MY HOLLYWOOD VAMPIRES / JOHNNY DEPP EXPERIENCE | PART 1
*Guys I am so sorry this is so long but I wanted you all to be a part of it because I wouldn’t have been there without you!!!!*
I don’t even know where to start but I want to write this up before I forget it all! (Though let’s be real, that’s not likely to happen!)
Due to the generosity of a lot of seriously wonderful human beings, myself, my two friends Andrea and Leanna, and my mom and her boyfriend Dan (a big Alice Cooper fan), had meet and greet tickets and wristbands to stand at the front during the concert.
The meet and greet portion was a few hours before the show and thank GOD it was before and not after, because I was an absolute wreck the entire day and I probably would’ve just been stressed the whole concert!
Anyways, we were led back to the meet and greet lineup by Amber (she works on the tours and features in a lot of Kyler & Tommy’s pics/vids!) She’s super super sweet and smily and a lovely person! She laid down the ground rules (no phones/selfies, no autographs, and no gifts (she would take them and the band would get them after)).
I was getting a bit bummed at that time, because I had the birthday book that @hallowedmaiden made that all of our letters are in, one small bracelet for him that I’ll explain later, and my mom had one of the Mr. Stench candles to give him. And I was realizing I wouldn’t be able to give them to him personally and explain/go over it all with him. BUT then a knight in shimmering armour appeared in the form of Nathan, who is one of THE sweetest and funniest humans I’ve met. Seriously, Johnny’s whole team is incredible. Anyways, Nathan came out to the line and approached us and asked if I was Alanna. *I should mention here that I’d already made his team aware of the book and that I was bringing it*. He explained that he’d come out to get the gift and that he’d bring it around and meet us on the other side, since I wouldn’t be able to get in the door with a gift. He goes, ‘Yeah, Johnny’s excited to see you and the book.’ Me (*feeling faint*): ‘Wait.. he’s excited?!’ Nathan: ‘Course he is. He’s excited about everything.’ (Seriously love Nathan, he’s so deadpan and hilarious).
ANYWHO, so we go in last, which Nathan made sure of so we’d have enough time, leaving our bags and such outside. Johnny was the first one in the door, and he smiled as we walked in, and then Nathan comes over and ‘introduces us’ lol: ‘Johnny, this is Alanna, she’s the one who made you that vinyl record a couple years ago, etc etc’ (I can’t remember everything Nathan was saying because I WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF JOHNNY DEPP LOL OK). And Johnny’s all smiles and says, ‘Yes, yes hi! I just want to say thank you, thank you for all the support, for sticking with me, thank you.’ And at this point I’m floating up out of my own body and can’t really remember everything that was said but I probably said something like, ‘of course and thank you’ or something like that, and then everyone in my group, and Joe and Alice all posed for pics. We did a couple group photos, then Johnny and I did a bunch together, then me, Johnny, my mom and Dan, then me, Johnny and my mom, then me Johnny and Andrea and Leanna. (PHEW so many pics that man is a patient saint!!)
After pictures, Nathan comes over with the bag with the book and other gifts in it. So I’m helping him get the book out of the bag (because it’s HUGE y’all, Haley put SO much work into it), and FUN ANECDOTE: Nathan’s trying to get it out and I’m like, ‘Be careful, it’s really big,’ and without missing a beat, Nathan just goes under his breath, ‘That’s what she said.’ LOL honestly love him.
So as I’m getting the book ready, turns out that behind me, MY MOTHER has taken over Johnny. And she’d kill me for disclosing this but my mother was quite drunk at this point. I turn round and she’s got the Mr. Stench candle and is basically just SHOVING IT UP JOHN’S NOSE LIKE ‘SMELL THIS LOOK SMELL IT WE MADE IT BECAUSE OF YOU,’ omfg Johnny is a saint A SAINT for putting up with my mother, bless her. So he does take it and smell it, and my mom’s rambling away ‘So yeah it’s patchouli and tobacco because Gwyneth Paltrow said… *blah blah*,’ so he takes a big sniff and goes, ‘Hey! That smells like me!’ God bless him. Then she starts getting close and looking up at him and goes, ‘You know you are MUCH more handsome in person than photos!!!’ At which point I decide to remove her and show him the book LOL
So Nathan gives the book to Leanna, who is holding it like a table so that Johnny and I can go through it. Meanwhile, Kyler is snapping pics of all of this and I love him SO MUCH FOR IT SERIOUSLY THEY’RE ALL AMAZING I COULD CRY. Full disclosure: I can’t even remember exactly what I was saying about the book to Johnny LOL. I do remember talking non stop and barely letting him get a word in edgewise, but he just kept saying ‘Wow, wow’ as I was explaining. I did tell him that Haley made it, that there’s fans from all over the world who sent in a letter per page, and showed him some of the character pages. I do remember that when we got to the Edward Scissorhands page he was like, ‘….Hey wait! I know that guy!’ Bless this human LOL.
SO THEN I gave him a bracelet. I haven’t talked about it on here, but my friend’s cousin is an 11-year old girl named Sarah. She makes bracelets and sells them, and then donates all the money to Sick Kids Children’s Hospital. All of her own idea, and she’s been doing it for years. And she’s ELEVEN. Damn. She also happens to be a huuuuuuuge Pirates of the Caribbean fan! So we got her to make him a bracelet with Hollywood Vampires colours (red & black), and that’s what I’m giving him in those photos. She also wrote him a sweet little note to go with it :) And then he started joking about putting the bracelet in his braids, which is what those photos are LOL. And then he ended up wearing it on his wrist on stage!!
OKAY GETTING NEAR THE END
So after all the gifts are done, we start to leave (we’ve already been given EONS more time than you’re usually supposed to have, and Alice and Joe had already split at this point haha). Andrea and Leanna, my mom and Dan have left the room already, but honestly, Johnny and I were kind of still like, clinging to each other, he was giving me hugs and kisses on the cheek, and I just kept holding onto his arm so I didn’t fall over in a dead faint. And I’m thanking him for everything he’s done for me, and that’s where he goes, ‘I should be the one thanking you. You stood by me and supported me when no one else did - thank you.’ And I said something like, ‘Of course, and I always will.’ And he then started, like, almost talking out his thoughts? About *the situation*, but I’m not going to be recounting those words here, because I’m not comfortable with that, and I don’t want those words to be taken and twisted by any nefarious people. But I ended up just grabbing his arm and saying something to the effect of ‘You’ll get through everything, you’ve got this,’ or some such thing and he goes, ‘I know. Thank you, thank you.’ And then as I was leaving he asked where I was sitting, Nathan told him I was on his side of the stage and that he’d point us out to him at show time. And then I left!
The concert itself was AMAZING and I’ll do a separate post about that, so I guess this is just Part 1 LOL SORRY IT’S SO LONG AND IF YOU STOPPED READING I DO NOT BLAME YOU AT ALL LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLLL