Alan Jackson in Iowa

Alan Jackson was one of the country artists I first became familiar with when I finally became aware of modern country music rather late in life. When I was growing up in Chicago country music was not on my radar! I had a chance to see Alan  perform a set at CMA Fest a few years ago, but had never had the opportunity to attend one of his full concerts. But recently I ended up seeing not one but two of his shows in a short time span.

I first bought a ticket to his concert in Des Moines when I had to be there for a conference anyway. I had a seat rather far back on the floor, so didn't have a great view, but very much enjoyed the long string of familiar hits that Alan performed. His show is definitely a warm, fuzzy, feel good show, with his wonderful slow, southern drawl telling touching tales between numbers. He almost never moved from center stage where he stood or sat, but since I mostly had to watch the video screens that wasn't a problem.

Not long after the Des Moines show there was an announcement at my university that Alan Jackson would be playing on campus! Even though I had just seen him, I always feel like I should support concerts on campus. In addition, our basketball arena is much smaller than the Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines, so I thought a little more intimate concert might provide a different experience.

I got a good first row riser seat close to the stage and was excited to see a catwalk at either end of the stage, on of which ended just 5 feet in front of me.His set list was much the same as in Des Moines but you can help but enjoy all those number one hits from over the years. I kept waiting for Alan to venture out on the catwalks, but again he really stayed close to that center stage territory, never really focusing his attention on the stands to either side. It wasn't until the encore and his final goodbyes that he VERY briefly ventured out on the catwalk on my side, slapping a very few hands before making a quick escape back off stage.

Maybe after all these years of performing he no longer feels the need to physically interact with his fans. While his storytelling was warm and friendly, his behavior was definitely more remote than what I am used to with younger country stars. I guess this was also the case at his Meet & Greet. I happened to be sitting next to a gal with a Meet & Greet Pass, so asked her how she enjoyed it. She was rather disappointed, saying the Meet & Greet had been nothing more than an extremely rushed quick handshake and being handed a glossy photo of Alan - no song or conversation - just the bare minimum of interaction.

Des Moines Show

A bit of She’s Got the Rhythm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcUBCWft1KI

You Don’t Have to Love Me Anymore

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=qtt0cxbLs9Q

Cedar Falls Show 

A bit of Livin’ on Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfNs9poepl8

Remember When

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPXRoDzml0w

A Highway 20 Ride to See Zac Brown Band

     I saw the Zac Brown Band open for Keith Urban several time before they really hit it big. Ever since they started headlining their own tour, I have been trying to make it one of their shows. But it seemed that every time they were scheduled to play some place close, I had a conflict..... my husband's Irishfest, my daughter's wedding. But I finally found a date that would work when they announced a show in Peoria, IL - with the added benefit that Peoria has a somewhat smaller arena. Peoria is about 4 hours away from me, but only two hours away for my daughter Sara in Chicago, so I popped her an email to see if she might want to come as well.  Yes! She and hubby Sam were available! So I arranged a "double date" of sorts with them. Jim would come along for the ride and drinking and dining, even though I couldn't talk him into the concert.

     It happens that I live not far off of Highway 20 here in Iowa and take it east towards Illinois, so I mused that I was on a Highway 20 ride to hear "Highway 20 Ride" ! : )  One of my favorite songs.

     We met Sara and Sam at our hotel for the evening, then headed off to the Rhodell Brewery to sample some of the local craft beers. Sam was already very familiar with Rhodell from frequent stops there to pick up a growler on his way to visit Sara in Champaign-Urbana when she was doing her graduate work there.
Now, although Sara is an engineer and Sam works in insurance, they brew beer in their apartment and fantasize, I think, about having a microbrewery of their own sometime in the future.

     The beer was tasty but then it was time to catch some dinner before the show. We tried to go to an Italian place just around the corner from Rhodell's.but the concert crowd had them booked solid. Then we tried Joe's Crab Shack which was also wall to wall with concert goers waiting to eat, but at least they had a waiting list. It took about 45 minutes but we finally got a booth. Sam and I are both seafood fiends so were delighted that we got to eat there.

   I had an excellent 3rd row riser-next-to the stage seat from the arena's presale so had a perfect view for the Zac Brown Band's terrific show. I really enjoyed every minute of their music. Here are a few more samples:

As She is Walking Away
Colder Weather
Toes
Sweet Annie
Free   - Just the best!!

    Unfortunately our warm glow from a great concert rapidly chilled when we went outside and found the temperature had dropped precipitously. Sleet and freezing rain pelted us mercilessly and everything was covered with a sheet of slick ice. We weren't dressed appropriately, I feared a fall with every step and we really hadn't made a good pick-up plan with Jim. After struggling a block or two we found a building lobby to huddle in until Jim (also lost in the nasty weather) managed to rescue us. Not the way I like to end a concert evening!

     We made it back to the hotel but in the morning all the vehicles in the hotel lot were encased in thick ice.
Good thing that the kids have strong ice-chipping arms!! Breakfast at Bob Evans and then we headed back for another Highway 20 ride.

A Bucket List Concert - Bruce Springsteen In St. Paul

     Made some progress on my "Bucket List" a few month ago but haven't found time to post. For a long time I have been wanting to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert and I finally had the chance when his toud came to St. Paul, MN. I only found out about the show the week before the date from a colleague at work so was unsure whether I could even get tickets. Bruce was playing two nights in a row; Sundays show was essentially sold out but Ticketmaster did have seats left for the Monday night show. I would have to drive north like a bat out of hell after my last class on Monday to get there on time and leave early in the morning to be back for class on Tuesday, but what the heck, especially since it meant a chance to see my youngest daughter who now lives in the Twin Cities.

     My seats appeared to be in the risers next to the stage and were labeled "May have an obstructed view" - probably why they were still available so close to the concert date. I hoped they wouldn't be too obstructed. I met Annie in downtown St. Paul and we grabbed a quick dinner at a pub, then rushed off to park my car at my hotel about a mile from the Xcel Energy Center. It wasn't the best weather and we worried about being late, so grabbed a cab rather than hoofing it to the arena. We needn't have rushed.
Being a first-timer at the Bruce concert I didn't know that he routinely comes out 45-60 minutes after the scheduled concert time!! We had plenty of time to chat with the older gentlemen sitting next to us - avid Springsteen fans who had flown up from Tampa for both nights' shows. I told them I had done the reverse in the past -- flown down to Tampa for Keith Urban's shows : )

     We were lucky - our seats turned out not to be obstructed at all, so had a great side view of the stage. This was the first big concert I've been to where they seemed to be quite serious about no videos - somehow that just didn't fit with Bruce's 'working man' personna. I did, however, sneak a few clips during the night.

     Springsteen is certainly a charismatic performer and I envied his energy and agility moving about the arena ( he is the same age as me!). Although I guess it is totally routine, Annie and I were amazed when he not only played while weaving through the densely packed general admission floor to a catwalk mid-arena, then - after saying to the fans near the catwalk "Are you ready?" flang himself backwards onto to the raised hands of the audience and the proceeded to pass him hand to hand all the way back to the main stage!!! Now that's a man that trusts his fans! At other points he pulled fans up onto the catwalk for a little dance.

     I've followed Bruce on and off over the many years of his career, so I am familiar with some albums but not others. With the arena acoustics (and being sidestage), I could not follow the lyrics of unfamiliar songs, which really is a disadvantage. But I enjoyed my old and new favorites (I had gotten his newest CD in preparation for the concert) and especially loved some of the slow heartfelt numbers.
Stolen Car
Waiting on a Sunny Day
The Rising
Born to Run

    We were kind of worn out after the THREE hour, no breaks show - I can only imagine how Bruce must have felt!!

Vince Gill in Cedar Falls!

What a treat!! An intimate Vince Gill concert right in my hometown! It was such a pleasure spending the evening with Vince (looking quite slim and handsome). He shared dozens of funny stories about family life (now and when growing up) and his experiences in the music business - he is so personable and self-effacing.
And of course his music was just great - wonderful vocals, thrilling guitar licks - in a theatre built with exceptional acoustics. And Vince played and talked non-stop for nearly 3 hours!! What a performer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MOaSzK1qdk  Look at Us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kZ9xiyYAiQ  Some Things Don't Get Old

And my all time favorite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhdDvp80gbE    Trying to Get Over You

Eric Church & Company in Moline

Okay, I was wrong. The first time I saw Eric Church perform live - as a special surprise guest at a Keith Urban concert, singing Creepin' I believe - I was unimpressed and bad mouthed his voice as too nasal and his performance as uninspired. But after buying his new album and then attending his concert, I am a convert. I enjoyed his music and his showmanship. Although the old saying is that "Familiarity breeds contempt.", that just isn't the case sometimes concerning hearing new music. Although some songs might grab one right away, more often it is through repeated listening that one starts to relate to the lyrics or internalize the music so it starts playing on the radio in your head. So I recommend his show (but listen to his album first!). Eric, like many performers today - had 2 opening acts: Justin Moore and newcomer Kip Moore (unrelated). Justin I have seen a number of times - I like much of his music and his good ol' boy style, although I could do without his NRA promotion and related songs. Kip Moore I was unfamiliar with. He is a cutie with quite a voice but men (boys?) who wear backwards caps drive me crazy (probably because a lot of my poor performing students were back-row of the classroom backwards cap guys!).

Here are a few of Eric's songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8tNApc4YrM   Springsteen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDEy5no7Xa0    Drink in My Hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrEBqKe6nDM   Creepin'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftm9W8IUAj4   one of Eric's early songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHtxP8F-oF0    a bit of Jack Daniels

Justin Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp5ycXRb7iM  Til My Last Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp5ycXRb7iM  Small Town USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69G5iZfcQJE   covering With A Little Help From My Friends

Kip Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUiG0szkSUI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsquxBXpc4

Keith Urban in Gilford, NH - the 30th State in my Urban Journeys!

Sunday morning I headed south out of Bangor for the four hour trip to Gilford, N.H.  It was a pretty drive although I wasn't always sure that my GPS was taking me on the most direct route or the best roads. I enjoy the highway signs one never sees in Iowa: "Bear Crossing" and "Moose Crossing". My daughter Jen was driving up to Gilford from Providence, RI to join me for the concert. Between Labor Day travelers and the concert audience the limited hotel offerings the Gilford area had more business than they could handle and I was happy that I had reserved a room ahead of time. We had to circle downtown Laconia (next to Gilford) several times before we spotted the oddly positioned hotel. Once inside we were distressed to find we were in a "smoking" room with no other rooms available but opened the windows wide and vowed to spend as little time there as we could.  We had a fun dinner at Patrick's Pub (and ran across several other Urbanites there), then on to Meadowbrook.

The Meadowbrook Pavilion was definitely upscale compared to most summer concert venues, with nicely manicured grounds, mostly paved walkways and a nice roofed pavilion. No "pit area" here and in fact the ushers were ever vigilant and kept most people out of the aisles during most of the show. I was a little off to the side but much closer to the stage than in Bangor, which was great whenever the 6'5" guy in front was away getting beer. Other times I had to make use of the video screens : (   (but at least there were videoscreens).

Being closer I was much better able to enjoy David Nail's great voice (and good looks!) - he is quite talented but it may be that his style and song choices will keep him a small venue/club performer. Here are a couple of his songs:

David Nail Red Light   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LME1f80JshE

David Nail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnGmMgU9AwI

Keith again treated us to Your Everything. Unfortunately since it was close to the start of the set the guy in front of me kept blocking my view, but here it is on the video screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT0AwatSYXg

Happily, when Keith came over to my side of the stage I had a much better line of sight for 

I Told You So http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lDXjjYx_vI

Is he pointing at me?? 

Then back to the video screens for the guitar solos from Georgia Woods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNPmH2dGIuo

and also Til Summer Comes Around: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnGLceVTedY

It was great fun having Keith bring back David Nail for a duet of Brand New Man!!

Keith and David Nail – Brand New Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVqTqI9t13A

I was sitting next to a young lady and her mom and tried to encourage her to approach the stage when it was time for Kiss a Girl. She did stand up on her seat and her mom and I kept pointing to her, trying to catch Keith's attention as he picked his audience participants, but she was probably too short for him to see well.

Anyway, here is the sing-off 

Kiss a Girl Sing-Off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd2cxbEccJo

I was captive in the center of a long row both times that Keith went out into the audience. Jen's seat, however, was on the aisle (I had to pick up a second single ticket when she decided to join me in NH).

She said she gave him a little rub each time he passed her - "just for you Mom" she said. Thanks Jen, but somehow getting a rub by proxy just isn't the same! : )

A lovely Without You  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVuWxkGHnEc

And during the encore: Tonight I Wanna Cry  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0lmRUyr8O4

So my "double header" of Keith's concerts was a great pleasure but my fun Labor Day weekend wasn't over yet. Monday morning I returned my rental car to the Manchester, NH airport and joined Jen in her car for the trip back to Providence - my first trip there since she moved from Syracuse University to Brown University for a new post-doctoral appointment. I got to see her new apartment and where she works and she introduced me to some of Providence's bars and restaurants before I had to head back home for work.

Now we need some Mohegan Sun or Boston concerts so I can head back east to see her again!

A Much Belated Labor Day Weekend Post

Although I am enjoying each of my fall semester classes, tensions on campus had me looking forward to the Labor Day weekend. Add that to a highly anticipated visit to see my 'East coast' daughter and 2 Keith concerts, I was positively giddy with excitement as August drew to a close!

I headed to the airport after my last class on Friday. It had been quite a while since I had made my flight arrangements, so I was surprised that I was flying to Portland, Maine via Atlanta. Who knew that Georgia was in between Iowa and New England!? But I made it safe and sound and took the free hotel shuttle to my hotel rather than deal with car rental at midnight. The same shuttle brought me back in the morning to pick up my Enterprise chariot. Before I left Portland I had a wonderful lobster omelet with fresh hollandaise for brunch at a Sea Dog Brewing Company Pub. (I was intent on making this a seafood weekend!)

I had all day to make the couple hour drive to Bangor, on a lovely sunny day, so planned several stops along the way. The highlight of that journey was my excursion over to the town of Belfast, Maine on the rugged coast for an early dinner. I had used one of my favorite sources - the book and website "Roadfood"- to find a fun local spot for lunch and picked Young's Lobster Pound. The Lobster Pound was a large open-air (at least in summer) warehouse filled with big metal tanks of different sized lobsters brought in by local lobstermen. A steady stream of customers ordered off the menu on the wall, I ordered lobster and littleneck clams and was told the number of the net bag that my fresh seafood was loaded into before it was placed in their cooker. When my number was called the bag was emptied onto a disposable platter, the lobster cracked so nothing more than a lobster pick would be needed to eat it, cups of butter and slaw were added, and I was ready to eat my very fresh, very un-fancy seafood out on the picnic tables on the dock. Yum!!

I usually listen to audiobooks while driving, but - a bit of Keith karma - happened to switch on my car radio just moments before Keith was interviewed by the local DJs. It was so nice to hear that voice!
Keith mentioned that he and Nic had been at the US Open the evening before and that he had flown in that morning and caught a good view of the Waterfront venue from the air. He said that Nic and the girls had flown back to Nashville and he would be joining them on Monday.

My hotel was out on the rural outskirts of Bangor, with farm fields surrounding the White Barn Best Western. When I headed towards the concert venue, I was surprised to find that the Bangor "Waterfront" was right on the downtown Main Street, across from the grocery store. I drove through the neighborhood looking for street parking but then discovered that the grocery store was allowing some of its parking lot spots to be 'sold' for parking by some local fund-raising group, which could not be more convenient.

The concert venue was surrounded by tall fences, but it appeared that many of those in Bangor who had not bought tickets to tonight's show had brought their lawn chairs and blankets down to Main Street and planned to listen to the music from the street. The sidewalks and curbs around the venue were lined with people as if they were waiting for a parade, but they were waiting for Keith Urban and David Nail!

I knew from the Bangor Waterfront seating chart that there was a "pit" or general admission area in front of the reserved seating, but I was unprepared for the size of this area. It was a huge area - far larger than needed for even the most popular of stars.  It was probably 30 feet deep, so that, even though I was in row 3 of reserved seating, it was as if I were in row 23 in terms of my distance from the stage. I was disappointed with my view, especially since the GA crowd naturally pressed close to the stage ( the first 10-15 feet of space) leaving a big, unnecessary empty gap in front of reserved seating.
To their credit, once the show began the Waterfront allowed people from reserved seating to enter the GA area, but since I cannot stand for hours I stayed out in the seating area.

Another bit of disappointment: no video screens at all at this venue!! : (  So there was no 'visual aid" for those of us farther back from the stage. But - stop complaining Linda! - it was still a Keith concert on a beautiful summer night under a star-filled, full moon sky - shame on me for being ungrateful!

I have to admit that I was at a disadvantage seeing David Nail for the first time from such a distance. I was not familiar with his music and consequently did not give him the attention that I should have (I did better the next night), so I will jump right to Keith's set.

As expected Keith and the band opened with You Gonna Fly with an extra "Bangor look at you now" thrown in and a bit of Boondocks following. Then a rousing Put You in a Song.

Keith took some lovely new liberties with a quavering guitar intro that gave me chills before going into the more familiar opening to Raining on Sunday.

Then it was time for a little chatty interaction with the audience, and a bit of a new gag. Tonight instead of using a big spotlight to highlight distant parts of the audience, Keith had his stagehand bring out a huge set of binoculars. Looking through them at the audience far out in the venue Keith described some of the individuals he was seeing! : ) He then read a few signs and settled on one which claimed the signholders had waited 11years to finally see him live and one which said "We came from up north, we headed down south" a la YGF. The gals said that they had come down from north of the Arctic Circle! 
Keith was tickled by this and brought them up on stage, saying that "north of the Arctic Circle" sounded "vaguely dirty". They all hugged and took multiple photos together.

The highlights of the night for me:  The performance of an oldy but oh-so-goody:

Your Everything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLHCSmnPleo

And Keith coming out to see me for I'm In:

I'm In http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnNd2M-Sdw0

For You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQ-nz1r698

You Look Good in My Shirt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUSQWxXYM3w

Georgia Woods guitar solo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3_BUNTQzkQ

Kiss a Girl Sing- Off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b84jBqtX4pg

Ended the night with an after midnight supper at a Bangor truck stop restaurant which had a huge crowd. I thought perhaps many, like me, had come there after the concert. But no, I was shocked and amazed when the table full of college age gals next to me, when asked by the waitress if they had just come from the Keith Urban concert, cried out in dismay "We missed a Keith Urban concert???!!!"
How could anyone living in Bangor have missed the fact that Keith would be playing right down on mainstreet???