A Weekend With Boyce Avenue, Part One: Seattle

I went to see Boyce Avenue as they kicked off their 2011 US/Canada Fall Tour in Seattle, Washington at the Showbox at the Market. Before the show, I had a VIP Meet & Greet with the guys (available through Artist Arena.)  I also got a special Meet & Greet with them after the show for doing promo/street teaming.

Click on the "Read more..." link below for my recap of the day and my review of the first show on Boyce Avenue's 2011 US/Canada Fall Tour.

Before The Show

The day started with me picking my sister Heather up from the airport....she flew in from Spokane to go to the show with me. We headed downtown with my brother and another friend to spend some time at Pike Place Market before the big event.

When we got downtown, we went over to The Showbox to take some photos, and while we were there, Boyce Avenue's Tour Bus and van pulled up out front.  I saw Daniel hop out, so I went over to say hello.  He was very sweet and gracious, as he always is.  I introduced him to my family, and he thanked us all for our support, and for all the street teaming we did.  My sister said to him, "Well, it was a lot of fun, and we love you guys, but it was nothing compared to what Melenie has done..." and he gave me a little squeeze and said, "I know!!  She's awesome!  We love her!!"  It made my heart melt.  ♥  He asked us what there was to do around the venue, and we all agreed that Pike Place Market was the place to see.  He headed into the venue to check things out and we went off to kill some time.

We met up with the rest of our friends and had a late lunch at the Athenian Inn, and then I went back to my car to get the cheesecake I had made for Alejandro and the gifts I had brought for the guys, and headed back to the venue.  When we got there, I spotted Hook (BA's merchandise guy) out front, so I asked him if he would be willing to take the cheesecake in to the guys.  I had hoped to give it to them myself at the pre-show Meet & Greet, but it was SO hot outside and we still had awhile to wait in the heat, so I figured I'd just send it in with Hook to be safe.  He kindly agreed to take it in, saying that he couldn't promise he wouldn't help himself to a slice or two before he made it to the dressing room.  I told him I'd hear about it if he did.  :)

Hook outside the Showbox

In retrospect, I wish I had held on to the cheesecake and given it to the guys.  I had worked so hard on it, and I was really looking forward to giving it to them and seeing Alejandro's reaction to it.  Next time, I'll deliver it myself.


The Green Room

The Green Room was the best part of the Showbox at the Market.  This small bar attached to the venue offers people 21 and older a cool place to sit and wait and, with a food and/or beverage purchase, entry into the venue before the doors open to the general public.  My $4.00 cranberry juice was accompanied by a ticket that would grant me early access into the venue, which I later found out I wouldn’t need, because I had purchased the pre-show VIP Meet & Greet, but it was still worth getting there early, so that the rest of my group could get into the venue before the doors opened.  We sat and visited for about 45 minutes, and then I left my group and went to check in for the VIP Meet & Greet.

The VIP Meet & Greet

At 5:45p.m. I went to check in for the VIP Meet & Greet. We could hear the sound check going on inside, and I knew it was almost time. As I stood there waiting and talking to the other fans, the anticipation grew. I could hardly contain my excitement. I was about to see the guys again!!

The soundcheck ended and the venue doors opened, and we all filed into the main lobby of the Showbox. As we went in, we were given a lanyard and a signed poster (both included in the Meet & Greet package.)  Hoping to get an extra minute or two with the guys, I made sure I was the last one in line.

A couple of minutes later, Alejandro came out and started making his way down the line, happily proclaiming, "Hugs for everybody!! Hugs for everybody!!" My heart was racing, I was so excited. When he got to me, his face lit up with recognition, and he said, "Hey!!" and gave me a big, warm hug. I told him it was good to see him, and he said, "It's good to see you too....thanks for coming....we'll talk more in a minute, let me just go back up and do this..." and he headed back up to the front of the line to join his brothers.

Watching the guys interact with the fans is always so much fun. They are so grateful for the support they get, and so sweet to everyone. When it came time to talk to them, they all greeted me very warmly with hugs and smiles. I was wearing one of Fabian's t-shirts from These Quiet Sounds, and we joked about how I was wearing the coolest shirt ever. Daniel thanked me for the cheesecake, and I said, "Oh, good, you got it!" Alejandro said, "There's a cheesecake?" and Daniel kind of laughed and said, "Yeah, she brought us a cheesecake....well, she brought YOU a cheesecake....so I haven't tried it yet...but it looks really good!"

I gave them their gifts but they didn't open them, because we had run out of time. Fabian was especially grateful for his shirt, and said, "Thanks so much, this is really nice." I told him that I had gotten kind of goofy ones for Daniel and Alejandro, but that his was a little nicer. I explained that when I saw it in the store, I immediately thought of him, and he said, "Yeah, I noticed it has a Vans tag on it....very cool." I got another hug from each of them, and then they turned to leave. Daniel smiled and said, "We'll see you after the show!!"

Fabian turned back to me and said, "What are you gonna do with your poster? Are you gonna take it to your car, or....?" I told him no, that I didn't really know what I was going to do with it. (Originally, I had planned to roll it and hold on to it, but it was made out of thick cardboard, and there was no way to roll it up.) Fabian offered to keep it backstage until after the show so that nothing would happen to it, and I happily handed it over. I was touched that he even thought about something like that, amidst all that was going on. He gave me one final hug, and then he was off to get ready for the show.

Overall, I was really pleased with the VIP Meet & Greet. It went pretty much exactly as I expected it would...it only lasted a couple of minutes, but it came with hugs, swag, chit chat, and more hugs....and the early entry into the venue was a nice perk.

About 10 minutes after the guys had left, we were allowed into the venue....this was a very cool benefit to having the Meet & Greet. We were able to go claim our spots right up front before the doors opened to the long line of excited fans standing outside. Because the rest of my group was in the Green Room, they were allowed into the venue right after me, so we had no trouble finding each other, and we claimed our spots, right up front, center stage.

The Show

Opening acts Megan Nicole and Curtis Peoples were great, with relatively short sets. I was familiar with Megan Nicole from her collaborations with Boyce Avenue on YouTube, and she was adorable!! I had never heard Curtis' stuff before, and I was really impressed with him.  He's handsome, funny, and belted out his songs with passion.  He was very personable and interacted with the crowd quite a bit. At one point he mentioned that his rental car had been upgraded from an economy car to a Mustang, and that he was really enjoying his "sweet ride" (more about that in my Vancouver recap.) During his song Everybody Loves You, he asked the crowd to sing along with their best hip-hop, T-pain "Hey!!" but we just couldn't get it right.....he stopped the song and walked us through it again, saying, "Sorry, Seattle....we gotta get this right."  The crowd really seemed to feed off of his energy and humor.

Megan Nicole

Curtis Peoples

After a short break, Boyce Avenue took the stage.  The opening to the show is bigger than it has been in the past....the guys are using a Lighting Director on this tour, and the difference is HUGE.  They came on stage with a presence that demanded attention.  I was beyond impressed.

Daniel

Fabian

The 17-song setlist included all of the songs on "All We Have Left" and several covers.  It was the perfect mix, and included a short acoustic set about halfway through.  Alejandro's in-ear monitors weren't working, and from about the fourth song on, he sang without them, which absolutely blew me away.  Singing a song in tune when you can't actually hear yourself is not an easy thing to do, but he did it flawlessly. 

Alejandro

Alejandro is an artist in every sense of the word, and he demonstrated his talent and versatility by playing electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and keyboard, as well as taking on his brother Daniel in a Cajon battle.

The highlight of the show for me was the encore, when Alejandro came out alone and performed Dare To Believe at the keyboard.  This song is easily my favorite Boyce Avenue original, and it was awesome to hear it live.  He then had his brothers join him again on the stage for two final songs, ending the show as energetically as it had begun.

Alejandro playing Dare To Believe

Because I'm incredibly biased, I'm going to say that the show was fantastic....but for the sake of being objective, I have to say I was not entirely pleased with the sound at the Showbox.  For the non-acoustic songs, the music was so loud, it was often difficult to hear Alejandro.  A lot of people in the crowd around me commented on it, and after the show, my brother, who had watched from the bar area, said he noticed the same thing.

After The Show

After the show, we headed over to the merchandise table to check in with Hook for our Meet & Greet with the guys.  He told us to wait by the stage, and eventually someone would be out to get us.  It was about this time that security started telling everyone to leave unless they were buying merchandise.  The security at the Showbox is so incredibly rude....I couldn't believe how disrespectful they were.  When one of them looked at me and my group and said, "Time to go....buy something or get out," I explained to him that we were part of the Street Team and that we were on the list for an after-show Meet & Greet with the guys, and he accused me of lying.  I tried to explain to him that it was all arranged and who he needed to talk to and he just stood there shaking his head.  I went back over to Hook and told him that they were telling us we had to leave.  Within a few minutes, the same big thug who had been so rude to me came over to us and said, "Okay...so apparently there is some kind of after show thing for you guys, so you can stay."  No apology....just more attitude.  In all honesty, after dealing with security at the Showbox, the only way I will EVER return is for a Boyce Avenue show.  I'm really hoping they play somewhere else next time they come to Seattle. 

A few minutes later, someone came and took us all back over to the stage, and the guys came out for our Meet & Greet.  They gave everyone hugs, signed autographs, and answered questions.  Of the three of them, Alejandro was the quietest and most reserved.  I thanked him for including Dare To believe in the setlist and we talked briefly about my Boycemobile.  A couple of times, he referenced messages I had sent to him on Facebook, and I was deeply touched that he had remembered little details of things I had shared with him.

Me & Alejandro

Fabian was very outgoing and talkative.  When he went to get my poster from the pre-show Meet & Greet, he brought out another poster as well.  He told us that before the show, he had spent some time at The Vera Project in Seattle doing some silkscreened posters for his art and apparel company, These Quiet Sounds. He was so excited talking about the silkscreening process, how he had made the posters himself, and what a cool experience it was for him.  He told me he wanted to give me one of the posters, and he signed it for me.  I thought that was so cool of him.

He also talked about how this is their first tour with an actual tour bus, and how different it is from staying in hotels.  I asked him about the album artwork for All We Have Left, and as he explained it to me, Daniel said, "Be careful....you know anything you tell her is gonna end up on her blog!"  Haha, he knows me well.  :)

Daniel was really energetic....he stood there doing a little dance while we talked, it was really cute.  My sister asked them if they had any pre-show rituals, and they were like, "No, not really...." and then Daniel said, "We hug a lot....and sometimes I dance," and he started dancing again.  Haha, I love Daniel....he's just so awesome to be around and he has this happiness about him that's impossible to resist.  That's one of the things I love most about these guys...they have a way of making you feel totally at ease when you're talking to them, like they've known you forever.  Daniel even joked with me about a conversation I had with him when they were here in February, and asked me if I remembered him teasing me when they were last in Seattle.  I am always amazed at his ability to remember conversations and interactions he has with the fans.  They meet so many people, so to have him remember details like that makes you feel really special.

Boyce Avenue with me & my family

Left to Right: Fabian, Me, my brother Jeff, my sister Heather, Alejandro, & Daniel

Boyce Avenue with me and my fellow Street Teamers

Left to Right: Lauren, Cindy, Fabian, Me, Lauren H, Alejandro, Stephanie & Daniel

Daniel went and got another Street Teamer, Jen, and brought her in to say hi to the guys.  Jen has been street teaming for Boyce Avenue for a couple of years, and when she came in with Daniel, the three of them surrounded her and gave her a big enthusiastic group hug.  It was so cute....you can tell they really like her and appreciate all she has done for them.

Jen & the Guys

Jason Burrows (the drummer for the band when they're on tour) came over and talked with us for a few minutes.  When I asked him if he knew who I was, he was like, "Yeah, of course....we do the whole twitter and Facebook thing!!"  He raved about the cheesecake said he hadn't even taken a slice, but had just grabbed a spoon and dug in.  I teased him about how he's always sticking his tongue out when he plays.  He was a really good sport about it....he's such a nice guy and no Boyce Avenue tour would be complete without him!!

Me & Jason

I don't know how long we stood there talking with them....probably 20-30 minutes.  The guys were totally chill and never made us feel rushed....it was so much fun to visit with them, and we left the Showbox with some great memories.  It was totally worth all the hard work we did street teaming and promoting the show to have that extra time with them.  I can't wait to promote the next tour!!

I had a fantastic time!! These guys are the real deal.  Everything about them is genuine and they deserve all the success in the world.  If you have the chance to see them live, go.  I promise, you won't be disappointed.

For tour dates, visit www.boyceavenue.com/tour


Click here to read my recap/review of the Vancouver, B.C. show.