2012 Recap: 10 concerts this year! (pt 2)

Where I left off at the end of the last blog was at the end of April. Fast forward to the beginning of June, Sugarland, Lauren Alaina and Canaan Smith at Shoreline!! I joined the Sugarland fan club prior to the show to get presale tickets. I also put in for a meet and greet with them just to see what happened and to my surprise we got one!! I've been wanting to meet them for a long time too! Our seats we got through their presale were pretty good too :) Dave and I both got to go back and meet them because they give out guest passes to their fans which is pretty cool. The only other fan club I know that does that is Jake Owen's! It was so surreal meeting them, I tried to take it in but of course it went by too fast. They were both so sweet and down to earth! Dave and I got our picture taken together with them and that was it!

We went back to our seats and it was time for Lauren Alaina! She has so much spunk and she reminds me of Kellie Pickler a little. That girl can sing!

I was very excited to see Sugarland because this was my first time seeing them headline. I saw them back when they were opening for Kenny Chesney at Soldier Field a few years ago and could barely see. This tour they were doing was really awesome too because you could basically request songs and they would play them. A lot of people had signs with requests on them and Jennifer asked everyone to hold up their signs in the middle of the show. She brought a guy that just graduated from college and sang Tennessee for him. There was also a girl that was selected to sing with Sugarland from the radio winners. I entered that contest but didn't win, bummer :(

The sign says, "We're zookeepers, Sh..it Happens" I thought it was hysterical! 

This was a pretty neat sign! 

The guy they sang Tennessee for

The girl singing with Sugarland, I think her name was Lindsay. 

The next show we went to was a little different. It was part of a songwriters series at the Jason Stephens Winery in Morgan Hill, CA. I really love seeing these kind of shows because they are so intimate and you hear stories about the songs. We mainly went to see our girl Mallary Hope! If you haven't heard of her you need to look her up and listen, she's got a dynamite voice and amazing songs! Joining her was a songwriter named Jon Stone and Kelleigh Bannen. I had one of those "omg they wrote that" moments right when Jon started singing. He's written songs for Lee Brice, "Love Like Crazy", songs for Jerrod Neimann and Rascal Flatts "Me and My Gang"! Kelliegh Bannen was a really new artist that I've never even heard of but left the show wanting to download her songs! Amazing talent! Mallary sang a couple new songs as well that she had just written like the week before. One called, "I'm Alive" and one called "Girl Like Me". Both written probably while sitting on the bathroom floor :) Her birthday was the day or two before so we sang happy birthday to her too! We stuck around after the show to saw hi and I was wearing the shirt my mom got for me while seeing Mallary in Nashville. I didn't get many pics from this show because my camera died and my phone was almost dead :( Here are the few I got to take......

Me and Mallary! 

The next concert we had tickets for was The Brothers Of Sun tour in Oakland at the Arena. We went to this show mainly so we could see Jake Owen! Dave and I both got meet and greets with Jake and he remembered us from the boat in Nashville! It was good to see him! 

Dave and Jake

Jake and I- (why aren't you looking at the camera!! second time this has happened but oh well lol, next time I want a funny picture!)

It was nice seeing Jake playing for so many people but the venue and the setup of the show wasn't the greatest. When I bought our tickets I got us pretty good seats, or so I thought. The chairs were so close together on the ground level that I felt squished in like a sardine. After Jake, Dave and I went to walk around. We were told to go back to our seats by security because we were "blocking a path by standing there". We were standing right behind the pitchers mound and nobody was around. Ok, so we get back to our seats and people were sitting in them!!! We asked them to move because they were in our seats and the girls moved down one seat. We talked to the security and they did nothing......Dave and I at this point were really pissed so we left the show. I'm glad we got to see Jake but this arena needs to get their crap together when it comes to live shows. I know there has to be something I left out but I try not to remember this show because it was one of the worst experiences I had at an arena show.......never again! 

Sooooo onto a more positive show, Rascal Flatts, Little Big Town, Eli Young Band, and Edens Edge at Shoreline!! I got some really good seats through Rascal Flatts fan club, 5th row!! I applied for a meet and greet with them and joined Little Big Town's fan club for a chance to meet them too. I somehow won both!! Super awesome!! Little Big Town is another group I've been wanting to meet that I can cross off my list along with Sugarland! They were so sweet and down to earth as well. I told the girls how much I loved their clothes and that every time I see them they are always dressed so nice. I wore an older Little Big Town shirt to the show and they told me how much they loved my "Vintage" shirt! 

I went back to our seats for a little bit to watch the end of Eden's edge before heading off to the Rascal Flatts meet and greet.

I missed the Eli Young Band because the line was so long for the meet and greet and because I was at the back of the line! Dave got a few pictures and videos for me of them but it still sucks that I missed them!
I could hear them backstage but could not see!

When it was my turn to meet the guys, I got a big hug from Gary and I tried to tell Joe Don happy birthday but him and Jay were in the middle of talking.....I thought that was kind of rude that they ignored me but whatever....they were having an off day or something? Who knows!

Little Big Town hit the stage right after I got back and they were awesome!! They played a lot of new music off their new album Tornado because it was release week. They sang a bluegrass version of Lady Gaga's, born this way too that was sooooo cool!! I can't get over how great they are and I'm so happy they are finally getting the recognition they deserve!

Rascal Flatts up next! They played a lot of their hits and even took requests during the middle of the set! We left a little over halfway through because Dave had to work in the morning but overall great show!! One of my favorites of the year!

The last show I'm doing in this blog is the JT Hodges/ Casey James show we saw at the rodeo club a few weeks after we saw Rascal Flatts. I kind of already reviewed the Train concert we went to in our cruise blog right before this so if you want to read that blog for that review, it's there! The show at the rodeo club was acoustic and was pretty awesome! It was good to see JT again and seeing Casey James was kind of different but he grew on me and I like him now!

Casey James and JT Hodges singing together :) 

This year was a good year for concerts but there were certain people that I missed seeing. Hopefully Dierks Bentley comes back around here in 2013! We missed Jason and Luke because of the cruise and would like to see them again! Totally excited to see Keith Urban next year at Shoreline with Little Big Town. So far that's the only show I know of at Shoreline. There are a few others that are going to be at the rodeo club in April that I don't want to miss! Certain people that sing Cruise and Angel Eyes......:) Can't wait for 2013! 

2012 Recap: 10 concerts, what only 10?!?

So continuing with my year in review, it's concert time! Now for those of you that don't know, I am a concert junkie. When I was working at Nestle back in Illinois we would average almost 50 shows a year. Now since we've been moving around and ended up in California, this years total is 10. There are many factors as to why we haven't been to as many shows. A lot of it is because country isn't that popular out west so that means less shows. We only have one good country station in our area and when they do book concerts they get really good acts. They do have shows at smaller venues, mostly at a place called The Rodeo Club. We've only been there once and I really liked it, reminded me a lot of Joe's Bar in Chicago in a way.

 The first concert we saw this year was Jimmy Buffett! It was really odd because we got there and expected to see people partying in the parking lot but I guess the HP Pavillion bans tailgating! What?!? So they were tailgating somewhere else and didn't feel like going to find the party. The show was pretty good. We sat on the side of the stage and could see that Jimmy had a teleprompter just in case he forgets lyrics? That was interesting.

The next show we went to was Lady Antebellum, Darius Rucker and Thompson Square at the HP Pavilion. This time I got presale tickets throught Lady A's fan club and scored pit tickets! We got there right after doors opened and still got a spot right up front! I thought that was a little odd considering other shows I've been to with a pit that if you weren't there right when doors opened you didn't even have a chance of being near the stage! Thompson Square was up first and I thought they were so cute! I kind of like them but not a huge fan yet. I really like their current single they have out on radio right now called "If I didn't have you". They played about 5 songs. I'm not sure if I care for Shawna's style either, it's a little odd. The skirt she was wearing was interesting......
                                   
Up next was Darius Rucker! I've seen him a few times and every time I've been in awe because he's still Hootie to me! lol! He puts on a great show!

Then it was time for Lady A!!! During the opening of the show the platform that was lifting them up out of the stage stopped working so they had to crawl out onto the stage! The show must go on! It was the first time I've seen Lady A play a sold out crowd, it was amazing!! I've been a fan since the very beginning and I have to say that I am so happy for them!! I hope they continue to make great music and sell out shows like they have been doing!

 And by being right in front of the stage I got some pretty good pics of Charles :)

It was time to finally check out the Shoreline Amphitheater to see Zac Brown Band! It was crazy getting into the free parking lot they had because we left so late. We learned our lesson and will pay for parking from now on unless the free parking isn't in the back lot again with all the dirt. We got there just in time though. Shoreline reminded me a lot of the Tinley Park, IL amphitheater and the one we went to in Indiana. Zac Brown Band was awesome as always. During one part of the show they lifted Zac and the fiddle player up in the air by harnesses so they were playing high up in the air! That was so cool!! I wish I got a picture of it!

 The next day we went to see Train at The Fillmore in San Francisco. It was a general admission show and the place was a small venue for them so we got there really early. None of us thought to bring blankets or anything so we went to a Japanese dollar store and bought some blankets.....they were pretty small blankets but they still kept us warm until doors. I had to check my camera at the door because they weren't allowing cameras, that made me sad :( But once we got inside we got some great spots by the stage, about 2nd row. People are still beyond rude when it comes to standing room only....a whole family squeezed in next to us and proceeded to stand in front of us. Did I see them standing in line? No. That kind of crap pisses me off. Anyways....After a few opening acts it was time for Train! It was their album release week for California 37 so they played a lot of new songs along with some older ones. During "If it's Love", Pat always takes pictures of the crowd holding their cellphones in the air and we made it in one! We are in the far left in the picture above. You can see my blue plaid shirt, Dave is right behind me and Mike and Jadzia are on the right of us. During the show there were a lot of people taking pics with their cellphones so I took some with mine. They didn't turn out that great but at least I got some! And I took a video of Barry Zeto from the San Francisco Giants singing with them!

The last concert I am going to review in this segment is the KRTY 20th birthday bash at Shoreline with Miranda Lambert, Chris Young, Jerrod Neimann, Kristen Kelly, Frankie Ballard, and JT Hodges. Phew that was a lot of people! But we saw them all!! We saw Kristen Kelly, Frankie Ballard, and JT Hodges at a small side stage at the venue. They all played acoustic sets. I'm not really a fan of Kristen Kelly but Frankie Ballard put on a great show! I was really excited to see JT Hodges, really into his music! I got to meet him after the show and got a pic! He was really sweet!

Frankie Ballard

Kristen Kelly

Jt Hodges

Me and JT! 

My parents were also here visiting from Illinois. My dad won a meet and greet with Miranda Lambert and was so excited. My mom is a big Chris Young fan and got to go back and meet Chris through the fan club. I forgot to renew my membership for his FC so I didn't apply for a Meet and Greet. Chris asked my mom why she was so far from home lol. Dave and I had pretty good seats in the middle in the front so I got some great pics!
Jerrod Neimann was up first at the main stage and he always sings some fun songs! I love how the California crowd goes wild when he sings Bakersfield. There's a line in it about San Jose, that's where we live! :)

Chris Young followed him with another great set of music! Love the energy he has put into his shows! Now if you are a Chris Young fan you may have seen this next picture before, yes I took this!

Some lady had a sign down in the pit that said this, he picked it up and showed it to the crowd! This sign was probably based off a time when he threw some guy out of a show and called him an ass clown! I thought it was great!!
Miranda Lambert time!! She opened with Fastest Girl in Town and it was the bomb! She sang a lot of her hits and stuff off Four The Record. It's always great seeing Miranda, one of my favorites, rock the faces off of everyone at a concert! She had the other Pistol Annies with her so they played 5 songs off their new album too! Loved it!

I kind of saw what happened next coming, somebody was in California for the Voice and came out to play a song for us.....Blake Shelton!!! Miranda's Hubby!! And the crowd goes wild!! 

5 shows down, 5 more to review, going to break this blog into two segments. My hands hurt from typing lol!