Thanks to Moose's great tickets, I got waay up close to Toby and Trace--Moose even got a Toby knuckle bump! I was so excited, I forgot to take pictures and when I did, I forgot to quit jumping--hence the rather crooked, blurry images. I certainly got my "tall hawt country man fix" for at least a little while. The Oregonian does a good job of reviewing it, so I shall just offer my glorious memories:.
Tonight howls in the first 2008 halloween parties! Why tonight? I dunno, but I'm not fussin'! I've got big plans for the 31st--we're gonna check out the Zac Brown band at Duke's and then Saturday we're at the coliseum to see Dave Ramsey live.
But tonight I get to try out my hero costume and make sure it's the best I can make it--just for the record, I had this idea waaayy before SNL did!
Update: pictures!
SARAH PALIN AND HER TARGET MOOSE
Hot, hot, hot!
Great seats. great show, great talent, and great time! 2 and a half hours of smokin' singin' and down home country music.
I'm tellin' ya, it just doesn't get much better 'n this.
Chris opened the show--sexy, talented, a bit short, but wow, what a sweetheart, signing a baby's blanket and a girl's shirt right in them middle of the show. He was personable and spoke intimately to the crowd as if we were all his buddies.
Tracy closed the show with flawless vocals and lots of audience participation. I saw him at the Oregon State Fair a few years ago when he traveled with Mark Chesnutt and somebody else I can't remember right now, and he's just gotten bigger and better.
Did I say how much I LOVE fair concerts?!
I have always liked GA's ballads, but who knew he was such a bad boy rocker! Wow! Arms covered with tats, band swiggin' whiskey from a bottle passed back and forth...maybe a bit over the top with encore covers of classic rock hits, but great entertainment and I tend to be one of the few that doesn't love a lot of the classics. The concert lasted over 2 hours, which is phenomenal for a fair venue! $30 was a bargain--this is why I LOVE fair season--all the best names in country music for very little investment, AND fun on the midway!
HERE is one of his latest hits, Learning How to Bend, which truly can stand as my anthem this year.
In a peculiarly Gallic approach to the phenomenon, French civil servants say line dancing should be submitted to the same rules as sports such as football and rugby. This means imposing training courses for line dancing teachers and a state-approved diploma for anyone who wants to give lessons or run clubs.
Amateur instructors will have to take 200 hours of training under the new rules. Professionals will get 600 hours, including such subjects as line dancing techniques, “the mechanics of the human body” and the English (or at least Texan) language. They will also learn how to teach line dancing to the elderly.
The cost of the courses, about €2,000 (£1,570) for the professionals and €500 for the amateurs, will be largely met by taxpayers. Mr Chauveau said the regulations highlighted the French state's obsessive desire to organise all public activity. “France is the only country in Europe apart from Greece where sport is controlled through the state,” he said. “Line dancing is now considered a sport, so it is being controlled, too.”
Yikes. Yuck. Caca.
My camera refuses to flash these days, but the flash wasn't needed at the Tim McGraw concert at Mandalay Bay--there were plenty of sparks flyin'!
Halfway to Hazard was the warmup band--more heavy rock than country, but good. Jason Aldean then opened for Tim--he's got a couple big hits and did well, but seemed to take an awful long time jazzing the crowd--one wonders if he was told to stall.
JASON!
TIM!
The Clark County Amphitheater was packed to the hilt, spilling out fans along the hill, across the grass. Cowboy hats, muscle shirts, beer, the salt of the earth—the only way it could have been better would have been out in the open, warm sky right next to the stage, with a hot date doting on me…that said, the rain did stop for the duration of the concert, we had covered seats rather than the wet ground (with beer holders, no less!) and my little sister was with me—the next best thing to a hot, doting date!
Last night, in my quest for countrification, I learned a few minor things that I shall pass along in the spirit of country music education:
1) Make sure chicken strips are cooked before eating them.
2) If the concert shirt seems too small, it is.
3) The aisle is great for dancing in the aisles and getting out to the restroom 2,782 times during the show after enjoying a Corona or two, but be aware that the heftiest drinkers will sit in the middle of your row, needing to leave for the restroom 5,782 times during the show.
4) Those heeled boots make a cowgirl’s legs and backside look lovely, but 4 hours standing on sloping concrete can make even the most ardent cowboy (wannabe) boot-lover long for Uggs.
5) Always add an hour to the real start time of a concert.
6) Opening act who?
7) It is well worth the extra $25 for VIP parking. The walk to the venue isn’t bad, but the hour in line to leave is not a lot of fun at
midnight.
8) Free shirts from Axe are about as impressive as Axe commercials. 9) Always a good idea to take little sister to country concert--when she wins an Emerson Drive CD, who better to give it to but big sister?
10) Where was Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker?
11) Don't sit on your camera. 12) If you order a Mexican palm leaf cowboy hat like on Kenny's album covers to wear to his concert, make sure you measure the circumference of your head to get the right size. I went with my military hat size, which turned out too small, which seems strange when the website says the hats run big...so has my clueless brain grown? Try as I might, I could not get that hat to fit, so I just wore my faded black straw. Ah, well. He wore black, too.
13) Never, never, never assume the camera batteries are still good. I could only snap a few pics before mine quit on me. Pretty basic stuff, right? At least I remembered the tickets this time...
Another KO for the champ!
40--See, I'm not that much older--only 7 months!
And I did it! I splurged, even as I'm saving to pay my tax bill next month, I splurged on tickets to see Kenny in June!
Hoping to have a date to take with me by then...I will definitely take pictures and provide details!
EXPRESSES MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY
Steve
Holy
Recent Comments