the one about my rockin' concert experience

I am SO not a concert person. I hate loud music. I hate crowds. I hate sweaty bodies. I hate jumping and shouting. But after last Wednesday night.... all of that has changed!!!

A few months ago, sweet little Shae invited me to go to a concert.... again, something I seldom do. It was a group that I really like, “Panic at the Disco,” but I still declined. I just didn’t feel like I should spend money on myself for something like that. Well, it turned out that the mom of one of the girls bought all of the tickets. The selfish me thought, “Dang, I knew I should have gone!” Anyway, one of the girls flaked at the last minute, so I got to go after all. We left around 11:00 am and got to SLC around 2:00. We had stopped in Park City for lunch at mine and Tara’s FAVORITE restaurant, El Chubasco. Every time we have gone to the city together, we have stopped in Park City and eaten there and we love love love it! It is authentic Mexican food and they have a big salsa bar in the middle with probably 25 different types of salsa. You get chips with your order, so you can just sample everything. YUMMY!! Once we got to Salt Lake, we headed straight for the mall, per the teenage girls requests! We killed a little time there before heading to The Grand America Hotel. Part of our group of 11 stayed there. (Our car had to come home that night because Tara, Shae and I had a family reunion the next morning.) The same mom who bought the tickets paid for those girls to stay at the hotel. She also hired a Hummer Limo to come pick us up at the hotel. She told us to valet park and charge it to their room then catch the Limo to SaltAir. SWEET! The limo was so awesome! I don’t think I have ever been in a limo. Even on my wedding day, we forfeited the cost of a limo and I rode in my Grandma’s old beat up van!!! (A memory I will never forget!) Anyway, when we pulled up to SaltAir, you should have seen the looks we were getting from the crowd. They started freaking out and waving at us. Then they started pulling out their cameras. I was seriously so embarrassed to get out of the limo. I just knew they would be thinking, “Who is the old fat lady and what is she doing here!?!?” So I told all of the cute dressed up young girls to get out first, so by the time I got out, they would have already figured it out and hopefully turned their attention elsewhere. We had to wait in line for a little while, then they finally opened the doors. It wasn’t too long before the show started. The first band to play was called Phantom Planet, and the second was The Hush Sound. They were both really good. I super duper liked them both. I am really not a crowd person, so I stood in the back and enjoyed from afar. I knew that once Panic! At The Disco came, I would have to get in the crowd for the whole concert experience, so I was saving it for them. When the third band, Motion City Soundtrack, came on, I hung outside for most of it. I could still here them just fine, but they were just a tad to heavy for my taste. I know Shae, I am a pansy. Although, while I was out there people watching and beautiful sunset watching, I saw several interesting things. I will mention a few...

Interesting thing #1. Men will hit on ANY woman for a cigarette. There were some pretty nasty ladies out there who thought they were pretty hot. Lots of really cute guys gave them all of the attention in the world for a cigarette. Sick.

Interesting thing #2. I am not very “up” on the bands, so I have no idea who I was watching here, but it appeared that one of the band was filming a music video or something. One of the guys was all decked out and standing up on a hill overlooking the sunset. There were video cameras all around him and they kept making him play a certain part of the song, then walk down the hill. It was super cool and interesting to watch, even though I still have no idea what I was watching.

Interesting thing #3. A couple of Members from the band, The Hush Sound, must have been impressed with the sunset too, because they came out and were taking tons of pictures right by where I was sitting. They were posing and being silly, it was super cool. They kinda talked to the crowd for a second, too. I love people watching!

By the time Motion City Soundtrack was finished, I thought I better go take a potty break and prepare myself for the one song I was going to fight the crowd to listen too. I was seriously so nervous to be in the middle of all of those weird-o’s. I really like my space and I don’t like being touched by sweaty people that I don’t know. I just knew I couldn’t handle it for very long. It was standing room only and these girls had fought for a place up close to the stage. I got all of my nerves settled down and pushed my way through. The band finally came out and I was so caught up In the excitement. I was LOVING it! I didn’t want to leave. I and I didn’t until they were finished playing!!! I totally stepped out of my comfort zone, and I really kinda liked it there! That is so unlike me! I told Tara to take a picture of me so I would have proof that I was really rocking at a concert. She was trying to get a picture of me with the band in the background, but I kept blocking them band with my big old arm! She finally told me to keep my arms down!! It was funny.

It was so much fun. And even though I am old and married, Those boys were SO cute and put on such a good show! I LOVED IT! The lead singer, Brendon, was so cute and his facial expressions were so great. Yeah, we were that close that I saw his facial expressions. Ryan, the lead-guitarist, was super cute too. We could see him the best because he was on the same side of the stage that we were.

When the concert was over, we went outside and our limo was waiting for us. We posed for a quick picture in front of the tour bus, then We hoped in the limo and headed back to the hotel. I look at that picture now and I am kind of embarrassed. There were 3 ladies that went to the concert with these young girls, Me, Tara and Taylor’s Grandma. But I am the only “old” one in that picture. I just got so caught up in the excitement! I hope I didn’t embarrass poor little Shae. I sometimes forget that Shae is 14 and I am 29. She is so cool and I totally think of her as one of my BEST friends. So I just hoped right in the middle of those girls and posed my butt off. I’m such a dork sometimes!!!
Here is an interesting fact... Did you know Shae was my flower girl!?!?!? Anyway, after we got to the hotel, we hoped in Tara’s Armada and drove home. Yuck. We didn’t get home until about 3:30 am. It was killer. I have still not recovered, because we had to get up and head out for our family reunion. (I’ll blog about that later.) Anyway, the concert was a total blast, and something I will not soon forget. Really, for me, it was a once in a lifetime experience. The concert, the limo, the cute, fun girls I went with, it was all just awesome! I am so glad that the one girl was in trouble and her dad wouldn’t let her go, because then I got her ticket!! Not that I encourage bad teenage behavior or anything! (Wink, wink!)

Now this is my shout out to Tara. Let me just tell you.... This woman is a party animal. And she is like the energizer bunny. She never stops, and she will outlast, outdance and outrock anyone! We had so much fun together. We always do! We always have inside jokes, we always turn bad situations into funny ones and we ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS laugh our guts out! THANKS TARA, the ROCKSTAR!!!

Anyway, thanks Tara, Shae, Taylor’s mom and Lauren’s Dad!!!!!