early..."...so I went ahead and had lunch. Around 2, I decided I better head down to Metropol and hopefully start the line. Well, there was no line. :) I did indeed start it. hehe...

The tour buses were parked right in front of the club, and after a short while alone, Howard walks out and goes to enter the club...walking right in front of me. Somehow I gathered the courage to approach him, and asked "Hey Howard! Hey...could I bother you for an autograph? :)" hehe..I didn't know what else to say....He said in a pleasent smile, "O sure...sure...", took a promo glossy from the Brigade era and signed it for me.

A few minutes later, but whom does appear none other than our 1 and very own Frankie Ray. He immediately recognizes me, and we chat for a few minutes. It's so easy to talk to Frank, I felt so comfortable. Eventually I asked if I could get some stuff signed, and he said sure...he'd take it back to the bus for me. He takes off, and says he'll have Ann sign em.

Minutes later...Frank and Ben come walking down the sidewalk w/Libby (Ben's wife), and their newborn (Truman) in a stroller. We chat for a few minutes again, and I ask if I could get a few pix w/the guys. Libby acts as photographer extrodianaire! :) She takes 2 pix of me w/the guys. 1 of them was us under the Metropol sign "7/7 Heart" on the display. Here is the other pic.It's the same one as above....

After that, I ended up saying hi to Scott(Olson), saw Jon(Bayless) walk by (too shy to say anything to him tho hehe), and Frank again once more I think.

*Still* nobody else in line....and 5 pm rolls around, and then finally I'm joined by nobody other than Mike J. (aka KickingOut on AOL), and his co-worker friend Mary. I go down to Rosebuds(bar/restaurant right next to Metropol) and have a drink w/them there. I tell them I have to resume my post, and return back out to the line...which is still empty at this point.

While I'm walking back, Frank spots me, carrying my stuff which he had Ann sign. (Dreamboat Annie cd slip, Ann's first Rockrgrl, The How Beautiful fan club postcard). We chat yet again, and then I went back to chat w/Mike and Mary for a few again.

After that finally ppl start showing up, but it really didn't start picking up until 6:00-6:30. Which surprsed me....I expected at least a few more ppl b4 5.

At some point I finally hooked up w/Leslie...nice meeting you Leslie! :)

Doors opened shortly after 7, and I sprinted to the front of the stage. I picked my spot off to the left side of the stage so I was right between Howie and Ann. Right underneath Howie's keyboard actually, slightly to the right of it. Perfect positoning so I could see Howie and Ann(a different pic) perfectly.

Here's yet another shot of Howie and Ann. Evan & Jaron, the opening act, played a 45 min set, from 8 to 8:45, playing some of their own material, and also playing covers such as "Down By The Schoolyard" (Simon & Garfunkle..or is that just Simon?), and The Who's "Baba O'Riley". Set change til 9:30, and then Ann and the guys came on!

They played the exact same set, all 17 songs as has been posted. The set was great, loud, and so nice to be in my hometown. Finally I see them in Pittsburgh! YES!!! :) I was able to take a roll of film!

Here's just a great shot of Howie.

Here are a few pix of Ann:

Ann @ Metropol Picture #1
Ann @ Metropol Picture #2
Ann @ Metropol Picture #3
Ann @ Metropol Picture #4

The sound and acoustics were great, the crowd was really rawking all night. Some interesting spots....For the intro to Barracuda, Howie started walking off the stage....jumping off into the crowd on top of on of the speakers, and started jamming a lil guitar solo out in/above the crowd! hehe..wild...I heard him yell "Spot me Yogi!" (roadie's nick) Howie's played a lil tapping part b4, then goes right into the intro to Barracuda, but he played a lil longer this time solo...it rawked! Howie actually stayed out there til I think the second verse. hehe...He's wild ;) Also, I forget which song...either Barracuda or Black Dog, he stepped forward off the *very* edge of the stage RIGHT over my head! ehhe...I was literally looking straight up in the air at him...hehe...After Black Dog he leaned down and handed me his pick! I had earlier got an Ann pick which Yogi dropped when he was setting up Ann's mic stand.

After the show, I finally was able to look around...and I finally spotted Tom (Tom Monger). Also there w/Tom were Lynn and Aunt Jean. We hung out for a few w/Mike and Mary, and Howie came out and he signed autographs(the "Shine On" postcard" for me) and posed for pix with ppl. Tom took one of me and Howie...but....we both weren't ready and our faces are kinda turned away hehe...

We eventually got kicked out of the club, so a bunch of us went outside and hovered outside the tour buses..hoping to get a glimpse of Ann. She ended up not coming out because both her children were inside...but we did get to hang out w/Frank for quite a while, and he took yet more stuff inside for us and Ann did sign those for us graciously The same Brigade glossy Howie signed earlier).

Frank did give us the lowdown....The Lovemongers' X-Mas album is apparently in the can. After the "Heart Featuring Ann Wilson" tour ends, Frank says that Ann has been invited to do a short 2 week or so tour w/the Indigo Girls, and then The Lovemongers may do some benefit shows and such to promote the Christmas album perhaps.

After a while, the tour buses pulled away, and we left the night feeling like we were still rawking....the night had ended.

Thank you Heart! :) Thank you Frankie for talking w/us so much, and for helping me get Ann to sign a few things....thank you Frankie & Ben & Libby for the pix w/the guys....thank you Ann for EVERYTHING! I couldn't ask for more... :)

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