BANFF RECAP!!!

That. Was. AMAZING.

Here it is, Hess's recap of the weekend, and it will be long... because... It. Was. Amazing.

Okay. Left for Banff on Friday afternoon, had fun taking quizzes from a teenaged-girl magazine (I'm a Taylor, Eggs is a Selena), ate lots of junkfood, and enjoyed the road trip. After we checked into our hotel we watched lots of bad TV, hung out, and drank Arbor Mist like it was going out of style. (By the way, it is going out of style. Or, more accurately, it was never in style. That stuff tastes like wine mixed with chemicals and just a hint of Windex thrown in for kicks.)

Anyways, Saturday is where the fun really began. We walked around town a bit and bought some souvenirs, then we went to the venue and froze our buns off outside the gates waiting to see our boys. And we did! Sam and Josh from the Sam Roberts Band came by and we took pictures with them. And for anyone who might be reading this who does not know it, the men in Sam Roberts' band (in particular, Sam himself) are literally the most gracious group of people you will ever meet in the music business.

After those two left and we had been standing outside in the cold for a couple hours, we were finally let into the park. Eggs did not disappoint and claimed us a spot in the front row, where we jammed out to some sweet Native American powwow music. I seriously love that stuff: those Aboriginals really know how to drum.

A couple hours later, Dan Mangan and his super enthusiastic band opened with an AMAZING show. He's a fantastic songwriter, and he has one of those voices that sounds exactly the same live as it does on the album, if not better. Plus I kind of fell in love with every member of his band! Great performance, despite the continuous rain, and he played all three of my favorite songs. Plus, any artist that stands atop a rain-soaked barricade and gets the entire audience to sing "robots need love, too" at full volume is automatically a winner in my books.

Once Dan finished his set, Sam and the boys took the stage... and as usual, they gave an awesome performance. I love that the band gives their all at every show, no matter what. And they always sound great- even when Sam forgets the lyrics to Don't Walk Away Eileen, laughs it off, and chalks it up to a lack of beer in true Canadian fashion. What a champ.

Now, something people need to know about Eggs is this: she has an unbelievable crush on Eric, the keyboardist in Sam Roberts' band. That, and she likes to hang around after shows to meet up with the guys in the band. This concert was no different, and after much asking, Eggs got one of the other guys in the band to bring Eric out to say hello. And oh, did he say hello!

Firstly, not only did I get to meet Dan Mangan (a little shy, extremely sweet, sort of uncomfortable, but clearly enjoying his fans and being very gracious), Eggs got to have one of the most epic groupie moments in the history of epic groupie moments. And that is what I will describe here.

Okay. So Eric comes bounding out of this beautiful building where the guys were hanging out, having been told that someone (Eggs) was waiting outside to see him. He's looking around all cutely, this kind of excited look on his face, probably a tiny bit buzzed and riding the high of a great show. Eggs calls him over. He sees her and comes out, doing the cute nod first. We all say hello and Eggs asks if she can get a picture with him. He complies, naturally, and puts his arm around her shoulders, smiling. Here's the thing, though: when they're lining themselves up for the picture, he gives her this look...

It is the look of every smitten groom in every wedding photo album, the look of recognizing a fan and appreciating it to his core, the look of... dare I say it?... the look of love! Of course, Eggs was looking at the camera and was completely oblivious to this look, but our friend Danna, who was taking the picture, definitely noticed it too. It was the most intense look.

Anyways, after the look of love, they took the picture. Danna said she would take another. While she lined up the second one, Eric did the unthinkable...

Eggs had put her arm around his waist, which was perfectly natural given the pose of the picture, but he obviously felt how cold she was because he grabbed her hand from behind, the one that was around his waist, and rubbed it, saying, "Your hands are so cold!" This was all invisible to Danna and I, as Eric's and Eggs's hands were behind Eric's back. But it was pretty obvious what he was doing, and Eggs confirmed it later.

After that little hand-rubbing incident, they broke their pose and we chatted amicably with Eric for a minute. He asked if he had met Eggs before (he had, several times) and he seemed genuinely interested in where we had come from, where we had previously met them, etc. He was really cute about it, too:

Eric: "So are you guys still in Red Deer, then?"
Eggs: "Actually we're from Edmonton; the concert we went to was Red Deer."
Eric: "Edmonton... wow, so you guys have driven like a couple hundred miles... fuck. Pardon my language, but that's really amazing."
Eggs: "Yeah- it was well worth it."
Eric: (genuinely grateful) "Well thank you so much."

A few moments after that (and this is the part that's fuzzy for me, so maybe you can fill in the blanks Eggs?) he was holding her hands and rubbing them for her to warm them up. And seriously... he's done that before. That is how Eric is. But after warming her hands for a few moments, this is how things ended:

Eggs: "But anyways, can I just have a hug?"
Eric: (all exasperated) "What?? Can I just have a hug?" (envelopes Eggs in a really tight bear hug.)

And that... that was the "Groupie" Moment of the century. Eggs? Anything you wanna add?