July 26, 2023

O-Town at Patchogue Theater

Wednesday O-Town brought their Pop 2000 tour to Patchogue Theater on Long Island.  Weeknights and Long Island don’t usually mix for me, but since it was my birthday I decided to take the day off and go! I also decided to splurge on the $100 t-shirt + selfie option which I hadn’t done at the shows I went to previously. (Though I was a bit too busy with BBMak and Chris Kirkpatrick VIP at those!)

Ryan Cabrera once again opened, and I guess after my critique of his banter, he changed it up a little bit. His birthday was the night before and when he said he was party’d out someone else shouted it was their birthday so I got an indirect Birthday shout out since he said he’d be celebrating their birthday tonight!

Then it was time for BBMak – They once again did the same set as they had been doing.  I never did end up seeing the video Mark took of Back Here to see if I went 3 for 3 for being in them or not!  I hope that after this tour they’ll be doing some more stuff in the US in the future! Fingers crossed!

Then it was time for O-Town/LFO/Chris Kirkpatrick.  For the most part, it was the same setlist but where they had added Sky Dive in MA they ended up doing Giants, which was fun because it came on during my drive and I was thinking about how much I had liked it!  They mixed up their banter a bit in the shows too which is always fun, especially their back and forth with Chris Kirkpatrick!  Chris also said they were filming something for Netflix – the cameras were around and on stage during the *NSYNC stuff so I am curious to see what that ends up being and if I end up being visible in it or not!

After the show I waited for the selfie line, which I had not done in quite some time.  Their ring lights were dead so we were told to have our flash on, but even on auto mine didn’t go off and the pics still came out great!  Erik came out first and told me that he hadn’t seen me in a while! I assured him that I was at the Friday and Saturday shows as well but with the selfies costing more I couldn’t do it as often as I would have liked.  Jacob was next and noticed that my Birthday sash had the Hanson symbol on it and said that he really liked them. I explained I had made it for my birthday last year when I saw Hanson but this year I was recycling it and sharing my birthday with them.  Dan was up next and gave me a big hug and then told me to get 2 redbulls and some coffee for the drive home (which was showing as being nearly 3 hours when I was expecting it to be more like 2!)  Trevor also gave me a big hug and was glad I shared my birthday with them and also noted he hadn’t seen me – so I explained to him too I’ve been around!  He also told me to drive safe home.

When I got in the car, the GPS kept wanting to push me to the Ferry (which I don’t even think is RUNNING at midnight!) but after fighting it a bit I ended up finding a route that was under 2 hours! And I made it home before 2am! Wooo.  I took a half day the next day so I could sleep in a bit after all of the birthday excitement!   This Pop 2000 Tour has been SO fun I am sad I won’t be seeing any more shows but I am hopeful at least O-Town will be back in the fall – and maybe I can squeeze in a trip to the Big E.

After Hours with Neil Patrick Harris

Neil Patrick Harris on Twitter: "Anyone up for some day drinking? Come join  me and sip on my new espresso martini from @ThomasAshbourne  https://t.co/YoVkrpQsQv https://t.co/k8lHR1HITU" / Twitter

While I was at the airport waiting to see Hanson in Arkansas, an ad popped up about a Neil Patrick Harris bottle signing on Long Island on my birthday.  Typically I avoid Long Island, but I was already going to be there because O-Town was playing a birthday show, so I signed up and immediately got a “you’re in!” email back.  The event was to take place from 4pm-6pm and I ended up leaving around noon in hopes of getting there for 2.  Of course, the traffic to get to Long Island is real and I ended up getting there at 3.  There were not too many people already in line at the liquor store (us Hanson fans are a different breed when it comes to what time we start to line up) and as it got closer to 4, I was much closer to the front of the line than the back.

Shortly after 4pm the line started moving, NPH had pre-signed some bottles or you could have it signed in front of you. I opted for the pre-signed and told him it was my birthday and I was enjoying all his 50th birthday posts on instagram.  He said he was glad I was enjoying it because he never really knows how it will be received and I assured him that I was totally jealous and it looked like so much fun!  He thanked me for spending my birthday with him and one of the workers handed me back my phone after he had been taking photos for me to “document the moment”.

Upon heading to the check out to buy my signed bottle ($15, a steal for such a meet and greet!) , she had to scan my ID and upon realizing it was my birthday she gave me a free bottle of prosecco! All in all I was back in the car by 4:20 and ready to drive the what I thought would be 30 minutes to the theater for the O-Town show, that ended up being more like 45 minutes. (Fortunately I was beyond early!)

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