Live | P.O.D. & Shinedown!

Hey guys!

So a couple of weeks ago I was given the biggest surprise ever!! As you can tell from the picture above, it was concert, but I’m going to tell you how my mom, my friend Brittany and every other family member and close friends manage to pull this off!

It was probably the end of February when it was announced that P.O.D., Shinedown, and Five Finger Death Punch were coming to Evansville again. The last time 5FDP was there was in 2012. I remember my mom telling me at the beginning of the month to save up my money, but towards the end she told me that we wouldn’t be able to go. At that time, I had already prepared myself for it and I just accepted it for what it was, but it must’ve been the same day that she began talking to Brittany, a very close family friend, she decided to share that let down. A little fun fact for you, when I was looking for someone to walk me through Grand March for my senior year on Facebook (and yes, I asked for someone on FB)  she offered to take me. She spent the whole night with me and gave my mom a night off in a way. Anyways, these two decided to conspire behind my back. Brittany bought the tickets for this concert and almost everybody knew it but me!

Fast forward to the last weekend of April, my mom had told me that we might go shopping on that Tuesday, which was the day of the concert. I only knew that because I kept seeing the advertisements pop up on my Facebook ever since it was announced! I was excited to go shopping, mostly for the fact I could finally have Chinese food! That day, I woke up around 10am, all of us messed up our sleep patterns so after my mom got up and feed me breakfast and then she told me to take a nap. I had already been awake for two hours and she wanted me to go back to sleep? I did but I thought it was strange to ask that. I got up again around 2pm and my mom got me dressed. I wore my gray hoodie with my tribal skull in the front with my black and red tribal leggings.

Now you’re probably wondering why I’m sitting in this wheelchair. Well, for starters this isn’t even mine! This was my papaw’s and considering he never went fast in it, the left wheel rattles like crazy and it doesn’t have a seat belt! This is my dad’s idea. My electric wheelchair had six bars on the controller after charging all night and the next morning but my mom didn’t think it would hold up “while we walked through the mall…” I still think it would have in both places but that’s my opinion! I also had to sit on a towel off and on throughout the evening. It was not the most comfortable chair but then again I have yet to find the best seat for my butt!

Once we got to Evansville, we took a different turn than we usually do and had lunch at Steak n Shake which is one of my favorites! I literally have cravings of their cheese fries and that’s what I had, a small dish of cheesy fries and Oreo mint shake! It was while we were sitting waiting for our order that everything sort of got weird.

The night before, I looked up different dresses and rompers on the Forever 21 website for another family friend’s wedding. I was on Facebook talking to Brittany about them and how excited I was to go out the next day. We had a nice little chat. So to see her pop into Steak n Shake was very strange. I literally turned over at my mom and said, “I just talked to her last night!” She joined our table and ordered her stuff. The woman didn’t even need a menu! Next time I have to remember you can get the shakes without whipped cream and a cherry! Anyways, all four of us sat, ate and talked a bit. I didn’t do much talking though, I never really do!

After a little bit, once I started to slow down eating and gulping down the yummy shake, my mom gives her phone to my dad on which I thought she was going to ask for a selfie and then Brittany goes for it. I wish I could share the video but I can’t unfortunately! She first surprised me with a new SD card which I was like, “awwww” but I was also really confused too then she said “I figured you might need that for tonight” and showed me the tickets and my mouth dropped! I couldn’t scream so my initial reaction was to cry and after 25 minutes everything started to register in my head that I wasn’t going shopping afterwards and instead I was going to see P.O.D., Shinedown, and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH later that night!

They had been planning this for a while and the fact that nobody told me was a miracle. Especially since my neighbor Sammy almost texted me the night before but my dad apparently got mad at her and talked her out of it.

If anybody doesn’t know, this was my first rock/metal concert in an arena. It was also the first time I’ve ever went out to downtown Evansville too. It was a day of firsts I think! The Ford Center is HUGE! Seeing all of these people in their Shinedown and 5FDP shirts was intoxicating! I told Brittany as we walked around these are my people! I felt weird though, I have like 4 death punch shirts in my closet and I didn’t wear one. I wasn’t the only skull wearing person there so I was okay! After getting through the doors, we went upstairs and went to the bathroom and waited in line to purchase a tour shirt. I’ll wear it soon and do another outfit of the day post!

We had some good seats, like better ones than I thought. I’m always afraid of the seat part because the rails that are used to protect or whatever can be too tall and that’s sort of scared me! I’ve read and seen a lot of pictures of other wheelchair users have these issues so that’s my reason! Anyways, we missed the intro of P.O.D. because we were still in line getting the shirt. So technically I did go shopping! Afterwards, we went back to our seats and seeing everybody in their seats was a bit overwhelming. I thought I could live with watching the crowd on YouTube but watching them below was pretty cool. I was very glad I wasn’t down there though! Brittany was the one who took the pictures for me, which I was very happy about because I’d probably worried I’d drop the camera on somebody!

For the most part, watching P.O.D. and Shinedown was pretty good. I knew more songs from Shinedown and I did headbang, not as aggressively because like I said above, I didn’t have a seat belt and we were afraid I’d fall out of my wheelchair! When Brent Smith of Shinedown asked the crowd if this was their first Shinedown concert, my right foot shot up into the air! It was very weird being a part of the crowd. I danced, headbang, and sung along with everybody. I kind of forgot about everything that had happened, my paranoia, etc. I just allowed myself to feel that moment. It was great!

Next week, you’ll get the next installment of my reaction of Five Finger Death Punch’s performance! Enjoy the pictures below!

Have you ever seen P.O.D. and/or Shinedown in concert? What are your favorite songs by each band? My favorite was “Boom” and “Youth Of The Nation” for P.O.D. and “Diamond Eyes,” “Enemies,” and “Cut The Cord” by Shinedown.

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin