soulDecision in Oregon
[Last Chance Summer Dance 3 September 2000 & mall signing Labor Day 2000]
Note: Very many thanks to Nicole
for sharing her story *and* her picture of Trevor! Sounds like you
had a very awesome experience! (Please note that the picture is copyrighted
to Nicole and may not be used or downloaded without written consent from
her. Contact her
here.)
"Okay, I actually saw the guys two times, two days in a row! I first saw them at an outdoor music festival on September 3rd, 2000 called the Last Chance Summer Dance that is sponsored by a local radio station here in Oregon, where I live. Anyways, I went with a few of my friends and I was really excited because I had seen commercials for the guys' album and Trevor looked sooooo hot!!! Plus, lol, I absolutely love "Faded"!Anyways, we got there a few hours before it was to start and stood in line. When we got in, we ran to the stage area, even though security told us not to run, and we got a good spot right in the front row towards the side of the stage a bit.
We ended up standing there for hours and the weather turned from rain to hail to the heat from a blazing sun, so I'm sure we were pretty bad looking by the time they came out, more than halfway through the show.
Other performers at the concert were Brian McKnight, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, Debelah Morgan, and Savage Garden among others, but sD was my absolute favorite even though S.G. were the headliners.
When they finally came out, my friends and I had gotten moved around a bit from all the jostling of the crowd so we were in about the 2nd or 3rd row, but it was still a good view. First, their band came out and started playing. Then the guys came out and my friends and I, along with another group of "Trevor Lovers" we were standing by, all yelled "we love you Tevor!" at the top of our lungs, but I am not sure if he heard us over all the noise.
In case you wanted to know, Trevor was wearing black leather pants (yummy!), a t-shirt, and a long leather jacket over it. I got a few pics, but they were too blurry and not worth scanning, I'm afraid. They performed "Faded" of course and "Summer of '69" which was really really awesome. They did a great job and everybody loved their cover of the song.
Later on, after the guys were done with their set, Brian McKnight came on and my friend said that she saw Trevor standing over to the side of the stage mouthing along to every song Brian sang. Isn't that sweet? He knew all the words, what a cutie!
Then towards the end of the concert, one of the radio DJ's mentioned that sD would be signing autographs at the mall the following day for a few hours, so I absolutely freaked out. I was like OMG, I have GOT to go see them!!!
So that was my second experience with them. It was September 4th (Labor Day), the last day of my summer break. At first, my mom refused to take me to see them the next day because they were signing early and she didn't want to drive all the way to the mall, but I think she changed her mind overnight because she saw that I was so excited about them. So she comes into my room the next morning and she goes, you better get up if you want to get to the mall on time, and naturally, I got all excited and jumped out of bed and got ready faster than I ever have in my life.
I was really really hyper and thrilled the whole way to the mall and when we got there, there was a line of girls going through the mall doors, so I knew that was the line to see the guys.
I jumped out of the car and got into the line while my mom parked. Actually, the guys were signing autographs in the junior's section in Meier & Frank, a department store in the mall. When my mom got in line with me, she said she wanted to go inside and see if she could see them, so I waited while she did so. When she came back, she said that they were like right there and you could see them really well. I couldn't believe it, I mean, never in my life has it been that easy to meet a band I really really like.
So naturally I ran into the store while my mom held my place in line, by then we were almost to the doors, and I only had to walk in a few feet when I saw them! They were soo close! There was the line of girls wrapped around the junior section and the guys were sitting along a table in front of the juniors' formal dresses (lol) talking to fans and signing CD's or whatever else they had brought to be signed.
While I was standing there, staring in awe, a man came up to me and asked who they were. I told him that they were a group called soulDecision and he was like, umm..okay. He said that his daughter had dragged him there to meet them and he had no idea who there were, lol.
Then I ran up right by the table, I couldn't get right in front of it cuz it was roped off, and I snapped a picture of Trevor when there was a gap in the line and no one in front of him. My goodness, that picture is like the best picture I have ever taken in my whole life! In fact, it is the picture I enclosed. It was so clear and close to him, I couldn't believe my good fortune.
So by the time I went back, my mom was inside the doors and there were only about 30 people in front of us. The same radio station that sponsored the concert the day before were also there with the guys and some of the interns were going around telling us that they had to catch a plane in like a half an hour and that they wouldn't be able to get to the people at the end of the line. Thankfully, I just made it inside the cutoff. *whew* I was so relieved. Then they said that they were only signing one thing per person and I realized I had nothing for them to sign, I was so excited that morning that I hadn't grabbed anything!
So my mom, being the good mom she is, ran to the nearest music store in the mall and bought their CD for me. Lol, I got their CD and ripped off the cellophane and checked it out like 15 mins. before I got up there to meet them! My mom said that it was almost the last CD and she also got me this promotional sD mini-poster thing that the cashier gave her in the store. Apparently, it was the last one and she wasn't supposed to be giving them out, but she still gave it to my mom.
By the time I got up there, my heart was beating so fast and even though the whole thing only lasted like 30 seconds, it felt like everything was in slow motion; like it was a dream or something.
I went up with the poster for them to sign and my mom took up the CD cover for them to sign. I made her go with me to meet them so that I could get more things signed. ;-D First, I met Ken and we didn't get to talk much because we were being rushed since they had to leave soon, but he seemed pretty nice. He said hello and asked how I was. Next came Dave and he was very nice. I told him that I had seen them at the Last Chance Summer Dance and he was like, oh yeah? what did you think? and by the time I answered, I was up to Trevor *gasp*. As you can tell, he's my favorite, even though I like them all. Trevor beamed his million-watt smile at me and I almost melted, he's so cute. I told him that they were my favorite part and he laughed like he didn't believe me and after he signed the poster and handed it back to me, he asked me something, but I was so mad because right when he was asking, one of the DJ's from the station came over and pretty much pushed me out of the line. He was trying to get us going and he cut off Trevor and I was so mad I couldn't answer him. I just stood there, out of the line, dumbfounded over the whole thing and I think the DJ felt bad so he came over and handed me a stack of their bumper stickers, like I really wanted them, lol. My mom said that some intern was behind her pushing her to move faster, too.
Even though we didn't get much time, I was very excited to have met them and very thankful to have their autographs and the awesome picture I took. In fact, I put that pic in the front of my binder for the first day of school the next day and it is still there to this day. Ever since the first day of school, I have been getting comments and questions on the pic. A ton of people have asked who he is and say that he is hot. I have also had many people ask if he is my boyfriend and I am like, I wish! *lol* So anyways, I am like known as the Trevor-Lover now by all my friends, but that's a reputation I don't mind one bit! :-) "
back out to ENCOUNTERS
©2000 Valerie C. Noble
report & photo © 2000 Nicole Johnson