Thoughts, Thanks, and DSO show review

How does one even begin to give many thanks to such a wonderful and talented man? – a man of honor and integrity, a man with a huge heart, a man who has given such a beautiful gift to us all, just by strumming a guitar and singing into the mic.

How do we give thanks to a man that has made music to sooth our souls, take us out of a funk, rock our hearts out, and take us on-board the "Rock n Roll Pain Train".
How do we thank our hero, our brother, our bona fide music maker?

I’m not sure exactly… but my guess is we can start out by listening to the words in his songs, and believe in the power being good to each other. We can slap hands and high five the person aside of us at a show. We can offer up a couple of beers to the people in the car next to us at a pre-party tailgate. We can lend an ear to someone who’s having a bad day on the Kid Rock forum. We can join a Kid Rock fan charity group to reach out to a sick child. We can thank a soldier for their service. Yea…. I think that’s a good way to start giving thanks in honor of our man, being good to each other, and loving one another.

But then, how does one give thanks to the man when he does something extra special? When he goes above and beyond, and that something special was meant especially for you?

Please forgive me as my words may not come out right, as I’m often misunderstood. But, I’m still feeling quite in a daze which I may not come out of for a long time. My emotions have been running on high since Friday. But, in the best possible way that I can, I need to share a little of what happen over the course of this past weekend.

My husband and I had received a phone call on Friday from a very nice woman who explained to us that Kid Rock was combing thru the posts on the official website forum, and that he came across one of my posts that may have touched his heart. At the time, I wasn’t sure which post he was looking at because I do tend to post a lot, and I’ve had a lot of misfortunate things happen in my life over the past two years… from my mom being ill, to my work layoff, and just on this year's cruise I wasn’t able to get on the island and see the main show from being sick, so I was trying to figure out what he might of seen b/c I remember posting to friends about all of the above. But, she mentioned to me that he would like to do something special for us. He wanted us to choose a show and that he would take care of the tickets, flight, and accommodations. Well, I was floored, I remember pausing for quite a while, and then stuttering and stumbling my way thru the rest of the phone call.

I end up calling my husband, and telling him what had just happened. He had just left early from work, and was at the doctor’s office because he hurt his hand pretty badly the night before. So, he’s sitting in an exam room waiting for the doc to come in, and I tell him the news. Once again, a long silent pause and then “Are you joking”… and I say “No, and yes I am in total shock right now”.

As crazy as it may seem, we asked if the DSO show would be an option. Realizing it was just one day away, we were willing to get in the car by the end of my work day at 11pm and drive the 10 hours to Detroit. We thought if there was ever a show to see that it had to be this one. And, the next thing we knew, we were on a flight out of Philly the next morning going to Detroit to see Kid Rock & Twisted Trucker Band with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the historical Fox Theater.

Geno and I just couldn’t believe what was happening. We kept looking at each other, smiling, shaking our heads, and giggling like a couple of kids thinking this was all just a dream. We had gotten little if any sleep on Friday night. We pretty much kept ourselves up all night blasting Kid Rock cds – replaying over and over again “Only God Knows Why”. We were so excited and in total shock of it all, that even when we did finally lay down at 2 in the morning, we were just so excited about it that we couldn’t fall asleep.

The Show

First, I have to mention about how beautiful and breath-taking the Fox Theater is. From the marque and the architect of the outside of the building to the art glass chandelier, ceiling, columns, and red velvet curtain on the inside, this place is gorgeous. It’s so classy and elegant. A thought came to my mind while gazing around that it is my understanding that this is the place that Kid Rock did his show that was broadcasted on HBO’s Reverb back in 1999. I remember back to when we saw that show on HBO, which lit a fire in our bellies to go out and purchase our first ever concert tickets to see them live back in Oct, 1999. So, just being there, and getting a chance to take this all in was just so surreal for us.

On our way in we were handed a program. It had some information and articles pertaining to the DSO, the names of the musicians and conductor, some places they are going to be playing, like Carnegie Hall in 2013. There was a page devoted for the Kid Rock Foundation which features a picture of Kid Rock and the band on-stage behind the CARE banner, and down below a paragraph to read explaining that in 2011 the Kid Rock Foundation distributed three quarters of a million dollars to charitable causes. It also had a listing of songs the DSO was going to be performing before Rock and the band were to take the stage. I saw unique full page MID and Badass Beer advertisement in there, as well. It’s quite a keepsake.

The show was just incredible. The DSO played a few numbers before the band came out. There was quite an excitable feeling that came over me listening to them play, along with the feeling of anticipation of them playing with Kid Rock and TBT. Looking around, I felt like that was the overall mood in the crowd as well. - excited to be there. My favorite of the numbers had to be Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5 in C Minor” because it was what was played, as well as Mozart, growing-up in my parent’s house. And, then their finale number kind of made me giggle a lot “Finale from overture to William Tell” because towards the end of it, TBT had slowly began walking out to their positions at their instruments. Kid Rock was the last to come out sporting a tux and he started the show out with “Devil without a Cause”. Hearing the DSO back him and the band was bone chilling. I didn't catch this but my husband noticed at one point in the song, he saw the DSO had all put on fedora hats. In no particular order, we heard them do “Cowboy/Lay it on me”, “You never met a motherfucker quite like me”, “Bawitdaba”, “Times like these”, “RnR Jesus”, “Picture” – just to name a few. And, my personal favorite of the night, and might I add for the very first time seeing it performed live, was “Rock on”. Bob sang it so beautifully. Marlon’s guitar solo cried out tenderly. He had asked everyone to sit for the song, which he mentioned, is something he had never done before, and that we would know when to stand back up again. Half way thru the song I had an abundance of tears fall down my cheeks. My hand rose to the ceiling as to hold God’s hand as I felt the song with all my heart. It was so touching and beautiful. That song is truly a masterpiece, you guys. I am so thankful I got to experience that. Wow!!

Later in the night, Geno and I had gotten the opportunity to personally thank Rock for this beautiful evening. It was quite an honor and a pleasure to meet him. He is truly an inspiration to us and an amazing gentleman. A thousand thanks to you Bob Ritchie for making this a dream come true. This has to be the best date night ever for my husband and I, and we will never forget this moment for the rest of our lives. It’s going down in history as the sweetest thing anybody has ever done for us.

Congratulations on raising one million dollars for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

We will forever LOVE the Kid Rock & the Twisted Brown Trucker Band.