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On August 15th, 2009 Sean Hannity along with the Freedom Alliance hosted the annual Freedom Concert in Six Flags
Great Adventure in New Jersey. The concert is held to raise funds for the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. This
scholarship fund was set up to pay for the children of the brave men and women, who gave their lives for this country,
to go to college. I can't think of a better charity to raise money for.
The way I write these stories is to explain to the readers who have never been to a Freedom Concert just what goes
on....at least my version of the day. I tend to write about every little detail because people always ask me what the day
is like and what I do all day. So forgive me if I am long-winded. Make sure you check out all the pictures below the
story.
What can I say....It was an amazing day yet again. For the first time ever, I brought my 13 year old son with me to this
year's Freedom Concert. We left our house at about 7:30 a.m. for the 2 1/2 hour drive down to Jackson, NJ and Six
Flags Great Adventure. We made really good time and arrived at the park at about 9:45 a.m. I was unaware if the
tickets I had purchased, which I had to pick up from will call, included the drive-through safari, so I didn't pull into the
safari area. Later, after picking up the tickets, I realized that the tickets did in deed include the safari Oh
well......missed that this year.
We picked up our tickets at will call and made our way into the park. The park opened at 10:00 a.m., but the rides
did not open until 10:30 a.m. Therefore, the park security had us corralled behind these roped areas. As 10:30
approached, the guards said, "No running. If you pass us, you will be kicked out of the park." That was fine by me.
Who wants to run when it's 85 degrees out anyway? They lowered the ropes and security guards walked with the
crowds walking behind them to every corner of the park.
My son and I chose to walk to the Bizarro roller coaster. Obviously, we were some of the first people there. We
wanted to go first row since we wouldn't have to wait forever. Three trains later, we were off on our first ride. Bizarro
was a fun coaster. We got off and walked around and went right back on again. The funny thing is; in my two
previous trips to the Freedom Concert, I had gone on one ride total......in 2 years! So I had doubled the amount of
rides I had gone on in the first 20 minutes in the park. We then headed out, across the park, to go on several more
coasters. We hit the Run Away Mine Train, the Great American Scream Machine, Nitro and Skull Mountain.
Unfortunately, Kingda Ka was closed for the day. I realized I lost my cell phone on one of the rides, but luckily I had
left it in the car of the Runaway Mine Train and someone found it and gave it to the staff there. I got my phone back.
That was it for rides for the day for me. We headed over to Johnny Rockets for lunch and we pigged out on double
hamburgers, fries and onion rings......so much in fact that we never ate dinner. After lunch, we walked around, handing
out business cards to everyone who commented on my shirt "liberals are friggin idiots" or my son's shirt "10 out of 10
terrorists recommend voting Democrat." I have to admit, my son was a promotion dynamo. I think he enjoyed all the
attention he was getting.
My son wanted to ride El Toro, but I was so stuffed from lunch, there was no way I was going to get on that coaster.
So I headed out to the book signing area. Even though the book signing didn't start for an hour and a half, there was
already a line. It was different than previous years in which, you waited in one line and just kind of made your way
down along the celebrities. This year, there was only Mark Levin and Ollie North and you had to wait in one line for
Mark and then another line for Ollie North. Sean Hannity was waiting in the area where people were exiting the book
signing. He autographed items for people and took pictures as well.
I chose to wait in the Mark Levin line because I didn't have an Ollie North book, but I did have my copy of Liberty
and Tyranny by Mark Levin. We all were waiting and waiting until the book signing officially started. In the mean time,
I met a bunch of great people and had some nice conversations. I saw some of my friends from the Mark Levin Fan
website. If you are going to wait in a line, I guess this is probably the best kind of line to wait in. My son got back
from El Toro, just in time to make it into the book signing area.
We made our way down to see Mark Levin. There were so many people in line that the staff was doing their best to
rush everyone through as quickly as possible. It became clear to me that I would not be able to get a shirt signed to
auction off to benefit the Freedom Alliance as I had done the previous two Freedom Concerts. Mark signed my book
and I asked him to please take a quick picture with me.....luckily he said yes. My son snapped a quick picture, even
before Mark was ready [check the picture below], and we were out of there. As we were leaving the area, Sean
Hannity was taking pictures and autographing items for his fans. We stopped and my son and I had our picture taken
with Sean [see picture below.] And that was it for the book signing.
Even though the concert wasn't going to begin for another 2 hours, people were already in line to get into the concert
area. Having gone to these concerts before, I knew it was senseless to wait in line because once they start letting
people in, the lines more or less just vanish and people just walk in. So I sat with some friends from CT that I ran into.
My son went off to go on El Toro again. We just sat and sat and talked and talked wit the various people who came
to where we were sitting. My son came back from the ride and once again handed out a ton of business cards to
people on the lines.
One of the people that came up to me was a conservative rapper known as Hi-Caliber. Fans of the Monica Crowley
show know exactly who he is as he does a weekly rap about the news of the week on her radio show. He was very
cool and gave me one of his CDs. You can check him out at: http://www.myspace.com/hicaliber
I got a text from Nick Rizzuto, producer of the The Wilkow Majority on Sirius/XM radio. He came to the area I was
in and I introduced my son to him. He was there gathering audio for a project that will be aired at a later date on
Sirius/Xm about the Freedom Concert. He asked me a few questions and as usual at some point in the "interview" I
got really nervous and went blank. Hey people....there's a reason I run a website.....I don't have to talk much!
The concert arena was opened and the lines disappeared into the stadium. When all the lines had completely withered
away, my son and I made our way into the concert area. We headed down to the floor and made our way to near the
front of the stage. We were probably about 10 - 15 rows of people back. We had missed a little of the beginning of
the show. I think we only missed Curtis Sliwa. Sean came out and talked a little and then introduced Lee Greenwood.
I say this every year, but I am not really a country music fan. But it's still fun to watch these acts perform.
Lee Greenwood went through an array of his songs many of which were very patriotic and supportive of our military.
He sang his hit, "God Bless the U.S.A." and once again, everyone held up their cell phone lights....kind of an updated
version of holding up a lighter. He was fun to watch.
After Lee was done with his set, Sean came out and spoke again....he told some jokes and a few political stories. He
then introduced Mark Levin. The Great One came out and fired everyone up. He is a tremendous speaker and a lot
of fun to listen to. The really cool thing for me was seeing the big smile on my son's face and to see that he was really
enjoying being around a huge crowd of conservatives.
Mark finished and Sean came back and introduced The Charlie Daniels Band. Again, not a big country music fan, but
Charlie Daniels is really fun to watch. He went through a set of his songs and got to the "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
at which point he invited Hannity on to the stage to sing with him. Sean belted out the song....maybe just a tad too
quickly.....he was a little ahead of the music...but did an o.k. job with the song.
At this point in the show, my cell phone went off with another text from Rizzuto. He told me to make my way up to the
front left hand side of the stage. He had back stage passes for my son and I. My son saw the text and I think he had
the biggest grin of the day at that point. He asked, "Is he serious?" We walked to that side of the stage and met up
with Nick. We then followed him back to the backstage dining area where Andrew Wilkow was sitting being
interviewed by someone from the Young Republicans.
We hung out back there and talked politics a little and about the new Wilkow Majority shirts, but mostly about music
and how cool it would be to do a punk, hardcore, rap version of a Freedom Concert for the conservatives such as
ourselves who aren't in to country music. Besides getting to meet Andrew who I talk about often, my son was thrilled
to just be back there.....hey free soda, cake and cookies.
Andrew and Nick were getting ready to head out so my son and I said goodbye and headed back out to the concert
area. We caught Michael W. Smith's last song which had a cool video accompanying it on the large video screens.
Hannity came out once again and introduced Col. Oliver North. Ollie spoke about the Freedom Alliance and what
they do,. He spoke about our brave men and women serving our nation and pointed some of them out in the crowd to
which these great people received a standing ovation. He then brought out a few parents and grandparents and had a
video link up to their son and grandson serving overseas. It was a heartwarming experience to see them see and talk to
their loved ones.
Sean came out one last time to introduce the headlining act Billy Ray Cyrus. I remember Billy Ray from his one hit
"Achy Breaky Heart" but I really know him from Hannah Montana. I have 2 young daughters, what did you expect?
So it was cool to see him. My son and I watched a few of his songs and then my son had to go to the bathroom really
bad. [I told you I write about every little detail.] The nearest bathroom was outside the far side of the stadium, so we
decided to go back the backstage area which was only a few yards away from where we were.
When we first walked back thee, I saw Curtis Sliwa, who I had not seen all day, so I walked up to him and said hello.
My son ran off to the restroom. We hung out backstage for a while again...it was nice not being crammed into a crowd
for a while. I saw Sweet Baby James, Hannity's producer, and introduced myself. He and I have emailed with each
other a few times in the past but we had never met. I don't think he remembered me, but it was nice to meet him. We
saw Mark Levin and Ollie North and we listened to Billy Ray from behind the stage. The fireworks began going off
and Billy Ray broke into an impromptu version of the "Star Spangled Banner."
At this point, I decided it was time to go. I didn't want to get caught in the rush of people leaving the stadium and then
the parking lot. We made our way out of the stadium, to our locker and out to our car. The first thing my son said
was, "Thanks Dad for bringing me. Can I come again next year?" I thought that was really cool. The other quote from
my son on the ride home that cracked me up was the following: "I like Nick and Andrew. They were really nice.
Aren't they famous? Why did they seem so normal?"
We got stuck in horrendous traffic and our 2 1/2 hour ride down turned into a 4 hour drive home. But it was well
worth it. I had a blast. My son had a blast. We got to meet a lot of great people. And most importantly, we helped
raise money for the Freedom Alliance. What's better than that?
- Trent
Great Adventure in New Jersey. The concert is held to raise funds for the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. This
scholarship fund was set up to pay for the children of the brave men and women, who gave their lives for this country,
to go to college. I can't think of a better charity to raise money for.
The way I write these stories is to explain to the readers who have never been to a Freedom Concert just what goes
on....at least my version of the day. I tend to write about every little detail because people always ask me what the day
is like and what I do all day. So forgive me if I am long-winded. Make sure you check out all the pictures below the
story.
What can I say....It was an amazing day yet again. For the first time ever, I brought my 13 year old son with me to this
year's Freedom Concert. We left our house at about 7:30 a.m. for the 2 1/2 hour drive down to Jackson, NJ and Six
Flags Great Adventure. We made really good time and arrived at the park at about 9:45 a.m. I was unaware if the
tickets I had purchased, which I had to pick up from will call, included the drive-through safari, so I didn't pull into the
safari area. Later, after picking up the tickets, I realized that the tickets did in deed include the safari Oh
well......missed that this year.
We picked up our tickets at will call and made our way into the park. The park opened at 10:00 a.m., but the rides
did not open until 10:30 a.m. Therefore, the park security had us corralled behind these roped areas. As 10:30
approached, the guards said, "No running. If you pass us, you will be kicked out of the park." That was fine by me.
Who wants to run when it's 85 degrees out anyway? They lowered the ropes and security guards walked with the
crowds walking behind them to every corner of the park.
My son and I chose to walk to the Bizarro roller coaster. Obviously, we were some of the first people there. We
wanted to go first row since we wouldn't have to wait forever. Three trains later, we were off on our first ride. Bizarro
was a fun coaster. We got off and walked around and went right back on again. The funny thing is; in my two
previous trips to the Freedom Concert, I had gone on one ride total......in 2 years! So I had doubled the amount of
rides I had gone on in the first 20 minutes in the park. We then headed out, across the park, to go on several more
coasters. We hit the Run Away Mine Train, the Great American Scream Machine, Nitro and Skull Mountain.
Unfortunately, Kingda Ka was closed for the day. I realized I lost my cell phone on one of the rides, but luckily I had
left it in the car of the Runaway Mine Train and someone found it and gave it to the staff there. I got my phone back.
That was it for rides for the day for me. We headed over to Johnny Rockets for lunch and we pigged out on double
hamburgers, fries and onion rings......so much in fact that we never ate dinner. After lunch, we walked around, handing
out business cards to everyone who commented on my shirt "liberals are friggin idiots" or my son's shirt "10 out of 10
terrorists recommend voting Democrat." I have to admit, my son was a promotion dynamo. I think he enjoyed all the
attention he was getting.
My son wanted to ride El Toro, but I was so stuffed from lunch, there was no way I was going to get on that coaster.
So I headed out to the book signing area. Even though the book signing didn't start for an hour and a half, there was
already a line. It was different than previous years in which, you waited in one line and just kind of made your way
down along the celebrities. This year, there was only Mark Levin and Ollie North and you had to wait in one line for
Mark and then another line for Ollie North. Sean Hannity was waiting in the area where people were exiting the book
signing. He autographed items for people and took pictures as well.
I chose to wait in the Mark Levin line because I didn't have an Ollie North book, but I did have my copy of Liberty
and Tyranny by Mark Levin. We all were waiting and waiting until the book signing officially started. In the mean time,
I met a bunch of great people and had some nice conversations. I saw some of my friends from the Mark Levin Fan
website. If you are going to wait in a line, I guess this is probably the best kind of line to wait in. My son got back
from El Toro, just in time to make it into the book signing area.
We made our way down to see Mark Levin. There were so many people in line that the staff was doing their best to
rush everyone through as quickly as possible. It became clear to me that I would not be able to get a shirt signed to
auction off to benefit the Freedom Alliance as I had done the previous two Freedom Concerts. Mark signed my book
and I asked him to please take a quick picture with me.....luckily he said yes. My son snapped a quick picture, even
before Mark was ready [check the picture below], and we were out of there. As we were leaving the area, Sean
Hannity was taking pictures and autographing items for his fans. We stopped and my son and I had our picture taken
with Sean [see picture below.] And that was it for the book signing.
Even though the concert wasn't going to begin for another 2 hours, people were already in line to get into the concert
area. Having gone to these concerts before, I knew it was senseless to wait in line because once they start letting
people in, the lines more or less just vanish and people just walk in. So I sat with some friends from CT that I ran into.
My son went off to go on El Toro again. We just sat and sat and talked and talked wit the various people who came
to where we were sitting. My son came back from the ride and once again handed out a ton of business cards to
people on the lines.
One of the people that came up to me was a conservative rapper known as Hi-Caliber. Fans of the Monica Crowley
show know exactly who he is as he does a weekly rap about the news of the week on her radio show. He was very
cool and gave me one of his CDs. You can check him out at: http://www.myspace.com/hicaliber
I got a text from Nick Rizzuto, producer of the The Wilkow Majority on Sirius/XM radio. He came to the area I was
in and I introduced my son to him. He was there gathering audio for a project that will be aired at a later date on
Sirius/Xm about the Freedom Concert. He asked me a few questions and as usual at some point in the "interview" I
got really nervous and went blank. Hey people....there's a reason I run a website.....I don't have to talk much!
The concert arena was opened and the lines disappeared into the stadium. When all the lines had completely withered
away, my son and I made our way into the concert area. We headed down to the floor and made our way to near the
front of the stage. We were probably about 10 - 15 rows of people back. We had missed a little of the beginning of
the show. I think we only missed Curtis Sliwa. Sean came out and talked a little and then introduced Lee Greenwood.
I say this every year, but I am not really a country music fan. But it's still fun to watch these acts perform.
Lee Greenwood went through an array of his songs many of which were very patriotic and supportive of our military.
He sang his hit, "God Bless the U.S.A." and once again, everyone held up their cell phone lights....kind of an updated
version of holding up a lighter. He was fun to watch.
After Lee was done with his set, Sean came out and spoke again....he told some jokes and a few political stories. He
then introduced Mark Levin. The Great One came out and fired everyone up. He is a tremendous speaker and a lot
of fun to listen to. The really cool thing for me was seeing the big smile on my son's face and to see that he was really
enjoying being around a huge crowd of conservatives.
Mark finished and Sean came back and introduced The Charlie Daniels Band. Again, not a big country music fan, but
Charlie Daniels is really fun to watch. He went through a set of his songs and got to the "Devil Went Down to Georgia"
at which point he invited Hannity on to the stage to sing with him. Sean belted out the song....maybe just a tad too
quickly.....he was a little ahead of the music...but did an o.k. job with the song.
At this point in the show, my cell phone went off with another text from Rizzuto. He told me to make my way up to the
front left hand side of the stage. He had back stage passes for my son and I. My son saw the text and I think he had
the biggest grin of the day at that point. He asked, "Is he serious?" We walked to that side of the stage and met up
with Nick. We then followed him back to the backstage dining area where Andrew Wilkow was sitting being
interviewed by someone from the Young Republicans.
We hung out back there and talked politics a little and about the new Wilkow Majority shirts, but mostly about music
and how cool it would be to do a punk, hardcore, rap version of a Freedom Concert for the conservatives such as
ourselves who aren't in to country music. Besides getting to meet Andrew who I talk about often, my son was thrilled
to just be back there.....hey free soda, cake and cookies.
Andrew and Nick were getting ready to head out so my son and I said goodbye and headed back out to the concert
area. We caught Michael W. Smith's last song which had a cool video accompanying it on the large video screens.
Hannity came out once again and introduced Col. Oliver North. Ollie spoke about the Freedom Alliance and what
they do,. He spoke about our brave men and women serving our nation and pointed some of them out in the crowd to
which these great people received a standing ovation. He then brought out a few parents and grandparents and had a
video link up to their son and grandson serving overseas. It was a heartwarming experience to see them see and talk to
their loved ones.
Sean came out one last time to introduce the headlining act Billy Ray Cyrus. I remember Billy Ray from his one hit
"Achy Breaky Heart" but I really know him from Hannah Montana. I have 2 young daughters, what did you expect?
So it was cool to see him. My son and I watched a few of his songs and then my son had to go to the bathroom really
bad. [I told you I write about every little detail.] The nearest bathroom was outside the far side of the stadium, so we
decided to go back the backstage area which was only a few yards away from where we were.
When we first walked back thee, I saw Curtis Sliwa, who I had not seen all day, so I walked up to him and said hello.
My son ran off to the restroom. We hung out backstage for a while again...it was nice not being crammed into a crowd
for a while. I saw Sweet Baby James, Hannity's producer, and introduced myself. He and I have emailed with each
other a few times in the past but we had never met. I don't think he remembered me, but it was nice to meet him. We
saw Mark Levin and Ollie North and we listened to Billy Ray from behind the stage. The fireworks began going off
and Billy Ray broke into an impromptu version of the "Star Spangled Banner."
At this point, I decided it was time to go. I didn't want to get caught in the rush of people leaving the stadium and then
the parking lot. We made our way out of the stadium, to our locker and out to our car. The first thing my son said
was, "Thanks Dad for bringing me. Can I come again next year?" I thought that was really cool. The other quote from
my son on the ride home that cracked me up was the following: "I like Nick and Andrew. They were really nice.
Aren't they famous? Why did they seem so normal?"
We got stuck in horrendous traffic and our 2 1/2 hour ride down turned into a 4 hour drive home. But it was well
worth it. I had a blast. My son had a blast. We got to meet a lot of great people. And most importantly, we helped
raise money for the Freedom Alliance. What's better than that?
- Trent
| FREEDOM CONCERT 2009 |
| Once again, Sean made time to take pictures with his fans and to sign autographs. Left to Right: Me, Sean Hannity, my son |
| Mark Levin was gracious enough to take a quick picture with me. I was happy because at the past Freedom Concerts, I never got a photo with him. The staff of the event were really trying to hurry the fans through, so Mark didn't have time to "pose" before my son snapped the photo. |
| Here is just a small snapshot of the crowd at the Freedom Concert. This photo doesn't do justice to the number of people in attendance. The arena was packed! |
| Lee Greenwood was the opening act of the concert. He did a great job entertaining everyone....including his now infamous singing of "Proud to be an American" while everyone holds up their cell phones [instead of lighters.] |
| Mark Levin, The Great One, fired up the crowd as he normally does. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, it is well worth it. He does not disappoint. |
| Charlie Daniels is still fun to watch after all these years. He played many of his songs including "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" duet with Sean Hannity. |
| Sean Hannity addressed the crowd several times during the concert with an array of jokes, stories and political discourse. |
| Nick Rizzuto, producer of the Wilkow Majority and co-founder of Conservative Punk and Andrew Wilkow of Sirius/XM radio's The Wilkow Majority having some fun backstage. My son's quote about them was: "I like Nick and Andrew. They're really nice. Aren't they famous? Why did they seem so normal?" |
| Rizzuto, my son and Andrew Wilkow pose for a quick picture. |
| Headlining the concert was Billy Ray Cyrus. He did an amazing job of keeping the crowd going through the end of the concert. The highlight of the show was when the park's fireworks started going off in the middle of his set and he stopped and hew and the entire crowd broke out in the Star Spangled Banner! |
| Michael W. Smith sings a song that had a inspiring video accompanying it. |
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