Summer Concerts I MUST Attend

Oh my gosh!  There are so many amazing concerts in Southern Claifornia that I have to be at this summer.  I was putting together my finances and looking for some fun thigns to do and I pretty much just want to be at a concert all summer.  Here are my top choices  for concerts in So Cal.  If you have an extra ticket you know I will be there!

Summer Under the Stars

Dierks Bentley with Chris Young  and Chase Rice  
July 25 Greek Theater

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Jake Owen
August 8 Greek Theater

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Go Fest

Miranda Lambert
with Thomas Rhett and Justin Moore
August 10 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

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Keith Urban 
September 5 Verizon Wireless

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Other Concerts that I have to be at this fall include:

The Eagles 
October 3 Honda Center

Elton John 
October 4 or 5 Staples Center

Tom Petty and The Heartbreaks 
October 7 The Honda Center

The first week of October could be the best week of my life.

Linking up with Nicole, because I will be treating myself to at least one of these concerts this summer!

Who would you love to see in concert this summer?

Guide To Coachella Valley Music Festivals

It is March 6th and that means weekends full of amazing music are only a month away from the California desert!  I love both the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals that will be taking place during April close to Palm Springs, CA.  I am still working out finances to go to one of them, but I thought I would share my tips for these events as you are probably getting ready to go if you bought your tickets early.

A Guide to the Coachella Valley Music Festivals 2014

When will I be able to rock out in the desert for three straight days?


Coachella has become so big they have to break it into two weekends.

Weekend 1 - April 11-13

Weekend 2  - April 18-20

Stagecoach is the weekend after Coachella.

Stagecoach - April 25-27

Who will be performing and when?

Check out these super helpful guides that the music festivals have put together!

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What should I wear? 

Clothing, but not much of it.  I personally am of the opinion that a tank top and shorts is the perfect amount of clothing to wear while jamming out in the desert.  It is really hot so I do not recommend you wear cowboy boots or any real Western wear if you are at Stagecoach.

I know Coachella tends to be a little more hippie in dress.  I am sure some hippies do not wear much clothing while others wear long flowy skirts.  You do you and be happy with what you choose.

This was a typical outfit for me during the festival and I was hot, but I survived and I kept my dignity.

[caption id="attachment_1032" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Please. notice I am clothed and holding a water bottle. I take my own advice very seriously[/caption]

That said plenty of people run around in their bikinis and speedos.  I think that is weird because there is no body of water at the venue (unless you count everyone's sweaty armpits).

Where should I stay?

There are lots of little town within 30 minutes of the venue in Indio.  In case all the hotels there are booked look at the following cities.: Palm Springs, Dessert Hot Springs, 1000 Palms.  I will say that the closer you can stay the better.  Driving a long way after a day in the hot sun and crazy party is not really that great.  I stayed in Desert Hot Springs and it took about 30 minutes to get to the hotel.  I had to fight falling asleep on the drive.

If you can I would recommend getting the shuttle pass to and from the venue.  Many hotels in the area offer shuttles to and from the event, which saves from waiting for forever to leave and if you happen to drink a lot while you are there you will keep us all safe to go back another day.

What can I eat? 

There are a lot of food options once you get inside the event.  Plan to pay more for food that you can get on the outside for a lot less.  Think of it like Disneyland, and you will be OK paying $15 for a burger.  I would also highly recommend buying a poweraid.  It was the best $5 I ever spent and gave me the energy to keep jamming.  There are also beer gardens if you into that kind of thing.  I will advice to drink slowly.  I had half a beer and wanted to die from exhaustion.  Please do not be that girl passed out at first aid, or the guy knocking someone over in your mad dash to puke.

What should I bring in with me?

Empty Water Bottles - Unfortunately you are not allowed to bring in your own water.  You can bring in empty water bottles and fill them up there. Do this like every hour.  It is hot, you are exerting a lot of energy rocking out in 100 degree weather, HYDRATE!

SPF 70-100 - Maybe this is the future mom in me but you are going to be in the sun for three whole days, wear some sunscreen!  Honestly getting sunburned at the event on the first day would be terrible.  I saw penny of people lobster red by the second day and they looked miserable.

Extra Clothes -  You do not have to but I brought an extra tank top one of the days and changed when the sun went down.  I liked feeling kind of fresh for the night and not as disgusting.

Sunglasses and hats - It is bright!  Cover up your lovely eyes and scalp!

Cameras - I wish I had taken more photos while I was at Stagecoach last year.  Really have fun and go selfie crazy!

Towels, Blankets, Chairs - You will want to sit down at some point. Bring whatever you would want for the beach.  I brought three beach towels because they got so gross each day.

Dang that is a lot of stuff!  Where will I keep it all?

You can rent a locker.  I think it was like $20 for the whole weekend, invest.

 What should I  expect?

Heat - I am not sure if you have picked this up yet, but it is hot!  Drink water, go inside the one air-conditioned restaurant there, stay at your hotel in the pool as long as you can before you have to go to the event to see your favorite band, find shade, be smart.

Celebrities - Other than the people performing all weekend many celebrities that are in town will stop by to catch their favorite bands perform.  If you see Ashton Kutcher or a player for the Anaheim Ducks hanging out, be cool, take a photo on your phone, write a blog about it, and move on.

What should I Avoid?

Getting Drunk - come on you paid at least $250 just for the tickets to get in.  Why would you get drunk and forget about it.  Have a few drinks if you want to and then move on.  You will thank me later.

The Confederate Flag Bikini Stand - I do not think I actually need to explain this one further.  Why would you were a Confederate flag at all?  Even if it is a southern pride thing, I just don't think you are sending out the right message.

Where can I find out more information on either event? 

Coachella 

Stagecoach

Will you be going to either or both of these incredible music festivals?  Which one sounds more like the type of festival you would love to go to?

Paul Simon and Sting on Stage Together

This last weekend I took my mom to go see Paul Simon and Sting on Stage Together.

The concert was so fun and I had a lovely time with my mom.  She grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel and then raised me on their music.  It is very much our mother daughter "thing.'  Around her birthday I saw a commercial advertising the show at the Honda Center in Anaheim and I knew I had to get tickets for her birthday earlier in the month.

We started off the night at one of my favorite places JT Schmid's and had my favorite meal of salmon, veggies and rice.  And a lovely banana briose, which I could eat every day.

After we stuffed our faces we went over to the Honda Center to get ready for the show.  I loved the audience at this show.  There were so many baby boomers there that I instantly felt young and amazing!  Of course there were some hipsters like myself there too, yeah right like I am a hipster!

My favorite people were the grown ups who never quit being a hippie at heart, dancing like no one was watching even though we were all watching and loving it!

Before we could go in I realized that the security for this thing was really tight and my mom and I were trying to smuggle in water.  I told her to "be cool" and not act weird when we were being let in so they wouldn't really look at our water bottles.  She said "I am always cool!" and then blew it.

The security guard asked to look in her purse and she told him, "I don't think so."

Goodbye water!

I am surprised they let us in with her clearly anti-establishment attitude. But we did get through and enjoyed the random musical styling of Paul Simon and Sting ensued. And I loved every minute of it!

I would have never thought to put Sting with Paul Simon, I mean they are so different, but it worked.  They were a little comedy duo too.

The show was so seamlessly executed that it was three hours of non stop music!  They would play a few songs together, solo, together, solo.... and on and on.

One of my favorite moments came when Sting sang "Roxanne!"  One of my favorite things to do is sing that song, very silly and it was 2700 times better in person. Also I thought about this friends episode the wold time which made me laugh.

The whole concert was so much fun and I chair danced with the best of them!  I usually stand as close as I can, but with the mom I toned it down but still had the best time ever.

This photo was an accident but it felt artsy so there you go. I am pretty sure it should be an album cover now.

My all time favorite song by Paul Simon is America.  The pictures that come to my mind when I hear this son are beautiful.  It also makes me want to get out and see more and more of the world.  I am pretty sure a lot of people feel that way about this song but dang it I love it.  I was a little bit bummed out that Paul Simon didn't sing it.  Sting actually sang it and did a nice job, maybe I almost cried

Overall it was a wonderful evening that I would recommend to anyone.  I had fun with my mom, jammed to some sweet tunes and remembered that I like other music more than country music (sorry country music you are fun, but I gotta go with my heart!)



Does anyone else out there love Simon and Garfunkel as much as I do?  What are some bands or songs that define your life?

Top Ten Concert Encounters

Yesterday I wrote about all the concerts I went to in 2013, which you can read here if you missed it.  It really did not seem like that many concerts, but when I looked at my post it was a lot.

I am not sure if you are the concert going type, is there a concert going type?  Probably not.  But I have encountered some of the most interesting people at concerts this year.  I am not sure if it is like this at every concert, or if it is just country music, or southern California.  Whatever the case, I have some stories to tell you!  So lets just dive in.  I present to you the top ten concert goer encounters of 2013.

10. The homophobic 50-year-old man standing next to me at Billy Currington at Angel Stadium.  There was a precious young man on the other side of me that was line dancing like a fool during the whole concert.  He was adorable and I wanted to be his friend.  The man next to me however, kept yelling terrible things to him and calling him names.  It was sad and horrible.  You sir are a jerk and no one likes you.

9.  The boy who was line dancing like a dancing fool at Billy Currington.  Even when jerks were yelling mean things at you. you kept dancing and shaking your hips like a Shakira song.  I commend you for being joyful no matter the circumstance.

8. The lady at Kip Moore that was "engaged" to his lead guitar player.  There were so many holes in her story it was like swiss cheese.  She claimed "Hey Pretty Girl" was inspired by her love for her man.  She also showed us photos of her with all the stars in Vegas for some award show.  The photos were just blurred images of the bands walking by here.  "Here I am with The Band Perry." then we saw a blurry photo of a girl with crazy curly hair running away.

7. Everyone at Stagecoach.  OK but really, Stagecoach is crazy. Men running around in speedos and cowboy hats with bud light labels pasted on them.  Girls wearing a bikini top of the American flag and bikini bottoms of the Confederate flag.  I am not sure it was the extreme desert heat or the copious amounts of beer that people consume at this concert, but y;all need to get your act together!

6. Hobbit at Chase Rice.  Although, almost every girl would totally go for a guy who poured half his bud light all over her and then announced loud enough for her to hear that he really just, "wants to get laid tonight," this girl has standards.  I know that you were 6 feet tall but this girl is 5'10 and you were a good 5 inches shorter. Too bad you were gross!

5. Our new friends from Fresno California.  Before Luke Bryan this summer we found  table and sat down and made some new friends.  They were actually nice ladies from a farm in Fresno.  They taught us the ways of the farm and FFA (Future Farmers of America).  I loved them because they were so different from us.  Apparently the hottest men ever played football in high school and were in FFA. That is all you need to be hot there.

4. The couples.  Oh my the couples at concerts are a mess.  Making out, fighting, leaving for an hour and returning after doing who knows what, taking 123129423798476238964 selflies in front of me while I am trying to look at Lee Brice.

3. Smoky Joe.  So while I was at Zac Brown Band this year in Hollywood there was a little man in a sweater vest who was sitting next to me.  He would leave for like 20 minutes, come back, call a friend and hold up his phone so his friend could hear the band and just hang up without saying anything, and smoke a ton of pot.  I am not kidding this guy was nuts about pot.  I know because he kept holding his arm up next to my face to call all his friends.  Smoky Joe, please take a shower and leave the drugs at home.

2. Girl who was mad that we wouldn't flirt with her boyfriend.  Again at Zac Brown Band, but with the people on the other side of us.  This guy ran over when the band started to play his favorite song and wanted to high-five us.  It was awkward because his girlfriend just gave us the stink eye. We didn't high-five him because she looked crazy.  Then she was mad at us for not high giving her boyfriend.  She kept yelling at us and almost tried to fight us.  It was weird and she was drunk.  We were sober and just watched the couple of the year leave.  They are a prime example of the #4 we encountered.

1. Michigan Hat Guy.  Really this list should have been called Michigan hat guy because he totally inspired me to write this post.  While at Kenny Chesney and Eric Church this summer there was a young man wearing a Michigan hat and drinking Bud-light with Lime.  He was on the prowl for a lady and tried to go home with anyone who looked like a lady.  He talked to us for a few minutes then moved on to the girls right next to him.  Every time we looked over he was making a new friend.  I am not sure he realized there was any music happening or that in order to procure a girlfriend you can't keep taking to other girls.  Whatever his story was he was a legend.  I tip my hat to you Michigan hat man.  You keep doing you and looking for your lady.  I have a feeling you will be much more successful at a Michigan game, but what do I know?



 

Honorable mention goes to the drunk man at Kip Moore.  Not only did you spill your beer on my head, gross, you also elbowed me in the head and then tried to "get with that."  Sorry my head is very important to me and you tried to damage it.  Also, you kept asking Kip Moore to kiss you so I am not sure you even like girls.

Let's raise  our huge Bud LIght with Lime and toast to 2013 and the amazing people I met at concerts.  Here's hoping 2014 provides even more entertainment, but from a greater distance.

Top Concerts 2013

I just love this time of year! Yes Christmas is great I love the week between Christmas and New Years. I love to look back on my year and reflect on where I have come from and where I would like to go in the new year. In fact my personal journals are full of entries from December 26-January 3 or so.

This week I am looking back at app things music relates. 2013 was the year of music for me and I wouldn't have it any other way. Below are links and photos from each of the concerts I went to this year. Enjoy and click the links for something to so in all your leisure time.

StagecoachKip MooreTim Mc GrawKenny Chesney and Eric Church Luke Bryan Zac Brown Band  Lee Brice Chase Rice 

Tim McGraw Sings Me Into Summer

First I just need to say the most obvious thing there is to say about Tim McGraw; that man has got it going on!  Seriously, he is in shape.  Not only do I know it, my friends know it, the world knows it, Faith Hill knows it, and Tim McGraw knows it.

Tim making sure you know he is hot!

I was really looking forward to this concert because it marked the beginning of summer for me.  The school year just ended on Friday and my first official act of summer was to sing the night away with three of my lovely teacher friends.  (Completely unrelated but the words "teacher friends" somehow makes me think of "sister wives." Some of us might be sister wives if Thor ever came around and wanted both of us.)

My Teacher friends not sister wives.

The concert was at the San Manuel Amphitheater in San Bernidino.  I had never been there, but I have to say it was the easiest concert venue I had ever driven to.  It was only 30 minutes away, free parking, and we did not have to wait for an hour to leave the venue.  It was a win win win.

The night was really fun and a great way to usher in summer.  In terms of music Tim had Love and Theft and Brantley Gilbert open for him.

Not gonna lie I was not really into Brantley.  I was under the impression that he thought he was really tough.  He even invented a new catch phrase "Stomp your ass."  I am pretty sure the old stand by of "kick your ass" is more intimidating.  How would one go about stomping another persons booty anyway?  Would the victim need to be laying on the ground on their belly for hte butt stomping to happen.  It sounds like a very specific situation that one does not find themselves in often.  Sorry BG but I just didn't follow.

I did like the radio hits he sang like "You Don't Know Her Like I Do." Stick to songs like that and not your tough guy persona and I will like you.  But I understand I am just one fan and you have to do what is right for you.

Love and Theft was good. I didn't know their music very well but they were fun and I liked when they sang "Angel Eyes" and a song about girls being hot in trucks.

See Brantley is so tough, even his backdrop is intimidating.

When the openers were done it was time for Tim and he was great.  I will say his voice sounded a little strange in the first few songs to me, but it was better in the middle and the last 8 songs were just great.  I loved seeing Tim just because I know all his songs.  Overall it was a fun concert.  I was able to spend more time with some great coworkers, sing my heart out, and do enough redneck people watching to write 27 blog posts if I so choose.

The strangest part of the night involved my hearing loss. I have never felt so deafened after a concert.  I am not sure if I am old or if the sound was really really really loud, but I still can not hear properly out of my left ear.  I am hoping that sleep tonight will clear that up or my reverse aging pills if they are needed.

I really liked two things that Tim did in the concert.  Part of the money for the tickets went to giving a wounded solider a home that is mortgage free for the rest of his life.  How cool is that.  Whatever your stance on war and the army I think we can agree that that is a really stand up thing that this concert is doing.  I wish more artists would do good things with part of the profits from their concerts.

The other thing I loved was how much Tim loved what he was doing.  He mentioned it at least 3 times and at the end of every song he just looked so happy to be there singing his hits for thousands of people.  I know it is easy to think; Well his job is so easy. He just has to sing and make people happy and I agree with that.  However, I was just reminded to find joy in my work and let others know about that joy as it might inspire others.

The Amphitheater was pretty cool.

 

This picture was taken by the drunk lady behind us.  I am glad I got a picture and that she did not throw up on me later in the night.

We are always pretty, even when waiting in line for the ladies room.

I hope you are having a great start to your summer and if you are in an office working all summer crank up the Tim McGraw, it always puts me in a good mood.