Sunday June 7^th, 2009 

Although my ears were still ringing from last nights performance at the PNC center, I knew today was going to be one I would never forget. It started around noon. The only day Long Island had blue skies and sunshine during the month of June. Not complaining about the beautiful weather just wasn’t a priority on my things I must not forget list…. Like my Halo1 and Halo2 Lp’s that I was getting signed by the band, the photographs, and the confirmation pages printed. Sun block was not even a thought. Hence the sun poisoning!

Got to the venue at noon with a crowd already in line. I had my concerns about Abe (hubby) making it through the day considering he is only a few weeks out of back surgery and it was going to be a very long day most of which was in the heat standing in lines. We were always last in line due to Abe’s condition. The check in went smoothly except they did not have my pre-sale tickets. No biggie others were missing theirs as well and we were assured they would get us new ones printed. Off to another line.

The $300 donors went in first and it seemed like we were just waiting forever and boiling in the heat. We moved into the area and waiting in line there…. Slowly got inside and the $300 donors already had their seats in the orchestra for sound check. We were still waiting for the meet & greet! Turns out the band got to the venue late due to traffic and we were running behind. A group of us received pink sharpie x’s on our palm and were told meet and greet would be after sound check…. Ugghhhh….

Off to the orchestra where my nephew Anthony saved us seats in the front. What an amazing feeling to see the sound check and experience a pre show in the day light. I must have taken 100 pictures all one better than the other. 4 songs and it was just beyond words- Abe stayed in the back a nit and video taped the whole thing. You could not wipe the smile from my face. Yet as I sat there, I could not help but think to myself… I still haven’t met the band and now I am hot, sweaty and beyond sunburned! There goes the picture- The one and only thing I wanted from this day ONE GOOD PICTURE… shot to hell cas’ I look like crap now. Oh well, I’m not gonna let that ruin my day.  It is during sound check I tell my nephew, I don’t think Abe is gonna make the rest of the evening. He was really struggling! Deep down inside, I bet my nephew was hoping Abe wouldn’t survive the remainder of the day so that he could come on stage with me for the show. It was a very laid back environment and NIN sounded amazing. Justin was taking pictures of the crowd and it was just a really neat experience.

Now its time to either watch SSC sound check or head over to the tent for dinner. Due to Abe’s speed and our fear of missing out on the meet and greet- we opted to skip the SSSC sound check and head over to the tent for dinner which consisted of …pizza. We were starving- so it could have been shit on a stick and we would have swallowed it down. As we ate, you could see people setting up a table and chairs outside the tent for the bands meet and greet. We again seemed to be almost the last in line. The nervous stomach on top of greasy pizza and being overheated to boot- I was certain to puke. At this point only minutes before meeting Trent did I figure out what the hell I was gonna say to him, and I didn’t think I would have the nerve so I was just gonna wing it.

 As we approached the table, Rob was first. I was very cool and calm meeting the band- he was quiet looked at the picture signed it we shook hands off to the next guy. Beware of the quiet ones….found out about him later that evening.

Justin was next,  pretty much the same- looked at the photo signed it shook my hand- he stared at the photo a little longer after signing it and I said, “what? You don’t like the picture?” turns out he was just fanning it so the sharpie wouldn’t smear. Me and my NY attitude and accent probably scared the guy. Abe was behind me and I got caught up with Abe and Justin’s discussion.  Justin was genuinely concerned about Abe and asked “what happened here?” and suggested getting him a seat! He seemed very nice but I was trying to be in 2 places at once. Listening to Abe and Justin and then realizing Oh Shit – Trent is next! My nerves kicked in and I believe I hyperventilated a little. My heart stopped and hands began to shake and I felt like an ass!

I took a deep, loud breath (totally uncontrollable) put my hand out to show him I was shaking like a leaf and said’ I’m so nervous.” (Not what I was originally planning to say) snap out of it I kept trying to say to myself. I shook his hand handed him the Pretty Hate machine record to sign and spurted out. “Hey Trent, I burned for you today.”  (again showing him my red arm.) He smiled and shook his head agreeing. And I continued, “Do you think you could sing Burn for me tonight.” He laughed and said “I can do that.”  I then took the signed album and said, “You made a dream come true today!” and he thanked me for donating and Abe was next….

Abe handed him the halo 1 record to sign which Trent looked at for a moment and leaned over to Ilan saying ‘Young man, this is when it all began- how old were you?” Ilan replied, “Not even one.” Hahahha

At some point I handed Ilan a picture of him to sign for me but after meeting Trent it was a blur.  They all seemed very normal, down to earth and nice. It was very quick and I wanted it to last as long as possible …

We went into yet another line where we would take our photos with the band. It’s now around 6:30pm and I am a nice shade of purple with blisters developing from my sun burn! What a lovely picture. I didn’t even care! I was on cloud nine. What a rush it was to meet them. Being on the water as the evening approached the wind picked up and it was getting cold. When it was our turn I was on Trent’s right side and Abe was on his left. Trent had his arm on my back, we took the photo and Trent looked at me and said “you’re warm.” To which I couldn’t even form a reply and I just leaned in and hugged him for what seemed like a really long time- I swear my knees went weak! Sure, I’m warm at this point you could have boiled an egg on me.

You could not wipe the smile off my face. We were told go back to our seats and meet at gate “F” at 7:20. We watched some of SSSC and then waited at the gate where we were to meet and be escorted to the stage. Little did we know the best was yet to come.

Again being the last to get through the gate, security checked our passes and waved us through all commenting on Abe and his condition (you could see he was physically struggling and in pain). Eric who I believe was a tour manager? Told us to follow him it was quicker and easier for Abe – instead of going under the orchestra tunnel to get to the stage we went right up the front steps and beat the crowd. He escorted us near the drum kit and kept saying I have to get you a chair. He questioned a few techs where we could sit that we wouldn’t be in the way and before you knew it we were literally on the stage next to the drum and guitars on the side. Everyone else was escorted to the black netted seats above with limited visibility. I kept calling my nephew to squeal that we were sitting on the stage! This guy Eric was so nice, caring and accommodating I could not believe what he did for us.

Sitting on the stage was very exciting. We watched the last minute stage preparation and kept saying to each other, “I cannot believe we are sitting here!” then….the smoke machine kicked in. I cannot put into words how much smoke we inhaled that evening! We really didn’t realize what we were in for until the show started. Robin practically tripped over us all night- I swear we were in his way, and he was not having a very good night with is instruments. He scares me – and now I will reference the “beware of the quiet ones.” We saw and heard him in action (caught it all on video.) The becoming was the climax of his tantrum. In the beginning of the song, he literally flung one guitar over our shoulders from behind us and everyone knows the “smashing” ending which we have amazing video of…I felt bad for him and admired him all at the same time. During “head like a hole” Trent walked back behind the lighting to embrace Mariqueen who is stunning. It was very cool to see all these things that most did not.We all know this was probably one of the best NIN shows ever- great set list (YES, THEY PLAYED BURN! Merely a coincidence I’m sure) I never thought anything would top the AC House of Blues show in November and now…. How can I ever go to another concert?

All I can say, is this was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget. And, I got my picture to prove it ….

To view all of my pictures - here is the link to the photo bucket…

“The Becoming” awesome video we took from the stage