Never washing my head again!!!!

All I can say is wow. Last night, not only did I go to an absolutely kick ass concert by Ben Folds, but I got to meet and hang out with the guy. I will try to get all of this down, because I still have to pinch myself that it all really happened!

Two days before the concert, my sis contacted the Palais Theatre about a possible 'meet & greet' with Ben. Not holding out much hope, the day of the concert arrived with no response from Sammys emails. At 2pm, I had resigned myself to not meeting the man and got ready for the concert. I was just so excited about seeing him live.

Dad rang at 3pm saying he had just spoke to Sam and she still had not heard from anyone, so a little disappointed but still exited I jumped in the shower and got ready. Unable to accept defeat Dad made a phone call to Frontier Touring to see if there was anything they could do. Dad rang me back about 5 minutes later and asked if I had some nice eye make-up?? When I asked him why… he said "Because you are going to meet Ben Folds tonight". I lost my fucking mind! We were going to be taken back-stage after the concert and Ben wanted to meet me. I screamed and then cried ... lots.

After the a mind-blowingly great concert with just Ben, a grand piano and two hours of incredible music, the lights went up and dad got a call from Gerard and down to the lobby we went. Gerard was a lovely guy with a big smile who shook our hands, gave us both back stage passes and off we went, back through the theatre, through the stage doors to the back of the stage full of roadies and sound gear. Dodging cables and low doorways we made our way through a maze of corridors into a waiting empty dressing room.

The whole way there I was telling Gerard how nervous I was, but he insisted it was unnecessary as Ben was such a good guy and that they were happy to be able to be able to do this for me. He offered us both a water and returned with a couple of bottles for us while we waited for Ben to arrive. We didn’t wait long. Ben walked in, cool as a cucumber with a beer in his hand. He walked straight up to me and gave me a big hug. I couldn’t believe it!! I said it was such an honour to meet him. Ben said it was cool and he was pleased to be there as he shook Dad's hand. He was totally relaxed and really happy to be talking to us. I was surprised that the 4 of us were the only people in the room. He was totally there for us!

We talked about how awesome the concert was. He thanked us but said he'd made some stuff ups. He'd just come from doing two nights at the Sydney Opera House using a Steinway grand piano, which he had liked and gotten used to. He felt all out of whack when he played the piano here, which explains why he was mucking around with the piano stool during his concert. He made a comment like “something's wrong with my stool” and the audience laughed at the 'poo' reference. I told him you couldn’t tell that he had made any errors and that the crowd was really interactive and just loved him regardless. Then I said “besides, it gives you an opportunity to say fuck". He laughed, then realising my dad was ok with the swearing, he said he “fucked up” a couple of times, which was cool.

I asked if he was classically trained, as his piano performance blew us away. He said he plays by ear (after mentioning his musical start was in bass guitar and drums – he didn’t even sit at a piano till he was 23). He said he hears the melody in his head and he bangs it out on the piano until the tune sounds the way it does in his head, which was fascinating. He is such a prodigy.

Dad thanked Ben and said how much this meant to me after the rough year I had so far. I noticed that he was looking at me when Dad was saying that and I was looking down and I agreed that this was the best thing that had happened to me this year. He said he was more than happy and then mentioned that I looked great considering (he said on two separate occasions how good I look which was so sweet).

Ben talked about his father-in-law going through chemo and I said that my hair was growing back with a vengeance. I took off my head scarf to show him. He said “Ooh, can I touch it?” and I was like “Sure go for it!” and I bent my head in his direction and he RUBBED MY HEAD!! "It's so soft!" he said, which made us all laugh. It was so weird hanging with the guy, like he was an old mate!

I told him he is always welcome to come and stay with us if he ever heads over to Wanaka and he said he'd love to (imagine the sing along around the piano!). Then this guy Shannon from Fontier Touring said he wanted to get a couple of photos, so Ben put his arm around me and I did the same and we had two photos taken. I was beaming, as you can see!!

We talked about heaps of stuff, from his wife Fleur getting her helicopter license, to his passion for photography. He was so chatty and amiable and kept smiling at me. Finally, Ben said he’d like to see me again soon or something like that and I said, "Problem is I won’t be sick then, I’ll be all better!". He just laughed and said “that’s cool make up some shit and come see me backstage again” and gave me another big hug. Ben was incredibly humble and really didn’t seem in a hurry to leave at all, considering he had just done a gruelling 2 hour solo performance. He was totally calm, funny, kind, warm, smelt great and was affectionate and reassuring.

Thanks to Sammy, Dad, Gerard and Shannon at Frontier Touring and of course, thanks to Ben. You have made this girl very, very happy. This is one of the best things that has ever happened to me and means so much considering the shitty year I've had so far. I am so blessed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.