In a world where actors and musicians regularly come of as pampered, over-privileged pricks, it's really nice to see something like this happen.
This past Saturday, Katie and I, along with others, hit up our second and final Rocco DeLuca and the Burden concert. This one was set to take place in Naper Settlement in Naperville, IL.
A day or two before the show, I read a newspaper article detailing that Rocco and the guys would be playing a small pre-show set at Millennium Amphitheater along the Riverwalk. If you've never been to Naperville, Riverwalk is just that, a really gorgeous walkway that borders either side of the DuPage River. Think San Antonio's riverwalk. There are several little public gathering areas and parks along the multiple miles that constitute the Riverwalk. It's truly pretty.
So when we heard that Rocco would be playing there, we were all over it. We got down there with Katie's brother, Scott, and his girlfriend, B. Scott and I headed out to the car to run to Best Buy to pick up a copy of the CD for signing. As we were walking to the car, coming the opposite direction were Rocco, et al. They were just out and about, getting a feel for the town. I said hi, they said hi back.
After the four-song set, which was truly fantastic, we got in line to have the guys autograph the CD. This was when Katie remembered she still had her ticket stub for last week's show at House of Blues in her purse. She grabbed it and we asked the guys to sign it as well. I think they were more shocked than anything that someone was at their show last week as well as both (the acoustic and the main show) that day. But they happily signed it and took pictures with the girls.
About an hour later, we were walking around passing time when we happened to see the band, yet again, and they remembered us. Bret "Bix" Bixby, the fifth man in the band, actually said, "hello again!" before we said a thing.
The courtesy wasn't limited to just RDB, the two opening acts, Sara Bareilles (whose debut album, Little Voice, scored a well-deserved three out of four star rating in People magazine last week) and The Last Goodnight both went above and beyond in terms of meeting and greeting with fans after their sets. I was discussing future singles with Sara and walking around the grounds with Kurtis John, the lead singer of The Last Goodnight, as we plotted ways to embarrass my sister-in-law for her birthday (she thought he was cute and I had to take advantage of that and Kurtis was willing to help).
I know it behooves up-and-coming artists to cater to fans and their seemingly stupid and endless stream of requests, but they all really were great to us and the rest of the fans and I hope that, as their fame grows, they don't forget that humbleness that endeared them to us this past weekend.
By the way, both Sara Bareilles and The Last Goodnight put on great shows. If you're a fan of Tori Amos, I recommend giving Sara a listen, and if you dig on Maroon 5, try The Last Goodnight.
