'Giant' Congrats to Dierks From Illinois & Wisconsin DB Congress Reps!

When all the northern IL and southern WI DB Congress Representatives heard Dierks Bentley was coming to Rockford, IL to open On the Waterfront September 2, they were ready to go!

According to Kristin, a dedicatd DBC Illinois rep, she and her boyfriend Dave made the 45 minute drive up to Rockford from Dekalb. "We were pumped to meet up with our DB Congress friends in Rockford! As soon as we got there we met up with my mom Sue, Dad Steve, Stacy, Roseann, Karen, Alicia, Mary, Jenny, and Heather! A few of us spotted Dierks' jeep out front and got a group picture in front of it!

L to R: Stacy, Sue, Karen, Rosann, and Kristin in front of Dierks Bentley's jeep.

We signed a big card Karen got for Dierks [to congratulate him on] getting 3 CMA nods! Dave, Stacy, Karen and Alicia went off to their M&G with Dierks while the rest of us headed into the venue. Karen said she gave the card to Dierks and he said he would bring it on stage with him!

About an hour before Dierks' set, it started to rain! Not good! But the show still went on! Dave and I both had front row spots along with Stacy, Roseann, Karen and Mary. Dierks came on around 9 or 9:30 after the rain stopped. He put on an awesome show! Pretty much the same setlist he had for Richland Center in Wisconsin, but with the addition of a new fiddle player [Dan Hochhalter] he added "Fiddlin' Around" to the setlist.

Before he played Long Trip Alone, he brought out the card Karen gave him and read it to the crowd. Later that night he tweeted a sideview picture of himself holding up the card and asked if it was big enough! He thanked all of his fan club members for supporting him and dedicated the song to us.



Amazing show! Can't wait for the next one of course--Miles and Music in Nashville!"

Dierks must have been really impressed with the giant card, because he was still talking about it the next night at the Florence, Kentucky show!

"thanks il for the cma nominee congrats card...but next time, can you make it a little bigger? i am having a hard time reading it." -(Dierks Bentley via Facebook and Twitter)

ALL IN THE 'ILLINOIS' FAMILY 4 DIERKS

Kristin (Liveyourdreamsdb), DB Congress rep in Illinois traveled to Wisconsin last weekend to see Dierks Bentley perform in Richland Center. What a great "all in the family" DRT (Dierks Road Trip) story!

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Dierks' show in Richland Center, WI was awesome! We started out the day early leaving Dekalb, IL at around 7:30. My boyfriend Dave (J3alz), my mom (Tooner1977) and my dad made the 3 hour drive up to the venue. When the gates opened we set up our lawn chairs up in a pretty good spot about 2nd or 3rd row from the stage minus the photo line.

There were a lot of great performers there that day besides Dierks like Josh Thompson, Patty Loveless, Jimmy Wayne and Darryl Worely. We found out a while back that Dierks' former guitar player Rod Janzen is now playing with Josh Thompson. It was nice seeing him again!

(Rod Janzen)

I loved when Patty Loveless came out and surprised Jimmy Wayne and sang part of Stay Gone with him. I was hoping she would do the same with Dierks but she never came back out!

(Jimmy Wayne and Patty Loveless)

I was so happy that all of us got chosen for a meet and greet with Dierks! There were about 12 of us that got to go back. We chatted with a guy from Wisconsin in line and Karen (Raye Fan) from IL. It was great to chat with fellow DB Congress members!

When it was my turn to meet Dierks I had my picture from this year's Last Call Ball for him to sign. Since the LCB that came to Chicago in 2008 he has remembered me for a shirt that says "With the band" or "I'm with the band" on it. I wore an "Im with the Band" shirt to this years LCB so that's how he remembered me again.

Then after we took our M&G picture I told him how much I loved his new CD since I didn't get a chance to tell him at LCB. He started naming off songs that he was singing from the new CD and I asked him about Pride. I am also a big U2 fan and LOVED that he "grassed" it up. I knew my chances of him singing it that night were slim to none but I had to ask. He said that he needed to practice it a little more with the boys and that he needed Del to sing it with him.


My time was up before I knew it and it was time for the group shot and the Q&A. During the Q&A Karen(Raye Fan) also told him how much she liked UOTR and wanted to know what songs he was going to sing. He said they were doing UOTR and Love Grows Wild then his mind went back to Pride. He mentioned how I wanted to hear it, and it being too high for him to sing and maybe Patty would sing it with him?

When the M&G was over we went and watched Darryl Worley's set and soon enough it was time for Dierks!!! He opened with Up On The Ridge and played most if not all of his hits including Feel That Fire, What Was I Thinkin', Long Trip Alone, How Am I Doin', and Lot of Leavin' Left To do. He also threw in some surprise songs like Cab of my Truck, Little Heartwrecker and covers like All my Ex's Live in Texas and East Bound and Down.


He sang only two songs from UOTR like he said he was going to. During HAID I think some locals started spraying silly string at one of the security guards. D got a kick out of that and joined in! I can't wait until our next Dierks concert which won't be until Rockford, IL in September! I know it seems close but so far away for this avid Dierks Bentley fan!



Kristin(Liveyourdreamsdb)

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Here is a video Kristin took from the show: East Bound and Down--We gonna do what they say can't be done. I can't help but wonder if Dierks added this to the set list as a hidden message. We're gonna do the bluegrass album even though they say it can't be done. We got a long way to go and a short time to get there...Up On The Ridge is at #24 on the charts...a long way to go to get to #1! But DB Congress is gonna make it happen, right?

ANOTHER AWESOME NIGHT REPRESENTIN' DB CONGRESS IN COLORADO

Coloradoblackcat (Kris) has been a proud member of the DB Congress for over two years now. So when Dierks came to Englewood Friday night, this was her chance to represent the DB Congress for Colorado:

"The Show in Denver last night was AMAZING, but what else would you expect from Dierks! When we got there we got our tickets and my M&G pass. Then we went to find our seats, which were about 10 rows from the left side of the stage! A little while later it was time for me to go to the M&G. I went and found where I was supposed to go and then stood in line and waited and waited and waited....ok, it was probably only about 10 minutes, but when you're waiting to meet Dierks, 10 minutes seems like 10 hours!

Finally it was time to go in. We were taken down to the area where we we going to meet Dierks and they explained the rules, and then Dierks came in! He took pictures and signed autographs for everyone, sadly only one per person. When it was my turn to meet him, he smiled and said "I've met you before, haven't I?" I couldn't believe it! I said, "Yeah, I met you last year in Colorado Springs." He apologized that he didn't remember my name, but I told him it was ok, and asked him to sign my DB CONGRESS shirt. He signed it and thanked me for representing the congress.

After he took pictures with everyone else, we all got to ask questions and just talk for awhile. It was way too short but totally worth the wait. As we were leaving he was saying goodbye to everyone, and as I walked by he gave me a hug and said thanks again for coming!

I went back to my seat then, after a quick stop at the merchandise stand. (all my friends asked me to get them shirts--I felt like a pack mule!) I was glad that I got back before the start of the concert, so I got to see all of Jimmy Wayne's set. He was really good. He played for about 30 minutes.

And then it was time for Dierks! He played for about 45 minutes, mostly the big hits, Sideways, CALC, WWIT, Settle For A Slowdown, My Last Name just to name a few. It was too short, but AMAZING! Brad went on then, and his show was really great too. We had to leave a little early, hubbie had to work early the next morning, but the whole night was really great.

Another awesome night in my life thanks to Dierks!

~Kris

M.A.R.J. GOES TEARING THROUGH THE MIDWEST CORNFIELDS OF IL AND IN

*MARJ (Mona, Alicia, Ronna, Jenny go to Tinley and Indy)

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Here we go...buckle up...

I flew in from Florida Friday, August 7 on the 7:40 Southwest. Chicago's Midway airport was bustling. Alicia picked me up then we met Jenny and Mona at Jenny's house and headed out to start our DRT weekend with every DB CD rockin' the stereo! I was dubbed "the navigator," or the shot-gun-girl, with AAA TripTiks in hand, we were off to tear through the cornfields of Illinois and Indiana.

I had met Alicia before, and had met Jenny and Mona via email, but you would have thought we had known each other for years already--we all connected instantly. That's not hard to do when your primary commmon-thread interest is Dierks Bentley!

Alicia gave us several disclaimers up front, one being she sings along loudly to all the DB songs--by the end of the weekend she had lost her voice! I had to admit to relating everthing we see to a Dierks lyric (as you will see throughout this blog)--so the girls made up a name for that - Dierks Turet Syndrome--DTS.

We found Tinley Park around 1 pm and pulled up to the front gate where a toothless-wonder parking attendant told us the gates would not open until 5:30. We decided to go eat at TGIFriday's where we had our first Dierks reference of the weekend. We sat down and the waitress saw all our Dierks shirts and asked if we were going to the show and we said yes. She said "Awww, Dierks Bentley makes my heart melt!" And we all 4 in unison said "Us, too!"

But the next time that old sun and I meet up I'll be a thousand miles East...

Around 2:30 we went back to the gate just to see if anyone was lining up and the same attendant was there and making everyone turn around. We tried to park in the adjacent parking lot to wait and he waved his arms furiously at us and said that was private property and we could not park there. What? So we decided to head about 18 miles east to our hotel and check in. Road Dude was waiting for us and Aunt Tracie had sent him with gifts for us and Dierks!

Grandpa took it off to Europe to fight the Germans in the war...

On our way back a car came up beside us and Jenny and I started screaming. Alicia was driving and thought we saw Dierks' bus or something but it was some grandpa driving all over the road and into our lane--we had to swerve a little but we're ok.

That might make for a good story man but that don't make it easy lovin' me...

Jenny got checked for ticks. The guys from US 99 radio approached us while we were in line and asked if they could interview us. They asked Jenny if they could check her for ticks--a blatant reference to Brad Paisley's song of the same name. The filmed it so check their website! We told them that they needed to aske Dierks-related questions of us---how they missed all four of us wearing Dierks shirts I have no idea.

And there's a few more like me, who ain't afraid of fightin' for the cause...

Mona, while on the quiet side, took off like a woman on a mission every time she saw someone in the crowd with a DB Congress shirt on! She wanted to make sure she met them and let them know she was the one who sent them their shirt! She saw Mary who lives in the Chicago area and caught up with her and brought her back to meet us in line. She had a M&G, which was cool because Alicia and I had one as well and all three of us had on our DB Congress shirts.

I've been stuck for days in a lonely town when my luck ran south...
But our luck did not run south. What are the odds that all four of us DRT buddies would get a M&G between the two shows? By the time we got inside we had just enough time to find our seats and Alicia and I went to our M&G.

Brittany is Dierks' new tour assistant and she was really friendly, but really strict--which helped him stay on schedule. We had to place all our belongings on a table and could only have our one item to have signed in our hand. And she even checked one girl's magazine to make sure nothing was inside. We three with DBC shirts were together in line and when Dierks saw us he had Brittany get his personal camera and got a pic with all three of us. I emailed Brittany, but no response yet--in the meantime, thank you Dawn for taking this pic!

Then we each had our individual time with him. He asked me how the site was doing and I said great, but still waiting for him to post a comment! I handed him a card and he started to read it--but I told him it was too long and wait until later. I asked him about posting a message on dbcongress.com and told him I wrote the website address in the card. He said he would do that tomorrow. And he is a man of his word! Here is what he posted the next day:

8 Aug 2009, 15:32 p.m.
dierks: ronna...im here!!! love the site. amazing work. im totally blown away....

8 Aug 2009, 15:34 p.m.
dierks: we are in indy today...great weather. had a blast in chicago last night too

During Alicia's time with Dierks, well, I'll let her tell you:

"When Dierks came in he immediately saw us sporting our Congress shirts and we got a huge smile. As we got closer to the front of the line, he asked Brittany to get his personal camera so she could take a picture of him with Ronna, myself, Mary (another IL Rep) and Road Dude! I thought that was so cool of him! It just makes me realize even more how much we (the DB Congress) really do mean to him.

Then it was my turn! So he says Hi and gives me a hug and they take our picture. I gave him this cool luggage tag Tracie made him with a pic of Road Dude 8 mile style...WUP on one side and a pic of Evie "hitchhiking" with him on the other, he loved it. I had brought some of the new decals with me and told him Tracie was nice enough to give them to him in Detroit for me! He's said "Yeah, I have those on the bus, I love them." I told him how Nid (in England) and I designed them together and that I ordered them and am now mailing them across the country to everyone who wants one. He said "Thanks so much, I've been seeing them everywhere." That made me feel good. So I knew I could only get one thing signed so I asked him to sign a decal for Nid. Nid misses out on way too much living "across the pond" so I really wanted him to have this. Dierks signed and put..."Nid, Thanks Mate." I thought that was so cute. I had handed him a small stack of them under the one he was signing for Nid, thinking I could give him the rest but he right away started signing one to me!

Here's where it gets strange and exciting people...he knew my name!?!? He started writing it before I said anything, he had ALI already written and I go, Oh Alicia..CIA..He says "I know you." I swear I could have danced a jig right there but seriously no one wants to see that, least of all Dierks. LOL. I said to Ronna "You told him didn't you" and she said "No, I told you he would know you." Well I don't know if he knows me because of the decals or he saw the back of my Congress shirt or what but I can tell you it made my year!!! Even if he never remembers it again, I'll have the memories. Ahhhhh!!!

Then on top of all that he even signed the rest of my stack and told me to hand them out, since he had his on the bus. Sorry Brittany, I got WAY more than 1 thing signed, but it was his idea! I mean seriously, he just blows me away! He is the BEST!!! People ask me all the time why I would spend my own money on decals to promote him, I say to them "If you have to ask that question you just don't know Dierks at all!" He is so appreciative of everything we do! So then we had a short Q&A session and then it was big hugs all around and off we go to the show! There's just nothing better than spending a Dierks filled weekend with the most amazing man, music and friends! I am truly blessed."

During the M&G group Q&A someone commented on President Obama quoting him and he said "yeah, that was wierd." I said, no, that was awesome! He commented how the Presiden't people must have had to teach him how to pronounce "DIERKS." As always, the M&G was over way too soon!

We got back to our seat and about a minute later they were introducing Jimmy Wayne. I have always been so impressed with his voice. I was extra impressed when he started signing autographs from the stage DURING his performance--singing and signing simultaneously! Now that takes talent! He never missed a lyric! Kerosene Kid, Do You Believe Me Now, and Stay Gone were a few of the 5 or 6 songs he did, but Sara Smile just blew me away.

Dierks exploded on stage after a quick video introducing him with Sideways. The set included (in no particular order) Feel That Fire, How Am I Doin'(...with every single "Chicago" girl in sight), What Was I Thinkin', Come A Little Closer, Lot of Leavin' Left To Do, Trying To Stop Your Leaving, and an acoustic My Last Name. He was just getting started and his time was up! Fifty minutes is just NOT long enough for Dierks! DB and TLB came back out for one more - Free and Easy. WUP! You could tell he didn't want to leave the stage.

This pic was on the US99 radio station website:

Brad Paisley played for two hours. My favorites were Then, She's Everything, When I Get Where I'm Going, Letter To Me, and Waitin' on a Woman. Brad's show is, well, "showy" to say the least. There is sooooo much going on besides the singing and the music. Don't get me wrong, there were a lot of cool affects, but I would have been perfectly happy if he had NOT played "Play (I think that's the instrumental song with the super hero animation in the background)" or Catch All The Fish or The Pants ... and given that 15 minutes to Dierks!

After the show we were waiting in our cars for the traffic to clear a little, and the radio stations were blastin' Dierks' How Am I Doin'. A guy in the car next to us was singing every word at the top of his lungs, so we started to sing with him at the top of our lungs. It was kind of a dueling Dierks moment.

We ate at Around the Clock which was a block from our Best Western in Shereville, slept for 4-5 hours then off to Indy!

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Three hours later...Our Best Western in Noblesville was on Craig Street. Ironic, since Jenny's last name is Craig. We checked in, freshened up and headed for the venue.

Seven really is the luckiest number!
Unlike Tinley Park, the girl at the Noblesville gate was very friendly. Gates opened at 4:30 so we had a few hours to eat and relax. We found a really nice outdoor mall/township--very quaint. We decided on Red Robin and David and Heather joined us after a bit. The waitress asked us if we were all family and we said yes--the Dierks Bentley fan club family! The 6 of us are from 6 different states - Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. Indiana Purdue Cutie, Kristin joined us after lunch to follow us through the gate so we could all be next to each other for tailgating -- 7th state! Dierks' lucky number is 7--his hockey jersey is #7, and Sideways just became his seventh #1 single, in the 7th month of the year.

From Left to Right: David-KY, Ronna-FL, Alicia-WI, Mona-IA, Jenny-IL, Kristin-IN and Heather (TN)


When we walked out of the restaurant about 4:30, Alicia was catching us up on Twitter and found this post from Dierks:

jc penny rocks...clean socks, clean underwear...and a new pearl snap shirt for the stage tonight...no need for a shower i guess.3:28 PM Aug 8th from web.

So we're walking to our cars and look to the right, and there is JC Penney--right there! He was right there while we were inside! Agh! So close and yet so far. We had to wonder if he saw Alicia's car (Jeep) where we had written his name all over it! Throughout the weekend we got a few honks and one car pulled up beside us and started hollering at us--it took us a minute to realize they liked Dierks, too!

Also, several times in two days people would see our Dierks shirts and ask, "Is Dierks a good guy?" Even the merch guy at Tinley. Strange to hear them ask the question that way but they got an earful from us!

So we tailgate about an hour and then head up to the gates. Once in, Jenny and Mona head off to their M&G. We were in row T under the cover, but I looked back and the place all the way up the lawn to the back fence was packed! If I had to guess I would say there were close to 10,000 people there.

When the girls came back from the M&G, Dierks had signed Mona's DB Congress shirt:

They said Dierks told them he was planning to headline next fall and to take January and February off the road. They also told me Dierks said to tell me he posted on DBC.com! Made my whole year! Of course I did not get to actually see it until we got back to the hotel but I was elated to say the least. They also met Sharon who also had a DBC shirt on!

A few of the highlights from the show:

*We could see he came to rock with his blue jeans and red pearl snaps from JC Penney. Dierks could so be a spokesperson for them, telling everybody to go the men's dept. and get that same shirt--size small--for just $19.95! (haha)

*During Trying To Stop Your Leaving, Dierks sang the lyric: "You don't love me, you don't love me anymore" and in between all 4 of us yelled YES WE DO! Everybody stared at us but we didn't care. Dierks kind of chuckled but got the next line out--he is such a professional!

*After My Last Name (Dierks had told everyone to sit down), Alicia and I stood up and started cheering--nobody else stood up--and Dierks was looking at us and shrugging his shoulders at the rest of the audience like "aren't you gonna stand up again?"

*I had made a sign, "DB CONGRESS in the House" - with all our 7 states. It was a small sign, and I only held it up for 5 seconds at a time and I think Dierks saw it before security made me put it away.


*During Come A Little Closer, Dierks saw a couple in the audience making out and he pointed to then and said, "Hey, that's what parking lots are for!"

After the show we tried to meander down by the busses but they were gated. So we stopped to talk by a fence with party lights but it was covered although we could hear voices and though we heard D's. Then security sent us on our way. The traffic getting out was all backed up for miles, so while waiting, Alicia opened the sun roof and I got a bad case of DTS again...Indiana stars in a purple night...

We ate at Perkins and as the 7 of us from 7 states stood in the parking lot talking, and not wanting to call it a night, all of a sudden the cops were nippin at our heals....well, not ours, but all around us. We guessed they were looking for some bad boy somewhere.

So there you have it...I am slowly chipping away at my goal of meeting one DB Congress rep from every state--21 down, 29 to go!

I have a few more pics I wanted to add to this blog but they are not cooperating. Check back in a few days and hopefully I will have added them.

DIERKS VS. SUPERMAN IN METROPOLIS

It's A Bird...It's A Plane...No, It's Super Dierks! That's the title of Kim's photo slide show on FaceBook! Kim (DBC rep in Missouri), says this DRT (Dierks Road Trip) started out with just two people--Kim and Bonnie. "As we were traveling to the show we realized that our friend Brooke (also a fan club member) who we met back in 2006 at a Dierks High Times & Hangover show, lived in a town along our road trip to this show. We all went to Nashville for CMA Fest back in 2007 and haven't been together since for a show or otherwise. So we talked her into coming with us to this show--although it was not tough at all to convince her to come along...it was Dierks of course! So this was a reunion of sorts of Dierks members & friends getting together for a show!

It's amazing how Dierks has brought so many people together who've become friends for a lifetime!

(Brook, Bonnie, Kim)


Metropolis, Illinois is the official Home of Superman and proudly honors its favorite son with a 15-foot bronze statue of America’s Super Hero right in the middle of Superman Square. Metropolis is also home to Harrah’s Metropolis Casino & Hotel, where Dierks Bentley performed Saturday night August 1, 2009. Superman is also the nickname for Dierks' bus driver.

Kim took a photo of Dierks that "really shows Dierks' interaction with the crowd & fans. I just thought this photo was a good example on how he gives the most at every show to all fans," writes Kim. She captioned the photo, 'Really Into the Fans!'

A few more SUPER photos from Kim...

We have quite a few SUPER Dierks fans who live in Missouri and Illinois and represent DB well via the DB Congress. Here's another SUPER story from Stacy (IL DBC rep):

"For starters, Metropolis is 7 hours south of me so we had a long drive for the D man. My friend Kristin and I found out we had meet and greets so that definitely made the trip all worth-while. We got into town Friday night and scoped the town out, drove around the casino and saw the stage in the back and it was HUGE! We went into the casino and lost some money and then found the giant Superman statue downtown so we knew where to go the next day.

So we get to the casino about 12-12:30 show day and no one is in line! (Very weird for a D show but this was sort of a reserved seating show so I guess there was no need)We go back to the casino and lose a little more money..then we get our tickets and it was weird because we were all seated by "colors". FC members were in the "white" section. We look at the seating chart and realized it was in back of a HUGE VIP section for the casino. We were not happy campers. We asked about m&g passes and they told us they would have them by 4:30. We went back then and they surprisingly had them ready and waiting for us!

Our m&g was at 6:45 so we go and line up around 6:30. Kristin and I wanted to be last so we worked our way back to the end of the line and it worked out!Brittany the Tour Assistant tells us D will be in in a minute so we wait and we see her peek behind this curtain so we figure that's where he'll come from..but nope! All of a sudden I feel this hand on my shoulder and I turn around and it's Dierks! He looks at me and goes "Hey!"

So he goes through the line and chats quite a bit with everyone. It gets to my turn and he goes "Hey Stace! How are ya hun?!" And I just giggle and smile and go "I'm good!" He then says "So I saw you on T.V.!" And I asked what he was talking about and he goes "I've been watching 'Artist Den' footage and you're in it quite a bit! You look great!" I manage to get a "thanks" out after giggling some more.

He told me he liked my 'Superman' shirt and asked if I got it in town and I told him no that I got in where I was from and he goes "You're not from here are you?" And I said nope. And he says "I thought so! You're from the Chicago area aren't ya?!" I told him yeah and that it was a 7 hour drive for us and he goes "Wow! You traveled all this way for me?!" I told him yep and that it was worth every mile. Then he says "But you told me back in April you weren't going to see me again?" And I said, "Yeah but that was before this date popped up! And we did some research and decided to come because we weren't sure when we were going to see you again and that we had better come." He goes "Yeah you better come! I'm so glad you did!!!"

Then I get a awesome signature DB hug. :)

He then did his little Q&A session with us and someone asked if Brad had played any pranks and he told us not yet but he has his guard up. Someone asked him about his "accidents" and if he's being more careful and he goes "Oh yeah! I was lucky the front row caught me that last time!" Then he talked about the rain earlier and how he's glad it stopped because he had apparently played in rain in ND the night before and he didn't want to again.

So this is where I get super embarassed. I had forgotten earlier that I had told my sister my M&G time. Well guess who's phone goes off and has a DB rigntone? Oh yeah..me! So D hears it and goes "Nice Stage Dive"! I tell him sorry and he actually grabs the phone and says hi to my sister Amy!

We all gather for our group photo and he gives us all hugs good-bye. He tells me again that it was great to see me and thanks me for coming and to enjoy the show.

The show was great! D was full of energy and lots of of crowd interaction. Security FINALLY lets us up front the last 2 songs and D sees me and points! It also pays to be short and I guess sort of cute because everyone was letting me up front so I could "see."

Thanks for the SUPER Dierks stories ladies!