Chas got a MEET & GREET, ...and his buddy Kev got one to
Posted: Thu Sep 09, 2004 6:44 pm
OK, so there I was 24 hours before the show at Wembley and my phone rings. someone who shall rename nameless, (you know who you are ), gives me a call and says that a Meet and Greet is in the offing and would I like one?!?!?!?
After I got up off the floor and regained moisture in my mouth I said of course. Arrangements were made and the next night I headed off to Wembley. Because I was now going early, my friend Kevin, decided to make his own way to Wembley after he finished work, (I was going to pick him up). Any hoo, I gets to the backstage gate and introduce myself and a security guard takes me backstage to find my M&G pass.
We go in and the boys are on stage doing the soundcheck, and they're doing SummerTime Blues. I looked up and realised that I was about 20 yards behind Neil thumping away on the skins. The security guard then takes me to a little office that was stage left and talks to someone about me and my pass. Again, I look up and realise that Geddy is just up there about 20 yards away!!! It turns out the guard has brought me to the wrong office. We had to Exit Stage Left to go back behind the stage again, (hi Neil's back), over to stage right, yep, now I'm about 20 yards from Alex. I thought about snapping a piccy with my phone camera but the guard was not going to let me do that. He was ready to stop me when I hinted, more than his job was worth to let me. Shame, but never mind.
So, into the production office where, I think Liam Burt, (long greying ponytail, was on the Boys From Brazil talking about stage set up probs in the rain, HIM), says he'll go find the guy I'm asking for. So, a lady waks up to me while I'm waiting and says "are you Chas?", I reply "yes", and she says, "so you're here to pick up 2 M&G passes, right?". Almost tripping up on my words I replied, "yes, that's right". So she hands them to me and the guard walks me back to the gate. the soundcheck is blasting the whole time.
Now, outside the gate, I phone Kevin and tell him he has got 40 mins to get to Wembley before 6:30, he says "why?", I say, "cos you'll miss your M&G". 5 minutes later, Kev is doing 80mph in a taxi, through the back streets and over speed bumps to get there from Chiswick in RUSH hour traffic. Whilst waiting for him, I try to find out where we are supposed to go and I'm waiting for a supervisor, to ask him, cos no-one else seems to know. Anyway, I saw a supervisor who promptly showed me where to go for 6:30.
So, back to the front of Wembley and waiting for Kev. He pulls up in the taxi at 6:25. !!!
Armed with tickets and passes in we go. after being ferried into another side room, we go through the rules of the M&G from a crew member, (us and about 16 other people), then in comes Ged and Al, to a round of applause.
Up we go for our turn, and I shake Ged's hand and say, "Hiya Geddy, howsit going?", he replies, "great man, wow, I love your T shirt", (big 'up yours' to the pisstakers of my shirt ), after shaking Alex's hand and saying Hi, I showed them NPG's M&G piccy http://www.rushmessageboard.com/forums/ ... 706865.jpg. I tell them, "I wanted to thank you guys, because of you I met this girl and we are set to be married next year. It's a match made in heaven, but we found each other because of you guys, thank you so much", you can see the picture in my hand. Alex was beaming and seemed to be really made up about it, saying something like "really?, that's great", as did Ged but much more cooly. 'click' 'click'. 2 pictures taken and camera gets handed to Kev. Alex then reaches out and grabs my hand again, and says "congratulations", "thanks", I replied as we were slowly being ushered out of the door.
Well, it didn't matter about muddy sound or quiet mikes. Mine and Kev's feet didn't touch the ground for the rest of the night.
A big thank you goes to 'you know who you are', Kevin would like to say thanks too. The extra M&G was a surprise to us both, but it made both of us extremely happy. THANK YOU.
After I got up off the floor and regained moisture in my mouth I said of course. Arrangements were made and the next night I headed off to Wembley. Because I was now going early, my friend Kevin, decided to make his own way to Wembley after he finished work, (I was going to pick him up). Any hoo, I gets to the backstage gate and introduce myself and a security guard takes me backstage to find my M&G pass.
We go in and the boys are on stage doing the soundcheck, and they're doing SummerTime Blues. I looked up and realised that I was about 20 yards behind Neil thumping away on the skins. The security guard then takes me to a little office that was stage left and talks to someone about me and my pass. Again, I look up and realise that Geddy is just up there about 20 yards away!!! It turns out the guard has brought me to the wrong office. We had to Exit Stage Left to go back behind the stage again, (hi Neil's back), over to stage right, yep, now I'm about 20 yards from Alex. I thought about snapping a piccy with my phone camera but the guard was not going to let me do that. He was ready to stop me when I hinted, more than his job was worth to let me. Shame, but never mind.
So, into the production office where, I think Liam Burt, (long greying ponytail, was on the Boys From Brazil talking about stage set up probs in the rain, HIM), says he'll go find the guy I'm asking for. So, a lady waks up to me while I'm waiting and says "are you Chas?", I reply "yes", and she says, "so you're here to pick up 2 M&G passes, right?". Almost tripping up on my words I replied, "yes, that's right". So she hands them to me and the guard walks me back to the gate. the soundcheck is blasting the whole time.
Now, outside the gate, I phone Kevin and tell him he has got 40 mins to get to Wembley before 6:30, he says "why?", I say, "cos you'll miss your M&G". 5 minutes later, Kev is doing 80mph in a taxi, through the back streets and over speed bumps to get there from Chiswick in RUSH hour traffic. Whilst waiting for him, I try to find out where we are supposed to go and I'm waiting for a supervisor, to ask him, cos no-one else seems to know. Anyway, I saw a supervisor who promptly showed me where to go for 6:30.
So, back to the front of Wembley and waiting for Kev. He pulls up in the taxi at 6:25. !!!
Armed with tickets and passes in we go. after being ferried into another side room, we go through the rules of the M&G from a crew member, (us and about 16 other people), then in comes Ged and Al, to a round of applause.
Up we go for our turn, and I shake Ged's hand and say, "Hiya Geddy, howsit going?", he replies, "great man, wow, I love your T shirt", (big 'up yours' to the pisstakers of my shirt ), after shaking Alex's hand and saying Hi, I showed them NPG's M&G piccy http://www.rushmessageboard.com/forums/ ... 706865.jpg. I tell them, "I wanted to thank you guys, because of you I met this girl and we are set to be married next year. It's a match made in heaven, but we found each other because of you guys, thank you so much", you can see the picture in my hand. Alex was beaming and seemed to be really made up about it, saying something like "really?, that's great", as did Ged but much more cooly. 'click' 'click'. 2 pictures taken and camera gets handed to Kev. Alex then reaches out and grabs my hand again, and says "congratulations", "thanks", I replied as we were slowly being ushered out of the door.
Well, it didn't matter about muddy sound or quiet mikes. Mine and Kev's feet didn't touch the ground for the rest of the night.
A big thank you goes to 'you know who you are', Kevin would like to say thanks too. The extra M&G was a surprise to us both, but it made both of us extremely happy. THANK YOU.
(and you)
j/k 
