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 