Before I met John, I thought I went to a lot of concerts. It turns out, maybe that wasn’t the case! John and I had multiple discussions about how we actually had very few common interests. Other than the part where he trained me to drink draft beer because it was cheaper than raspberry Stoli and Sprite….our major common interest was concerts. John would see anyone in concert once…….I conned him into going to Kenny Chesney once, and only once. He vowed to never do that again. Apparently for some reason a bunch of women singing off key wasn’t his thing.
Back in college, my brother introduced me to music by a band called O.A.R. We went to their show at the Madison (oy, does that make me old?) and I loved them, and Crazy Game of Poker even more! When John and I first started hanging out… he had an O.A.R cd in his Jeep, and later it was the first concert we saw together. For our Anniversary one year, he framed the concert ticket, and the CD cover. Over the years, we saw ALOT of concerts. We saw O.A.R probably 10 times together, yet he refused to let me get HEYGIRL on my license plates. (No, I didn’t get it for the new car….but it was my second choice!)
There’s something about music, song lyrics, and just the experience of LIVE music that can make a bad day a little brighter. I’m sure everyone has a song that triggers a specific memory, maybe the first time you heard it, or a specific lyric that resonates with you. The first time John and I heard “Better Together”, we KNEW it needed to be our first dance. I can’t hear Alabama’s “Mountain Music” without thinking about my Momaw playing it in the car when I was a kid. If you ever saw John at a concert…..he was in his element. If you ever saw John at BB Kings restaurant, that was John in his element times 10! When you are at a concert for some reason you can just unplug, sing, dance, and maybe have a beer or two (that’s my limit after the ZBB incident) without judgement, because if you are lucky, you are with amazing people who are just as into the music as you are! Speaking of ZBB, I remember when John first heard Chicken Fried. We were at Kouri’s, and I’m fairly certain we were drinking a cold beer on a Friday night when he Shazam’d it, and it soon became a favorite. It was one of his favorites to play on a juke box… and actually I still text Nate when I’m out and about and hear the song. John had played it at Hoops one St Patricks day, and Nate thought we were all lunatics for dancing around singing it! Side note….I learned a few months ago that Hoops is good, even when you haven’t been drinking half the day!
I have mentioned before that I think its important to spend money/time on experiences, rather than “things.” I have been to some AMAZING shows. Yes, I have seen some bands multiple times, but there are many that were a once in a lifetime experience. We saw Madonna at the United Center, and I’m fairly certain that John bought the tickets at Bergners on his lunch break. We saw Elton John simply because I was attempting to buy tickets from my phone in an effort to score Mumford and Sons tickets the next day. I was unsuccessful for that Mumford show, but rate Elton John at the top of the list! U2, Beastie Boys, Aerosmith and Run DMC sing “walk this way”, The Eagles, Blues Traveler, Shania Twain, No Doubt, and of course Dave Matthews Band, plus countless others. I’m going to run through a few examples of concert memories……because you can’t really make up some of these experiences. John, Brad and I went to Chicago to see Jack Johnson…..the car got TOWED and we spent roughly an hour trying to get to the towing company when we finally decided to just get a cab. The cab dropped us off about 3 blocks from the venue. (insert the emoji of the girl shrugging her shoulders) We went to see Eric Church, simply because John wanted to see the opening band, Blackberry Smoke. We actually left early because John wasn’t really digging Eric Church, but this gave him the opportunity to meet some of the members of Blackberry smoke, and have them autograph their CD and take a pic with us. Back to the whole Zac Brown thing, we are 90% sure we were roofied that night. We basically drank for 5 hours BEFORE Zac Brown started, with the only food consumption being nachos and mini corndogs. I wouldn’t really recommend it, and when we saw them again, I had one beer, so I could actually enjoy the show!
In the year of firsts, I knocked out a concert without John in the first week or so after his passing. Brad and I went to see Blackberry Smoke at the Limelight here in Peoria. I was deep in the “What would John want” phase, and I knew he wouldn’t want me wasting the tickets. In fact, the concert was on the day that we held John’s service. At any rate, this guy was super excited that his favorite song was being played, and he accidentally elbowed me in the back somehow. (at least that’s what it felt like). He apologized profusely, while double fisting his beers. He offered “you can hit me back, just don’t let your husband do it” referring to Brad. After the third time or so, I said he’s not my husband……then he started in on “don’t let your boyfriend hit me.” Finally Brad realized that he was talking to me and we started laughing. He ended his apologies with, “well if he’s your best friend….my phone number is….” Whaaat?! Did I somehow get hit on the day we put John to rest? It was crazy…..straight up shitshow story there!
This all being said, I may or may not have tickets for 8 different dates in 2018. Concerts were a part of my life before John, and they will continue to be moving forward without him. I will cherish the memories from the shows we saw together, and make new memories seeing ALOT of country music next year! I have always been a fan, but Johnny rarely let me in charge of the radio…..so I have listened to far more country music this year than in years past, simply because I can.
I have known that I wanted to blog about concerts, and there is one song lyric that I heard a long time ago that I was thinking about this morning. I switched the radio station just in time to HEAR THE SONG! It was a sign that I MUST blog about concerts!! The lyric is from a Bob Marley song; “one good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain.” Its true! A song, or live music in general can trigger so many feelings, and I never once have regretted spending money to have that experience, or taking the time to travel to see a show or three. I’m so excited to get to introduce my love of concerts to some of my favorite kiddos next year too!
Stronger Than A Fifth Of Whiskey 