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[Bojko]

Hey all! Some of you may have noticed the guy on the left in my sig, he is one of my musical idols, John Petrucci. He is in Australia for the first time and his concert is tomorrow night..

I woke up finding out only last night that Petrucci was doing a Clinic show, where he plays a few songs and talks to the audience, answers questions, shows the break down of a part of a song. Did I mention it was free?

So, naturally... I had to go.

So, my friend and I arrived a bit early thankfully and got second row seats in a small school auditorium. There was about 150 or so people? Perhaps? Very small and intimate, it was so very a change from a concert grounds.

From the seat I got:


The bass player who Petrucci is touring with came on first and did an hours presentation. He was rather good, and very open to questions and answered them enthusiastically. But then, of course the highlight of the evening, Petrucci himself.

To see him walk on stage, the small crowd cheering and clapping, it was really, really special. He belted out 4 tunes from Suspended Animation, all sending shivers up my spine. He talked about his guitar work, and did indeed hint at a Dream Theater tour. He messed about with the lighting tech.
To hear those songs, live, when I was about 10 metres away if that. With no flashing lights and crowd bustling about, it was really, really something.





And then of course, to end a perfect evening.. they were signing autographs. !!. This was quite unexpected and caught me by surprise, to meet a member of my favourite band! Haha, I got the shakes afterwards. I also got a special pick, which shall be framed!



And that was my evening, I guess I just wanted to tell all of you, I posted this as well in my blog, things like this don't happen to me often, such opportunities.

So, my question to you guys: have you ever met an idol of yours?

[spiffy]

That sounds great Bojko. I admit - I've never heard of Petrucci, but it must've have been a good experience for you, specially since you like his songs so much, hahaha.

I remember when I met the fastest calculist in the world (Alberto Coto García) - and I felt the same way, it was so much fun. ^_^

[Lord Monkey]

Very, very cool, Jen. Congrats on getting to go and getting such great seats ^^

[Jiro]

awww, how fun!
I wish i can also meet my idol!!
The people I wanna meet :
-Kat and Brendan (You both are famous you know )
-SPiffy, Kyliesmum, Mothra, Chris, SPudilike, GK1, Shayley, The mysterious admin of TamaTalk, Jappyx, PLow!!
-Craig David
-Rihanna!!!! XD
-Brenda Song
-Usher
-Black Eyed Peas

[Bojko]

Yeah I'm still reeling over it, about to go see him again tonight in about an hour.. but this time with the thousands of fans and the roaring crowd. =)

Hey Spiffy, I've heard of that guy, I think he may have been in the world record book, that's cool! My science teacher used to tell us repeatedly of the time he met one of the founders for the ideal model of DNA, he said it inspired him to become interested in Science. Little did my teacher know that he was the one who inspired me! 

[spiffy]

Yeah I'm still reeling over it, about to go see him again tonight in about an hour.. but this time with the thousands of fans and the roaring crowd. =)

Hey Spiffy, I've heard of that guy, I think he may have been in the world record book, that's cool! My science teacher used to tell us repeatedly of the time he met one of the founders for the ideal model of DNA, he said it inspired him to become interested in Science. Little did my teacher know that he was the one who inspired me! 

Hahahaha! Have fun going to see him again. :p

Yes, he does have a world record: One for adding 100 numbers in 19,something seconds, and another for doing a 4 x 4 digit multiplication in 58 secs was it?? Or less... :S Pretty amazing - although I know because he kept repeating it to everybody. Apart from that, he was quite nice. ^_^  I still have his book, La Aventura Del Cálculo, signed by him. ^_^

[TigerLily013]

awww, how fun!
I wish i can also meet my idol!!
The people I wanna meet :
-Kat and Brendan (You both are famous you know )
-SPiffy, Kyliesmum, Mothra, Chris, SPudilike, GK1, Shayley, The mysterious admin of TamaTalk, Jappyx, PLow!!
-Craig David
-Rihanna!!!! XD
-Brenda Song
-Usher
-Black Eyed Peas

Oh yeah Kat and brendan are awesome. Kat was my first idol of sorts when it came to virtual pet collecting. Still is to this very day.

Outside of my virtual pet hobby I don't really have an idol. Sure celebrity crushes and such, but unless you count Jason David Frank (the green/white/red power ranger) which is as close as I'll get to an idol celeb then yeah.

Me brain don't think right on fridays XD!

[Bojko]

Hehehe, sorry, I must tell you the end of this story.

I just got back from G3... 4 and a half hours of nothing but guitar. 

Petrucci came on first, and yes, Portnoy (Dream Theaters guitarist) was right alongside him. AAH!

I was about a foot away from the barrier, and Petrucci decided to play left of the stage, which was right near where I was!



I got lots of video footage of him, I even managed to film his final solo. *faints*
Next came Steve Vai, wow, he was a show-pony. He did the playing with the teeth, he did the strut, he played with the audience and even had a fan like something out of the 80's. He was brilliant.



Next on came Satriani. He played all the songs I was so desperate to hear for a very long time, he was right near our corner again because we shifted ends. I was AT the front!! =) Never before was I at the front with any concert, I could see so much detail in the guitar work and everytime he came close he looked down at us and smiled. 

Whoops: sorry for the layout.


Finale was all three of them together, they played Voodoo Child by Hendrix and 'Keep on Rockin' in the Free World'. To see them all together, it was mind-blowing. They all played together perfectly. My friend got this shot with them all together.



And a photo http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/Bojko/seanandi.jpg of my friend and I in the crowd itself during Satriani, hehe... I was rather quite happy, excuse the overly joyed expression!

That was the end of my 2 day run with Petrucci and G3! It's 1:30am, no one is online and I wanted to share this with you guys. =)

Hmm.. 4 hours surrounded by drunken, sweaty, noisy people... I need a shower quite desperately, then a good 12 hour sleep!

Night all! 

TigerLily: oh yes, I agree, Kat is quite the inspiration when it comes to Tamagotchi. =)

Spiffy: Gosh I wish I had his mathematical talent!

[Kokuma]

Outside of my virtual pet hobby I don't really have an idol. Sure celebrity crushes and such, but unless you count Jason David Frank (the green/white/red power ranger) which is as close as I'll get to an idol celeb then yeah.

Green/White/Red/BLACK

Jason Frank was Black Ranger in PR Dino Thunder thou he was twice as old as the other Ranger actors, but as Dino Thunder was 10th PR show, he made comeback as younger rangers' mentor.

My 9yo cousin started karate classes after I showd him pics of Jason Frank's Rising Sun Karate organization and dojos from www.
He says he wants to be like "Dr. O" (Black Ranger's civil identification in Dino Thunder, Doctor Oliver) when he grows up
Not so worse role model I think.

[Mimitchi]

Jen that musta been one very amazing experience. I can only imagine how much fun that must have been. What luck that you'd get to see him twice in a week! Thank you for sharing your experience, i could feel the excitement through your writing!

My answer to your question will kinda reveal my nerdiness  I used to go to Star Trek conventions in 1995-1998 area. I met several people from several of the different series. Lots of really cool people from the shows, I have notebooks full of souvenirs and a handful of autographs from those events.

I'd say that even though my favorite series is TNG, I enjoyed most meeting James Doohan (Scotty from the original series). This is because how he did the convention. He was amazing. Instead of standing on the stage far away from the audience.. he was so down to earth and into it. He sat down with the crowd and answered questions like he was just another fan. He made everyone feel welcome to come closer and it was sort of like talking around a campfire more than a convention. He had no fear of shaking hands and telling stories and answering questions. He truly enjoyed what he was doing and loved talking to the crowd.

I feel lucky that I was able to have that experience because only a couple of years ago he passed away, which is really too bad. He was such a wonderful person.

Jiro: lmao.. you always crack me up

I am happy my love of Tamagotchi has enabled me to find so many good friends who share that same love