Saturday, March 24, 2007

AI Live: Disappointing

Andrew has been gone for work all week. It has been fine. The kids were pretty good and we stayed super busy, so the time flew by. I have been looking forward to my date with him ALL week, though. I was SOOO excited about it. Chris Daughtry was performing a free concert with his band. Being a HUGE American Idol fan, AND a huge cheapskate, this was the perfect date for me!
Ready to rock!

We got a babysitter for the kids and headed downtown. We knew the crowds would be crazy, so I told Andrew that we should leave early to get a seat. The news reports had said that they expected about 20,000 in attendance and only about 7,000 would be able to even SEE the stage. I wanted to be one of those 7,000. We found parking in a questionable lot where we prayed that our car would still be there when we were done. Then we took a hike down to where the concert would be.

Thank goodness we are tall, because we ended up toward the back of the crowd, but it was filled with unusually short people, so we could see the stage really well. First we listened to an opening band that was pretty good...until they started dropping cuss words and a political tirade from the stage. Boo on that! We came to listen to music, not Bush-bashing.

There was about a 45 minute break between the opening band and Daughtry performing. That was WAY too long. I was very impatient and ready to get out of there. It was very smokey and then some loud, profane people ended up standing right beside us. I was anxious to leave, but had to catch a glimpse of Daughtry first. We stayed for his first song and then took off. If we could do it again, I would've skipped the opening band and just come down for Daughtry. We were on a side of the stage that was less crowded and I think we could've seen even if we had shown up late.
This was NOT our side of the stage.
Look at ALL those people!
They said that 23,000 showed up.

Daughtry is such a GOOD band. They sounded awesome. I wish we could've listened to them longer, but my lungs were screaming for some fresh air.

Daughtry rocks!

So, I guess what it really comes down to is Andrew and I were naive about what kind of environment it would be. Free downtown concert=lots of alcohol, smoking, and profanity. Lesson learned. We'll remember that for next time.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's too bad dumb people have to ruin things like that. It sounded like such a fun date idea. Do you usually do your bangs like that? They look cute!

Jayne said...

You are a brave girl. I don't like big crowds.

OK, I know I should've posted this under your Ultimate Drive for the Cure post, but by the time I got there you had lots of comments and I was afraid no one would read mine. So I hope your family and other friends read THIS:

What Andrea left out of her post is that she has close friends with breast cancer. I'm one of them. She has watched our kids countless times when we've had doctors appointments. She supports events like the BMW Drive and the Race for the Cure.

Andrea shows up for her friends, plain and simple. When it's time to cry because of what cancer has stolen, she's around for that.

When it's time to laugh and carry on and have fun and not invite cancer to the party, she's there for that too.

Ang said...

I remember when Forrest and I decided to go to Lalapalooza early in our marriage (it was a huge traveling summer concert w/ lots of alternative bands) and feeling so distinctly out of place. I think I was wearing a yellow shirt, or a purple shirt--something bright--and I stood out like a sore thumb because everyone was wearing black. It was hilarious because here were all these people who thought they were nonconformists, but when they got together they all looked exactly the same.

I think we're just getting old, too. (Even you, young Andi!!). Anymore I think we'll just go to conterts that other 30somethings might attend. (Forrest and I might go see Morrissey when he comes to Utah in May, for example. No 20 year old headbangers at that one!).

A 45 minute wait between bands is WAAAAY too long. I'm glad you got to see Chris, though. He was my favorite by far last year, and there's nobody this year I like nearly as well.

Anonymous said...

I totally missed AI last year but have seen a few things this week about Daughtry looking like Mr. Clean, heehee. He kind of does:) Well, at least now when your kids want to go to a free concert when they're teenagers, you can tell them no because you KNOW what happens at them, not because you just THINK you know what'll happen. See? Smoky, loud concert = good future parenting moment:)

And that was a really nice comment your friend Jayne left up there, too. I guess we can add "humble" to your long list of good qualities, too, Andi:)

Anonymous said...

When I saw the picture of the crowd with their hands in the air I thought it was a generic picture you'd pasted onto your blog - but that was live in and person. Wow!! One of the things that dad learned while he was a Policeman was that "Free" = all of the things you listed. He had to work at so many parades and 4th of July Fireworks and deal with all of the things that go hand-in-hand with that for 20 years - Thanks for your great blog and I loved reading Jayne's sweet and beautifully written comment and getting to know her a little bit more -

Love,
Grandma Sweat

andrea said...

Amy--I don't like my bangs that way and when I saw the picture I actually thought, "Did my bangs look like that all night??" :) Thanks for the compliment, though.

Jayne--You are TOO nice! You forgot to include the part that I ask my survivor friends to watch my kids for other things like all-day temple trips, so I get re-paid (and then some) for watching yours. :)

Mom--I have to confess that these are generic photos that I took off the web. I was told that there were no cameras allowed, so I left mine in the car, but then they didn't even check us and tons of people had their camera phones and were filming, so I wish I would've brought it!

Anonymous said...

I am so jealous you got to see Daughtry, even though the environment wasn't that fun. I was planning on dragging David to it, but we ended up being out of town. Do you have his new CD? I love it!

Natalie