June 27th.. it seemed so long away when I bought the tickets. I didn't even care that they were tickets to Evan and Jaron, all I knew was that Michelle Branch was opening. The days went by so slowly, but it was worth the wait.

June 27 was one of the most hectic days of my LIFE! see, I bought 4 tickets to the show, one for me, one for Lin, one for my mom, and one for Ally (But then, she went to the warped tour with her b/f... so I offered it to Amanda) and only 2 were paid for. Mine, and my moms. We knew lin was going to pay us, but that morning, (Midnight) Amanda called ans said she couldn't go, coz she didn't have the money.

Now, I'm not saying I was mad... but if she didn't go... or pay... THE MONEY WAS COMING OUT OF MY POCKET! and truthfully, I don't have $23.50 just laying around. So, 8 hours later, I finally convinced Amanda's mom to let her go. then, it was off to the store. We needed to get lots of water for the nearly 2 hour trip. (Since my ghetto car doesn't have air conditioning... yet it has a cd player... hmm)

Anyway, we got a lot of water. lol Then I went home... I got my Red halter shirt out of the dryer to find that ther was a HUGE water stain by my right... *ahembreastahem* so, I tried drying it with the iron (Yes.. I am ghetto) but that didn't work... so I got the whole thing wet ant threw it back int the dryer. 15 minutes later (Which is an hour before it's time to leave) I get it out of the dryer... the waterspot is still there... I didn't have time now to try to get together another outfit, so I just put it on, hoping no one would notice.

Now, I remember that Michelle's 18th birthday in the following monday, so I decide to maker her a present... I was going to give her this really cool candle that has a green flame (I mean, this thing is REALLY COOL) but my brother took it... so I mader her a HUGE poster that said "Happy 18th B-day Michelle. Love, Silver Raine". I wasn't even done glueing down the letters when Lin got there... so I was running late. I quickly painted on the remaining words and stuck it in the trunk (Figured I'd let it dry on the 2 hour trip). Now we're on the road (But first, we pick up Amanda) ok, NOW we're on the road. 2 hours of listening to "Broken Bracelet" and "Everywhere".

We get to LA, and we get to Wilshire Blvd (Which is the street the El Rey Theatre is located on) and we PASS the El Rey... of course, none of us realized it, so we just kept driving around. Finally, about 4miles down the road we decide to ask someone where it is, so, we roll down out window and ask an old lady crossing the street

"Excuse me, do you know where the El Rey theatre is?"

she responded, "The grande diner? I don't know" and she point's West (The direction we're already heading in.)

So, we keep driving the wrong way, until we see a younger woman walking across the street, so once again we roll down our windows,

"Excuse me, do you know where the El Rey theatre is?"

and this girl responds, "THE EL REY! ARE YOU GOING TO SEE EVAN AND JARON?"

Us - "Yeah... well, no actually, we're going to see their opening act"

Her -"Oh cool, well, the theatre is farther east... but it really farther east, if you keep heading the direction you're going, you'll get to the ocean" we thank her and head the other direction, finally we find it... it was definitely a LOT smaller than we had expected.

Then, we look for parking... that was a lot of fun... we must have circled the building 50 times. finally we decide to park at a parking meter. As we pull up, someone pulls up behind us.

my mom, "Oh look, someone was just as lost as we were".

we all have a laugh, and I get out of the car, look at the people behind us, and it's MICHELLE'S PARENTS!

Michelle's dad, "You look familiar"
Me, "Oh, Hi, yeah, from Arizona"
My mom, "Roni, who is that man, and why is he talking to you?"
Me, "MOM, that's michelle's parents"

Mom, "OH HI! you must me mr. and mrs. branch"

Michelle's dad, "Yeah, nice to meet you".

so, after tha little conversation, we get our things out of the car. the HUGE poster, and our camera. And since we thought there might be autograph signings, I took my High School Yearbook. (yes.. I'm VERY GHETTO)

Mr. Branch looks at the sign and is like "WOW, That's really cool" and he walks into the theatre. we're left standing out there forlikr 2 hours!

While in line, Me, Lin, My mom and Amanda are complete idiots! we ask people to sign my yearbook, we hid behind the michelle poster, and we hand out papers with my band's site on them (http://www.silverraine.net). finally, it's time to go inside. (BTW, we had to take the camera back to the car) anyway, on the way in, we see a "shrine" of Michelle promo posters. and I make the remark "I want one of those" and one of the guys that works for Michelle or something heard me, and he walked over to me and was like "You can take them after the concert" I didn't know who he was so, I assumed he was Jeff, so I asked "ARE YOU JEFF"? and he smiled and said "No, I'm mark*" (*Or matt, or mike... something like that) then I went in.

we got SO CLOSE to the stage! it was cool. We stood around there for like... 30 minutes, and in that time, we handed out more papers. One of the people we gave it to coincedintally promotes indie bands *Cool huh?* then, there was another girl that we were talking to... come to find out she's friends with one of our other friends, and Lin and her had met at a Moffatts concerts like 2 years ago.

After the 30/45 minute wait, michelle came out. I held up the poster, and the security guard threatened to takeit away, so I had to put it down before Michelle could see it. She opened the concert with "I'd rather be in love" It was really cool, but I was VERY disappointed because she DID NOT play her guitar on that song. Oh well.

She saw me throughout the show, and kept smiling at me (YES, it was at ME! lol...) and She gave me one of her pics when she was done! Se performed like... 4 more songs. Including, "Everywhere", "Sweet Misery", "You get me", and "Something To Sleep to". She did a GREAT job! and she was sooo cute! (She was supposed to do Goodbye To You, but it was scratched off the list). It was a very very very amazing show!

Anyway, when she was done singing, I got her attention, and I gave her the HUGE poster. (Which she thanked me for!) and we all shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to her. It was a lot of fun. In fact, when she said that her album would be released on August 14th, the girl behind us turned to her dad and said "Dad, you are already in line buying it... I HAVE TO HAVE IT! SHE'S GREAT!"

So anyway, that was the concert, of course, Maroon and Evan & Jaron went on after her, but she really was the best part!

THANK YOU MICHELLE FOR A WONDERFUL SHOW!

-Roni
http://www.silverraine.net