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!!