December 18, 2013

That Time I Got to Meet The Zac Brown Band

And Getting Back Into Blogging

 

Well here I am, back for the first time in a long while.  This writing thing is strange.  I'll get on a roll and blog for months, and then I'll hit a little speed bump of writers block & it is so hard to get back into writing consistently.  Truth is, I've been extremely busy with work and I just can't seem to fit it in.  I want to get back into it though, on the regular.  I think this blog will be so nice for myself & the kids to look back on one day so I'm going to hold myself accountable to sticking with it.

 

Creag & I have been following The Zac Brown Band since we started dating.  He puts on such a great show & we try to see him when he comes into town.  He played in Dayton, OH last week and I was so bummed that we couldn't make it up to see him.  It was on a Thursday night and the kids had school the next day so it was a no go.  Luckily for my sneaky husband, I didn't check the rest of the tour schedule because on Saturday, after the kids left to go with their Dad, while having lunch with my parents at The Pub, he surprised me with tickets to see him that night in Lexington, KY with Eat & Greet tickets to boot!  Best.Husband.Ever!  I was so stoked.  We finished our lunch & did a little shopping with my Parents.  Even though I was super excited, I was nervous because I didn't know what in the world I was going to wear.  You know, I wasn't prepared to meet ZAC BROWN!   My Mom came through for me & bought me a new shirt & necklace from The Loft for my Birthday.  Now I felt ready to head home, pack our bag & head South to meet my favorite band!

 

 

The drive flew by, or was it just Creag going 90MPH the entire way?  Either way, we were both really excited & ready for the night ahead of us.  We checked into the Embassy, freshened up & then had a drink at the Hotel Bar while we waited for our cab to take us to Rupp Arena where the concert & Eat & Greet would be held.  When we got to Rupp, we were instructed to go to Will Call to get our wrist bands for the Eat & Greet, so that's what we did!  After we put on our bands, we got in a line and waited for them to direct us back to where we were supposed to go.  By this point, Creag & I were both starving!  We were toward the back of the line, so when we finally got in the room it was pretty crowded.  A small room with maybe 100 people.  Most of the people in there had already gotten a seat.  While we were in line for drinks, we decided that maybe one of us should go grab seats and the other would stay in line for drinks.  I pointed to two open seats right around where we were standing and Creag headed over to save them.  Those seats turned out to be the best seats in the room.  We were the first table that the band walked by when they came in the room & I actually got to shake Zac Browns hand right away!  One of the coolest moments of my life!  The Chef came out & introduced himself and let us know that we were going to line up by table for food.  The entire band served it up to us & Zac stood at the end of the line to talk to the fans.  I of course had to go introduce myself & rambled like a crazy lady.  I told him I was his #1 Fan.  Pretty corny, right?  I also told him that it was my Birthday & he could sing Happy Birthday to me if he wanted to.  He didn't sing, but he did say "Happy Birthday".  I guess that'll do! 

 

 

So the food was great, and even though we were both starving, I kind of lost my appetite.  I was so in awe of everything going on around me that I couldn't even eat.  Creag had no troubles finishing anything.  They had a Beef & Pork dish, the beef one having a rub that Zac came up with himself.  They also had a pasta salad, Collard Greens, Jack Knife Cole Slaw that was Zac's Dad's recipe and a few other things.  It was honestly all pretty good to be put together for that many people on the road like that.  While we were eating, someone came over from the Staff & asked Creag if he was Homer.  We were like, Homer?  No.  Not 15 minutes later, we looked up & Homer Bailey, the Red's Pitcher was standing there.  Creag said, "there's Homer".  Creag ran into him 3 more times that night & was going to ask for a picture, but didn't because he even felt like he was stalking him when really it was just coincidental that they ran into each other that much.

 

After dinner, we went out & got our places in The Pit for the concert.  There were a few opening bands that were just ok.  Zac came out at about 8:30 & THEY ROCKED IT.  I swear they get better every time that we see them.  They have such energy & play such a great mix of music, it is just an unbelievable experience.   

 

We heard Jolene live for the first time which was awesome.  They also played David Allen Coe, Guns N Roses, Metallica, Led Zeppelin & The Devil Went Down to Georgia along with so many of their great songs.  The kicker was when they came back out to do the Encore in glow in the dark skeleton costumes.  Who does that in country music?  No one, except for The Zac Brown Band!  It was such a great concert & a great night with the hubby!!  He really knows me too well and puts the biggest smile on my face.

 

Set List

 

1.  Jump Right In

2.  The Wind

3.  As She's Walking Away

4.  Natural Disaster

5.  Toes

6.  Whatever It Is

7.  Day for the Dead

8.  Who Knows

9.  Free/Into the Mystic

Acoustic...

10.  Day That I Die

11.  Why Don't you Ever Call Me By My Name (David Allen Coe Cover)

12.  At Last (Glenn Miller Cover)

13.  All Apologies (Nirvana Cover)

14.  The Frozen Man (James Taylor Cover)

 

15.  Jolene 

16.  Keep Me In Mind

17.  Goodbye in Her Eyes

18.  Knee Deep

19.  Sweet Annie

20.  Colder Weather

21.  Enter Sandman (Metallica Cover)

22.  Chicken Fried

 

Encore (in Skeleton Costume)

23.  Uncaged

24.  Kasmir (Led Zeppelin)

25.  The Devil Went Down To Georgia (Charlie Daniels Band Cover)