Monday, January 23, 2012

Concert #3 - Moves Like Jagger

Back in August, we and some friends decided to attend a concert together at Hershey Park. The line-up was too good to pass up! Not 1, not 2, but THREE great bands! Plus, the tickets were VERY reasonable (maybe because it was outside?).

The opening act: Gavin DeGraw
The main acts: Maroon 5 and Train

Amazing, right?!?

Only, there was one odd glitch. Two weeks before the concert, I was reading the news (daily habit) and couldn't believe my eyes. The opening act had been attacked! What the heck are the odds of that?! And it was a crazy story, too.

He was randomly attacked by thugs on the street. They beat him up. They had no idea who he was or that he's famous. He had a concussion, a broken nose, and several facial lacerations.

The story is insane. AFTER he got beat up, he didn't know where he was, so he was dazed and walked over a mile away from the attack.

That's when he stumbled and got hit by a taxi.

I kid you not.

I was pretty sure when I read the news that he wouldn't be able to heal in time to perform at the concert, but he is a professed lover of live performances, preferring that to the studio, and he vowed to return by mid-August.

Alas, it was not in time for our mid-August concert, as his doctors told him he needed more time to recover.

So, the night of the concert, they pulled some guy from one of the bands and had him perform. Meh. I was really sad that it wasn't Gavin DeGraw -- I really like his stuff.


Here are the eight of us on our lawn seats.
IMMEDIATELY after that picture was taken,
it started to rain.

See? Christie was being Zen about it.
Dave was not.

Our family in the rain.

Me and my sweetie

Our cute kids!!

First up was Train. Everyone went nuts when they came out. And they were great. They have SUCH great songs.

The plus about their concert was that they are great with the audience: they had images on the screen from local places that made the audience go crazy, they called people up on stage, they walked through the crowd, they talked to the audience, they yelled out things about Hershey, etc.

All of this was intertwined in their performance of all their songs. It was AWESOME to sing along to their songs (and, yes, we belted out the words to "Save Me, San Francisco").

TRAIN!
(I know. It seemed so self-explanatory).

Tons of local pictures --
I was trying to get a more obvious
"Hershey" picture, but it'll do.
It's the Bears (Hershey's Hockey Team).

Patrick Monahan was great. Very personable and fun.

Mother and daughter enjoying Train
Thing 1 is even wearing her microphone
concert shirt. :)

Next up was Maroon 5 and OMG, what a show!! They are incredible! I love to sing and dance and cheer at concerts. That being said, we were, at times, stunned silent by Adam Levine's utter raw talent. At one point, he played the most amazing guitar solo -- it was so good, I didn't even think to take a picture or video. I was just watching with my jaw dropped open.

Maroon 5

Mark and Thing 2 enjoying Maroon 5

Adam Levine is crazy talented.

It was a great concert. We really enjoyed it, despite the rain. The weather cleared toward the end of the concert and we made our way to a local restaurant for some hot cocoa and goodies to eat.

I'm really glad we got to this concert. I love that our kids are old enough to attend with us. We love introducing them to all kinds of music, so this was a lot of fun. Very different from Michael Bublé -- nothing can touch him. But great, nonetheless.

9 comments:

Emily said...

How fun! Dave and I went to an outdoor Dave Matthews concert in Albuquerque like a year after we got married and it was awesome. I still think we got high from second-hand smoke, even outside, but it was a fantastic concert.

I LOVE Maroon 5. Adam Levine is, well, sexy and very talented. When they were first making it big Dave and I got tickets to a very small venue in Park City to see him but didn't want to get a baby-sitter so I ended up selling the tickets. I still kick myself over that one.

Boquinha said...

Emily!! I TOTALLY agree about Adam Levine -- he IS sexy. I also think the guy is a mix of wonderfully geeky (in a way) and very sexy. I don't know how exactly he does it, but he totally pulls it off. Totally.

I hope you get a chance to see them again!

(P.S. I just added one more picture to the post that somehow didn't get uploaded before -- it's a fairly recent picture of the kids). It's cute -- check it out! :)

Dr. Mark said...

Oh, Emily! You didn't! when they come back around your way make sure you see them. It is a great concert.

Peter and I got high on second-hand smoke when the Hoarde festival came around to Park City back in '95. Lenny Kravitz, DMB, and Blues' Traveler. What did we think was going to happen?! It is still one of the best live performances I've ever seen.

Stacy, great recap. I was totally reliving the concert as I read your post, and any time I hear anything by Train or Maroon 5 I remember an awesome concert with my wonderful family and great friends.

Dave Johnson said...

What a great memory, so glad we shared it together. In the cesspool of Justin Bobo's and Black Eyed Pees, Adam Lavine is a true gem. The whole band is crazy talented, and they really get the whole Motown thing unlike any of their contemporaries. We were just listening to the Songs About Jane album the other day and remembering the show. I was also amazed at how well Patrick Monahan could belt out both Bono and Robert Plant - no easy feat, let me tell you. I remember being excited about the show and dreading the fact that we were headed to Arkansas the following week, trying to soak up (no pun intended) every second with you guys.

Boquinha said...

Cesspool -- lol! I remember feeling those same things, too. Bittersweet.

Anonymous said...

Well I'm a little embarrassed to say this after reading Dave's comments, but I've honestly never been to a concert I didn't enjoy, and I think that would even hold true for a Justin Bobo or Black Eyed Pees concert. Sounds like a great time.

Boquinha said...

Concerts really are fun. Wait until you see the next one I post about. :P

kara said...

2 of my favorite bands. Train is one of my very very very favorite. Love them. Jealous. Completely.

Boquinha said...

Kara!! I'm so glad you posted! It got me checking your blog, too -- I'm horrible about checking private blogs because they don't have a feed for Google Reader. Train is a bay area band -- is that part of the appeal? I miss you.