I am a little sad today that now it is over. My 60 seconds of time that I shared one on one with Mr. Kenny Chesney. this is how it went down: upon arrival at Qwest Field we had to walk what seemed like 5 times around the entire outside of the Stadium to find the "Correct" Will Call booth, to pick up my instructions for the Meet & Greet. It said "Meet at the Southwest corner of the field level concourse by the Silver Seahawk sculptor, you won't miss it, at 7:30pm" When we arrived it was about 5:30 and the first act Blane Larsen had already come. Last year when I went we had "Sand Pit" tickets which was between the stages and you were so close you could touch Kenny as he went by. So when I got my 15th Row Field tickets I was a little disappointed. Well, the stage was a T shape and the Pitt wasn't really there, BUT since we were in the center section in front of the T, row 14 was really the FIRST row. So we were in the SECOND row from the stage, and I would say that was even better than last year.
Back to the Meet and Greet; I talked to about 6 security guards before somebody could tell me where I was suppose to go. I finally found "the giant Seahawk" and met the Cruzan national rep and he gave me the run down. Kenny was not going to sign anything or take any personal pictures, you will be in pairs of 2 when you meet him, he then gave me a laminated badge that Kenny had just signed and told me that he would take the picture and that I could come back after the concert and pick up the picture. There was about 15 or so people in the group and I was the only one by myself. As I stood and waited, I saw Kenny walk into the room with a few other guys, then I started to get nervous, what was I going to say?
The first time I talked to Martha Stewart on the phone I was ok until the end of the phone call when I screamed "I love you Martha" So I thought I should try to keep my cool with Kenny face to face. We were finally ushered in, and as I went into the door, there he was standing in front of a large Cruzan Rum backdrop and taking pictures. I was so nervous, and sooooo excited at the same time. I was the 3rd person in our group, with 2 girls in front of me. The Cruzan guy told the first two girls to go and they walked up and talked to him and took a picture. I wasn't sure if he was going to make me go with somebody else or by myself, sooooo then he said "Go ahead" I walked to Kenny and he put his hand out and asked my name and I said "Hi, I'm Claudine" and Kenny said "Hi Claudine, how are you" and then I said " I'm great and it is such a pleasure to meet you and I am a huge fan of your music" He then PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME, RUBBED MY BACK AND SAID, "oh thank you sweetie that means a lot" We took the picture, he shook my hand again and then put his other hand over mine and I said "thank you so much" and then I left. I think when I left the room, I just might have been floating at least 5 inches off the ground and could have screamed at the top of my lungs. It was by far the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me and I don't think I could ever forget it. I know at this point my husband and everybody is making fun of me, but I really don't care!
After the concert, we went back to get the picture. They had them waiting with the Cruzan rep and they were all in fancy bamboo picture frames with a plaque that says "Kenny Chesney" on it. I am one very very very lucky girl and I owe a huge thank you to my friends at Cruzan Rum. I really didn't think that anything could top last years concert, but I hate to tell you Andrea and you may want to kill me, this sure the hell did......
Oh and there is so much more about the whole weekend in general.....