Sav.net

The adventure started with a call from my crazy sister, Jeannie (aka Lepplady; owner and webmaster of Sav.net and the Savage Passion Yahoo group). “Def Leppard is coming to Pensacola on Thursday, April 24th. I’ll buy the tickets if you drive!”

Okay…how could I say no?!?!

It got better…she got tickets on the floor, in the middle, 9 rows back from the stage! Needless to say, I was excited because I had never seen them in concert.

Jeannie got to P-cola on Wednesday so she could visit family and go ‘trolling for Lepps’.

She took off for the Lepp's hotel, and I received a call about 30 minutes later…”NITA…YOU’VE GOT TO GET OVER HERE…”

So, throwing my schoolwork aside (I was studying for a college final I had to take BEFORE the concert the next day), off I went for my first night of insanity.

I went to the hotel where Jeannie was calmly sitting, sipping on a soda out in the lobby. We gave each other hugs and before I could even ask if she’d seen anybody there, she said, “There’s a gorgeous bass player sitting in the bar”.

So I nonchalantly strolled (Broke the land speed record) in there and ordered a drink and I saw him! There was Sav sitting at a table, we made eye contact. He really is cute!
I paid for my drink and went back out to the lobby and sat down.
“Oh my god! It’s him!!!”

Jeannie and I chatted a few more minutes when Sav came out of the bar and went out the front door with some female.

Jeannie and I went back in the bar a little while later and saw Viv sitting at a table by himself. She said hi and chatted with him a minute (she met all the guys after the Denver concert in Dec ’02 so they already knew her) then introduced me and we all took pictures. He left and we went back out to the lobby and hung out for a while longer but all we saw were a few tacky looking groupies and a few British people who weren’t recognizable (but we saw them the next night at the concert…they were crew members).

We decided to grab something to eat in the restaurant in the hotel, hoping to see someone. After we ordered, Jeannie said she had to go to the bathroom and walked out. A few minutes later (and just as the food arrived) she came back grinning from ear to ear, “I was coming out of the bathroom and practically walked into Sav. He recognized me so we chatted for a minute. I asked him if he’d mind meeting you. He said that would be fine and that he’d be back in a few minutes. Do you want to met him?!”

Duh….YES!

So we left our food there, apologized to the waitress, and went back out to the lobby. A few minutes later, Sav rounded the corner. I was awestruck, as Jeannie can attest (she said that the look on my face was priceless, whatever that means. LOL).

He was shorter (but I’m 5’8”) and slighter than I had imagined, but just as gorgeous. Jeannie and he chitchatted and laughed a few minutes (she actually touched his hair!!! OHMYGOD!!!) and I took a picture or 2 of them together.

Then it was my turn…he put his arm around me and she took a picture or 2. Then he was off to a radio interview with the rest of the band (who I didn’t see).

Jeannie and I giggled like teenagers and left to go home, but not before taking a picture or 2 of the buses…just so we’d remember what they were driving around in.

The night of the concert was awesome. We could see them pretty well and took lots of pictures, but I didn’t have a zoom and they were a little dark.

Jeannie kept standing on the seat to my right because she was too short to see very well…that pissed off the person to the left of me for some reason. Oh well, he got over it.

Anyhow, she danced her way to the stage a few times, threw some Mardi Gras beads and came back. I think they all went under the speakers. LOL.

Phil recognized her and waved at her, which was cool.

Everybody looked really good and sang their hearts out. Sav looked great and flirted with young girls (could’ve been his daughters, but we won’t go there).

He really needs to learn to leave his shirt open more!

Poor Joe’s voice was straining toward the end of the concert. He had a hard time with a few of the songs.

Those guys are still sexy as hell and I’ll go see them again in a heartbeat!

Jeannie, thank you SO much for dragging me over to the hotel, for providing the opportunity to meet them, and for getting those tickets! You’re a totally awesome sister. SMOOCH!!

*notes from the webmaster:

I would gladly have included pictures of
Nita with both Sav and Viv,
but she said she'd hurt me...
and I know she'd do it...

You're welcome, Nita.
Awesome sisters seem to run in the family.