Rock Stars

{and all of a sudden I have about 4 ideas for posts waiting in the wings. I suppose it would be best to work backwards, from the most recent stuff back through the weekend. Bear with me as I settle back into my groove, dearies. }


Sometimes Nate and I like to pretend that we are REALLY cool. You know, jam out at rock concerts, stay out entirely too late pretending that we don't have to work in the morning, and scream our faces off to the point of laryngitis. Yeah, we are that old couple attempting to be rock stars. I'm sure it was obvious to the 12 year old girls sitting next to us (no, I am not exaggerating. They were literally 12 years old and texting up storms on their ultra cool cell phones. They frightened me actually).

So yeah, we went to see Jack's Mannequin and The Fray on July 4 down at Summerfest's Marcus Ampitheatre. And OMG....it was so worth the pure exhaustion the next morning when I had to work all day. My raspy voice was all the rage with my patients, let me tell you.

First of all: I had only heard of Jack's Mannequin with a vague passing on the radio. I actually looked up their songs on iTunes before we left for the concert to see if they were worth our time. I immediately told Nate, "I think we'll like them" and so we made it early enough to catch the entire opening acts. (Yes, I realize that makes us even bigger dorky old fogies). Jack's Mannequin was the freaking bomb. Those boys performed their hearts out, as they literally dripped in sweat and flip flopped around the stage in a whirlwind of awesomeness. I asked Nate during their show, "How many cans of Monster do you think they just pounded backstage?" It was ridiculous, you guys. I loved all of their songs and found myself bee-bopping around in place throughout. In fact, we got home and bought one of their older albums from 2005---Everything in Transit---because it seemed to have most of our fave songs from the concert. I think 'Dark Blue' and 'Bruises' are two of the best but I'll let you know once I listen to them a bit more.

So then came the big dogs: The Fray. Let me start by saying that I have always loved their first album "How to Save a Life" but their newest self-titled album has been on heavy rotation in our house since February. When we heard they'd be at Summerfest we immediately bought tickets and we sort of splurged on actual seats....in row Z and right in the middle. That put us less than 30 rows back which meant we were surrounded by some hard core fans, thus becoming highly entertaining to observe the drunken fans weep for joy with nearly every song. I love people watching at Summerfest and concerts are always the best.

By the time they finally came on after Jack's Mannequin it was already pretty late and I might have stifled a yawn or two in anticipation. But then all the lights went down, the crowd went wild, and these pimped out keyboard synthesizer sounds started playing. Then the lead singer, Isaac, appeared with a beam of light from behind and I started snapping away:


Now lets back up a second. I called before the concert to see if The Fray allow cameras into their show, since every artist is different.

Old dude on the phone goes, "Sure, a point and shoot or camera phone would be fine."

So I go, "Uh, well what about an SLR?"

And old dude was all, "What is that? Like a professional camera? No, those aren't allowed."

Then I tried to backpedal like, "Oh, it's not really a professional camera, no zoom lens or majorly huge body or anything. But it's definitely bigger than a P&S."

The guy eventually told me it should be fine, but Nate was convinced that it wouldn't fly and he really didn't want to deal with walking all the way back to the car if we had to leave it behind. I concurred but of course, as soon as we stepped into the Ampitheatre, my eyes immediately flocked to not one but TWO people with SLRs. Ugh. So not fair! My little P&S just has such crappy low light capabilities and thus, all of the pictures we took are crappy. But I did bother to take a bunch so I must show you anyway. Just imagine all of the beautiful bokeh I could have captured with the amazing lights on stage! Break my heart right now.

Anyway, back to the concert. Their set was insane and full of lights and sparkles and entertainment. A few times while the lights were flashing different colors and glowing I thought to myself, "Huh, I could see how this would make some people dizzy and want to pass out." And yet, we just thought it was fascinating. We are easily entertained, you see.

The lights:







My only semi-decent picture of Isaac rocking out on top of his piano. Be still my heart. Even though his pants were basically painted onto his body and I'm pretty sure he wears a smaller size that I do, I realize that all the kids these days are wearing painfully tights jeans so I cannot fault this rocker.


It just makes me chuckle to think of Nate attempting this new trend. I've seen some ill-fitting jeans on my man a few times and his thighs are quite the sight, let me tell you. His hunt for designer jeans went incredibly awry a few years ago and the poor boy is scarred for life, vowing to stick to the looser fitting styles. It's better for everyone involved, trust me.

So anyway, the concert was amazing. They played a butt-load of their songs and avoided a lot of the classic small talk some bands will do at concerts. The only complaint I have is that they did not play my ultimate favorite song of theirs, "Look After You." I almost cried when their encore didn't include my cut. But as a consolation prize, they did play my second fave, Kanye's "Heartless." I still think The Fray's version kicks the American Idol dude's version any day. So sue me:)

You know it's a good concert when you see a bajillion cell phones waving in unison. Gone are the days of lighters, my friends. Now we rely on computerized technology to show our dedication to rocking out. Observe:


All in all, it was a grade A concert. I'm not going to lie---both Nate and I decided that this concert only got us more excited for the big Coldplay concert in 3 weeks. Can.Not.Breathe.

So I ask you, my friends.....what are some of the best concerts you've attended? We all know some bands are amazing live and others not so much. Are you big concert goers? I've seen my secret boyfriend John Mayer about 4 or 5 times now, a little Tom Petty here, a bit of Kenney Chesney and Tim McGraw there, some good old fashioned DMB, and a horrendous performance by Journey. That one was the worst, but the others were all good fun.

Any others I must add to my 'must see' list? Do enlighten.