STAGE DIVE'S BOLD COMEBACK. WHAT WAS SHE THINKIN'?

A while back, we told you the story of DB Congress Illinois rep, Stacy. Shy, shy, Stacy, who got coaxed by Dierks Bentley to go 'stage diving' into the crowd with him. Now, a few years later, she's on stage with him again! Follow along as we get a little Sideways and try something a little different than a normal blog. Stacy and I had a "chat" on Facebook about her Harris, Michigan DRT. Listen in...

Ronna: So how did you manage to get on stage?
Stacy: I made a sign that said "Came 400 miles to get 'Sideways' onstage" lol

Ronna: OMG! shut up!
Stacy: lol

Ronna: So what did Dierks say?
Stacy: In my m&g or onstage? lol

Ronna: Oh you had a M&G too! Is that where you showed him the sign? Did he invite you to go stage diving again?
Stacy: No no..I made the sign in the bathroom quick..lol

Ronna : haha so he saw it from the stage and...
Stacy: lol..no he didn't! We "watched a movie."

Ronna: I can see that in the pic! So did he just ask you to come up on stage and watch a movie?
Stacy: Yep..read my sign to everyone and pulled me on the amp and goes "you like movies stace?" lol

Ronna: I love it!
Stacy: It was great!

Ronna: Then what?
Stacy: He starts the intro to What Was I Thinkin', and goes "who is the curly haired dork?" lol and I go "I don't know but he's cute" lol

Ronna: You did not! Good come back line, btw!
Stacy: Did too! lol He just laughed his great laugh we all love..lol

Ronna: OMG! Much braver than your last time on stage with D! So tell me about your M&G!
Stacy: This was on the 31st..I was in MI on the 30th though but not for the show. We saw D and some of the guys in the casino later that nite (Fr. the 30th) Wow my m&g..lol

Ronna: What did you have signed?
Stacy: My Country Weekly's he was on..lol

Ronna: Cool...which one? with Jake or the other?
Stacy: I hid one issue inside the other and go "If you could sign the other one for me too I'd love ya even more" lol. He goes "Of course!"

Ronna: So how did the Q&A portion of the Meet and Greet go?
Stacy: Someone asked him what he dressed up as for Halloween as a kid and he said, "As superheros."

Ronna: Cutest pic ever of Evie in her Yoda costume!
Stacy: Yeah..she's such a cutie! Looks just like Cass!

Ronna: Any other juicy Q&A from the M&G?
Stacy: Sounds like he'll be headlining next year! Said he plans to play smaller venues! :)

Ronna: YEAH!
Stacy: I about screamed..lol

Ronna: I am turning XX on March 4 and so hoping for a show on that date. I told hubby even if it was Australia I was going to see Dierks ON my bday!
Stacy: Heck yeah!! I'm hoping he'll be in the area around my bday in Jan.!

Ronna: That would be the ultimate!
Stacy: Oh yeah!

Ronna: So any other Q&A hilights?
Stacy: None that I can remember...unfortunately we were kinda rushed because of radio people behind us :(

Ronna: Dang those radio winners...they prob don't even know who he is!
Stacy: I know!

Ronna: On the other hand, maybe they don't but become fans because of his awesome M&G skills...haha

Ronna: So back to the stage...how did that happen?...did he help you up on stage?
Stacy: The stage was small so I was able to pull myself up..lol

Ronna: So he read your sign and he said to you....what?
Stacy: He reads it and just smiles at me..lol Then when we were able to go up to the stage I held it up one more time to remind him and he smiles again and points at me..lol

Ronna: One more kiss from my baby, a smile from a friend...
Stacy: :) So when I'm up there he goes "Where's your sign?" So I give it to him and he reads it to everyone and goes "Well, since I already did 'Sideways', do you like movies Stace?"

Ronna: So he pointed to you and motioned for you to climb up on the stage?
Stacy: Just pointed at me then came over to me and grabbed my hand and started to pull me up..lol

Ronna: O_M_G! Did you freak out? No, never mind...you've been on stage before...old hat to you! lol
Stacy: lol..I freaked! I was thinking to myself "Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?" lol So we sit on his amp and start watching "the movie" lol Then when it was over he goes "I gotta go Stace!" I go "Ok!" then back to the front row..lol

Ronna: HOW COOL! And people wonder why we go to his shows again and again and again... it's a different experience every time!
Stacy: I know!

Ronna: I don't know if I could've thought of a response on the fly like that! At least not a clever one like you!
Stacy: For some reason I was on at that point..lol

Ronna: I would've probably said "Duh--that's you Dierks" LOL
Stacy: How I managed to think straight, I'll never know..lol

Ronna: Aha! I just thought of a cool title for the blog....What Was SHE Thinkin?
Stacy: LOL! I like it!

A little later after this chat, Stacy sends me an email with all these pictures. Wait! She didn't tell me about any of this! What?

Ronna: OMG your m&g pic is so awesome! So tell me about the "Dierks" name on the truck, and is the Kristin Toon in the pic with you? And is she dressed as Dierks for Halloween?

Stacy: lol..Yeah that's Kristin with me! And she didn't dress up as D for Halloween but her boyfriend did! She was just playing around with the wig..lol. And the "Dierks" truck was seriously just along side us on the highway! It looks like it's a food company..lol. I flipped when I saw it and was like "Kristin look!!" So we had to take pics..lol.

*EDIT 11/13/09: Adding a few pics from Kristin (DBC rep in Illinois) ....

Stacy, Kristin and "Dierks"(aka Dave, rep name J3alz, Kristin's boyfriend in cosutme):


Dave and the real Dierks at the M&G on 10-31-09 (yes Dave is still wearing the costume!):


This is some random girl...it was her birthday...check out her hand-made shirt!:

I know this blog was a little different, so what were YOU thinkin'?

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!

STAGE DIVE LEAVES A NICKNAME

In addition to his on-stage singing, Dierks Bentley has been known to connect to his fans in a very touchy way--by stage diving into the crowd! And one particular night in February 2007, he persuaded one Illinois Dierks fan-for-life to go stage-diving with him! Who could say no to those baby blue eyes and that killer dude smile? Here is Stacy's story:

"It was August 21, 2004 and my friend begged me to go to a local fair to see this up-and-coming country singer Dierks Bentley. Now I didn't want to go, but my friend said it would be a great time and that he was real cute and I would enjoy the show. So I thought, "What the heck?" and went.

Now in his earlier performing days he wasn't the great entertainer we know and love today. He basically stood in the middle of the stage playing his guitar and looking all cute in plaid--hardly any crowd interaction (which is hard to believe now).

After the show, he met all us fans and I'm not one to pass up on meeting country singers so I got in line. When it was my turn he was just so sweet and down to earth and something just clicked! He called me a "sweetie" and I knew I had found an artist to be a fan of for a lifetime.

Three years and 13 shows later, it's February 1, 2007, and I find myself at Joe's Bar in Chicago. This was the High Times and Hangovers 3 Tour with Cross Canadian Ragweed. This show sold out in four minutes so we knew we had to get there early to get our front row spot! We had to resort to joining Ragweed's fan club just so we could get tickets! We got in line at 10:30 am and there were only two people ahead of us! We were stoked!

My birthday was the week before so I made a sign that said "It's my b-day..dance??". I held it up a couple of times but got no reaction from him. No biggie to me. So he's singing 'Come A Little Closer' and he gets to the music break in it and before I knew it he was coming towards me and grabbing my hand and pulling me up on stage! I was flipping out inside!

He tells everyone about my sign and then we slow dance a little. Then he starts pushing me towards the crowd.

"What are you doing?!"
Dierks just smiles and says, "Let's stage dive!"

I told him no and that the crowd wouldn't catch me and he assures me they will but I still say no.

If I do it, will you do it?"
Without even thinking I just blurted out "OK."

Then he does a running start into the crowd and lands right into a mass of waiting hands to catch him. He gets back on the stage then comes back to me.

"Your turn!"
I then had changed my mind and told him 'No' again.

"You promised!"
So I just give up: "Alright."

So we walk over to the crowd and he pushes me back into the crowd and they do catch me! It was the weirdest feeling with all these hands on your back, but it was by far the 'kewlest' thing I have ever done!

I get back onstage with D and he gives me a kiss on the cheek and says "Nice job!"

A year later I was at a meet and greet with him in Moline, IL. When it came to my turn to meet him he goes "We stage-dived together didn't we?" And I told him yeah and he goes "'Stage Dive' Stacy!" And the name has stuck ever since!

Just last night at my 23rd show in Iowa City, IA he sees me as he's passing us to get on his bus and he goes "Hi 'Stage Dive'!" I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking that my favorite singer knows me by name. He makes me feel so special and that's why I will be a fan for life!"

Stacy says she has the video from this night to remember, but is holding it close to her heart!