I went home to Birmingham/Montgomery, Alabama for Labor Day weekend to see my family. When Third Eye Blind scheduled a show just 2 hours away, I knew it was meant to be!

My sister, her friend Chip and my friend Abba all met up at Smith's Old Bar in Buckhead and ate a little something. We headed to the show around 6 and it took a while to get there. We showed up at will call around 6:40 to pick up our stuff. I was late and didn't expect to see anyone from the internet to meet up with.

We had one extra seat ticket because Abba had her own tickets. I gave the extra ticket to the security guard and told him to give it to anyone who wanted it because it was a damn good seat.

We got inside the venue and I was amazed at how great our seats were. Section 102 row V.

Vanessa Carlton came on and she reminds me of a young Tori Amos, except she doesn't have that indie feel to her. Her performance was flawless.

Abba and I went to the restrooms after Vanessa's set and I was approached by a guy who wanted to know if I was "the girl from stephanjenkins.com" (that's why my email address is thegirl@sj.com because this is how i am remembered. sad huh?) Anyhoo, I talked with him and his girlfriend for a bit - they were super nice.

About 20 minutes later, Third Eye Blind came on and immediately the entire house arose and rocked out for a solid hour. 3eb was so full of energy and the new songs were such a treat. Stephan paraded around stage like he owed the joint. There wasn't a lot of talking because I think the band wanted to spend as much time as possible playing music. Everyone in the second tier got a treat when Stephan ran out into the audience and sang Never Let You Go for those in the "not-that-good" seats. Everyone had their hands in the air for that song!

The set list was:

Graduate
Anything
Wounded
Jumper
An Old Friend Coming Over
Palm Reader
Crystal Baller
Forget Myself
Sweet Jane/Never Let You Go
How's It Going To Be
Motorcycle Drive By
Semi-Charmed Life/Stairway To Heaven

Immediately after 3eb, we planned to put our after show passes to good use. My sister and Chip really wanted to meet 3eb. We were escorted to a dark patio that was lit by a few candles, that was it. It had a very romantic, fuck-me-after-dinner feel to it. haha Someone brought out a cooler of alcoholic beverages and said to help ourselves. It was only the 4 of us and 6 other girls on the patio. We broke into the beer and hung out. Brad came out and no one could see each others faces. It was crazy. Brad stayed out and chatted with everyone for a while. Arion and Tony came out shortly thereafter and did the same. Brad then invited us all into the dressing room where he had an iMac set up playing all kinds of hip hop. It was great.

About 5 minutes later, Stephan walked in with Vanessa Carlton. I was sitting in a chair and Abba and Crissy were standing up over me, so no one could see me. haha I tugged on Stephan's pinky. He turned around and said "hey" and then did a double-take and said "SHIT! HEY!" I was then introduced to Vanessa, who made sweet comments about my fundraiser. She was very nice and very pretty. She has a nose ring, which I didn't know about til I saw it. Stephan said "Welcome to 'Brad's Motherfucking Party' as we call it. And you can print that." haha He said he'd be back in a bit. We hung out, watched Brad dance the night away with 4 hotties from Tennessee. Arion came back and Abba and I talked to him about his hair cut, the new album photo shoot which is going to have some wicked ass pics, according to Arion. Arion also said that during the photoshoot the photographed wanted them to break stuff. So Arion said he attacked a table and hurt his arm, but it was fun because they were almost rabid, all breaking shit during the shoot.

I asked Arion what the fuck was going on with the release date. He seemed peeved and said that there are 7 songs that need lyrics, all the music for all 14 songs is recorded but half of them have no lyrics at all. "Stephan hasn't written the first word on this tour."

Stephan came back through holding the hand of Sabien, his 6 year old goddaughter. He said she had flown out to see a few shows. He said he had to go tuck her in on the bus and would be back. He said "I want to talk to you so wait here!" We waited. About 1 hour and watched Brad dance all night. Man, he's funny. I was just giving up, it was really after 11pm and we had been backstage for over 2 hours. Just as I picked up my stuff, Stephan walked in. I told him "we had just given up on you!" He said it took a while to put Sabien to bed. I introduced him to my sister and Chip. He remembered Abba from the Bonfire Tour. :) A couple of minutes later, Stephan looked around the "motherfucking party" and said "well let's go outside so we can talk."

We went out to the fuck-me-after-dinner patio, no one was out there. We talked for close to an hour and he revealed that he is very happy. It wasn't like he had to say it, the man is glowing. We talked about a lot of stuff off the record about goings on with his personal life and what not. I had all these questions I wanted to ask him but anyone who has the opportunity to speak with Stephan knows that he steers every conversation. We talked about the show and I expressed how thrilled I was that no one was sitting down during their set and how responsive folks were to the new songs. I told him that I loved "Friend Coming Over" but that I couldn't make out the lyrics to "Palm Reader" because the drums for that song are over-powering and cover up his singing. He said "well, do you want me to sing it for you?" I almost said "Do people in hell want ice water?" So he sang "Palm Reader" for me. The song is really a sad tale. We talked about some of the lyrics, specifically the line about "I read the horoscopes in magazines.... especially yours" because I do the same thing with my lost love. And so I told him the story about my lost love.

I was pretty much in a state of joyful shock after being sung to by THE MAN.  The rest of my convo with him is almost a blur.

We talked about the VMAs. Stephan doesn't get how anyone could have a beef with Moby. I told him that some people I knew had watched the VMAs just to see Britney's reaction to being in the same room as Justin. I then said, "Well at least you don't run into Charlize." He said he has once since the break up and that it was weird. Every new song is about her, from what I gather.

At some point, Tony came out and announced to Stephan, "I was just listening to the tapes of the show and MAN! We're making a fucking record up there brah!" And they were doing some kind of male handshake with snaps and shit. A few minutes later, Tony came back outside to tattle on Brad. "Brad's brought the motherfucking party onto the bus! Sabien's trying to sleep!" I thought that was just so freakin' funny. Once he left, I told Stephan that it was so great to see camaraderie with fellow bandmates and how everyone seemed so happy and getting along so well. (It's a nice change from how it used to be, people. Trust me.) Stephan said it will definitely show on the record.

Well, that's all I feel at liberty to discuss! The band is in great spirits and this will truly be one amazing record... if it ever comes out! :)

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