Boise River Festival, Boise ID on June 27, 2003

We own two different business and have a mini ranch with horses and tons of other animals and our responsibilities are endless. But-------No matter what we abandoned everything to make it to Boise for Marty's concert. I am not sure how to tell you what happened there as I don't want to make it too long so I will just start by saying that Marty and his Band were TOTALLY EXCELLENT!!!!!! There was nothing they could have done to make it better---------EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT!!!!! They sounded so good and put on a wonderful show and the crowd was really into them!!!!

The festival they were performing for was totally stupid. There are thousands of dollars that go into that thing and I can't believe how badly it is run. We arrived at 1:30 p.m. and had to walk at least a 1/2 mile to even get in the place and then another 1/4 mile to even get to the first display. And I want to tell you there is hardly anybody in this huge place. We find a merchandise tent where we are suppose to pick up our tickets at $25.00 each. There are three of us, wandering around and then go back to where the main stage is where Marty will perform. It's 2:30 p.m.

We ask the lady in charge where to stand in line as this is a first-come seating basis. She didn't know but said she would figure it out. Where we were sitting would be off to the left side of the stage. That is where the people who paid $25.00 would be. All along the front middle was for the general public who didn't have to pay anything as it was free and there were already some people in lawn chairs for a couple of rows in that section. Then, the right side was about 100 chairs for all the radio station people. Finally a lady told was where to stand and guaranteed us we would be first in line as we had been waiting so long in the 90 degree sun. So we waited from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. when the gate was suppose to open and we are the only ones in line.

Finally a person who was taking tickets walks up with some other people and they just march right in before us and took the best seats. Whoa-----My husband about came unglued. But we calmed down and sat in the second row as these seats were so far away. It was stupid because you were paying $25.00 each. Anyway we sat and waited until the opening act came on at 7:00 p.m. They were terrible and a lot of people left. The crowd wasn't real big anyway because the advertising for Marty wasn't very good. Even on the daily sheet that you got at the gate still had the band's name he was replacing on it. And nobody knew the actual time Marty's concert was. We got from people anywhere between 7 and 8:30 p.m.

So at 8:30 the show starts. Can't say we aren't die hard fans. We waited from 2:30 to 8:30!!!!. The show was super fantastic and we really enjoyed it. It was worth everything we did to get to see him!!!!! I had seen Kenny during sound check earlier in the afternoon and he told me they would do Meet and Greet after the show. Being in Marty's fan club (which it seems we were the only ones around), I wasn't to worried about getting back to see him. WELL----Guess what, the radio station was handling the Meet and Greet and they didn't care if you were a fan club member or not. You couldn't see him---OKAY, now what!!!!

By the grace of God, the man that took our tickets when we went in came over to me and apologized for us losing our seats, and said we seemed to be big fans of Marty and would be like to MEET HIM!!!!! They only let 12 people in to see him and we were 3 of them. They took a picture of all of us with Marty and I got to stand right next to him. I gave him some old music ("Satisfied Mind" sheet music and another music book) that I had brought with me and I had him sign my cowboy hat that I was wearing. I took pictures of him with my son and my husband. He was so nice and gracious. He is just a beautiful person. We stepped outside the tent and talked to the band members and had them sign my hat also and told them we were the ones that saw eight of their shows in Jackpot Nevada last fall and they remembered us.

I wanted to ask how I could get a print of the group photo we had taken when we first went in and the TV and radio people shouted at us to leave immediately and we were literally ushered out!!! End of evening!! Got home at 1.30 a.m. It was a total put-everything-aside-for-Marty-Stuart day but myself, my husband and my son wouldn't have had it any other way. We are all dedicated fans and love him dearly!!!! I have 3 of his new CD's ordered for the Tuesday release. Can't wait!!! The struggle to see him was hard but well worth everything we went through!!!!