I attempted to arrange a bunch of people unfurling wide "thank you"/end-of-tour banners for Keith & the band's last show in Minneapolis. It ended up being such a disaster I had to share the story because getting a few laughs out of it is pretty much all the good that will have come of my efforts.
So, the night before flying from LA to Minneapolis for the show, I made these 12-ft long signs:
They may not look like much laid out on the ground like this, but remember they're 12 FEET long!
My plan was to unfurl and hold up the signs during the encore when Keith starts to talk to the crowd and thank us for spending money to come to his show during these rough economic times. I got to my row and told the people next to me the plan, and they were up for participating. Then I went to the neighboring section and asked a couple young groups if they'd be up for helping, and they were. So I held onto the "Thanks Keith" sign, and I gave them the "And Chris, Jerry, Brian, Danny" and "For the best tour yet" signs.
All seemed fine, but then the encore came. As the first song was coming to an end, I kinda panicked and started unfurling the sign, thinking that's when he usually starts talking to the crowd, but since this was the final show, he added about 3 more songs to the encore than usual, so he broke into another song. There we all were, like idiots, holding this giant sign, in the dark, that he never looked over to see. So, we put it back down. Then, that song ended, back up it went. ...But he went into another song. Fail. We tried again, but every time we held it up, he looked to the other side of the arena! Every. Time. It was ridiculous luck. Finally, I stood on the seat to hold it higher, and my foot slipped. I ended up stuck, one leg on the seat, one leg wedged in the seat... still holding the sign with one hand, trying to free myself with the other. Like when you drink a little too much and fall but somehow manage to hold your drink without spilling it. The guy next to me tried to help me up, but I was really stuck. I thought I was gonna have to take off my shoe to get out. In that moment, I truly understood how a wild animal, trapped, could panic and gnaw off its own leg to get free.
Once I did finally get out, I steadied myself on the seat and decided to just stay standing on it since I had my balance. At that point, the couple next to me decided to leave the show--I think she'd had too much to drink and maybe wasn't feeling well--and the people a few seats down gave up and passed the banner back to me. A couple minutes later, Keith finally started talking to the crowd. I thought, well, hell, I can probably make the "THANKS" part visible anyway. So I held it up on my own, with my arms outstretched as far as possible. Keith still didn't look to his left. Still didn't see it. Eventually, the woman a few seats down, who'd been holding it with me, went to grab it again to help, but at that point, the banner was so long, I was somehow STANDING on it! On the seat. I didn't want to totally lift my foot up, fearing I'd fall and get stuck again, so I tried to pull the sign out. No luck. I finally got it out from under my foot, but the woman had lost interest, so it was still just me, the dummy, holding up the "thanks" part. I kept looking over to the other section for the banners I'd given the younger groups but never saw them. And that whole time, Keith NEVER looked over. I don't know if Jerry, Chris, Brian, or Danny saw the signs either. I wanted them to feel some love, too.
The whole thing was a total bust. Worst of all, because I wanted to do it toward the end, I wasn't "in the moment," enjoying Keith, which is what's really special about the last concert--the extended, emotional encore. My boyfriend asked why I didn't just hold it up during the part when Keith turns up the house lights early on and reads ALL the signs, but I thought it was a better message for the end of the show. I still think that's true, but in hindsight, I so wish I'd just had everyone hold them up at the sign-reading time. At least then Keith and the band would've definitely looked over, seen them, and then we could've put 'em down and relaxed for the rest of the show.
Although you can't read the sign in this video, if you look at the crowd in the lower level seats in this clip, you can see me attempting to hold up part of the sign (after my helpers had given up). So lame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GanePERfeUY
I can't help but laugh, retelling the whole disastrous saga, so I had to share the crazy mess! So sorry Keith & the band didn't see the signs, but the sentiment remains the same. Thanks for an amazing everything-you've-got tour!
