Ricky Nelson Remembered

Ricky Nelson Remembered

Featuring Matthew & Gunnar Nelson

I have been fortunate enough to have seen these guys in concert and I was completely blown away. Here is my account of the concert I attended with my father. They put on an excellent concert and I recommend anyone to go.

October 27th, 2007

Me and Daddy 1984.

Before I start I have to say that my father is a huge Nelson fan. He has fond memories of watching Ozzie and Harriet when he was a kid, he soon became a fan of Ricky Nelson and eventually The Nelsons (Matthew & Gunnar). In fact, when I was a baby he always knew when it was time for a nap because Ozzie & Harriet would play on the Disney Channel in the middle of the day. He would rock me to sleep while watching his favorite episodes. In his 20's he would blare Matthew and Gunnar's tunes at full volume. I guess you could say he was a fan of the entire family. A family that has been in the business for over 100 years. To this day Ozzie & Harriet continues to be the longest running "Live Action" comedy series spanning 14 years. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Anyway, knowing my father is such a huge fan I looked up The Nelsons tour schedule and to my surprise they were playing an hour away from us. I was so happy but getting my dad interested is quite a feat. To know my father is to know that he is a very hard worker and wouldn't miss a day of work for nothing. My dad has proudly worked as an asphalt and truck driver for over 30 years with no retirement. It's whats expected in this line of work, you get a good paycheck but no chance at retirement in the future. It sucks but as my dad would say "you got to do what you got to do to survive". I slyly edged our conversation into telling him that Th Nelsons' were playing nearby and he seemed enthused saying "If I didn't have to work I would go", I said "okay, well let me know if you work and we will go from there".

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson.
That's not me in the photo by the way.

The day of the show my dad calls me early in the morning wondering if I had gotten any info on tickets or where they were playing so I scrambled to the Internet and got all the information required. I was excited for my dad but for myself I knew nothing of The Nelsons at the time so I would be seeing these guys with no expectations at all. We took off toward Collinsville, IL (which is about 25 minutes from  St. Louis) and started our journey.

At The Venue

We finally arrived at the Collinsville High School Auditorium where the concert was going to be held and we waited in the car because we showed up a little early. As we entered the auditorium we could hear The Nelsons practicing as it echoed loudly in the hallways. We had our tickets held and picked them up in the ticket window. They were $30.00 a ticket and as I understood most of the money was going toward different charities and funds for the school which I thought was quite generous of them.

(The Nelsons playing After The Rain Credit: Geek Sheek)

The Concert

My dad and I made our way into the concert hall and waited as the opening act started playing. Finally The Nelsons were introduced and a film started playing depicting the life and musical journey of Ricky Nelson. I was in awe of most of the film as I didn't know most of what was said about him. After the film ended out popped Matthew and Gunnar sporting their guitars. I wish I could remember what songs were played but I do remember songs like "Travelin' Man, Hello Mary Lou, Waitin in School, Milk Cow Blues, It's Late, etc". They also played their own hits like After The Rain and Love and Affection. In between songs the guys talked about their dad and shared some stories about him which made you want to gush at this wonderful man they talked about.

After the Concert we went back into the hall and was told that the guys were going to sign autographs. I wanted one really bad to remember this night with my dad and also for myself because I now was a little teenybopper Nelson fan lol. There was a line of people standing and waiting to get their autographs and pictures. As my turn came I tried to convince my dad to get his picture taken with them but he refused so I guess it was up to me to get one. I do remember that when Gunnar was asking me what my name was and signing his name on the photo I bought of them I felt I needed to point out my dad, I was trying to figure out what I could do to get my dad out of his shell and have a moment with these guys so I just out of nowhere pointed at my dad and said "Oh this is my dad, he's a big fan", Gunnar stopped signing my picture and shook my dad's hand and said it was a pleasure to meet him. I was elated as my dad's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Matthew was busy with a chick that couldn't stop talking so our moment ended with Gunnar. We  headed back to the car and decided to go to White Castle for a case of burgers which pretty much topped the night off for us. It was a wonderful experience for us and my dad can finally add The Nelsons to the list of bands he has seen in Concert, that list actually includes KISS, Rush, Aerosmith and many more. Yep, my dad rocks.

The Nelsons released a new Album in 2010 called Lightning Strikes Twice. Here is their music video for their first single Your All I Need Tonight.

Additional Info

Visit The Nelsons Official Website (Here)

Buy their newest Album Lightning Strikes Twice (Here)