L ast week I heard a rumor on the radio.. I immediately called my friend Jae to tell her that I didn't know exactly where or when, but we had plans for the weekend.

After spending the next three days listening intently to the radio for more updates, and scouring the Internet for some shred of information, Myspace Secret Shows suddenly popped up on Friday confirming the rumors.

The next thing we know, Sunday night rolls around and we're standing five feet away from Maroon 5 in the most incredible, unforgettable, and just-plain-freakin'-cool intimate acoustic performance ever!
"I AM SO hungry, that I could go off my
raw foods diet and eat
THAT COOKIE there on the ground..."

It was first-come, first-served. Not only that, but it was FREE. That meant we had to get there early to ensure that we got in. Once in line, step away to relinquish your spot at your own risk. Nothing could deter us. Not even hunger.

We got there 7 hours early - and it paid off. Hey, I waited 23 hours in line for a Playstation 3, I can handle a day in the sun for Maroon 5. Being 20th in line put us in the front of the stage and having the time of our lives. I'd found out earlier that May 13th was also the 28th birthday of their bassist, Michael "Mickey" Madden, so Jae, our newfound friend Sandy, and I took it upon ourselves to take our wickedly juvenile antics to the next level: Jae and I made "Happy Birthday, Mickey!" signs and Sandy made one for Adam (you know, so he didn't feel left out!).

A couple of hours before the doors opened, the stage crew came out and started passing out wristbands so that they didn't exceed the maximum capacity of about 500. After they passed out the supply and sent everyone else home, it was very entertaining to watch people march up to the door, and try to argue their way into another wristband or two for late friends. Their efforts were futile, and more than once we got to see doors slammed in faces. heh heh.

While we were in line, a guy with a big camera comes out of the building and starts shooting footage of the line, which grew all the way down the sidewalk, around and down the driveway, and up the street all the way past the IHOP next door, AROUND the IHOP, and into their back parking lot.... He stopped to ask us about the signs. Teenyboppers behind us in line were shooting daggers with their glares. Love it.

Front-row spots + Obnoxiously large homemade signage + Extremely spazztic women + too much sun exposure and not enough food = recipe for some crazy times...


THESE ARE OUR SIGNS!!! OMFG!!!It was packed like a sardine can in the building, and the people in back kept pushing forward to get closer, so those of us who were in front were getting squished and shuffled around. Sometimes I'd be on front, sometimes I'd be behind a person or two, or someone's leg.... But I refused to relinquish too much of my spot! I waited WAY too long for that!

Jae and I kept trying to figure out when we would pull out all the stops and start waving our signs around like the dorks that we are... At one point in the show, Adam Levine stopped to take a quick break from music and do some talking - up go the signs. He stops, puts his mic down, and tells the audience to hold on one second.

He comes over and grabs our signs. He puts mine down under Mickey's chair, takes Jae's and shows it to the audience, points at Mickey, and starts leading the entire place in singing "Happy Birthday" to Mickey. Jae looked like she was about to pee her pants with absolute glee.

Someone behind us lit a lighter and held it up, and the whole building began chanting, "Blow it out! Blow it out! Blow it out!" Management quickly snuffed out the flame (and the flame-holder) before Mickey could react.

Adam: "Wow, never before has the entire audience chanted something to us in unison."
Maybe you should come to San Diego more!

After they ran through their 80 minute set and played a couple of encores, Adam played a solo acoustic rendition of Guns N' Roses' "Patience." Ah, the icing on the cake....

Happy Birthday, Mickey. I hope you enjoyed your birthday, because we sure did!!!