I met Robbie!

Okay, first off, I need to say this: my camera went missing right before the game, and rather than miss out on it so I could tear the hotel apart trying to find said camera, we just went without. So the only photos I have were taken with my cameraphone. So things aren't exactly clear, or good quality. But there's Robbie! Oh, and the girl who sat in front of us in the bleachers sent me a link to her photos as well, so that's something, too.

So Saturday morning xica_s got to my place, I finished getting ready, and then we took off to my parent's house where mei_x met up with us. Then we picked up fava_bean and took off for Des Moines. It's a really long, boring drive. We got to Des Moines, hung out at the hotel, and then took off for the soccer field. We ended up sitting right behind the bench for the LA Vale, which was good as that meant primo Robbie watching. He ended up not playing at all, as he was recovering from the flu or something. Anyway, the game was a disaster. The Menace won 6 to 1, but at least the Vale got one point, you know?

I wore the Robbie concert t-shirt that nu_breed sent me from New Zealand, so THANK YOU AGAIN so much for that. I was one of two people with official Robbie shirts. Two girls had shirts they made at home that read something like "Team Blahblah" on the front and "loves Robbie" on the back. And another girl had a homemade Vale shirt, except she spelled it "LA VLAE." Whoops. We got a good laugh out of that.

Anyway, after the game they opened up the field so that everyone could get autographs. It was really weird to a) see Robbie not five feet away, and b) see Robbie in the middle of a crowd of people with absolutely no security. He got up on the bench so that everyone could see him, and he was really great with everyone in the crowd. He talked with everyone who got an autograph, and at one point sang something under his breath. Neither fava_bean or I could tell what it was, but now we can say we heard Robbie sing live. Heh. At one point some guy in the back of the crowd shouted "Oasis sucks!" and Robbie grinned and said "Yeah, they do! Inbred monkeys!" HA!

So while I was all giddy at first to be within spitting distance -- literally -- of the pop star I've loved for nearly a decade, I was totally calm and collected by the time he took my CD covers to autograph. Earlier I heard someone in the crowd asked him about the rumor he may play Vegas, and Robbie just kind of shrugged it off. Therefore, I knew it was my job to press the matter further. It went something like this:

Me: So would you consider doing a few concerts in Vegas?
Robbie: I don't know.
Me: Because I have a lot of friends from all over who said they'd fly out there to see you perform live.
Robbie: Really?
Me: Yeah. I have a friend in Toronto who said she'd come, because you haven't toured up there in years.
Robbie: Yeah, I haven't.
Me: And all of my friends have said they'd pay a lot of money to see you in Vegas.
Robbie: [now interested] Really? I'll have to think about that, then.
Then he handed me back the CD covers, I thanked him, and moved off so someone else could get his autograph.

So I not only kept my cool, I had what one might call "an exchange" with one Mr. Robbie Williams. Or "pleasant banter." Or perhaps even "a conversation." Though that one might be stretching it, as he didn't really say a whole lot. But if anything, I put the seed of a thought in his head that he really should consider a Vegas show for his North American fans. Go, me!

After that I found mei and xica, who were all gushing over the hotness of Santiago Cabrera from Heroes. I talked to him briefly as well, and he was very nice. He also has lovely hair.

Soon after Robbie announced they had to leave, so they packed up. We headed back to the van, and just as we climbed inside, we saw the team bus heading out. So we zipped onto the road and ended up tailing them around the outskirts of Des Moines. Granted, they were heading in the same direction we were going, but to the casual observer it would seem a bit like stalking. The odd thing was that when we reached the airport, rather than heading towards a plane (like we expected them to do), their bus turned south out of town. I have no idea where they were heading, and at that point I may have actually considered stalking them for real, but we were all starving.

All of the photos can be found here, and the photos that the girl in front of us took can be found here. Thanks for sharing, girl in the stands!