Columbus Backstage Pass Podcast - Best of 2023 Awards and Interview with TSO’s Joel Hoekstra

In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss the best concerts of 2023 and preview upcoming events in 2024. They also interview Joel Hoekstra, the guitarist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They talk about the busy year and the addition of Mershon Auditorium as a venue. They mention some memorable shows, such as The Killers, Janelle Monáe, and The 1975, and discuss the unique production elements of these performances. They also mention SZA, Joji, and NF as artists who had successful shows in Columbus. Overall, it has been a busy and successful year for Columbus Arena Sports and Entertainment. Three, two, one. Who gets our award for best concert of 2023? Plus, we'll preview 2024 and talk with Joel Hoekstra, guitarist for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Hello and welcome to the Columbus Backstage Pass podcast. I'm your host, Dave the Arena Dude, giving you a VIP credential and taking you backstage to get the inside scoop on all the big concerts and special events happening right here in Columbus. And as I mentioned, we have a bunch of awards to give out for the year. We're gonna share some of our favorite memories from 2023. Look ahead to 2024. And yeah, another chat with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. We did one last month and Joel Hoekstra, he's been a guitarist for TSO for quite a while. We'll chat with him for a little bit at the end of today's episode. But before that, let's get into kind of what's been going on at the arenas, at the Shottonstein Center Nationwide Arena, Ohio Stadium, Mershon Auditorium now added to the list. And joining me today, we have a couple of special guests. So always with us, Mr. Mike Muffler. Mike, say hello and remind folks what you do here at the arena. Hello everyone, I'm Mike Muffler and I'm part of the marketing department here. And you're also the producer for the podcast? And producer of the podcast, yes, thank you. So if there's any audio issues, that's on Mike. Also, that's a very Gary joke, by the way. Julie, would you please introduce yourself and let folks know who you are? Yeah, I'm Julie Cross and I'm the director of event production at the Shottonstein Center. Which means what? Which means anything that comes in through the building, we're gonna help get it advanced, help with the production, and then ensure that the event goes off without any hitches. Yeah, that's always the plan, right? Yes. Now Julie, you do this over the stadium as well, but as a lot of the marketing folks come in midday for our big security meetings and we stick around, but not until the very brutal end of the concert. A show day for you can be a real marathon. Yeah, we can start as early as 4 a.m. And probably be there until 4 a.m. the next day. So a lot of shows are in and out on the same day. It's crazy what you guys do. And God bless you for that. As Mike and I often say as we're leaving, going, oh, that was a really long day. That was a nice, you know, even if we're pulling a 13-hour day and you're thinking, oh, that was a really long one. But then we keep that to ourselves because we know there's folks who are working much longer than we do. Well, hey, we were talking off air as we prepared for today's podcast. Looking back, this has been a historically incredibly busy year. It's been crazy busy. To the point where I had to, like, do research to come in today. Yeah, right, because there's so many shows. You forget about some of those early shows that were here, of course, obviously, summer at the stadium. And Mike, a big part of your job has been Mershon Auditorium as we brought that building online. Oh, yeah, we just pretty much got that off the ground and it's been booming almost. Not having any issues selling tickets for those shows and we just keep adding events to that. Yeah, we had so much free time, right, between everything else. But Mershon Auditorium, by the way, if you haven't seen it, head over to our YouTube channel and check out the video that kind of gives you our Mershon 101. It is a great venue that's been around for quite a while. Hosted some really amazing concerts back in the 70s, you know, from Fleetwood Mac to, you know, The Pretenders. And there's so many really cool shows, but for so long it's kind of been, you know, utilized as a campus venue and we're kind of bringing it back out to the public again. And they have some really big shows from Bobby Weir to Ringo Starr to John Oliver just recently. John Oliver, Janelle Monáe. So much good stuff. And acoustics there are really cool. Julia, have you had a chance to check it out yet? Yeah, no, I love that venue. And in fact, my husband and I were on vacation and we were in Arizona, so we went to Route 66 and we went to Winslow. Oh, very nice. And we walked into a shop and the first thing I saw on the walls was the Eagles poster from Mershon Auditorium. I think it was 1974. No way. So I bought it, obviously. I have to see that. Will you please show that? I'll bring it in. I would love to see that. That is so cool. I was like, this is a sign. That's a sign. See, and people just don't know. People just don't know. Well, one thing, you know, is we definitely had a really big year for Columbus Arena Sports and Entertainment. That's our group. We're Ohio State, but we are, you know, also help with the stadium and Mershon and the Shottonstein Center and Nationwide Arena and doing so many big events. But Julie, you know, while we've got you here, I wanted to ask you, before we get into our awards, what was the year like from like an event production point of view as we kind of added all these new things online? I think it was the year that we were, we obviously had been restarted since COVID and we've obviously been in operation for a while, but I feel as if like everyone had the rush shaken off of them, right? It felt like it was correct and right and moving in the right direction across the board from the tours coming in, being fully staffed and us being fully staffed and having people who are new to the industry have a few more reps under their belt before they come in here. That was like the biggest difference is that I felt everything was just a little bit more well-oiled and less like trying to ensure that we were doing the job correctly, but we were kind of doing it on a shoestring budget straight after COVID. We were figuring it out. We were figuring it out. But I feel like now, like across the board from everyone coming in to even our own team, I feel like we are fully staffed and ready to go and everyone's resourced and happy. It has been a busier year than we've ever had. And Michael, we've had some crazy weeks keeping up with all these announcements. How are we keeping it all straight? Good question. A lot of teamwork, a lot of dividing and conquering. Excel spreadsheets. Excel spreadsheets, calendar reminders, emails to yourself. Yeah, multiple lists to keep track of everything. We joke about it, but this week, for example, the week that we're recording this, we're announcing five shows. And it didn't used to be ever a week that we announced five shows. And this week feels pretty typical for us right now. At this point, yeah. We're announcing a special event at Ohio Stadium. We're announcing stuff at Mershon. We're announcing stuff at both arenas. And this is just another week for us. It doesn't even feel like it's a crazy busy week. Yeah, we were just talking about that earlier. Five show announcements, what a breeze. We're getting acclimated to it. It's a lot of fun. So let's look back. Let's take a minute to step back and look at 2023 as we don't often get a chance to do because we're always so focused on what's next, right? So first, I want you to think about just from a production point of view. Just from you're at the show and you kind of say, oh wow, that was really fun to kind of see and work on. And what was that show that stands out to you from just a visual standpoint as being, oh, that was cool? I'll let you go first, Julie. I want to be The Killers, hands down. Okay, what'd you love about that one? Well, one, I love The Killers. And two, it was just, we hadn't had like a big rock show in for a while, right? We've had a pretty diverse roster this year and it was just a fun rock show. So I had a great time with that one. That's very cool. That was a really, really fun night. Michael? I would say for me, it would be Janelle Monáe at Mershon Auditorium. Because that show was broken into like chapters and the stage changed with each chapter. Her outfit changed with each chapter, song almost even. And it was just really cool to see what all she did in the auditorium. For a production, for me, the 1975 at Nationwide Arena really stood out as, it was almost like a stage play. They had like a living room set up and they had the cameramen follow them through the set of it while they performed. So it kind of felt on the big screens like you were watching a TV show in a living room. But the entire stage was presented to you. It was really unique. Yeah, that is true. And with the B-stage activation, they had just running back and forth. Matt Healy had this life-size replica of himself. Completely nude, of course. And when you saw this thing up close, it looked amazingly like him. It was really crazy. Almost, yeah. If you were just walking by and saw it, you'd probably get creeped out a little bit. Like, oh my God, there's a body there. It was kind of weird. Once you saw it in the show, it was very cool. I would probably be remiss not to talk about SZA either. SZA was a visually, I mean, amazing show and great talent. But visually, it was just stunning. It was a piece of art, right? Her video work, and she also kind of had that storytelling chapter kind of vibe to her show, too. And it was truly theatrical, as in the fact that we had set pieces and different chapters, and it was very, very much reminding me of my days in the theater of trying to get these set changes done. We were opening night for the tour at the Shonstein Center, and it was a buzz unlike any other show. It was huge. It was just so cool to see, and to see kind of this artist who, I don't want to take you out of nowhere, but it was her first real Columbus show, and the tickets were gone like that. It was crazy. So I kind of put SZA in a category with Joji and NF in that same way, right? Where it's kind of their arena debuts, if you will, here in Columbus. And all three sold really well. All three spectacular, but very visually very different. Yeah, definitely each had their own vibe. NF was on my list of production ones as well, but had to give it to Janelle. Yeah, no, Janelle was pretty cool when she was able to pull off there at the stage. All right, here's a fun one. You know, when you come to a show, a lot of times you have to sit through the opening act. Sometimes they're great. Sometimes they suck. But they're always, and I always enjoy it, because I'm going to see somebody that I, you know, kind of always look at as a bonus, right? So who was your favorite opening act of 2023? I'll go first on this one. For me, that would be Genesis Owusu, who opened up for Paramore. Yeah. He came out on like stilts, and the song that was playing was just really cool vibe that I was really into. And he's kind of like bouncing back and forth on these stilts. And then all of a sudden he gets lowered and dancers come out from underneath him. It wasn't stilts. He was on stilts. And it was such a cool reveal. That was so cool. Julie? I'm going to go a little old school on this one. I'm going to say Little Big Town. So Little Big Town was part of our Buckeye Country Superfest lineup, and they were just fantastic to work with. And it's just always great just to hear the bops that you kind of grew up with. Yeah, I was going to, on the same note, I almost said Chris Stapleton opening for George Strait, but really that was more of a double headliner than an opening act. That's kind of, it was kind of a cheat, but that was a great year at Buckeye Country Superfest. It was a great lineup, and it was just, Little Big Town was just so fabulous to work with. You know, my favorite opening act also came from one of the stadium runs, and it was Alice Cooper opening up for Motley Crue and Def Leppard. Alice Cooper, if you've never had the chance to see him, one of the all-time great rock and rollers, and just puts on a rock show that is almost old school by nature, but still he gives it like 1,000%. He's so theatrical. I think that's been a theme today, is that theatrical piece of the performance, but the music is also right there for him, too. And I'm telling you, he's as good as any of the headliners we had at any of the shows all year long. And super nice guy. He is, he is. Fantastic. His song is no more Mr. Nice Guy, right, but he is one of the best guys out there on the road. He's part of the White Castle Hall of Fame, and he is just, he's so eloquent. You need a chance to talk to him. He's just very cool, which, Michael and Julie, I don't know if you have someone here, but how about your nicest encounter, or with someone backstage, where you actually get to talk to the artist, and it really stands out to you as memorable or a very cool experience. Michael, I saw you, you perked up right away. The first one that comes to mind is Jax, who opened up for the Big Time Rush show here in July. She was just the sweetest person. She was super nervous before opening up. She has a song about the, who's behind the scenes at Victoria's Secret, and she was nervous, she was really nervous to perform that song in Ohio, but she wasn't sure what kind of reaction she would get, and of course, everybody loved it. She was just so sweet and so grateful to be here. Literally gave us the shirt off her back. She did. It's hanging in my office right now. She actually stopped before the show. She went in the band with the Cracker Barrel, and she bought an Ohio State shirt that she wore on stage, and we gave her a little gift backstage, and she was like, you guys are the best, and I love her. It was so happy. She was like, so crazy happy. She was like, I'm gonna give you my shirt, and so she had another shirt on under, but she takes her shirt off, and then she autographs it to us and gave us the shirt off her back. That doesn't happen very often. No, and she spent like five minutes talking to us. We were expecting just a quick, hi, here's your jersey, bye, and she just was very wholesome. It was a nice conversation. She was very wholesome. Yeah. I felt good about talking to her. Julie, you have one that stands out for you? I do, and I'm afraid to sound a little privileged or kind of, you know, about this, but I got to spend some time with Billy Joel, so when we were in Philly, I actually, I went out to Philly to meet with Billy's team before they came to Ohio Stadium, so I was able to see the show first and kind of meet with their team, and I was just on my computer working on a cat at the stadium with his production manager, and someone came up behind me, and everyone just started giggling, and he was behind me and just interrupted our meeting and started talking about cars, and I just turned around, and I was like, well, you're coming to Ohio, right? And he's like, yeah. I was like, well, have you reached out to Eric about his cars? You want to drive with Eric? Do we think we can make that happen? So then we just were chatting about Mr. Clapton with Billy Joel and his people, and he was like, oh, maybe I'll call his people, and I was like, okay. So yeah, that was kind of cool just to kind of hang out with Billy. He's very, very, very down to earth. He just loves to be with his crew. He's had the same crew for years, and they only do so many shows a year, obviously, and they have their run at Madison Square Garden, and they're just a big family, and so I was sitting at the family table, so I was part of that family. That's so cool. Yeah, I am officially very jealous of that one. I did, during sound check, I was in the stadium taking care of some business, and Billy and his band launched into Hang On Sloopy, and you're just like, oh, this is gonna be cool tonight when everybody gets in here, and then one of my favorite moments with Billy Joel at that show was, Michael, you and I are up in the press box, and we look around, and it's Stevie Nicks' sound check is happening. We look around, and there's a motorcycle driving around on the floor of Ohio Stadium. We're like, oh, that's Billy Joel. So Billy is driving his motorcycle all around inside the stadium, pulls it up right on stage next to Stevie Nicks' band so he can go up and rehearse his parts for the duet that he's gonna do later that evening, but then he took it outside and was talking to the staff while he was walking around, driving around on his motorcycle before the show. Caused a little bit of a scene. Got a little bit of a crowd because it was right before doors, but obviously his security and our security took care of him, and it was great. Like I said, he's just so gracious to his fans and to his crew. He's just wonderful. Very first-class guy. Big fan of Mr. Billy Joel. One of my favorite, I don't know if it was, I guess it was backstage, but it was actually kind of in a suite. So Kane Brown and his wife, for the openers, they wanted to actually watch their openers, so we got them a suite at Nationwide Arena where they could hang out there and watch the set, and got to go up there and give a gift to Mr., and we had the custom robes like we usually do, but we had one for Kane and his wife, and she was just over the moon and so kind, and it was kind of neat to just see them enjoying the show as a couple, but also very appreciative, and country artists are always the best and so kind and friendly and just a very cool time with Kane Brown and his family. All right, so what concert was the most surprising to you? Well, something that when you saw it, you know it's on the schedule and maybe it's there and you're like, okay, I got this, I'm gonna be there, but something that took you by surprise. Who wants to jump in on this one? I can go. Odessa would be my answer for that one. I'm not a huge EDM fan, but being there and getting to see that show, I became a fan afterwards, between their lights, the band, the different artists they had. The passion from the fan base. Yeah, it was really cool. That was one that I was just like, oh, there's something very special here about this band. Yeah, for sure. I would have to say it would be the trio that you said earlier, Joji, SZA, and NF, because we were at the start of the runs and we had a lot of either rehearsals or time with the artists, but also, not to be like, I'm old, but I turned 40 this year, so I feel like I'm out of touch now. This is 40. Right, I feel like I'm a little out of touch. So it was really cool to experience those artists because they weren't in my wheelhouse. Yeah, I get that. And it was very, again, sometimes I'm not familiar that much with artists and you get here and you're like, wow, that was really good. For me, there's a couple things. Number one, Morgan Wallen, right? When we rolled into that second date at Ohio Stadium, that was amazing, but I knew that was gonna be a great live show, so that's not like. But his hair. I was gonna say, his hair! His hair! Let's not talk about the hair. That was one of the biggest wow moments of the year is he came out on stage and I remember being out with our photographers waiting for Morgan Wallen to take the stage and he comes out and you're looking at the big screen, because they had a video of him walking from backstage before he walked, and we're looking like, is that him, is that? That's the wrong guy. And so it was such a surprise when he hit the stage that first night, because we were the debut of the mullet-less Morgan Wallen. Who does two shows at Ohio Stadium? I mean, we had Taylor Swift, Beyonce, the Rolling Stones, Morgan Wallen first one, and of course we're gonna do it again in 24 with Zach. But that was so cool, and we did a nice little video with the fans about what they thought of the haircut, and it went mega viral. Was it Us Weekly or People.com? People.com, yeah, People Magazine, who did a nice national story on our video with the fan reactions and sharing that. It was just absolutely insane to see how that blew up. So that was probably one of the most surprising. Surprising musically for me, with Janelle Monáe, you mentioned that, at Mershon Auditorium, such a great performance, and she had that huge band, and I was like, this is one of the best shows of the year. I knew it right then at that moment. I thought, this is absolutely amazing. But my most surprising of 2023 is gonna go to Barry Manilow. Okay. Barry's a great performer, and he hadn't been around for a few years, and let's say the last time that he was here, it was good, but you know, showing your age a little bit, and hey, we talk about being 40, 50, and things start to slow down, Michael, 20, what, 28? Things start slowing down from when you're 21. But last time you see him, it seemed like, you know again, natural slowing down. I don't know what happened to Barry during the pandemic, but he came in, and that guy, he just was at the top of his game. It was such a good show. So full of energy. The big dance numbers with Copacabana, and his voice sounded great. I was just blown away. I mean, 82 years old, right? The guy, just killing it. I was really blown away by that. So that was very surprising in a very good way. All right, so we go sometimes, we're venue nerds. We love to go see shows at other venues. What's your favorite show from 2023 that you saw at some place that wasn't one of our venues? Well, I had a very busy year. You must be traveling. So I didn't really get to go for pleasure anywhere, but I would say, obviously, I went and saw Billy and Stevie in Philadelphia, which is great, because I'm always obviously working the show. So it was really great, because they are bucket list artists for me to have seen. I would, you know, I love Stevie Nicks so much. So being able just to be a fan, and just hang out and watch a show was great. Then I also ended up randomly going down to see Shania Twain after she was here, down at the Yum Center, because some of her crew left some of their stuff here. So I just drove it down. So we got to hang out, watch Soundcheck with Shania Twain and my husband, which was awesome. So that was fun. And it's always fun just to see a different venue, just to see how other people do things. But I would have to say, for the venue that I don't work for, but is part of our team, is Ringo Starr. Was just, it just blew me away. I was like that crying girl in the Beatles video. I never thought I would be able to see a live Beatle. So I just thought that that was just so amazing. And I just love the vibe there. The vibe is great. And like, everything's great over at the Mershon. I just love the vibe. I love the room. It's got so much history. And then to be able to watch all those guys on that stage just was amazing. It was an amazing night of rock history. Yeah. And we were in our security meeting getting ready, and at Mershon, things are kind of tight backstage. And we had, the door was kind of open to the side of the stage from where we were having our meeting. And Ringo was up there during soundcheck playing one of the Beatles classics, Matchbox. And he's just sitting at the kit, looking exactly, you know what I mean? He's got that same posture, and he's playing the drums in that special way that you've seen him do in all the old classic Beatles videos. And I was totally geeking out. Like I was trying to keep my cool, because it was just rock and roll. One of those truly iconic moments. Yeah, I kind of, I had a little regret that I didn't bring my dad, because the Beatles is kind of our thing. But my dad only liked the early Beatles. He didn't like the late Beatles, when they got weird. Yeah, sure. So I feel like he probably wouldn't have enjoyed that concert as much as I did. But it was great. And it was just one of those moments that I could put a feather in my cap and be like, hey, this is part of our team. And this was something that I always wanted to see. Yeah, it was just a absolutely magical night. I bought tickets for the whole family. And we all sat like four rows from the top. But it was, there's not a bad seat at Mershon. And we had an absolute blast. Michael, how about you? Similar to Julie, I didn't get much time this year to travel to go see a show. So I'm gonna kind of consider Mershon as a new venue that I got to go to. And for that show, I would say John Oliver. That was really fun. Great comedy routine there. Although also, I did have an opportunity to check out Climate Pledge Arena this summer. And that was just a really cool venue. And it's on a bucket list to see a show down the line there. Yeah, very cool. I did get to go to Red Rocks recently in Denver, which is an amazing venue. But it was just for a backstage tour. I didn't get to see a show there. So next year, hopefully. You try to like, see that guy running up and down the stairs? Oh yeah. And he's like an Instagram famous now. Yeah, there are a lot of people running up and down the stairs. I'm gonna tell you, it kicked my ass, right? I was just walking up all those steps. I was tired. But it's an amazing venue. And I do look forward to seeing a show there. I got two here. One, I'm gonna go with a show I saw at the Newport Music Hall. Hadn't been to the Newport in ages. And it hasn't changed. But that's part of the charm, right? And I loved going to a show there. I saw a band called Sammy Ray and the Friends. One of my favorites. They're kind of finishing up a European tour right now. But they were great. Definitely worth checking out on Spotify if you get the chance. Kind of a horn-based pop band that really my son turned me onto. And I'm a big fan. The other one that I would do is, remember that TV show How I Met Your Mother? Josh Radner, he was the guy who played Ted on How I Met Your Mother, the main lead guy. He's from Bexley. And so he does his own music. He's done a couple albums. And he did a hometown show here to celebrate the release of his new album at Roomba Cafe up on, right off Summit. And it's a couple hundred people. But seeing him and his mom and dad were there and his girlfriend were there and it was just, he's actually a very talented songwriter. And it's just very cool. Really a very fun little night of music. I'd love to get out and explore the city and see some of those other venues that we're involved with. But there are a lot of venues we are involved with directly. And before we get to our award for show of the year, which is coming up, I want to talk about what show you're most excited for in 2024. And to do that, I want to talk real briefly, kind of just kind of give you a preview of some things that are coming up. I'm going to run down the list here, but the full, of course, list of concerts, shotonsteincenter.com or nationwidearena.com. December 9th at Nationwide Arena we'll host the Ohio R&B Music Experience. That's Xscape, Bell Biv Devoe, October London 112 Silk, Jay Brown. And that's going to be a lot of fun. Old Dominion, they won an award for Country Music Group of the Year. They're at Nationwide Arena December 13th. Another big night where we're going to throw back to a lot of classics. People will be singing along all night. Nelly, Ja Rule, Ashanti, T.I. Saturday night, December 16th here at the Shotonstein Center with the My 2000s Playlist Tour. Cirque Musica, Holiday Wonderland Show at Mershon Auditorium on December 16th. The Globetrotters are back for a couple of games here at the Shotonstein Center on December 27th. Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which we'll talk about here in a minute with Joel Hoekstra. He'll give you a little preview of what to expect when they come to town on December 30th. Always an amazing production. Nate Bargetti, the comedian just blowing up huge right now. He hosted Saturday Night Live. He was a guest picker on ESPN Game Day doing two shows at Nationwide Arena, January 11th and 12th. Travis Scott, January 24th. Winter Jam on Saturday, January 27th. We're hosting the U.S. Figure Skating Championships January 22nd through 28th and hoping to have our next podcast episode be a little deeper dive into that fun. Also, rounding out January, Dancing with the Stars at Mershon Auditorium. I know they just last night, as we're recording this, revealed their final group. And we have a celebrity guest star coming to Columbus that we hope to reveal very shortly, so details coming soon there. Also, we can run through the list real quick. Disney on Ice, Baby Shark, We Them Once Comedy Tour, Nickel Creek, World's Toughest Rodeo, Drake, Elevation Knights, Playboy, McCarty, Dan and Shay, Salmon Hunt, Olivia Rodrigo, Tim McGraw, Avenged Sevenfold, Lettucey, Fall Out Boy, Burt Kreutzer, Cirque du Soleil Crystal, Classic for Columbus, Bruce Springsteen, he's been on our list to look forward to for a while. Toto, WWE Raw, Monster Jam, Ringling Brothers, Melanie Martinez, Bucket Country Superfest, Two Nights with Zach Bryan, AJR, Chris Stapleton, Hozier, Blink-182, New Kids on the Block, and much more. All those details at shotinsteincenter.com and nationwidearena.com, which is where right now, you can also, the SHOT website is where you can find info on the stadium shows and the Mershawn Auditorium shows at the moment. So all that said, there's a lot of stuff going on and we're just getting started. But what is the one show that you're most looking forward to in 2024? You're gonna have to go first because I can't do one. Okay, well, I don't have to wait too long as of this recording. Next Monday, we have Doja Cat here and I am super excited for that. With Ice Spice. With Ice Spice, yeah. And I just looked at my Spotify rap and Doja Cat was my number one artist for the year. So that one, I am more than excited for. Oh, that's great. Julie? Okay, I love Olivia Rodrigo. I cannot wait for Olivia Rodrigo. So that one, I hope I will obviously go as a fan since it's downtown. But to work on, I can't wait for Hozier. That's gonna be great. Or Seth Bryan, really, to be honest, because he is everywhere now and he is crossing genres and I just think it's great and I love his music. Tickets for a lot of these shows can be tough to find and I really encourage fans to watch out for scalpers. Don't buy from sources other than Ticketmaster just so you don't get scammed on some of those hot shows, like whether it's Hozier or Olivia Rodrigo or Buckeye Country Superfest. Right, those are all, and Doja Cat, all red hot tickets right now. And just be careful when you're buying tickets that Ticketmaster, I don't get paid extra by Ticketmaster, but I'm just telling you, don't get scammed. Use the official source to buy your tickets. For me, I may have given it away, but Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is my one that I'm looking forward to. I've been looking forward to it for, it feels like forever. Almost a year, right? Yeah, so definitely holding my breath, hoping that we pull that one off. And I know Bruce is looking forward to being back in Columbus and making good on the show that he had to reschedule. But I'm very, very excited about that one. All right, now, last official award of the year. Let's talk about your favorite concert. Favorite concert of 2023. What is the one, if you had to pick just one show that stands out to you above the others, what gets your, and probably one we already talked about, but what is the one show that is your favorite from the past year? Julie, you wanna go first? Yes, so mine would be Buckeye Country Superfest with George Strait, because George Strait has always been one of my favorite artists ever. Way, long way back. Going way back. So actually when I was 15 years old, my first concert was Ohio Stadium, George Strait, and it was George Strait, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, John Michael Montgomery, I Sleep at the Wheel. And you have, you kept some souvenirs from that show. Yes, so my mom's a pack rat, which I was very thankful for. So I still, the reason why I know that lineup is because it's hanging in my office, because it is, I have the original program, and I have my original ticket, and George's crew is the original crew that was there, you know, how many years ago that was. And they remember being here at that stadium show, and George was, loved that story, signed my stuff, and it was just a really great week with their whole team. I always find when you have that artist who kind of, you know, hit you as a child, you know, like they were, that sounds bad, they hit you as a child. They impacted you as a child, you know, or a teenager, and you see them as an adult. You still, like it takes you back to that place where the music meant so much to you, and it just can be extra powerful. So good answer, good story. Yeah, no, he was, and he was just great to work with, and everyone was so much, we just had so much fun that week as well. So like, not only, they always say, like, don't meet your heroes, right? Like, so like, you always have this moment of like, oh, is this gonna be okay? And, but his team was just absolutely amazing, and the whole week was just fun, and his team was equally in it with us. Like, we were pulling pranks on each other, and we were just having so much fun with all of them. Mike Buffler. You know, I'm gonna have to say, just that run of shows, the Summer at the Shoe, was just a blast. It was a super rewarding week for all the work that we had to do, and all the things that, moving elements that went into it, but specifically from that would be the Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks show. My parents were at that show, and I was running around on the floor, and I just happened to look up, and I saw them in the stands, and they were just dancing away, having the best time, and so that was special to kind of get to see family enjoying a show that you're working on. It was a pretty good crowd for a Saturday. Ha ha, there you go. No, it was, it was an amazing special night, and very cool. All right, so my concert of the year, it's hard to pick, because it's like so hard. It's like, you know, Reba. We didn't even talk about Reba, right? Or Carrie Underwood. The Killers was so good. I mentioned Kane Brown, but that was a live, it was just a live party that was happening on stage. Muse was, Muse was a lot of fun. We talked about Barry Manilow. We talked about Buckeye Country Superfest. Billy Joel almost made the top of my list, with Stevie Nicks. I mean, come on. That was such an iconic night. Morgan Wallen, Motley Crue, and Def Leppard, where I almost lost my cool in a bit, right? Because I, we ask what our photographers, we're right in front of the stage a lot of the times, and I am big, don't clap, don't show emotion, and I couldn't help myself. I actually let out a yelp of joy, because I was just so excited, and I never do that, but I got carried away. You know, In Abscissa was definitely a contender. Lauren Daigle was such a great, great show. It was such a high energy party. 1975, Janelle Monae, you mentioned. Joji, a lot of fun, but, you know, I got two. I've got two. I got two. Number one, you know, and in no particular order, Paramore. Yeah. Paramore was, just blew the roof off. Set off the fire alarms. Too soon, I know, I know, I know. But it was, it was, they were just amazing live. So much fun. It really, like, blew my mind with that performance. Like, she was doing, like, headstands, and somersaults, and whatever, on stage, and still hitting all these extremely high notes that did not miss on the vocals. No, not at all. And the crowd was awesome. Yeah. It's a good crowd. It was a high energy night. Yeah, it was great. It was just so much fun. My number one, number one, though, goes to a show that Julie, you mentioned earlier, Ringo Starr. I mean, come on, he's a Beatle, right? Yeah, you can't doubt that. It was so much more than that. It was, you know, it was Ringo Starr. It was an all-star band, and, you know, Edgar Winter killing it up there. Colin Hay from Men at Work, sings one of his classics. It was a very, my inside fun kind of story is Michael and I are getting things set up for the day, and the all-star band comes out to the merch stand, because it was nearing the end of that leg of the tour, and they'd all been told, everybody in the all-star band, I mean, here are these classic rock legends. They've all been told, you can get this number of items from the merch stand. And they came out, just like anybody else, excited to shop at the merch stand, looked to pick out which shirt they wanted and stuff, and I had a chance to talk with Colin Hay. He was the former lead singer of a band called Men at Work in the 80s, and he was just hanging out there up front for a while, and so we have a friend in common, someone we both worked with, so we talked about him for a little bit, and I said, all right, and then I, once I was talking about some work stuff, I was like, okay, I'm gonna geek out, and I said, you know, I said, hey, I gotta just say this to you. Men at Work, the cargo album, was the first album I ever paid for with my own money. And he said, oh, let me tell you a quick funny story. My house is on fire. My house is burning down. All my memorabilia, everything, just fire licking up the sides of the roof, and he says, I'm with a firefighter, and he's got the big hose, and he's putting out the fire in my house, and he says, hey, you know, Men at Work is one of the first albums I ever bought with my own money. I said to him, that's great. How about you put out that blank and blank and fire? So it was just, again, very cool, and Sienna Ringo singing the Beatles classics, but it was some of that 17 minute version of Frankenstein that Edgar Winner did. Oh, forget about it. Just a glorious night. My husband said our next pet will be named Edgar Winner. I think Edgar Winner would like that. Hey, when we talk about big productions, we have to talk about Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They're coming to Nationwide Arena for two shows, and we're gonna check in with their long-time guitarist, Joel Hoekstra, a really cool guy, and get an interview. Had a chance to talk to him for a few minutes about what fans can expect from the 2023 show here at Nationwide Arena, but Julie, Michael, thank you for joining us today and sharing your memories, and here's to surviving 2024. Yeah, cheers for that. Ready for it, let's go. Before we turn things over for the interview with Joel, I just wanna thank everybody for listening to this episode of the Columbus Backstage Pass podcast. We do ask that you like and subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, so we do love your five-star reviews. I'm Dave the Arena Dude, thanks for listening, and here's my chat with Joel Hoekstra.