The show was filmed at The Factory in Franklin, TN. Kristi and I had standing room only tickets in the balcony above the stage. That was pretty cool to be close to the stage but also looking out over the crowd. It was really hot up there, but definitely worth it.

The amazing part is how well these guys sounded together. They’re both great guitar players, and I loved every song they performed. Some songs had to be done twice, and I was happy that one of those was one of my favorites, “Til Summer Comes Around.” They were also pretty funny together. There were a lot of jokes about how hot it was (“Tonight I Wanna Fry”) and how often the makeup girls had to come up on the stage. It was a really fun night, and I can’t wait to see what all makes it on the show. Maybe you’ll see Kristi and me in the audience. Well, if we had enough “energy” that is..right Kristi?

Keith’s Set:
1. If Ever I Could Love
2. ‘Til Summer Comes Around (2)
3. Tonight I Wanna Cry (2)
4. Sweet Thing

John’s Set:
1. Perfectly Lonely (2)
2. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
3. Say
4. Gravity
5. Faith

‘Til Summer Comes Around by Keith Urban

Tonight, there are fireworks at the Corvette museum and tomorrow at WKU. How many times will Kristi and I say “Is that it? Is that the end? Oh, you’ll know when it’s over.“?

On Saturday, Kristi and I are going to see Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and some other people at LP Field in Nashville. I think we have some decent seats so you can expect some pictures next week. It starts at 3:30 so I’m taking plenty of sunscreen. I don’t want to come back with raccoon eyes! We’ve got our fingers crossed that Uncle Kracker does NOT make a surprise appearance. That’s one way to ruin our concert experience. Another way is rain.

To prepare for Saturday, I’ve listened to Kenny’s song “Better As a Memory” a million times. I think it’s the best song he’s had in a long time. I love the words, music, and he sounds great. It may not top “What I need to do”, but it comes close. I grin now every time I get to the line that says “pretty good on a lonely night.” Last night, the song came on the radio and my mom’s response to that line was “I bet he is”.

What are your 4th of July plans?

Better as a Memory by Kenny Chesney

I spent Wednesday finishing my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. Thursday, I did some “spring” cleaning and then Kristi and I went to see Daughtry in Nashville. It was a really good show. I think he did all of the songs from the cd. Our seats weren’t the greatest but they were not as bad as I thought “limited view” seats would be. Click here to see my pictures.

Today, I lost 5 pounds at least…..of hair! I finally went and got it cut. My hair had gotten so long it was driving me crazy. Plus, I somehow never got around to getting my “fall” color. So today I got a bunch chopped off and a new fall/winter color. Let me know what you think in the comments (and by that I mean only if you like it. Keep any negative comments to yourself ).

Used To by Daughtry

Words cannot express how good the concert was. He played for almost 3 hours! There was a huge screen at the back of the stage so we could see everything even though we were not in the best seats. There was also a little stage in the middle of the floor – that’s where I got my best pictures. He sang almost all of my favorite songs, and Martina Mcbride came out and sang “Broken Wing” near the end of the show. Except for the rude woman that kept telling me to sit down and Kristi losing her voice, it was a great concert experience. Click here to see my pictures.

Also, something to add to my tips on concert going that i posted a while back: Always check the time that the parking garage closes. You never know when a concert might run a little late, and that moment of realizing you might be stranded is not fun.

Tonight is our Kelly Clarkson concert at the Ryman. Hopefully Kristi is saving her voice today so that she can help belt out “Since you’ve been gone”.

I Told You So by Keith Urban

I got my CDJ cd in the mail this week and I’m loving it. The songs that are on her myspace page are my favorites so far since I know them the most, but the others are growing on me. There’s even a song to add to my driving songs list called “Good Day”.

“I’ve got the sunshine and the blue sky up above
I got the blacktop under my wheels
I got big dreams
And I got people that I love
And there ain’t nothin’ wrong
I got a good day goin’ on”

This song would be perfect for driving down 65 with my sunroof open and all the windows down. Unfortunately, it’s been way too hot to do that.

It’s been a music filled week for me. I downloaded songs from a 2000 matchbox twenty concert in Germany. They were recorded from the sound board so the quality is awesome. I used my last 4 free tracks on Itunes to get the new songs on Anna Nalick’s reissued cd. And I’ve been listening to Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head cd at work because I’m in the middle of watching season 2 of Alias. What does Alias have to do with Coldplay, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you. In the episode where Sydney and Vaughn finally get together (which is the episode right after my favorite one, Phase One), they play “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face”. That episode was why I listened to the cd in the first place and I really like it. So watching Alias makes me listen to Coldplay which makes me go to strippedmusic.com to listen to Natasha Bedingfield’s cover of “The Scientist”. Then I go home and watch more Alias. It’s a vicious cycle.

It also reminds me of all the different artists and songs out there that I haven’t heard. Someday, when I find a job that pays me for doing nothing I will spend my time listening to music and going to concerts.

All You Need to Know by Carolyn Dawn Johnson

Toby Lightman was first. I had no idea who she was, but I had heard her “angels” song before. She was pretty good and I may pick up her cd sometime.

Jewel was up next. I’m a fan of some of Jewel’s older songs like “You were meant for me”, “Foolish Games”, and “Standing Still”. Tuesday night, I was not a fan of anything. “Foolish Games” was way too dramatic and she changed the other two to where she said the words instead of singing them. Does that make sense? She has a pretty strong voice, but every song sounded the same: baby voice, then talking, then loud. Plus, she yodeled. She’s pretty funny in between the songs, but a lot of it seemed staged.

But who cares about how bad I thought Jewel was? The star of the show is Rob Thomas!! I could go to every concert on this tour and I don’t think it would ever get old. He changes the set list almost every time and he’s able to change up the old songs without ruining them (hey Rob – can you teach that to Jewel?) We didn’t get to hear “Reststop”, but we did get “You Won’t Be Mine” and “Now Comes the Night”.

It was kind of a different atmosphere from the other Rob Thomas concerts I’ve been to. The seats in front and to the left of me were empty. That’s not a bad thing for us (no tall people you can’t see over or girls with their arms up the whole time) but just not a usual thing. The girls in front of us that yelled so loudly for Jewel sat down for most of Rob’s show. That gave me more reason to jump over in front of them to get Frankie’s guitar pick.

This is probably the last Rob show for me & Kristi. I read that the next cd he works on will be a Matchbox one, so that is something to look forward to. I guess my next concert will be Dierks Bentley in October when he comes to Diddle! October is so far away

Since I go to a lot of concerts, I figure I can offer some tips based on my experiences. So here are some suggestions for the next concert you go to:

1. If Kristi says she’s making sandwiches, make sure she has bread.
2. Bring cash for parking.
3. Check your batteries for your camera/tape recorder before you get to the venue. (Also bring extra just in case)
4. Hide said batteries and/or tape recorder in your pocket or purse.
5. Wear sturdy low heeled shoes. You’ll be on your feet for awhile, plus it lowers the risk of falling down stairs.
6. If venue security comes to tell you to put away your camera, it’s not a good idea to lean over to hear him/her while holding a tape recorder although you’ll get a nice recording of the exchange.
7. If the people in front of you sit for the entire show, do not feel guilty about almost knocking them over for a guitar pick.
8. Once you get used to sitting close to the stage, you will never want to go back to the cheap seats. So don’t start unless you’re committed to paying whatever is necessary to be in the first 10 rows. Those are the best no matter what that Rob Thomas person says.

That’s all for now. If you have any other suggestions, let me know. I’ll have some more pictures from previous concerts up hopefully this week.

Bent by Matchbox Twenty

You Won’t Be Mine by Matchbox Twenty

Kristi and I left for Lexington around 12:30 on Saturday. We went through the drive through at McDonalds in Smiths Grove for lunch on our way. Every time we go on a road trip to a concert we do this – eat lunch on the way and then we’re not hungry before the concert. Then after the concert we’re starving and waiting on a pizza delivery at 2 am. We never seem to learn so I’m documenting it this time. Maybe next time we’ll remember.

Anyway, we got to Lexington and checked in at the hotel to get “hootchiefied.” We left the hotel thinking we looked pretty fine. Compared to some of the girls we saw at the concert, we were no where near hootchiefied. I know I’ve said it before, and I will continue to say it, just because they make it in your size, does not mean you should wear it. We did some shopping around the hotel and then went on to Rupp Arena.

We had purchased our tickets through Dierks Bentley’s fan club, so we didn’t know where we were sitting until we picked up the tickets at will call. We ended up in the 8th row in the center of the stage! That was the closest we have been for a Kenny show.

Sugarland was out first and she they were great. Sugarland used to be a trio, but one of them quit earlier this year so now it’s Jennifer Nettles and a guy. Jennifer seems to have so much fun on stage.

Next up was Dierks who is always good. He came out looking like a rock star. I wish his set would have been longer. He did a bluegrass version of “My Last Name” which was cool.

Before Kenny came out, Kristi made a friend, Larry from Auburn. He was drunk. That’s how he introduced himself – hi, I’m Larry and I’m drunk. He was funny.

Then it was finally time for Kenny! He came out first on a stage in the middle of the arena and then “flew” over us to the main stage. For the most part, I loved his show. It was a lot of fun dancing around to the older songs and he added just a couple of the new ones. He did “Anything but Mine” which is one of my favorites that I’ve never seen him do before. I got REALLY excited when the music started for my favorite Kenny song , “What I Need to Do“. It is worth the price of my ticket just for this song. Only that night, it was just worth half my ticket because he stopped after the first verse and went to another song. WTF? I guess when Kenny’s looking over the set list trying to decide what to cut, he’s like:

She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy – can’t cut that, it’s a classic
I Go Back – definitely can’t cut that one, it’s the only one I wrote
You Had Me From Hello – who put this on here? This song is dead to me.
When the Sun Goes Down – gotta have some reason for Uncle Kracker (aka fat, slobby bastard) to show up and do his two songs from a “couple of years ago”.
What I Need To Do – I guess I’ll cut this one even though it’s Jamie’s favorite.

In case you haven’t noticed, Kristi and I are not Kracker fans. Now I did enjoy them doing “Cowboy” but not enough to make up for having to listen to “Follow Me” and “Drift Away”.

All in all Kenny’s show is good, but it’s the same show every time just more lights and bigger video screens. I would give up “What I Need to Do” if he would throw in some old songs he hasn’t done in a while, mix up the ones that he has or had some decent new material (such as Margariters & Senoriters) that I wanted to hear.

We did more shopping on Sunday, but Kristi did not spend as much money as she wanted. I think all she got was a $10 pair of sunglasses at Old Navy. There’s always next time!

Our next concert is April 18 at the Ryman where we will see Martina McBride. It’s just a coule of weeks away! 

 

Check out my concert pictures. I think I got some pretty good ones.

 

For the two people that regularly check for updates to my site, there probably won’t be anymore until late Sunday or Monday morning.  But you’ll definitely want to come back then to see some of my concert pictures. 

Down in Mississippi by Sugarland