Hope you're ready to read a long long post! I had a wonderful Maiden filled weekend and need to document it somehow.
So I won't talk much about the drive down and the unnecessary trip to Fairfax that really stressed me out, but I'll focus a lot on the up times! The mountain drive down sucked. Martin drove the entire way so I can't really complain, but I will complain for him. He was annoyed so I was annoyed too.. The drive home was a highway. I don't see why the drive down was different. Anyways..
MAIDEN TIME..
The unnecessary trip to Fairfax .. Stupid Google Maps. Apparently The only Hard Times Cafe it knew of was the one in Fairfax. Not the one right next to the hotel.. Maybe I should have been less organized and not have printed out mapquest directions and just used my GPS.. I didn't even think to check again. I made the drive to Fairfax. Power was out everywhere due to storms Friday night, and the heat I'm sure. It was a scorcher. Anyways we get to the Hard Times Cafe in Fairfax and were greeted by who I assume was the owner. We asked him if he knew where the IMFC was meeting and he was like "Yeah I heard something about that, let me see when it is." He actually led us through the bar, into the kitchen where the staff was, and into his private office to facebook the cover band Sanctuary and find out when and where we needed to be. We found out it was at the one next to our hotel.. I felt like a moron but whatever.. I got to see another city. I can't even begin to tell you how appreciative I was. I was in a terrible mood and someone being nice and helpful seemed to lift my spirit. I kind of want to write him a Thank you or something.. I just think people in the South are a lot nicer than people up here.
So we get to the Hard Times Cafe in Manassas finally an hour later.. The IMFC meet and Greet was being held there and the IM tribute band Sanctuary was playing. We get there just in time for them to start playing, I had to order a beer which turned in to two beers (Hence why I was super sick at the show) I asked the waitress what kind of Beer was good there. She then recommended her favorite. It was called a Flat Tire. She said it was like Yuengling and Blue Moon mixed.. It was pretty amazing.. I like new beers. The waitress was also super nice.. Everyone we encountered there was nice. Minus one D-Bag in the pit who broke my knee. But yeah Sanctuary really is a great Tribute to Maiden. The guitarist was getting pics with people and he randomly pointed me out and wanted his camera guy to come get a pic of us together.. So I'm waiting to see that one. I also got pointed out to take my pic with their version of Eddie.. It's so nice to feel like such a big part of something. I felt so at ease with all the Maiden fans around. It was a good time. We bought swag from FC members. This was my first time really meeting with other FC members. It's nice to put faces to names. I think I should be more active on the boards. I slack too much.. So after an awesome time at the IMFC M&G I was sporting a nice Buzz heading to the venue! (BAD IDEA)
We get to the venue early. Weren't sure about traffic or where it was.. Always nice to give yourself time. We get there and there is no organization for the FTTB people. We asked the box office where we needed to be and they had no clue. We spotted people from the M&G and asked if they were FTTB too and they were. We stood next to them for the next 3 hours in the blazing sun.. It sucked so bad. The sun kills me when I can't sit or find shade. Supposedly you were allowed water bottles that were sealed or empty, but the douche working said he never heard about the empty rule so even though I had the email, he made us throw our bottles away. Had to pay 4.50 for a bottle inside but without it I would have died. We get inside and wait to get into the pit and met a few other people. Iron Maiden fans are so awesome. I love being a part of the family. They let us in the pit and everyone that had FTTB rushes to the barrier. Me and Martin get on the Barrier, but on Janicks side. I would have liked the middle, but I wouldn't have survived the night without leaning on the barrier. Everyone else rushes for the middle. We could have had second row, but I wouldn't have been able to stand up without holding on to something all night. So Martin lets this girl stand next to us on the closest side to the stage. She was pretty cool, but I feel she tried taking over the barrier. We won FTTB she didn't.. On the other side of me was a little kid and his dad which were also IMFC members. They were really cool. We got to speak with Iron Maiden's actual photographer. He told us how they flew in to the terrible storm on Friday night. I guess the plane dropped over 1200ft in altitude. He said all of their drinks just flew out of the glasses and towards the ceiling. I guess it was really scary. Bruce wasn't flying. We also met a guy named Alex. He's from Switzerland. Really great guy.
I'll write part 2 at work tomorrow! Time for bed!
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