Go West Young Man!

Let me preface this by saying that the Brad Paisley concert was completely awesome! That said, I can continue to tell you about it. As you can see from the pictures, it was quite a show. I’ve never seen lights like those outside of Disney World! I started out the festivities by holding a BBQ of hot dogs at my house. Amber and her friend came over, and Matt and his friend, and even some non-concert attendees were there. So I grilled hot dogs, and they weren’t really burned, they were just deliciously browned. Hey! It’s the first time I ever grilled anything! I’m glad I didn’t blacken them! Then after that, I cleaned up and grabbed the tickets and my cowboy hat and we were out the door, heading off to Target so that Dan could buy a cowboy hat, and we were listening to a mix of the best Brad Paisley songs that Matt burned to a CD. And we were blasting it, by the way. And singing along with it. I think we got some crazy looks, but hey, how often do you get to go to a country concert?

So we finally arrive at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater, (after taking a wrong turn and ending up in an area where we stuck out like sore thumbs), and we got to park in the VIP lot, and then we got in line to wait for the gates to open. Dan and I stayed with everyone else until about 15 minutes to opening time, and then we left to go into the VIP line. Almost everybody was dressed up with a bit of a country flair, except for the little Naperville high-schoolers in their Abercrombie and Fitch and American Eagle clothes, with sunglasses bigger that fly’s eyes on the girls, and they were all in couples, wrapped around each other and being all smoochy in line. Tsk tsk, if their parents could see them…

And then it was concert time. Dan and I found our little box; it was pretty close to the stage, and right in front of the sound and lighting booth. This was the biggest concert I had ever been to. First up on the docket was Kellie Pickler, and after her, Jack Ingram, and then Taylor Swift. The crowd went wild for her, and the sad part is, she said “when I was in high school…” Shoot! She should still be in high school! Oh well, some people strike it while they’re young, I guess. Then, the moment I’d been waiting for! It was time for Brad Paisley! You know, I tried to win tickets to this concert back in May while we were camping. There was a sweepstakes with Hersheys, and we made s’mores while we were camping and got a game code, and I tried to win tickets with that, but we couldn’t get it to work. And now look, I got tickets anyway!

Brad Paisley was great. He sang a lot of new songs off his new CD, but also a lot of the oldies but goodies. Let’s see, he sang Online, Ticks, the Fishin’ song (one of my favorites), Celebrity, Mr. Policeman, Whiskey Lullaby with a recorded video of Alison Kraus singing along, Mud on the Tires, and many more. I had a blast. My one wish is that we could go back and see it again. I suppose I’ll have to wait until next time though… Maybe next time, I’ll have a pair of cowboy boots to wear along with my hat. I bet some of you didn’t know that I wouldn’t mind living out in the big west where I could ride a horse over my land with nothing but the open space around me, did you? Yeah, I discovered that when we went to South Dakota last year. Ever since then I’ve been becoming more and more countrified, (although I was a bit before too) and now I’m just waiting for that handsome cowboy to mosey into my life ☺

Lizzie’s Favorites of the Post:
Lizzie’s Favorite Music: 5th Gear, the new CD out from Brad Paisley (now why could that be?)
Lizzie’s Favorite Movie: Definitely NOT High School Musical 2 (or one for that matter). I was feeling a bit ill last week and I laid on the floor in the living room while the boys were watching it, and I think I got sicker after that. Barf!!!
Lizzie’s Favorite Book: Reclaiming Nick by Susan May Warren. Excellent read!
Lizzie’s Favorite Hobby: riding my little Blue Streak through cornfield-lined roads.

Adios Amigos!