Last Thursday was 100 Monkeys Day. An official holiday declared throughout the land. You missed it? Well, you've come to the right place! I'll blog about 'the rest' of my time in Seattle later, for now, I bring you this special edition post: Amy meets the Monkeys!
Firstly, we heard through the grapevine (ok, twitter) that there was an instore event happening on Thursday morning. There goes our Seattle tourism plans! It was off to surburbia to find Best Buy. At this point I should introduce the Monkey posse: @redbella (Deb) came down from Canada especially; @twi_lin (ChyLynn) and @tipsy_daisy (Lesa) came into Seattle from their town, slightly further south. For the evening show we also met with @kintail (Melinda) and her friend Megan.
Addit: You can read ChyLynn's account of the Monkey sighting here.
Where was I? Oh yes, the instore. It was.... intimate. Seriously. Like, 50
There was no zoom required to take this picture. I was actually this close to Jackson. SQUEE! He is LOVELY. They played three songs (Shy Water, Junkie and another one I didn't know) and chatted a little bit with the small crowd. There was a girl next to me who brought the toddler she was nannying, and the boys loved the little girl!
Here's a tip - want the Monkeys to chat to you? Steal a small child and take them to the show! My highlight of their small set was Jackson on the mandolin during Shy Water:
As I stood there, Ben G asked me about New Zealand. He asked me about 'that white marshmallowey stuff' we have. He was referring to Pavlova. He really liked the dessert, apparently. In my star-struck amazingness, all I came up with was 'if I had a kitchen, I'd make you one'. Win.
After a lovely lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a freshen-up before the big show. Here's the thing. I WON A MEET AND GREET. Thanks to the lovely Jamie (@Jaymes805) who had send me a link, I sent an email off and completely played up the 'I came from New Zealand to see you' angle. Aaannd then they wrote back (I know, it wasn't them personally, I just like to dream) and said 'sure thing, you're in!'. Or something like that.
So, we show up at the venue an hour early, as instructed, so that we could hurry up and wait. And wait. I had asked for eight passes because we thought our numbers would be higher, and then on the night we had spares. A couple of the girls had earlier met Kayla (@MrsBowieJackson) at the Best Buy and we saw her again outside the venue so we invited her into the meet and greet with us.
I didn't really know what to expect with the meet and greet. Basically, we just walked into a room, and there they were! I was all 'we met earlier today, I'm from New Zealand' and they remembered. Yay me. I gave Jackson a kiwi-shaped key ring/bottle opener that was the only NZ thing I could find in my suitcase. Here's a hawt pic of him swinging it around on his finger...
ChyLynn gave the boys Toy Story rubber bracelets in honour of her 2 year old grandson who loves their music, and Woody & Buzz. The Monkey Men loved the bracelets and wore them at the show that night.
Melinda gave them rubber monkey finger puppets. This was hilarious, especially when Jackson and Jerad were playing around with them, Jackson had two and made them do naughty things to each other. I really wanted to photograph that but
I spoke to Uncle Larry briefly. I kinda feel like he misses out sometimes since he is always so quiet in the background. I asked him if he was enjoying himself and he just smiled a big smile and said 'always!'.
On to photo time! Here's the big 'family shot':
L-R: Lesa, Ben J, ChyLynn, Jerad, Melinda, Jackson, Deb, Ben G, me, Uncle Larry, Melinda's friend and Kayla. (Sorry it's so small. If you want a high res version, leave a comment below).
We were being hurried outta there but there was no way I was leaving without my own photo. When the assistant protested, Jackson said 'C'mon, she's come a long way'. Yay Jackson!
I shall treasure this pic! Side note, I emailed it to my parents, with a long explanatory email about my travels and what I've been up to. Clearly my dad didn't read the email and just looked at the pics, cos he was all 'umm, who are those men you're with?' My boyfriend and his bandmates, Dad...
As quickly as it began, the meet and greet was over. It was then over to the bar to get ready for the show proper. Here came the big downer of the night. I was not allowed into the bar because my ID was not issued in the US or Canada. Apparently, a NZ drivers licence with my officially-issued date of birth (which, by the way, proves I'm a good ten years older than I need to be to get in) was not acceptable. They needed my passport, which clearly I do not take to clubs with me. I was severly pissed off, especially as by this time all the others were in the bar. Little did I know, Deb (aka the bulshy Canadian) was chatting to the manager and pulled some strings to get me in. I wouldn't argue with her!
The support acts were quite good, Kissing Club and... umm... Band of Bleeding Horses? Or something like that... TBH I wasn't exactly focussed on them...
ChyLynn, Lesa, me and Deb.
And then the boys came out, and from the first song, they freaking rocked it! They have so much enthusiasm and energy on stage, and really appear to be having the time of their lives. I absolutely love how they change up the instruments and rotate around, and Jamie will be pleased to know I can tell them apart on vocals now!
I managed to get a few good shots so I think I'll let a picture tell a thousand words:
All in all, a great day was had. Just typing this I almost wonder if it really happened! Then I see my awesome merch (slap bracelet! 90's retro cool!) and my signed CD, and I realise I really met the Monkey Men.
Oh yes, then I also remember the hangover (thanks, Vitamin R) and the midnight visit to IHOP. That really happened.
To anyone else seeing them on this tour, I hope you love it! Keep your eyes on @100monkeysmusic for tweets about instore events, it's well worth it!
*I own all photos and video in this post. Please do not repost without crediting me*
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