Exactly 5 years after I saw John play with The Beach Boys for the first time in Belgium, I saw them again. This time at the Casa Blanca Festival near Antwerp.
Coincidentally it was also exactly 1 month before John and I first met in NY, on July 25th, 2012.
As soon as they announced that John would be joining their European summer tour, I got tickets for my mom and I. I also let John know hoping I’d be able to meet him because it’s not that easy to do so at a festival as opposed to when they play in a venue.
Finally June 25th came and unfortunately it was a very rainy day. Therefore they arrived as late as possible which made it impossible to meet him before the show. Luckily, he had backstage passes arranged for me so we were able to get early entrance access and even though we had seating tickets, we went to stand right in front of the stage. All the seats were already wet anyway and it was too far from the stage and I wanted to make sure that John was able to see me. He sure noticed me 😉 I was lucky to be standing right in front of his mic stand so he saw me right away and called out my name, waving at me. He also interacted with me from time to time during the concert, pointing or winking at me.
If you have been to a Beach Boys concert, you know they’re amazing.
My favorite part they always do when John joins them is have this funny interaction between Mike and John where Mike is joking that the song “Be true to your school “came out in 1963, which is the year John was born, and that Mike had a “thing” with John’s mom. After that, John always gets his drum solo which is supposed to be a short one but he always exaggerates and makes it as long as possible, to which Mike is gesturing to the audience.
Then the song really starts. But just that whole prelude before the song really starts is just so hilarious and I just love seeing John go crazy on his drums.
This time it got really emotional when John was performing “Forever”. He started by talking about Bob’s passing and he also showed a short video from Bob. Bob was someone who always told everyone he met that he loved them and John said that we should do that too because it’s so important to tell your friends and family that you love them. I’m exactly like that, I also always tell everyone I know that I love them all the time.
Then he started the song by saying that he dedicated the song to his dear friend Domi, pointing to me, saying he loves me.
As soon as he started talking about Bob I completely lost it and couldn’t stop crying until after the next song. I recorded the entire thing while crying. After the song I made the heart sign with my hands and he did the same saying he loved me in the mic.
After the show John shouted to me to get backstage so mom & I ran to the backstage entrance where they let me in and we waited until they came from behind the stage. As soon as he saw me I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug I could give him. He immediately said: “now that’s a hug right there”
John then took us to his dressing trailer where he had 15 mins to get changed before they had to take the vans to their hotel. Before he changed we talked, took pictures and I gave him his usual order (Belgian chocolates of course).
He jokingly asked me first what it was, while whispering to the other guy “they’re chocolates”
(He knows I always bring him a box because he’s crazy about them)
He said that Billy, his son, was always asking him to bring him back some chocolates so he was happy he got a box from me. And it was a box of 1 kilo so it was a heavy one.
He also had some presents for me: one of the newest bracelets from his St. Amos Share the love collection. You can order his bracelets through https://mysaintmyhero.com/collections/share-the-love-st-amos-love-bracelet
100% of the Stamos family net proceeds from the St. Amos bracelet will be donated to CHILDHELP for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse.
He also gave me his drumsticks he played with that night.
First I took a picture with Brian Eichenberger, who plays guitar in the band. John was joking that he got jealous because I was hugging him so tight 🙂
Then I took a picture with John himself.
Meanwhile, one of the crew guys went to Mike Love & Bruce to let them sign my CD’s.
Bruce had already signed the special CD box but this time I also took their All Summer Long album that my mom bought back in the days so they all signed it, including John of course.
While we were talking he told me to come to the show in Tilburg the next day. That would be in a venue and he would have more time for me there.
When my mom told him that we had a family gathering that day he was like: “Not till 8PM is it? Who’s more important? Your family or me?” 2 guesses which one I picked 😉
He said to let him know if we were coming or not. He’d save me some tickets if we were coming.
To be honest: my mom wasn’t keen on driving another hour and getting home late again (we got home at 12.30 AM). I kept nagging her head off and she did cave in when I asked her the next morning if we were going or not (as I had to let John know in time so he could arrange my backstage tickets).
Despite the fact that I was completely frozen and my body hurt from standing all those hours, I had the most amazing night in my life, all thanks to John💗
And to make it even more special, he talked about me in his Instagram post about the show! He said that he got to see and spend some time with his dear friend Domi, that he loves me. He even included a picture of us together!
xoxo
Domi💜
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