Our Hunter Hayes Adventure

The insurance company Country Financial has been a sponsor at several country concerts I've attended over the years. They have hosted special photo booths at some shows (the Houston Rodeo and a Little Big Town concert are 2 I have souvenirs from), so at some point I must have given them my email address. As a result I periodically get emails from them about country events that they are involved with. Early this year I received one of their "Road Trips and Guitar Picks" announcements of their upcoming live streaming concerts and free ticket contests to promote Hunter Hayes. Two of the shows were to take place in Chicago and in Minneapolis where my daughters Sara and Annie (respectively) live. So I entered those contests daily until the deadline. Happily, a few days later I received the email that I had won 4 tickets to the private Hunter Hayes show at a small club in Minneapolis!! YAY!!

Country Financial, as is their right, seemed quite intent on not having these free tickets end up being brokered. They immediately requested the names and addresses of those who would be attending and stressed that each person had to have a photo ID that would be matched up with this list of attendees to enter the show. Annie invited two of her best buddies to accompany us and I sent in our list of names and addresses.

I was very excited at the idea of an intimate Hunter Hayes show. I had seen Hunter perform at Keith Urban's Las Vegas concert last tour, and was familiar with his couple hit singles, but did not know much else about his music. I kept an eye out for his CD at my local stores, but didn't find it. Finally, on the morning of the show, I decided to downoad Hunter's album off of Itunes so that Annie's best friend Katie and I could listen to it during our 3 hour drive up to Minneapolis. I did so, burned myself and CD and Katie and I headed up north.
Since Annie would be working until 5:00 , Katie and I planned on being in the Twin Cities about an hour before the 5:30 venue arrival  that Country Financial had requested.

About halfway to Minneapolis, we stopped for gas. I grabbed my purse to get out a credit card only to discover NO WALLET!! Here I am, driving to another state for an overnight visit and a show requiring ID, and I have no driver's license, no photo ID, no credit cards!!! How could this be?? I called home and was informed that my wallet was there, next to the computer where I had used a credit card to pay for my Itunes download : (  It was too late to return home and still make the show. I had enough cash to pay for my gas and asked that a copy of my driver's license be faxed to our Minneapolis hotel. Hopefully with that, the hotel would let me check in and perhaps the FAX would satisfy those checking us in at the concert. But I was still totally stressed, thinking I may be traveling all the way to Minneapolis for nothing, and was feeling naked without my wallet and its contents. I would have to rely on my daughter's credit card to get us through our visit.

We arrived safely, parked 2 blocks from the venue and found an odd little bar nearby to wait for Annie to get off from work. At 5:30 we headed over to the Fine Line Music Cafe, where several dozen people were already lined up, waiting for the doors to open. When a guy came down the line, checking IDs, I kept my fingers crossed that my FAX would do. Well, he was just checking that we were of legal drinking age, so was unconcerned that I only had a fax. As we entered the club, they checked off our names on their list,gave us our souvenir lanyards with our Hunter passes, but did not ask for photo IDs, so I was greatly relieved. The Fine Line is a cute little club with just a few tables close to the bar and an open floor area right in front of the small stage. We staked out a spot at the right side of the stage, then enjoyed the free drink tickets Country Financial had provided until they annnounced it was time for us to line up for our Meet and Greet and photos with Hunter! : ) Annie's friend Ping was not an ardent country fan, so wasn't interested in the M & G, so she held our spot while Annie, Katie and I joined the line that wove its way up the stairs to the second level, where Hunter and the photographer were located. Hunter was very cordial greeting each of us. I mentioned I had seen him in 2011 at that Vegas concert with Keith and knew then that he would be a big hit. He thanked me and thanked us for coming and we had our photo taken.

We re-claimed our spots upfront and were surprised to find a half dozen others who had come up from Cedar Falls, Iowa standing right next to us! It was such a treat to be perched  on the edge of the stage for a great hour long show with Hunter and his band. He was so personable, telling us stories and cracking jokes between songs. His vocals were great,  he is quite the guitarist and his bandmates are almost as cute as he is.  He sang all of my favorites from his excellent album and ended with his hit singles. Here are a few samples:

Love Makes Me
Love Starts Slippin'
Light Me Up
Rainy Season
Storm Warning
Wanted

A highlight, which unfortunately I did not catch on camera, was when Hunter incorporated in his great song If You Told Me To a bit of Somebody Like You, commenting afterwards that he had to include a bit from one of his idols Keith Urban! Luckily, someone else did catch this medley at another of Hunter's small shows:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqwhAbgbXtA

 The four of us had a great time at this wonderful show and I hope to attend more Hunter Hayes concerts in the future. Thank you so much Country Financial and Hunter Hayes!!

We left the warmth of the Fine Line Music Cafe to walk a couple blocks in the bitterly cold Minnesota wind to a pub for a late supper before heading to our hotel. Annie and Katie decided to have a couple drinks together but mom was ready for some sweet dreams before heading home to Iowa.

A Fond Farewell To the Get Closer Tour

The drive from Rosemont, IL to Minneapolis more than made up for the short drive the day before: 393 miles!! Thank goodness I love my audio books - I have made it through far more books in the car this summer than I have those in print. I never make it through many pages reading in bed before the book hits me in the face when I doze off. It's a good thing that I found a cheap source of audio books that cost less than paperbacks (Azulio.com).

I had to make it to Minneapolis early enough to pick up my Christmas presale tickets and get one of them to the gal from Canada who purchased it. I tried at 3:00 but the box office wasn't open yet. So I had a wonderful late lunch at a nearby bistro called Zelo, including a pink grapefruit martini, a great ahi appetizer not listed on their menu, seafood pasta and freshmade gelato. Yum!

One problem with downtown Minneapolis - lots of one way or controlled access streets that make it impossible to get anywhere easily. I headed back to the arena now that the box office was open - only about 4 blocks away but I probably drove 16 blocks to get there. Then I realized I left my phone back at the restaurant - another 16 blocks of circling to get back there. As soon as I got my phone, I got a call from my Canadian friend - she was back at the box office, so I circled those same 16 blocks again to get her ticket to her. Then back to check into my hotel near the restaurant - but they told me I had to circle about 6 blocks to get around to their parking lot entrance. I was positively dizzy from all this!

I was ending the tour in a perfect seat (for someone who can't handle the standing crowd) - offically a row 5 seat but effectively a row 3 seat.

Jake started out the night in a sharp looking black leather jacket - must have been a little chilly in Minneapolis for our Florida guy. But once he began moving around on stage he warmed up and was comfortable in his dark gray tee (was that Betty Boop on the front?). Jake, taking a cue from Keith read some signs, including one way at the back of the arena and told them how much he appreciated it that they had made signs and trucked them around all night just for him. He held his hands up to make a "heart sign" just for them. Jake has always thanked Keith for bringing him out on tour but tonight Jake noted that it was the last night of a great tour and that he was so grateful for the opportunity . He even improvised a little bit of song to commemorate the night (see below).

Three big nights in a row had taken a bit of a toll on Keith's voice (more so than I realized until recently) but he did not hold back and was beaming thoughout the night nevertheless and ripping into his guitars like there was no tomorrow. Watch for all the little smiles in this last Raining on Sunday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXHMAv3aWO4 of the tour. The guys also seemed to be giddy with "last-night" excitement and kept goofing off together. And they tossed picks galore - I ended up with 8 even though I had pointed out others to those near to me on the floor. Some of the crew were also flinging picks at the band - at least at Brian whom I was sitting close to. It was obviously a special night for everyone.

Keith read lots of signs but settled on one with a picture of a strange pheasant proclaiming something like "Our husbands went pheasant hunting but we're here hunting for an autograph from you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tXJC-saKjo Keith brought them to stage and one gal was nearly hysterical with excitement, squealing "Oh my God - thank you so much, thank you so much, oh my God I've seen you 14 times!" Keith joked with them ("Where are your husbands hunting pheasant? In Las Vegas? How strange...") and also teased the woman with one of the very Norwegian names that Minnesota is known for. He had Danny take a photo of them all with all of the audience in the background, and (as he put is arms around two of them for the photo) jokingly asked "How big are your husbands?" Fun times on the stage!

More big smiles during Long Hot Summer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjeblZhxfV0 and as Keith enjoyed his audience during Making Memories of Us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOuMoLh0X8E and a beautiful Only You Can Love Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCvulxPgfaQ And, oh my, the last Georgia Woods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEatWRXgLog and moving walkway solo of the tour - Lordy!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-67oB_vjoFo

KAG sing-off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UILOG_CNc_U ended up being a great example of the traveling Keith fans. The first gal- Sally - drove 8 hours from Winnipeg, Manitoba! When Keith asked her if she knew the song she replied "I know EVERY song!!" She danced and sang with great stage presence and energy, so Keith joked afterwards "You need to come out of your shell." : ) The guy was from Minneapolis and he too was obviously a big KU fan and totally into singing KAG. He took a bow at the end of his singing of the chorus, and then raise his arms over his head and gave several bows of homage to Keith (his hero). The last gal came all the way from Kansas City and brought up her sign saying it was only 28 days until her wedding. Keith asked if she was going to hold the sign the whole time. She said she was going to hold it until she was told to put it down. So Keith said "Put down your sign baby." She did a good job too although Keith's camera guy blocked much of my view of her. The fellow won the crowd's vote. He was so into this KU experience that, when he and Keith went up front to share the mike, he began belting out the chorus before Keith was even ready! Keith re-gained control after a few lines but it was clear that the sing-off brings great pleasure and excitement to many, many fans.

I was able to sneak out to the left aisle for both Keith's trip back from the small stage and his trip out for You Look Good in My Shirt to get a last little bit of "Vitamin K" (bit of a shoulder rub) before the long drought of no Keith. Keith's body guard was a bit overzealous tonight. Although I was just standing by the side of my row as the guard preceding Keith approached, he put one hand on each of my shoulders and literally shoved me backwards into my row, nearly knocking me and the gal standing behind me off our feet! Sheesh! But I must admit I felt sorry for Keith during his final trip back to stage because he was absolutely being gripped and clenched from every direction, so a "Poor Keith!" slipped out of my mouth instead of the "Wonderful tour!" I had meant to say as he passed.

The last-night smiles were tempered with a bit of shaky emotion and tears during the encore's Tonight I Wanna Cry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNRg3w6CH3k .. Jake came out in dark sunglasses for the last duet with Keith http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aUFiKrumjQ I couldn't decide who he reminded me of - Sonny Bono, Cheech? (I think Keith called him a porn star at the end of this song so maybe he thought Jake looked like Harry Reems...). Then Keith came back with three special additions to the setlist: Where the Blacktop Ends http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgHHtMDNoBw , Grace of God Part 1 (below) and Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FKgPaSwPLU and Better Half. Keith gave a special shout out of thanks to Monkeyville and the Street Team. And then, sadly, the final song of the final Get Closer show: here is a bit of Better Life http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSaaKvNzHEk - and a better life is what Keith gives to us all with his music and his humanity. Thank you Keith!!