MattyB

MattyB featuring the Haschak Sisters

The Ballroom at Warehouse Live

Houston, TX

February 11, 2018

Laurel has been a huge fan of MattyB for at least 3 years. She loves watching his videos online and can spend hours dancing and singing along to all his songs. Laurel has been asking to see him in concert for a long time and I promised that if he ever came to Jacksonville (when we lived there) or Sacramento, that we would go. Unfortunately for her, he doesn't embark on long tours, probably because he's still high school age.

Then early last year, she read his announcement online that he was playing a concert in Jacksonville. Laurel was devastated and I heard, "I wish we never moved".


I looked on his website and the farthest west he was playing in 2017 was Kansas City, not exactly close to Sacramento. I did notice that he was playing Houston and we have close family just north of Houston. The concert was scheduled for August 2017 and I immediately purchased tickets for us to go. I also got one for our awesome Aunt Jo who wanted to join us.

Two days before we were scheduled to fly to Houston and three days before the concert, my aunt sent me a text, "Have you looked at the weather forecast for Houston?"

I didn't feel the need since it was Houston in August, so I replied back, "Hot and humid?"

My aunt responded back that they were about to get pounded by a hurricane. We must have been living off the grid because we hadn't seen any news about Hurricane Harvey and how they were predicting wide spread destruction.

I wasn't sure what to do. After 16+ years in Florida, we knew that hurricane predictions were usually far worse than what really happens and they rarely hit where predicted several days out. I kept watching MattyB's website for a cancellation, but it wasn't posting.

Eventually, after watching the storm track closely and talking to my aunt, we made the decision to cancel our trip. Thankfully, we did not tell the girls our plans and Laurel had no idea how close she was to seeing and meeting MattyB. Shortly after I cancelled our flights, MattyB cancelled his Houston show.

Within a few weeks, the concert was rescheduled for a Sunday in February and our tickets would be honored. It was a three day weekend, so I quickly booked our flights for a quick trip to Houston to finally see family and MattyB.

Without any hurricanes in the forecast, we told Laurel about the trip and concert shortly before we left. She couldn't believe that she was going to meet MattyB and The Haschak Sisters. She struggled with some nerves and anxiety before the meet and greet and again while waiting for the concert to start. Since it cost extra to go to the meet and greet, we only purchased the VIP tickets for Laurel and Lisa. It was unseasonably cold in Houston, so Kellisa, Aunt Jo, and I stayed warm in a nearby sports bar where Kellisa enjoyed an appetizer of cheese bits.

Thanks to Kellisa being in a wheelchair, we all enjoyed the VIP area just to the left of the stage and slightly raised. Laurel worried that this was too far, but it was perfect. Since it was mostly young girls and at least one parent with them all jammed on the standing room only general admission floor, it would have been very hard for Laurel to see the stage from the floor even though she's 5' tall.

Once she overcame this anxiety and she realized that she had a perfectly unobstructed view of the stage, she relaxed a little. Once the concert started, she was jumping and singing along to every song. In between songs, she would yell out, "I love you MattyB" while making a heart with her hands.

Living in a house with Laurel, we all know most of his songs fairly well which made the concert a little more enjoyable. I was impressed with the energy on the stage and how well he transferred it to the crowd. Kellisa enjoyed the evening and waved her arms while smiling and giggling.

Several times MattyB looked right at Laurel and even pointed to her with a smile. Hopefully Laurel will remember this special evening for the rest of her life.

Back to Kellisa's Path Blog