Summer Concert #3: Brooks & Dunn

Grrrrr. Of all the times to get sick, Ronnie Dunn picked a rotten one. And then they had the nerve to reschedule their DC concert for the weekend I'll be in Utah for my little brother's wedding.

I know he didn't get sick on purpose, and August 1st was probably the best fit for coming back through DC, but it still blows. Especially since this is Brooks & Dunn's last tour, so it's not like I can just go see them another time. Lame lame lame lame lame. Well I hope you feel better soon, Ronnie. And I hope all my friends enjoy the concert. I'll be having fun at the wedding, so I guess that's a pretty good trade-off.

Read More

Summer Concert #2: Montgomery Gentry

We're getting a little smarter with each concert, and adding friends to our mix. Both of these improvements make our tailgating more fun. We got out to Jiffy Lube Live a little earlier, and with a plan of exactly when to head into the venue so we wouldn't miss any acts that we wanted to catch (except for Heidi Newfield, who sings Jackie's favorite song, "Johnny and June"; sorry Jackie). The WMZQFest Throwdown was a lot longer than the Brad Paisley concert, so we had to go out earlier in the day, and thus we brought more food and drinks, including food and water that we were allowed to take inside.This time, our crew was 6, and it was a fun group. The fellas (above, L-R) were me, Wes, and Matt. The lovely ladies (below, L-R) were Jen, Jess, and Jackie, or J-cubed, as they were called on occasion.Below is a little artsy pic I took that I ought to try and sell to WMZQ. While I recognize it's really not that great, I like the composition and feel like it kind of embodies what these concerts are about for most of the attendees. Note: those cans are massive. Apparently they're about the size of two normal cans. Guess that's good because it means you don't have to go get another one as quickly, and that way you don't miss as much of the music.In between bands, we generally goofed off and played around. Jen decided that this hat was a good investment, and we all agreed with her. Doesn't it fit in perfectly?!? Plus, it gives her a lot more of an authoritative impression when she points at you at tells you to do or not do something, as shows here:It was such a long day that we did a lot of sitting in between Jack Ingram, Eric Church, Little Big Town, and Jamey Johnson. You can't be dancing and goofing around and laughing for 6 hours straight. Good call on telling me to bring the blanket in, you guys. We definitely put it to use, and more so as the night went on. Sometimes you want to sit up and people watch, but you don't want to support yourself. In these instances, it's nice to have a human chair to sit in, and it looks like Jackie was able to find a comfy one :)Here's another reason why Jen's cowboy hat was a worthwhile investment. Is it just me, or does this look like it could be a cigarette advertisement? Dang, that Wes is tough. Might be tougher if it were a guy's cowboy hat, but nobody was gonna shell out another $35 just to get this pic.
We were pretty tuckered out by the time Jamey Johnson finished and we just had Montgomery Gentry to go. Was nice that the sun had gone down, so it wasn't so hot anymore. Here's the whole gang, just recovering our strength for singing along at the top of our lungs for the last act.
Two concerts down, five more to go! Man, this is the life!

Read More