Jon McLaughlin Concert

Let us just get one thing out of the way, so you can begin feeling surges of jealousy towards me immediately: I was right up against the stage and Jon did the whole concert looking deeply into my eyes. 

Half of that sentence is true. I actually sat on his lap.

So I heard about his tour back when I was still summer-ing in Singapore. I would have gotten tickets immediately, but of course my bank balance was broke and my credit cards were all cancelled. My checking account was still recuperating from the huge hit it took from the Vegas trip to see Celine. The first thing I bought with my credit card, as soon as I got them reinstated back in Madison, was a ticket to Jon's concert. 

It took place at the Majestic Theater, a really cozy, almost cabaret-esq hall with a moshpit before the stage and tables further back. The environment was really laid back, people were just chilling out, having a beer. Completely unlike any concert I've been to, where it's just overwhelmingly productions with totally focused, zealous fans. Being one of the first to arrive (I don't fuck around when it comes to Jon), I planted myself right by the stage. That walk to the stage was almost dreamlike. You know how in your dreams, everything around you sort of goes fuzzy, and you don't seem aware of what you're doing but you're just kinda floating to your destination? It was just like that. It's almost like my mind still isn't able to process the fact that I'm gonna be that close to Jon McLaughlin. 

He was everything I expected him to be, and then some. Watching him play the piano, with devastatingly quick and powerful bashes on the keys, was like being in the presence of a god. Hearing the songs I've been listening to for years brought to life not 3 feet in front of me by this prodigal genius was just wild. Most of the people there, I know, were there to see the next act, Stephen Kellogg, but I didn't care. I was totally in the zone, mouthing every lyric, grooving and jamming to the lyrics of my star. I drank in as much detail as I could, from the way he grimaces at the piano as if afraid of the keys he were pounding on, to the drops of sweat dripping onto his mic. I was in heaven. 

Some girls shouted "'Human! Play 'Human'!", and he thought about it for a while, and actually did it. I wish they had suggested 'So Close' or 'Beautiful Disaster' instead, and I totally would have made a suggestion but I was alone and mortified that he might actually notice me. 

When the Jon's segment was over, his bassist handed me the setlist they were using on stage. He probably saw how I was the most obvious fan in that section and went, 'Hey you want this?" Hell yeah I want it. 

The only thing that could have made that day even more perfect was if Damian was here. Concerts are infinitely more enjoyable when there's someone that you know would love it as much as you would, someone who's been listening and fanboying that music for as long as you have. Another reason why we should all just move to the US - to watch as many concerts as we can. 



And the setlist personally handed to me by the bassist: