We got to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, parked and walked up toward the venue. The beach strip was rockin', wall to wall people, live music, lights flashing, video games blaring, alarms from winning pinball, men shouting about testing your pitching speed. Cotton candy here, corndogs there, the sights and smells overwhelming.
I look over at Logan and he's just taking it all in, grinning away.
We enter the Ballroom and I get carded, which he finds hysterical. I'm always catching myself wanting to jump in and answer questions for him, but when the lady asked him for his hands to X and directs him to the stairs, he doesn't need me. We get up to the box seats. He is overlooking the sea of people, still not sure what we are were there for. The last time we were there we saw Hollywood Undead, and this would be very, very different.
We sit for about 15 minutes before the lights dim. Spot lights come on, the 10 member group appears on stage. They start to sing. I look at Logan and he is expressionless, just watching. There are no instruments, and he seems perplexed. He glances at me like "this is it?" He goes back to watching.
Around song 3 I notice a tapping foot. Song 4 a broad smile. The group is FUNNY, which I didn't expect. I had really only heard a few of their songs, mostly Christmas stuff. I didn't expect them to be so engaging and entertaining- which really won Logan over. He was on the edge of his seat, anticipating what might happen next. It was really late for him, he'd been up since 5 am, so he was starting to fade during intermission- but as soon as those lights dimmed again he was totally wrapped up in the show. He kept whacking me on the knee saying something I couldn't hear over the music and crowd. I think he wanted me to pay attention- I was!!
They announced their last song, performed, then left the stage. Logan starts to push his chair back to stand up. I knew they would probably do one encore, but he didn't. When they walked back out, his face stretched into the widest smile I've seen in a while. After they were finally really finished, he turned to me and said "Bogan sing it dose duys". He wanted to get on stage and sing with them!
He was still thrilled the whole ride home and mentioned more than once that it was "fun Al!" He didn't go to bed until after midnight.
I had no reason to worry about him liking the show, I don't know why it even crossed my mind. Logan is just happy to be. Happy to be out and about and doing typical stuff. He was happy to be in the midst of that crazy summer crush at the beach. He was happy to be munching on appetizers, sipping a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri. He was happy to be out at midnight.
So simple, but so important to him.
