9.5.09

Last year, Jon and I went to the Taste of Madison and happened upon a band that was so amazingly awesome and unlike anything we had ever seen before. A year later, we learned that they would be returning to the Taste and well, to say the least, we were pumped. Like majorly pumped. There were moments we worried that maybe we had been hyping them up too much and we would be let down...and our friends would wonder what we were thinking when they saw them themselves.

Thankfully, there was nothing to be worried about.

They. Were. Awesome.

They are called Too White Crew and they are an old school rap/hip hop cover band. Yes, old school rap, as in Run DMC, Snoop, Salt N Pepa, Biz Markie, Warren G. Ya know, the good stuff. They dress the part, they have dancers (the girls in the green pants), they play all the music live and they are funny! They are seriously great entertainers. If they are ever in your area, you MUST go see them.

7.3.09

That guy in the cowboy hat is Kenny Chesney. Perhaps you have heard of him?

A few years ago I saw a piece on 60 minutes on Kenny Chesney and found him so interesting!(You can check out part 1 here and part 2 here) I've been a casual fan for a while, but this year became a full on fan that NEEDED to see him in concert. When Gina asked if we wanted to join them, I did not hesitate to say yes.

We saw him at Summerfest on Friday night and seriously, it might have been the best concert I have ever seen...and y'all, I've been to A LOT of concerts. This pic was taken at the very end of the concert when I'm pretty sure he was told he HAD to stop after singing about 10 songs for his encore. There was not a lot of fanfare with him leaving the stage. Instead, the lights went up, he stayed out signing autographs for a while and then walked off stage. He was an amazing showman and entertainer. I know that hearing about concerts is about as intersting as listening to someone else's dream, but I am going to put down a few highlights and lowlights for my sake. If you would like to read on, be my guest:

-Not only was Kenny awesome, but we were all really looking forward to both opening acts: Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert. Both were great. We are all big Miranda fans, so this whole concert package was an extra easy sell for us.

-I know whenever you go to concerts, the artist is always like "you guys are the best crowd!", etc etc., but you know they say that to every crowd. Well, in this case, I honestly feel like he was half serious. Like I said, his encore lasted a really long time, included all cover songs and it was obviously unrehearsed. Random people from his crew came on stage and sang with him and as you can see in the picture, even a puppy joined in the fun. It felt like we were a part of something that not every stop on the tour is privy to see.

-the one lowlight of the experience: the dude sitting next to Jon literally chain smoked the entire concert. I'm not kidding - the guy didn't stop. Not only cigarettes either - cigars as well. It was a real treat. So much so that I am tempted to write a strongly worded letter to Summerfest/Marcus Ampitheater about it actually. Because here is the thing - I realize we were techinically outdoors, but we couldn't leave our seats. If we were at a bar, or seeing a show at one of the side stages, we could move if we didnt want to breathe in the smoke all night. At this concert, we did not have that luxury. Not to mention, my pregnant sister sitting 2 seats away from him that had to inhale that all night long? I didn't like it one bit. The guy also sat for about 60% of the concert and texted. Srsly. He was majorly annoying.

-Basically I dare anyone to see this guy in concert and not come away a fan. Dare you! He was so great.

5.7.09

On Thursday night, we went to see Billy Joel and Elton John. This was my third time seeing them together and they are still pretty amazing. The show was 3 1/2 hours and we basically got 2 concerts for the price of 1. Everyone knows I like a good deal :)

I like this picture best because you can see the whole arena. I've always wanted to know what it would feel like to have an entire arena screaming for you. Can you imagine what it would be like to be able to stop playing your song and have like 10,000 sing it back to you? (this is what happens when Billy Joel sings Piano Man) It would be unreal.

It is obvious Elton John is over all the attention though because after the show was over, he came down the stairs, jumped into a little closet in the back of the stage (while everyone was still cheering) and came out 2 seconds later in a track suit and left the arena. I guess rock stars clock in and out at their jobs just like we all do...

4.28.09

Oh, hello, Britney Spears.


a few highlights from the show

• The Pussycat Dolls opened and Nicole Sherzinger stole the show vocally the entire night. Actually she might have been the only person to actually sing live the whole night, so maybe it wasn't much of a competition.
  
• someone got engaged on stage during PCD. Srsly. Then they dedicated Stickwitu to them.
• I met up with a friend from college who I haven't seen in years!
• Was there a live band? no
• Was there any live singing? I don't think so.
• Was there otherwise amazingness? Yessssssssssssssss!!!!!
• I think she said exactly 3 words the whole concert - "What's up Chicago!" Otherwise everything was totally rehearsed. ha! And no one cares! I love it.
  
• The Allstate Arena is kind of awful. So disorganized. The arena is small though, which made every seat actually pretty good I think.
• It was worth every expensive cent that I spent. Comparable in price and entertainment value to any Cirque show I've seen in Vegas...and it was better I think. Well, if you are a Britney fan. If you aren't, you may not agree.
• aaaand basically, she's awesome.