It all started when my friend, Jeremy and I were waiting outside of the venue to get in. We're standing next to the tour busses and all of a sudden, Ryan Shuck from Orgy gets out of the one closest to us with his cute little black beanie on and his blonde hair sticking out of it and walks out and gets in a car. As he was leaving, I waved to him and he gave me a little wave back. So I was like, "well that was cool." So Jeremy and I finally get inside and are standing out about 20 feet in front of the stage, after Tinfed finished their set, waiting for Spineshank to come on and I look up and to the right of the stage and I see Ryan Shuck again. So I go up there and say hello, and tell him about how I've been helping him out. That put a huge smile on Ryan's face so he gave me a big hug and thanked me. I asked him to autograph this flyer I had gotten earlier but he was like, "We can find something better" and he took one of the Orgy flyers off of the wall and autographed it for me. On the flyer, he wrote, "To Megan, Thank you so much, Ryan" He spelt my name wrong, but hey, I don't care!!! He then turns to a security guy next to him and asks if there's a better place for me to watch the show. So Ryan is about to take me onstage and into this DJ booth and I was like, "Wait, I came with a friend, can I go get my friend?" and he said "sure" so I ran back into the audience, grabbed Jeremy and dragged him up there with me. Ryan was nice enough to wait for us. So he takes Jeremy and I through this little doorway, onto the back part of the stage, and over next to the DJ booth which is an AWESOME view. And he told us not to touch anything or else he could get in trouble. So of course we kept our hands to ourselves! By then, Spineshank had just started their set. So here are Jeremy and I groovin' to Spineshank and Ryan Shuck is in between us groovin' too! So Ryan stands there with us for a while and then he turns to me and says, "I've got to go put on some f*cking make up" so he leaves to go put on his make up. So Jeremy and I are watching the show from an AMAZING viewpoint and the drummer from Spineshank's little boy and who I believe was the son of the guitarrist from Spineshank were playing and running around near us.
Towards the middle of Spineshank's set, Amir Derakh comes back and walks right behind me to go watch Spineshank. I said hi to him when he walked by but he didn't say anything in response. He just looked at me. Perhaps he felt bad that night...who knows. After Spineshank's set, the members of Spineshank came walking right past Jeremy and I and of course we pat them on the backs and tell them, "great show." Then the crew started getting what looked to be Orgy's set up and going. So I see Ryan again so I walk over to him and kneel next to him and ask if Cold was there. He informed me that they didn't show up and didn't even bother to call. How immature. Anyhow, I got up and was getting ready to walk back over to Jeremy at the other side of the stage and Ryan gave my arm a light squeeze and said, "I'll see ya later." What a sweetie! = )
So then Orgy's equipment is all ready, and the rest of the members of Orgy come walking back and they are less than 10 feet away from me as they walk onto the stage. As Ryan walks by us to go onstage he gives us a huge smile. Jay was the last to get on stage and he stopped for a second to OBVIOUSLY itch himself bigtime down there before he went on stage. Either that or he was adjusting himself. LOL It was funny. After they went onstage, about every 10-15 minutes or so, Jay would come backstage in between songs and get some gas from some sort of tank. He had to put on a little oxygen mask and breathe with it for a few seconds. Then he'd go back for some more singing. I'm assuming it was for Asthma. And Orgy had such cool effects on their guitars! They had these little blue lights along the knecks of their guitars and then at the point of the guitars, there were these red lazer pointers! SWEET! I remember before they went out onstage, Ryan was back there messing around with his lazer shining it on the amps with a big grin on his face.
So Jeremy and I are back there rockin' to Orgy and the guitarist from Spineshank and who I believe was his son comes and sits next to me. And later on, the bassist and drummer from Tinfed came and sat next to me. The drummer for Tinfed walked right up to me and asked how he could get back to the bar area. I didn't know unfortunately because it was my first time there. So here I am with all of these rockstars around me and I'm in complete amazement. I mean, all I would have to do is get up from where I'm sitting, and just go over to them. And some are even within an arm's reach! No problem! No security would be there to prevent me from doing this. No boundaries.
Finally the concert is over, but there is still more excitement! We got to stay back on the stage and watch the crew pack up Orgy's equipment and the crowd get forced out of the venue. Both a nice woman that worked at the venue and Ryan Shuck made security let us stay back there. So after a while of watching the crowd leave and the crew pack up the equipment, the lady comes and gets us and takes us out onto the floor after everyone left and there's Ryan again with maybe 5 other people including Amir. He invited Jeremy and I out to a club with him but we aren't 21 so we had to pass. It was funny though because Ryan was asking Amir to go to the club with him and Amir didn't want to so Ryan said something along the lines of, "Amir, do what I f*cking tell you!" and then he looked at me and kinda made an oops-I-shouldn't-have-said-that kind of face which was pretty humorous. Ryan gave Jeremy and I another big hug and we all walked out of the venue together.
When we get outside, there is a nice-sized crowd waiting for Ryan and Bobby Hewitt to sign autographs. So Ryan stops to sign autographs and as Jeremy and I walk by, I put my hand on Ryan's back and said, "I'll see ya later, Ryan." and he's like, "See ya." My friend remembers him saying, "Bye Meagen and Jeremy" but I don't remember it. I was probably too busy focusing on what happened! And of course I walked by Bobby and the lead singer of Tinfed and told them "good show" and they thanked me. But what an AMAZING night!!! I have a total new respect for Ryan Shuck. He is the NICEST guy I have ever met and he was so gracious!!! And to think that Jeremy and I were the only two people they let backstage without passes. They even left us alone back there...no one was watching and making sure that we weren't touching the equipment and controls. They trusted us...either that or they were busy. We were even alone with these rockstars. All I could think was "wow."
