Imagine this. I am fresh out of cheerleading practice, chatting with some friends who just auditioned for the spring musical and the school’s atrium is full of students. I casually pull out my iPod to check my email and I see this as a subject line:
Congratulations, you are a winner with K102!
My heart stops. No freaking way. I read the first line of the email which is visible in my inbox. All I noticed were two simple words: Rascal Flatts. My small electronic device drops to the ground and I begin (loudly) blabbering as my eyes well with tears of excitement. By this time I’ve got tons of looks from concerned students, and some “What happened?” or “Chloe, are you okay?!” Let me tell you, I was much much more than okay.
A few days prior I had signed up for tickets to an exclusive Rascal Flatts concert and TV taping through K102, my local country radio station.
That cold January Thursday night, Taylor, our mom, and I ran (in -23 degree with windchill weather) into the Xcel Energy Center bursting with enthusiasm. We received glow sticks to use during the song “Broken Road,” and after an hour, were allowed onto the floor of the arena. As if we couldn’t get any luckier, we received black wristbands that gave us access to the pit area around the stage. This experience became more and more unbelievable as the night pressed on.
The stage lit up, sparks exploded from both sides of the stage and a massive screen opened revealing the one and only, Rascal Flatts. Screaming and jumping, I looked at Taylor and shouted, “Can you believe this?!!” I never imagined I would be so close that I could reach out and touch them. It rarely came to mind that they were filming for TV– until I would notice cameras swooping above me or rolling across the stage.
After about four *incredible* songs, the crew pulled out three stools and placed them at the front of the stage. My face lit up as they began to play the first song of the night off their “Nothing Like This” album. A verse and a chorus into “I Won’t Let Go” they stopped. Then they started over after a “Sorry y’all lets start this again!” This happened with the song “Easy” (featuring Natasha Bedingfield) at least four times.
If you have ever heard “Easy” you understand it’s no easy task to sing it at all–let alone 4+ times. It ended up becoming the joke of the night, while the drummer would play the (very recognizable) drum intro at random times throughout the evening pretending like they had to do the song one more time. But honestly, they could’ve sung that one song twenty million more times and I would have had no complaints.
The music was not the only great thing about the concert/taping. The special effects were so ridiculously cool. There was this HUMONGOUS screen that showed so many different pictures and backgrounds. During one of their numbers the screens displayed a beautiful fall scene—look for it when you watch the ABC special.
Being there for the TV taping was pretty sweet. It gave me a whole new perspective on television and the effort that goes into it. Seeing events on a screen is so much different than experiencing it. They redo the smallest things over and over again, to make it just perfect.
Make all the hard work worth it, and watch it TONIGHT on ABC (March 12th, 2011) at 8:00PM CST! The show’s going to include a sneak preview of the new Justin Bieber/Rascal Flatts “That Should Be Me” music video and the making of the video footage. I’ll be watching for myself and translating from real life to the screen!
For more pictures check out our Rascal Flatts album on our Facebook page.
Check out our version of the song “I Won’t Let Go”
