I met the most respectable, positive man tonight;

Patrick Stump.

On the drive from White House to Nashville, I had at least three solid possibilities of things I would say, may the event arise that I have the pleasure of meeting him. My expectations were to shake his hand, get my ‘thank you for everything’ in and let him proceed to the next fan, watch the show and go home.

Oh, boy. This night exceeded all I had imagined.

The best friend and I pulled up to the Rutledge, right in front of his bus at about four thirty or so. Pretty sure I was going to be towed, but as a first, luck was on my side. She was skeptical about standing for hours on end. Guess I just had a feeling.

Thirty (I’m really awful with timing, so that may be off) minutes later, Patrick walks out of the bus. About twenty kids were lined up along with us, and he began with the closest ones, completely genuine with every word.

We walked up to him and I let Shelby greet him first, cause I’m a good friend or something. Anyway, I played photographer in the moment, and handed her the camera.

I fumbled through my pocket to get one of my gloves and told him I wanted him to have it. (Damned if I’m not original.) Out of my surprise, he proceeded to put it on, telling me how ‘rad’ it was. I then told him I hope to join the ranks of artists like him one day.

(If any of these pictures aren’t just automatically showing up, just click them. I dunno, Tumblr disagrees with me a lot.)

He continues to sift through the fans, making sure he spoke to everyone standing out in the heat. As he’s walking back, farther into the line, we all meet again. Still, the same golden respect for a fan as before. There’s a video of us high-five-ing. Which still makes me smile.

Anyway, to the show.

The two artists opening for him were amazing, really. I spoke to Wynter and at one point, she backed up on me with some booty. First thing I said to her: “You. Are. Beautiful.” And, she really was. Very, very talented as well. I completely recommend her to anyone who hasn’t heard her music yet.

I’m really looking for the correct sentence to sum up Patrick’s performance. Only words are coming to mind. Something along the lines of; phenomenal, astounding,

Honestly, seeing him do his thing to songs like Allie, Love Selfish Love and Explode.. reminded me of what I want to do for the rest of my life. Not that I ever forgot, even for a second; it just filled me with confidence I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced.

Speaking of confidence.. He wore my glove during the show. I don’t know if he knows how much it meant to me. How it showed me even more that if I want to do something, just going for it is the only way it’ll ever get done. Because, I know he didn’t have to wear it. He could have wore the matching black one he owns, but he didn’t. I told him to keep it forever because it’s special. Yeah, I actually said that cheesy line.

I didn’t expect him to do that.

(The first one was taken by someone with a much better quality camera than mine, the second one, obviously.)

This is my favorite part, honestly. My friend and I decided that we had our moment. Being the humble folks we are, we skipped out on meeting him for the technically third time. There were other kids who needed to say what they felt. I’m not going to take their time away from them, when mine’s already been given to me.

To the point here; We get in my car, I look back to figure out how to back up and not hit the car behind me, and in my rear-view.. I see my reasoning for still having hope in artists. Patrick stood, a gigantic line in front of him, him more than willing to take in everything said by whoever stepped in front of him next.

That, kids.. is what every artist should be like. It reminded me of a promise I made to myself quite a bit of a time ago; When I’m doing what I love, I will make every effort and take every opportunity to tell those who admire me that they are appreciated. If I can help it, every and any fan I come across will have their chance to say whatever, negative or positive.

One last thing; I can only hope Patrick knew we were there for him. Not for a wave of Fall Out Boy memories. Cause honestly, his solo music kicks a lot of ass compared to what we’re presented with nowadays.

Twitter: @screamhymnals

This is Patrick’s response to this post.

http://screamhymnals.tumblr.com/post/13103568154/i-dont-sleep-well-most-nights-i-fight-myself-not

31 notes | Reblog | 9 months ago

Posted on August 18th at 4:47 AM
Tagged as: nashville,. patrick stump. rutledge. soul punk. concert.