Category Archives: Music

The last of the summer ‘o concerts tour


Tracey, myself and Kara at Sara Bareielles last week –
sorry for cutting off your face, Kara, but this was the only shot where
I didn’t have multiple chins and I worked to hard to make those go away. And it is my blog.

My summer ‘o concerts rounded itself out with the Sara Bareilles concert at Meijer Gardens – the most beautiful setting for an outdoor concert if ever there was one. I’ve got one more concert to go this fall – Boyce Avenue (who I linked to here) with my kindred-spirit-music-loving friend, Stef. And with that one I think I’ll have hit the BINGO of concert experiences (though I am missing a coffeehouse performance): stadium tour, outdoor festival, intimate(ish) amphitheater and small indie venue. I should make it a goal to make the rounds each year, though I don’t know that the budget will allow for that too often. But I have missed going to concerts so I’m glad that was added back into my social outings.

But speaking of Meijer Gardens, has anyone else noticed that the volunteer staff/security there seems overly militant? The average age of attendees at the summer concert series is probably a generous 45, mainly middle to upper class and yet I saw more security there than I did at the DMB Caravan, where the age and class of people were significantly lowered. In fact, aside from the people working in the parking lot and at the gate, I saw maybe a handful of security the entire day we were in Chicago with nearly 100,000 other people. Apparently wine-drinking yuppies are way more untrustworthy and riotous than pot-smoking gen Xers. Though both sets are equally entertaining to watch – I was partial to the woman who sat in front of us last week who would just buy three glasses of chardonnay at a time (all for herself) so as not to be bothered by numerous trips to the drink tent. You know how I appreciate buying in bulk.

I can only wonder what the Boyce Avenue concert will bring – likely plenty of college students since it’s in Ann Arbor. Hopefully we won’t feel too old, but then, that might be inevitable. At the concert last week, I was talking to Tracey about another female and she asked if she was older and I said, “No, not really, I mean, she was like 35 or so, so not too young.” Big pause… I’m only 2 years away from 35. Apparently I don’t think of myself as old but also not too young. Sigh.

 

Top Ten Songs that Make Me Happy

It’s no secret that I love music, if my summer ‘o concerts hasn’t tipped you off, perhaps I can refer you to my Music Monday library. So when life gets a little crazy, or off kilter, it only makes sense that music can set me straight and lighten my mood. And here are the songs that work best:

  1. This Year’s Love | David Gray (a no-brainer for me)
  2. Dancing in the Moonlight | Toploader (because the boys both love it so much and request it all the time)
  3. Stand By Me | Ben E. King (I’ve always loved this song but it also gives me fond memories of the summer I took guitar lessons and learned to play it and then had to play it in front of a room full of people and was expected to sing; thankfully someone else sang for me and yet I was pretty near the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life.)
  4. Open Skies | David Crowder Band (a song we sang in small group and that was played when we lit the unity candle in our wedding)
  5. A Page Is Turned | Bebo Norman (a love song about a how God brought a couple together – so sweet; I also emailed Bebo Norman before I knew who he was and asked him to play the song at my roommate’s wedding. Oddly, he never responded.)
  6. Linger | The Cranberries (you can’t hear this song and not sing along, at least I can’t)
  7. Free Fallin’ | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (cliché but true)
  8. Under the Bridge | Red Hot Chili Peppers
  9. Fields of Gold | Sting (this song was my favorite song for a very long time – even if Sting is kind of creepy)
  10. In My Life | The Beatles (melancholy, but happy making, none-the-less)

Top Ten {Tuesday}This post is linked to Oh Amanda’s Top Ten Tuesday.

Music Monday: What I’m Loving Lately

Back by popular demand (if I say it, it makes it true, right?)… Music Monday!

My mind is void of topics for this post, though I could tell you we had a great weekend and leave it at that. We had a great weekend (there was food, people and awesome worship in church; and Captain America and Chris Evans is attractive and Tommy Lee Jones was likable /long parenthetical).

This is what I’ve been listening to lately (and loving)…

Here We Go | The Fresh Beat Band (Yes, really. Liam LOVES this video so we play it often and both boys dance like crazy and now the song randomly pops into my head during the day – I cannot believe I linked to something from Nick Jr.)
Continue reading

Top Ten DMB Songs

In honor of attending the third day of the DMB Caravan this weekend, here are my top ten favorite DMB songs (in no particular order):

  1. Grey Street
  2. The Idea of You
  3. Satellite Continue reading

Music Monday: U2

I once accidentally told a guy I was dating that I loved him. This happened because we were on the phone talking about music and bands that we liked and then later, I suddenly said, “I love U2!” But what he heard was, “I love you, too.” He paused. I paused. Then I quickly stammered, “The band, U2 the band.” Crisis averted.

But boy did I, and do I, love U2. I am surprised that seeing U2 in concert was not on my life list but it is not (and I’m not adding it just to cross it off). But it should have been there because I have loved them since I first heard their music back in 1991 (there aren’t many bands that last 20 years that I also love – it’s pretty much just them with DMB a close second). So it was a no-brainer that when their 360 was scheduled to come to East Lansing that we would go. So we bought tickets in December 2009, in anticipation of the concert in July 2010. Then the concert got postponed because of Bono’s back surgery, woe to me. But at least it wasn’t cancelled for good. We just had to wait another year for it to happen. [At this point I would like to apologize to Keri for this post, because I’m truly sad you didn’t get to use your tickets the first time around.]

And boy did it happen. I’ve never been to a concert with this many people, at least not that I can recall. I did see Michael W. Smith at the Palace but I’m quite certain the audience was no where this big (nearly 70,000). Hurrah for cell phones with fancy panoramic photo-taking abilities.

Florence and the Machine opened and boy can that woman sing, even after running the circuit around the stage, she was belting it out. But then, I already loved her, “Dog Days” is my phone’s ringtone. But the latest single, “You’ve Got the Love is Outstanding,” check it out here.

And then came the headliners… it was a super-impressive stage that was outshone by an uber-impressive performance. I’d like to imagine U2 put on such a stellar show because they knew the majority of the audience had been waiting for over a year for the concert, but really, I think they are just outstanding performers no matter what the circumstances. [Can I gush more, yes, I probably could.]

And unlike the guy sitting behind us, who complained loudly about his seat and its price, we were very happy with our seats. [Note to that guy: trying to argue your case by noting that you only paid $25 to see Nirvana in Kalamazoo doesn’t really do anything because I was at that concert and it was 20 years ago; given inflation, you would pay significantly more for that ticket today, especially since Nirvana no longer exists and Kurt Cobain is dead (I’d imagine the price on miraculous performances is pretty steep). Plus, Nirvana is no U2.  So please SHUT UP! I’m sure he’s still complaining today.] But bygones, we loved our seats – we could see everything just fine (thank you ginormous screen that did really cool things).

   

  
They played all the songs we loved. Simon and I each went to the concert hoping to hear our favorites (“Sunday, Bloody Sunday” for him and “One” for me) and both our wishes were granted. They played everything, the only song I missed not hearing was “All I Want Is You” which we had on our wedding CD. It was everything I had always hoped it would be, U2 did not disappoint. Not in the least (cheesy bits and all, because at his heart, I believe Bono is kind of a cornball).


Please forgive the quality of these images,
my handy cell phone was the only thing I had on my person.