Anthem Tour

Last night I went to my fourth Hanson concert. No, I'm not ashamed. IT WAS AWESOME. I've been a fan since my senior year of high school, when my sister and I had Middle of Nowhere on repeat. Since then they've gone indie and released five more albums and who knows how many B-sides and EPs. When people laugh that Hanson began and ended with MMMbop, it just shows that they haven't paid attention. The overall musicianship of these brothers is amazing. They've been playing together as a band almost their entire lives, and it shows. They even did an instrument round-robin in the middle of the show - how many groups can do that? Did I mention that they also fundraise for wells in Africa and created their own craft beer called MMMHops?

My friend Hillary was game to go with me even though she's not a huge fan. I warned her ahead of time that I would be acting extremely uncool during the show. Now that she's seen me in the Hanson Zone and still wants to be friends, I feel that we've advanced to a new level. ♥ But I did miss my sister, and my friend Bethany, both of whom would have been acting a fool and singing every word along with me.

Taylor is considered the heartthrob, but Isaac (the oldest brother) has always been my favorite. And now I have this fantastic picture of him looking RIGHT AT ME. I may have swooned a little. But just a little because all of them are married and have lots of kids. ;)

Each of my Hanson experiences has been a little different. For some reason, the nostalgia was especially strong at this show. I felt like I'd re-lived the past 15 years of my life, remembering where I used to listen to these songs and what was going on at the time. From walking around the U of M campus listening to "A Minute Without You" on a Discman, to car-dancing in my 2013 Elantra to "Get The Girl Back"... we've all come a long way.

Kelly Clarkson/The Fray Concert

I went to Nashville last weekend for a Kelly Clarkson and The Fray concert at the Bridgestone! I'd been looking forward to it since Debra and I bought the tickets last spring, and I was NOT disappointed. We saw Taylor Swift there last year, and our spot directly to the left of the stage was a little too close. So for this show, we picked a more central location close to the floor. When we were ushered to our seats, I couldn't believe how great they were! After scrimping on nosebleed seats for most of my life, I can confidently say that the extra money for good seats is totally worth it.

Carolina Liar opened. I love "Show Me What I'm Looking For," but was sadly underwhelmed by the rest. Their lead singer was very demanding of the audience (and looked like the lost Nelson brother - that was unexpected).

This Colton guy from American Idol was taking pictures and signing autographs between sets. I haven't watched Idol in years, so I had no idea who he was, but Debra recognized him. People were going crazy!

I've always liked The Fray and considered them excellent songwriters, but they were so overplayed for a while that I couldn't get too excited about them. So now, after the initial hype, was the perfect time for me to see them live and fall in love. Sometimes you don't realize how many good songs a group has until you hear them all at once. They're all great musicians and have amazing stage presence - you can tell the songs are coming from their hearts. It was probably the most emotionally powerful concert I've ever been to.

Midway through the show, Isaac Slade (I had to look up his name) came to a keyboard on a riser in the middle of the floor and played "Be Still." (I'd heard that The Fray are Christians, but that song basically confirmed it.) At the very end of the show, during "Over My Head," he jumped off the stage and ran through the audience and up into the stands at the back of the arena right near us! It was awesome.

I downloaded two whole Fray albums from iTunes as soon as I got home. :)

Kelly Clarkson is one of my all-time favorite singers. Because so many of her songs are on my exercise playlist, I probably listen to her more than any other artist. Most of the major events and themes of the past ten years of my life can be summed up by a Kelly song. As I've said here before, Stronger definitely isn't my favorite of her albums, but several of the tracks have really grown on me. In any case, she has enough hits to put on a four-hour show, but this one hit the high points! Man, that girl can sing.

Kelly also came out into the audience for a short set!

Singing with Giant Holographic Jason Aldean. Everyone flipped out upon hearing his voice and thought he was there because THIS IS NASHVILLE! But nope. Just a giant hologram. I even hoped Reba might make a cameo. (Kelly is dating Reba's stepson, which I think is awesome.)

Tired post-concert pic! I was happy to share this experience with Debra. I was also happy to run into Stephanie, my former sister-in-law and still friend (we forgot to take a picture). She was just two sections over, and her friend actually got to meet Kelly! I didn't realize she was going too until she left a comment on my Facebook status about it. We also passed each other on the highway going home the next day. :)

Our next possible hermanas concert outing is Carrie Underwood here in Memphis in December! We'll see!

Speak Now

Last weekend, I went to Nashville again, this time for the second sold-out night of Taylor Swift's Speak Now tour. My sister Debra and I and our friend Erin bought these tickets way back in the spring, so by the time the day drew near, I had practically forgotten about it!

We started our evening with a delicious meal at Demos' steak house downtown, then headed to the show:


Thanks to this truck, we will never wonder where, when, or why this photo was taken. LOL.

When I first heard that Needtobreathe was opening for Taylor, I was almost more excited about seeing them than her. I started bouncing with uncontained glee as soon as their banner was hung on the stage. They were, of course, awesome, but only played five songs, which seemed like a short set even for an opening act. None of the selections were my faves, either. It made me more determined to go see them when they're headlining! (BTW, their new album drops today!)

The concert was AMAZING. There were trapdoors, an assortment of huge set pieces, a multitalented dance crew, acrobats, and at least six costume changes for everyone. Plus, surprise guests, but we'll get to that in a second. Oh and our seats were fantastic - the best I've ever had for a show of this magnitude.

 

Sparks Fly

Mean

Speak Now

Midway through the show, Taylor walked across the entire arena (hugging and greeting fans the whole way) and did an acoustic set under a giant fake tree, so everyone in the back suddenly had a front row seat. Then she walked back to the main stage on the other side. I thought that was pretty awesome of her.

Shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town

We had heard that the previous night, Hayley Williams of Paramore had made an appearance. I notified Debra that if she showed up again, I was going to FLIP OUT. So when a surprise guest was announced, I commenced flipping and then flipped even more when it was Kenny Chesney!!! He strolled out in his ball cap and sang "Big Star" with Taylor:

Not long after that, she brought out Andy Grammer (of "You gotta keep your head up, who-oah" fame):

Later, when the curtains opened again for the encore, Taylor was sitting there on a couch with Tim McGraw. !!!!!! He sang "Just To See You Smile," which is probably my favorite of his songs. I couldn't get over how crazy it was. I half expected Reba or Dolly or somebody to drop out of the sky next. Only in Nashville!

There was a balcony hanging from the center of the ceiling, and for the "Love Story" finale, they lowered it and it carried Taylor all around the arena.

As we left, Debra asked me, "How do you even describe that to people?" Well, I just tried. :)

I can hear the sound of any "cool" readers I may have had unsubscribing, but as Debra said, I feel good about supporting something that women of all ages can enjoy (although there were more men present than you'd think!). We saw hundreds of dressed-up little girls, and moms and daughters. Say what you will about Taylor, I think she's helping to fill an important hole in the American female psyche. While the other popular female artists of our day giggle about partying and getting trashed, Taylor encourages young girls (and old ones too :))  to stay classy, be strong, pursue their dreams, and hold out for a prince. I don't see anything wrong with that.

And while I'm trashing my street cred, I might as well admit that I like Celine Dion too. Yep, now I'm definitely talking to myself.

Hanson and Tigers

I had a wonderful and VERY busy weekend. On Friday night I went to see Hanson perform at the Delta Fair. I'm not ashamed to say I've been a huge Hanson fan since 1997, and anyone who dismisses them (or doesn't even know they've released four more albums since "Mmmbop") is missing out. I actually spent ten minutes evangelizing about them to a guy on the Ferris wheel, after he asked me who was playing that night.  He may have been sorry he brought it up. LOL! This was my third Hanson show, and I'm sure it wasn't my last. I was only about ten feet from the stage (on Isaac's side, which was a happy accident since he's always been my fave).

(It was impossible to get a good picture of Zac from where I was.
Also - the backup keyboardist looked just like Wallace from Veronica Mars. Be cool, soda pop!)

On Saturday morning, my friend Hillary and I went to the 100 Tigers exhibit on the U of M campus. To celebrate the university centennial next year, 100 big tiger sculptures were painted by different artists. This was the only time they'd all be shown in one place before they scatter them around town. It was REALLY cool and I'm so glad we went - I took a ridiculous amount of photos. Here are some of my favorite tigers:

Papier-mache music tiger

Glittery mosaic tiger

Line-drawing tiger

And of course, basketball tiger

Each tiger was assigned a class year. They were arranged semi-chronologically, and where my class's tiger should have been, there was a gap. I was distraught and confused. Trying to console me, Hillary said it must have some special placement. To my surprise, she was right - the Class of 2001 tiger was voted Best in Show! :D

Yay!!!

That wasn't the end of my weekend fun. I also rode my bike on the Greenline and got pizza and paletas with my mom, and attended an 80's roller-skating party, but I don't have pictures of those things. :)

Easter Weekend

How was everyone's Easter weekend? Mine was great! My brother Kevin and his girlfriend Stefanie were in town, so there was lots of family time. My church sponsored a free Bebo Norman concert at the Levitt Shell. My pastor preached an Easter sermon that made me want to stand up and cheer. But just as exciting: I got to see Sara Bareilles in concert!

Caroline and Stefanie were my concert companions. :)

Sara is one of my VERY favorite artists, and her music has been especially dear to my heart over the last year. This happened to be the last night of the Kaleidoscope Heart tour, and she definitely left everything on the stage. It was amazing! In addition to her own wonderful songs, she also covered Cee-Lo, Mumford and Sons, and Coldplay. :)

Also amazing: opening act Elizabeth and the Catapult. I need to download their album. Elizabeth reminded me a lot of Kelle Hampton, both in looks and in personality (not that I actually know Kelle Hampton, but you know).

This was my first show at Minglewood Hall, although it's been open for several years. It's a great venue - small but not too small, clean, totally non-smoking, and they even have chairs toward the back for those who want/need to sit. I'd definitely go there again!