In my last post, I made a small request for ticket luck. I don't know if it was y'all or my new concert shoes (Converse. Love Converse), my Will Hoge shirt, my new jeans, clean karma, planetary alignment, or what exactly had to happen just right, but it worked. Oh, my goodness, it worked.
The story...
Mom and I (most of my stories start this way, just a heads up) headed out of town around eleven and went up to Shawnee to browse for awhile. I couldn't find any jeans that morning and settled on khakis. That just wasn't working for me, so I found some jeans for $12. Awesome, right? We strolled through the mall a bit, hit Walmart for the new CD and some snacks.
For whatever reason, Mom decided it was Time To Go, so we wrapped up the shopping and hit the interstate. After parking in the little roundabout (if you've been to the Ford Center/Chesapeake Arena you'll know what I'm talking about. if you haven't, it's impossible to explain) and headed to the box office. The room was entirely empty of customers. It was weird. We strolled up to the first desk and Mom simply asks, "What's the best available for tonight?" Box Office Lady replies, "I have to seats in Section 1, Row C, Seats 12 & 13."
For those of you who don't do concerts, let me explain what that means. First of all, floor seats are weird. Sometimes the sections are numbered. Sometimes they're lettered. Sometimes the sectioning starts at the back. Sometimes it starts at the front. So, when you're offered floor seats, you absolutely have to check the floor plan. There was every possibility that Section 1 would be the furthest section from the stage. Um, it was not.
Section 1 was the leftmost section as you're looking AT the stage, but it was also close to the stage.
Row C was the third row from the stage.
Seats 12 & 13 were the end of the row nearest the side aisle.
We quickly and happily paid for our tickets and almost literally skipped back to the car. We did some wandering in the OKC area and finally circled back around to Bricktown to park and find some dinner. After a wonderful meal at Chelino's, it was time to get ready for the show. I made sure the camera was ready to go, changed my shirt, and grabbed our tickets. Dustin Lynch was already performing when we got there, but we got to hear the hits.
Dustin Lynch
The set change was fairly quick and it was time for Little Big Town. I confess - last time we saw them I was quite unimpressed. They sounded fine, but it was a little boring. I wasn't expecting much better this time, especially as I was so hyped to see Keith Urban, but they were really good. They played the hits you expect - Tornado, Pontoon, Bring It On Home. They played some new songs. Then they did Fleetwood Mac's (or was it just a Stevie Nicks song? Either way) "Break the Chain." While they did a great job on it and I'd heard it before, I always get a little prickly when country acts do rock songs. I love rock. That's not the problem. It's just that you're never going to hear a rock band do a George Strait song - - there's just no reciprocity and it irks me. Well, they then say that they grew up on country and were always inspired by country. They then play this really reworked but (in my opinion) really creative and fun cover of "Elvira" by the Oak Ridge Boys.
Little Big Town
"Pontoon" attire
Here's the thing. If you even sort of like the song "Boondocks" you need to see them perform it live. If I ever created a Concert Bucket List, this would be on it. The song itself will probably outlive them, which is reason enough to see them perform it. I know they must sing that one song three times as often as any other song they have. I'm sure there are days when they hate that melody. To see them sing it live, you'd never guess it's the 20,000th time they've done it. They still put energy and emotion into it and it's amazing.
I just love equipment cases. I don't know why.
* * * * * * * * *
I'm going to take a minute and tell you about something that irritates me. Kenny Chesney is probably the worst about it, but most artists have some version of it. I'm talking about the stupid long intros before a band comes on stage. The drumroll or the bass-heavy, too loud, crazy obnoxious song. The lowering of the lights just to send spotlights everywhere. I've even seen where a band will cut the lights and arena music and let the audience just sit for a minute or two.
* * * * * * * * *
Keith Urban just walked on stage. Yeah. No Lights. No announcement. No buildup. One minute we were watching techs do last minute checks. The next minute I heard the arena erupt one section at a time. He came on stage by himself with a banjo. One by one his fellow bandmates joined him. The show had begun.
Opening jam session
My end of the world had two guitarists most of the night, which is always fine by me. The show was just amazing. I've been to my fair share of shows, and I have to tell you that I didn't notice anything - which is a good thing! Aside from a few moments where the sound got a little "fuzzy," the whole thing was pretty technically solid. No squeaking mics, no overpowering bass or treble, none of those techy things that can take you out of the show.
But let's be honest - if Keith Urban is on stage not 40 feet away, life's gonna be good. Some of the highlights? Sure. At one point he came to our side, our end. I'm a little weird in that if this is my seat, this is where I'm expected to stay. I was really relieved and happy to see that both the artist and the security staff actually encouraged people to gather around the corner. For the length of a song (half a song?), he was literally a foot away.
Before/as we moved from our seats and toward the stage.
Maybe an elbow got nudged and resulted in the angle?
Side note: I was leaning against an amp/speaker and it made my toes tingle. :) He also does this thing in almost every show where he goes to a stage set up in the back of the arena. He went through the crowd on our side and Mom was able to graze his arm as he walked by. Then she got him again on the way back. I didn't, but I did get to see him RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME as he walked by, so that was cool.
What else? He's such fun, it's unreal. He played a bit of "Boys Round Here" by Blake Shelton as he came back to the front stage. Little Big Town came back out with him to sing "Gonna Fly." He did bits of "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma." Dustin Lynch came back out to do "Kiss A Girl." He always has his band have solo time, which is interesting because they always choose such varied music. I've been to so many that it's interesting for me to see if the band has changed and/or if they've changed their songs.
Little Big Town and Keith Urban
"You Gonna Fly"
(extreme side view due to being the same song as the corner performance and we hadn't gotten back to our seats yet)
Dustin Lynch and Keith Urban
"Kiss a Girl"
(and an OKC Thunder logo... :) )
He brought Miranda Lambert on stage to sing "We Were Us," an awesome moment. He's so cute sometimes. He bowed to her as she came on stage. Their performance of that song was spot-on and flawless. She seemed so excited to be there and, of course, the crowd exploded.
Keith Urban bowing to Miranda Lambert
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert
"We Were Us"
Since I'm basically a high-functioning toddler, I was immensely amused and delighted when confetti flew through the air. See, that was a first for me. Sure, I've been to shows with confetti and even been where I could get some, but I've never been on the floor and absolutely showered with it. Such fun. Some people found it annoying, but that's one of the memories that's stuck with me - looking up and feeling like I was in the most amazing snow globe ever. Ha!
CONFETTI!!!!
My mom took this shot and it's perfect. She got it as the paper was going up but hadn't yet fallen to obstruct the view.
As if the night wasn't already damnnearperfect, Mom and I both somehow managed to get a pick from the guitarist. The show was a solid two hours long from walk-on to offstage. Once the house lights came on and my senses started to try to acclimate to normalcy, I couldn't stop grinning. We turned to leave ... and couldn't. The aisles were flooded with people. Without the overdose of adrenaline and endorphins, my feet suddenly hurt, my head was fit to explode, and I was dying of thirst. I opened my mouth to whine and had to stop myself. Complaining about anything at that point would have been completely ridiculously stupid. One lady who was lucky enough to get a printed set list was kind and let us take a picture of it while we waited.
"This is so bogus. I want to leave," I said to my mom.
"This is bogus, isn't it?" random concert lady, in a teasing tone.
"I know! I just want to leave," I whined with an exaggerated eye roll.
"Right?" she agreed.
"No one has any sympathy for us at all, do they?" I asked, barely able to make myself audible.
"I don't think we deserve any, either," she replied.
I like this one just because it's an action shot.
Guitars and tattoos and long hair and jeans...
The final bow
The official set list
From my phone.
You can clearly see the amp/speaker I was next to.
My phone doesn't zoom, by the way.
Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert
I thought the colors were pretty.
The very end, after he grabbed hands and waved at the crowd.
This is from my mother's phone.
It doesn't zoom, either.
She obviously got closer when he came to our corner.
:)
Light the Fuse Tour
October 19, 2013
Chesapeake Arena
Oklahoma City, OK
Show began at 8:56pm
Long Hot Summer, Sweet Thing, Told You So, Stupid Boy, "here to have fun" speech/reading signs, Even the Stars Fall for You, Blackbird/Gonna Fly with Little Big Town, Cop Car, Without You, Good Thing When I See It (Idk real title; it's new), drummer solo, Kiss a Girl with Dustin Lynch, thru the crowd to the back, snippet of Won't Get Fooled Again, bassist solo, Days Go By, You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma, Once in a Lifetime, Better Life, back to the main stage, Boys Round Here, guitarist solo, We Were Us with Miranda Lambert, Little Bit, Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me, Somebody Like You, confetti... ... bit of Grace of God, REO Speedwagon's Keep On Loving You, Tonight I Wanna Cry, last guitarist solo, You Look Good in My Shirt. End 10:53.
All in all, it was a wonderful day. I loved the concert. I mean, you put me in a room with loud music, pretty lights, special effects, and talented guitarists and I am one happy little chick. The seats were spectacular. The people around us were patient, involved, excited, passably sober, and hygienically conscious. The show itself was well coordinated and technically sound. Taking all of those small miracles into account, would you like to know my favorite part of the night?
My absolute favorite part of the entire situation was my mom.
She was so excited to get the tickets.
She was so giddy when we got there.
She enjoyed the show all the way.
See, she's really the Keith Urban enthusiast. That's her guy. I mean, I'm a fan but she's really the driving force in the Keith fascination. She's the only reason I even went to our first Keith Urban show nearly a decade ago. Seriously, he's the reason I finally went to Nashville, to Houston, to the Grand Ole Opry, to the Ryman Auditorium. And I went because Mom wanted to see Keith Urban.
Seeing her face after she had her opportunities to make that fleeting physical contact was worth every single penny of both of our tickets. She was so ... hold on, I'm searching my vocabulary... happy. In the purest sense of the word, she was happy. She was just overwhelmingly happy and I was so very grateful to have been in that moment with her.
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