Last night – Day 29 – Jason and I went to see Sugarland and Little Big Town at the Zoo Amphitheater in Oklahoma City. (He drove Holly, but refused to use Aidan, claiming he could get by just fine without him. I felt a little bad for Aidan, but Jason was right and we did get there. He also determined Holly is definitely a girl’s car – not enough get up and go for him – but agreed she is comfortable and good for me.)
The concert: it was incredible, of course! Sugarland and Little Big Town are two of the most talented acts in 1music today. (I’m afraid we missed the opening act – sorry Randy Montana! I’m sure you were fabulous, too, and hope to see you somewhere soon) Their voices are exactly the same live acoustically as they are on the radio. The tone of their voices, their harmonies, they’re just so soothing and smooth. I could listen to both forever. And they are both very generous bands. They donated signed guitars to help raise money for the families of two girls who were in a car crash on the way to a concert at the amphitheater a few months ago. Sugarland also surprised the audience by right in the middle of the show signing a guitar and walking into the audience and handing it to a random person. So cool!
We were in an outdoor amphitheater, much like the Comcast Center (I think that’s the current name – formerly Tweeter Center, formerly Great Woods – Massachusetts people know what I mean), with the lawn seats, only there are ONLY lawn seats here and it’s more rustic. There are rock stairs (not concrete or wood) that you need to be careful not to trip over because you never know when one will be there, and there isn’t much lighting to be able to see them (except from the stage of course). We did see one guy go flying but he had a pretty good buzz going so laughed it off. Anyone who’s been to concerts with me knows I prefer the lawn seats, so this was great. And we had the most beautiful night for it, too.
So it wasn’t the show or the venue that surprised me – it was the crowd. They weren’t rowdy. No, they weren’t sitting down and just politely watching like they did at some of the London shows, but they also didn’t have nearly the energy that you feel and see at the New England shows. The entire crowd wasn’t singing at the top of their lungs so you could barely hear the performers. They weren’t all on their feet dancing and bumping into each other, laughing and smiling and taking pictures of each other. (Camera’s weren’t allowed – yes, I was very disappointed – and didn’t have much luck with the one on my phone.) They also weren’t falling over drunk and puking. I’m not saying I missed all those things, it was just strange. I’ve been to so many concerts, it was almost as interesting crowd watching as it was listening to the show.
People always seem so surprised that we like country music in the northeast. Maybe it’s because we have only really gotten the acts to start coming up there in the last fifteen years or so (and finally have two great country music stations – Cat Country 98.1 and Country 102.5 which draw in the big names), but I think we seem to show our love of the music, excitement and appreciation even more. No, not the drunk puking, but the constant dancing and singing from start to finish of the show – the absolute ‘I love this music’ vibe that even continues into the parking lot after the show with people singing and the music blasting from the cars. Believe it or not, we were out of the parking lot in a matter of minutes – that definitely wouldn’t happen back home!
I used to think that when so many artists told us at the New England shows that they love us (the crowd) so much, it was just something they said at every show. But now I’m thinking it’s not. I think they can see the difference as much as I did last night. I think I need to test this theory more on the road. I’ll have to do some searching to see what other concerts are in my path in the coming months…
Amy's America 
P.S. Did Lacey behave herself in the park? If not Uncle John may have to punish her when he sees her in a couple of weeks…..riiiiight–like THAT would ever happen! 😀
LOL! Thanks for letting Katy know about Sugarland and Lady A, Btw just heard on the radio tonight that they (Lady A) are up for about 5 awards on the CMA’s on Wednesday night and Martina is up for Female Entertainer of the year (one of Katy and my fav’s ) so it looks like it going to be a good show this year–I don’t always watch because it’s not always a good group of acts that is nominated but this year’s looks good–hope you can catch some of it that night–where will you be–New Orleans? Sounds like y’all had a fun day in Austin today, glad you got enjoy some of Austin’s premo weather….aaaand the company wasn’t too shabby either 😉
The company, the weather, all the pets- esp Lacey- were great! And thanks for suggesting I ask the GWTW story- ha! Afraid I didn’t get to watch the show but am sure it was great- would love to go to that one sometime!
Oh my gosh, you are so right about all of that! And I can’t believe you guys got same day JT tickets! I just read your comments to Katy and she was laughing, saying she was going to tell me about that earlier, but got sidetracked. So she now knows she needs to tell you when LBT and Sugarland are in town! 🙂
Soooooo jealous that you got to see BOTH these great acts in one show! They are two of my favorite current country groups. I agree that their harmonies and voices are soothing and enjoyable to listen to. I seem to keep missing them when they come to the Boston area, I really want to see them in concert. Maybe Katy will give me a heads up when they are in Austin and I’ll take a plane trip down to visit her for a week when one or both of these groups are there. Or I’ll just have to wait for them to come back to Boston next summer!
Katy and I had a similar concert experience in Baltimore a few years back when we were on our way down to Nashville for Fan Fair. We driving out of DC and heard on the radio that James Taylor was playing at the local Amphitheater (also similar to Great Woods) and that there were still tickets available!!! Unheard of in New England–same day tix for JT???? We quickly got off the highway and pulled into a local convenience store to get directions (before GPS and Google maps) and after quite a few back and forths with other customers we got directions and found our way there. I don’t know if it was a New Englanders bias and expectations but the Baltimore crowd was NOT as involved and into JT’s songs as I was used to up here. Some people didn’t even recognize some of the songs until the chorus!!!! Whereas Katy and I knew them after the first couple of notes or at least the first line!!! Maybe it was just because we expected more being dedicated JT fans but I think it was a similar effect that you saw in Oklahoma. But I agree that going to a country concert in New England is very different I think because all the fans WANT to be there and for so many years we’ve had to be “closet” fans in this area so when we get together with a whole bunch of fellow country fans we really let loose–just my take–don’t know how much it’s worth… 🙂