I've posted just a little on Moz-Solo about my trip, but I figured I'd post the full story here.

First, this was the first time I ever went on a road trip alone. I briefly (1 semester) went to the U. of Tennessee before switching to Vanderbilt in my hometown of Nashville, and the 2 1/2 hour drive from Knoxville to Nashville during that one semester was the only longish solo drive I've ever done. This probably sounds insane for a 34 year old married woman, but it's the truth. For some reason I've always had a bit of a phobia about driving long distances alone. I could probably analyze fairly accurately why this is, but I won't bore anyone with it now. I also used to get panic attacks while driving even short distances alone. A panic attack started up on the first leg of my Morrissey road trip, but I thwarted it by putting on Morrissey's interview with Russell Brand from December 2006. Russell Brand is hilarious and I love his show anyway, and listening to the interview part was just what I needed to focus my thoughts on the reason why I was doing this, and why it was worth it, and I calmed right down.

Ok enough about my weird driving issues....

Well one more (more understandable) thing. When I got to Indy I had just missed some kind of parade, and literally every street I needed to be on to get to my hotel was blocked off. I ended up going in circles and I could see my hotel but I couldn't get to it. At one point, I swung around a corner too fast.... and nearly rear ended Morrissey's tour bus which was parked in front of a swanky hotel. Whoops. This made me decide I needed to just get as close as I could to the hotel and walk, which is what I did.

I went straight to the concert after checking in and changing, and about 2 minutes after I went inside the venue I bumped into someone I sort of knew from Moz-solo. We buddied up and I hung out with her the entire night, which was great.

This was my first time being on the front row of an all seated gig, and I have to say I liked it. It was strangely peaceful. The audience was very enthusiastic but not pushy. I have to admit I sort of missed the pure chaos of GA, but given that I had just driven 5 1/2 hours to get there it was nice to relax a little in my seat before you-know-who walked on stage.

There was no barricade. I felt like I was half ON the stage. I was so close, I was literally ducking his mic cord and having to be careful he didn't accidently step on my fingers. (I would have forgiven him though if he had). ;) I was wondering before I got there if he would show any sign of recognizing me from Pasadena, and honestly I really didn't think he did. I've always gotten a lot of eye contact, even at the very first one in Chicago when I wasn't even on the very front, and this one was no different but I never got any kind of "aha! it's you!" look. I was hoping for a hand shake since I was so close, but he never took my hand. However, when he was right next to me shaking someone else's hand I might have accidentally on purpose touched his. ;) I was amazed at how soft his hand is, just like everybody says. I sort of ran my fingers down his sleeve a little and then down his hand, in the most respectful least grabby way possible. :) Happy sigh. And btw I don't really know why I'm so calm about the fact that I touched his hand. Don't think it's b/c I'm not moved by getting to be that close to him b/c I am, but I think I've done this so often in such a short amount of time it feels like Morrissey is a real person to me, so touching his hand doesn't seem shocking like I thought it would. This is nice, btw. It's comforting.

The Moz-solo girl I met had a little note for him, but he never took it from her during the show. So I hung around with her until he got on the bus b/c she was hoping to give it to him them. (We had agreed to walk each other to our cars, so we were sticking together). We walked around the theater, and just as we were coming around the back where the bus was, out he came. I sort of hung back b/c I was a little embarassed to be waiting out by the bus, but I did take his picture which I would post here if I knew how. He didn't take the Moz-solo girl's note then either b/c it was so sudden she really couldn't get close enough. She ended up giving it to Jesse to pass along.

Oh, and I forgot: we also got a drum skin and several guitar picks from the roadies after the show when we were hanging around hoping for a stray set list (we never got one). Since I got home, my husband has been beating on the drum skin to the dogs, in order to get the corgis to bark so that the husky dog starts howling. :) The husky howl is a rare and pleasing form of canine entertainment for us. I'm sure our neighbors love it.

So that was what happened in Indianapolis. I didn't say much about the actual concert itself, and here's why... If everyone else who might actually read this is like me, you've already read about the set list and comments he made. When I read about people's experiences at shows, what I'm most interested in are the very personal things, not just the songs and what he wore. But for what it's worth, Morrissey looked just as handsome and sounded just as fantastic (as did the band) as he always does. Actually even more so. He wore an awesome suit and tie. :) Later I'll write about St. Louis.....