During the many years that I have been teaching, faculty have always been frustrated by the early departure of students before the start of any break or long holiday weekend. For example, on the Friday before spring break about one-third of the students may be in attendance, everyone else having caught their flight or their ride home. Some professors may schedule an exam to combat this, but I've never had the heart to do so. But this year has been so stressful and frustrating - with a surprise increase in my teaching load (I'm now expected to teach almost double what my deal was when hired) and then this week's announcement that the university is closing down 50 majors and minors (without any faculty consultations) because of the budget crisis, I was ready to go-with-the flow - the student flow, that is, and leave these stresses behind a little early. All of my classes were tickled when I gave them the link to the online lectures I prepared to substitute for all my Friday class periods. Thursday night I flew to Nashville to celebrate my spring break!
Since I was arriving about 11:30 pm I picked a near-the-airport hotel with a free shuttle, then shuttled back the next morning to pick up a one-day car rental (Nashville has the cheapest rentals in the country in my experience - $21 last trip and $25 this time, total price!!). It was a lovely spring day in Nashville and I spent the day just wandering the town (with short jaunts to Franklin and Leiper's Fork : ) ). I walked around the Opry grounds a bit, enjoying the blooming trees and flowers that have not yet shown their faces in Iowa. I hoped I might find a spot to catch a view of the band coming in for rehearsal or perhaps catch sight of Keith's Mustang, but no such luck. I had a nice dinner with concert buddies before the show and then we all headed back to the Opry parking lot. They had lucked out with stagefront seats, but it seemed my call from the Opry about the exchange of my ticket from the cancelled performances was slow coming, so I was sitting way back in row Q this evening.
It is rather amazing that we diehard fans travel so far for a mere four songs, but desperate we are for each and every KU fix! Keith looked just great, was all happy smiles, and sounded fantastic. But at the same time that I savored every second, in the back of my mind I was worrying about how quickly the performance was passing by and just how long it is likely to be before another. The plight of the truly addicted!
The band was looking sharp as well, with Danny looking particularly cute (I love his hair this year but can't say that Brian's does much for me). The short set began with Better Half. I was on the aisle and hoards of Keith fan were moving down the aisle for a closer view, making it hard sometimes, to keep Keith in view, hence my Better Half is in 2 parts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXP5TzjsQ1A and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqlub8iYJoc . Then we got You Gonna Fly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c_U9Z0ZkC0 . But the big surprise and JOY for the night was Keith's performance of The Luxury of Knowing!! Here it is with Keith's fun introduction to the song as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKyqYyxYIkg We have been waiting for this song since the release of the album and it was so, so special to hear it at this more intimate venue. Just wonderful!! At the end of this song of course he got a huge response from the audience and I just had to shout out at the top of my lungs "Thank you Keith!!!"
Kiss a Girl was last, complete with a Kiss-a-Girl contest! I wonder if the Opry knew that was coming and what they think of it!? It was fun as usual and featured a nervous young lady whose voice shook, a spunky guy and a darling tiny little girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QPWLTBKS8
I was happy I had parked behind the Opry avoiding the post-show traffic crunch of the front lot.
I had an early morning flight back north. After arriving in the Quad Cities, however, I wouldn't immediately be driving home. Saturday night I would be attending the second concert of my "Spring Break Celebration" - seeing Trace Adkins in Peoria!
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