Manifesto- JNN Concert
In a nut-shell…Johnny No Name was amazing!!!
We arrived at the Wiltern with and entered the building with ROW AAA, in the PIT seats (which we never actually sat in)!!!!! Screaming our fool heads off all the way into the Wiltern and down the aisle to the stage!! We get escorted to our seats...that are just to the right of Center Stage...RIGHT AGAINST THE STAGE!!! And we were told that we were allowed to be against the stage ALL SHOW LONG!!!!
Sightings: Wherever AJ goes his loyal girlfriend follows!! From our side of the stage a pretty girl wearing black, leather pants and a zebra striped top comes out into the crowd...and from first glance I knew it was Amanda, the long-rumored best/girlfriend of AJ's. She immediately gets mobbed by all the teenage fans...however instead of running away like the other girlfriends (rumors) she stayed with them for 15 minutes, taking pictures and signing autographs...she was really cool! And then Dave from EYC came walking down the middle of the theater and immediately went backstage...he waved at a few people but he didn't stop.
...and then the lights dimmed: all of a sudden there is a deafening roar of shrills and shreaks coming from the predominantly YOUNG audience...and the voice comes through the speakers....WELCOME TO THE STAGE....JO-JO ON THE RADIO FROM KIIS FM!! At this point I am right up against the stage...and we're all kinda squashed on the sides because so many people wanted to be in the very first row. Jo-Jo comes out and does his little thing...talking about toes and what-not...and then he says that he has a little surprise for us all....he introduces the one responsible for all of this commotion...AJ MCLEAN!!! And to our delight...AJ comes bounding across the stage in the same outfit he wore to the press conference…faded blue jeans, white "wife-beater" with a white over-shirt…nice!!! I took a picture of him in that outfit cuz he looked so good! AJ was talking about the Save the Music Foundation and that all proceeds of this tour were going to VH1 and stuff...and he explained that Johnny No Name was waiting impatiently backstage to get this party started...he gave Jo-Jo a jacket from the foundation that both AJ and Johnny signed...which is to be auctioned off or given away on the radio. I'm surprised that I heard all of this stuff because I was in shock that AJ was less than 3 feet away from me!!!! OMG, I thought I was gonna die...and this was only the BEGINNING!!!
Opening acts: Mindi Abair came out with a CD and she was the first act to open. Her songs are really good. Then AJ comes out again...hee hee...and this time he's got Trey Parker and Dave from EYC....Trey does this little pelvic thrust thing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME....OMG, thought I was gonna die...HAHAHAHAHA. And they continue to introduce the other opening act, Nobody's Angel...4 girls that are real pop-y and dance-y...entertaining. After they're done everyone starts building with anticipation for the moment to arrive....at this point in time I figured now would be a good time to get my "gifts" onto the stage...I had made 3 star-jars (handfolded, Chinese Good Luck Stars) for the concert...1 was a 4 leaf clover filled with predominantly yellow stars for AJ, and the other 2 were smaller round jars...the reason I made 3 was because of the rumor that Howie and possible Nick were going to be there...so there they were...on the stage, right in front of me...I even took a picture of all of them =)
It's SHOOOOOOOW TIME!!!: The band members take their places...5 of the regular BSB band members, Dennis Gallo, Tommy Smith, Guy Walker, Louie Vigilante and Mindi Abair all dressed up in their "pimp gear"...it was too funny. Trey and Dave make their way back to the stage to introduce the one and only Johnny No Name...again, the crowd goes wild as this guy comes from the right of the stage, in a tan/olive green type long jacket with matching pants, white hat, with a "wife-beater"....HANDCUFFED...with a police (not really, it's his bodyguard) man behind him...the flash bulbs start going off left and right!!!! I'm sad cuz the handcuffs were on the opposite side and I couldn't get a picture...oh well =( then Johnny starts walking around the stage with a GREAT presence of attitude about him...it was INCREDIBLE how AJ jumped into this character...sigh...HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Then the bands starts ROCKING out...it's bang-your-head type of music...it was GREAT!! He sang "Down" and then "Killing in the Name Of..". I was surprised that I actually knew the words to those songs...it was too funny!! Johnny was literally within inches of my hand SOOOO MANY TIMES during these 2 songs...he didn't actually touch anyone (yet) but still...I could see everything...including the zit he had on his cheek...HAHAHAHAHAHHA!!! But the cool part is that his sunglasses were yellow-tinted so you could actually see his eyes...and he stopped RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and pointed at me...and sang TO ME...OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! Anyhow...we were going NUTS against the stage...everytime Johnny did some of his "interesting movements" we were screaming our heads off...wow!!
Costume Change #1: right after the "Killing in the Name Of" he left the stage...on the left side, so I got to see him rip off the jacket...hee hee...hee hee...and then he disappeared to get into his 2nd outfit for the night. They started playing some more heavy music and he came out wearing a white suit with small black pin-stripes, with matching hat (of course), sunglasses and a wife-beater (that boy and his wife-beaters!!). He slowed the music down and began talking to us...now I heard rumors that Johnny No Name is supposed to be British...but I didn't actually think AJ was going to keep that up. So Johnny started speaking, in this really cute "british" way...and was saying thank you to AJ for bringing him here, his first trip to Los Angeles...and then he said "wait, I need to ask you...what's my name?"...some of us shouted "Johnny!!" but a few people called him "AJ!" and he said "No, AJ is a Backstreet Boy, that's right, right? A Backstreet Boy?? What's MY name?" And then everyone shouted "JOHNNY!!" and then he started talking again...I don't remember 1/2 of what he said because again, he was only 3 feet away...sometimes only inches away... =P OH YEAH, he said that he had a few surprises for us....I started jumping up and down because I knew it had something to do with other Backstreet Boy(s)!!!! He then started talking about BSB having their own record label, and that there is a girl artist that they recently signed onto that label named Crystal. She and Johnny sang Brian McKnight's "Back at One"...the girl has a GREAT voice. Johnny was phenomenal...as usual...hee hee. Then she left the stage and he continued on with another song.. "If You Could Only See" Then Johnny asked the crowd if we minded if he sang a Backstreet Boys song...actually one that his friend AJ wrote...of course the crowd ate it up and he started singing "If You Knew What I Knew" (LOVE THIS SONG!!!!) and he came close to us again...and he touched the girls hand next to me...he missed me...but he looked at me and waved his finger...YAY ME!!! Then Johnny started to talk about how he plays "no musical intrument whatsover...but that he does play a little guitar...with only 2 strings so that he won't mess up too badly"...so he picked up the guitar and started playing the guitar riff for "Bad To The Bone"...he said this was in honor of his good pal AJ who's nickname just happens to be BONE...get it?? Bad to the BONE?? He changed the words to "He's bad to the bone" instead of "I'm bad to the bone"...it was too cute!!! The next song was "Open Up Your Eyes"...nice slow song that allowed him to move freely about the stage. I got a few other pictures...of him dancing...of him doing other stuff...some "interesting moves"...hee hee....then he started with "Hey Mr. DJ" but in a rock-ier type pace...not the normal pace...it was great...he was in front of me and I started doing the hand movements to the Homecoming tape that BSB did and he started doing them with me....YAY!! Then he asked for a chair. He sat on it and started speaking about the next song...but then he just said "no, band just play it" and it was "LAY DOWN BESIDE ME"!!!! OMG, if ANY of you have seen the HOMECOMING Video you know what I'm talking about!!! For the rest of you I will sum it up in a few words...on the video AJ gets a little "freaky" with the floor...and in concert Johnny got a little "freaky" with the chair....SIGH...hee hee. Next Mindi joined him for a rendition of "Play That Funky Music" with "Don't Want You Back" thrown into the middle of it. Very Awesome!!! Then they all left the stage. HEE HEE, I got to see AJ rip off his jacket again...hee hee hee hee...I knew they'd be back...I just knew it. I had read that Johnny leaves the stage and comes back as AJ...so I knew not to leave my space on that stage!! In the meantime, I had completely forgotten about my star jars...I had ample opportunity to try to give it to Johnny but I completely forgot amidst all the commotion!! =(
Costume Change #2/Resurface of AJ McLean: People clapped for an encore. Finally, the band emerged wearing their casual clothes...which was a tale-tell sign that he was coming out as AJ... and OH BOY WAS I RIGHT!!! AJ shows up in blue jeans and NO SHIRT! ::drool buckets were passed around the audience:: Then he says..."Alright, you guys got to enjoy Johnny...but now you've gotta deal with AJ!!" and then he says "so I've got 1 more surprise for you" and he turns around, shows us his posterior...and says "no, my pants are staying ON!!, but seriously, I've got a surprise for you. Where's my little buddy??" He was RIGHT IN FRONT OF US THIS WHOLE TIME...looking at the right side of the stage...which was right by us...and he kept calling for his "little buddy" it seemed like an eternity for his "little buddy" to emerge from that side of the stage.....OUT COMES HOWIE D!!!!! The screams were INSANE!!! I was jumping up and down...he was wearing these leather-type pants with a grey sweater...wow...he was lookin nice =P He winked about a million times, HAHAHAHAHAHA, and then AJ asked if he would help him out with he last song...the band started playing "Brick House"...and AJ and Howie started singing....AJ was on the left side of the stage mostly but Howie was RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!! We were reaching out to him but he didn't touch anyone...but he did sing to us...pointed and winked...HEE HEE!! After that was over AJ (left center) looked at Howie (right center, right in front of us again) and said "Howie, you should remember this from the European Tour"...and then he told the band, "1 time" they played one beat and Howie and AJ proceeded with 1 pelvic thrust (excuse the frankness, but this is what they did)...then AJ called "5 times" and they did 5...hee hee....and then AJ called "10 times" the crowd went NUTS!! Howie put his hand on his back and said "I dunno AJ, I might not be able to, I'm getting old"...HAHAHAHA, then the band played it and they started getting freaky!!!! And Howie turned right towards me and continued with his 10!!!!!! OMG!!!!! I freaked out!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!! Then they were done with the pelvic moves (which by the way, is what I refered to many times in this manifesto as "interesting movements") and AJ had a list in his pocked of who to thank and stuff....and Howie was about 2 feet away and I picked up my star jar and held it out for him....at first he wasn't looking and then I called "Howie!" and he looked RIGHT AT ME, CAME OVER TO ME, AND TOOK THE STAR JAR OUT OF MY HANDS!!!!!!!! He looked at it, read the little note that I put on there (basically just saying what they were and that I wished him all the luck and happiness in the world) and he said THANK YOU AND HE WINKED!!!!!!!!!! He walked away with the star jar in his hands...kept looking at it, went further down the stage to touch a few other girls hands and then walked towards the back of the stage...still looking at the star jar!!!!!!!! He went to the back next to Mindi and he showed her the jar, and then they were talking and he smiled and put his arm around her...still HOLDING THE JAR!!!!! Then AJ thanked Howie for coming to the show....AND HE WAVED TO THE CROWD WITH MY STAR JAR IN HIS HAND!!!!!!! I got a picture but I'm not sure if I cut off his hand or not!!!!! He finally put the jar down for the final curtain call...I was soooooo excited!!!!!!! I got to touch Howie...and I gave him my jar...and he read it!!!!!!!!! YAY ME!!!!!!! I tried to give AJ his jar, but after the curtain call AJ was handcuffed by his body guard again and escorted off stage...so I ended up pushing my jar onto the stage....and the roadie came and picked them up =)
After the concert: We went outside and found out where they were leaving. We waited but AJ's SUV left from underneath the building and we didn't see them. However, we met Mindi, Dennis and Tommy. They came out and signed autographs and were really, really nice and chatty! It was good fun....
Wanna check out the pics??! Here's the link!!
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