Lynyrd Skynyrd Concert!!

Alot of you already know how big a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan I am. I went to my first concert 11 years ago (that makes me feel old!) at age 16, with my dad and best friend. I grew up listening to classic rock because that's what my dad always played on the radio in the car. I somehow got hooked on Skynyrd and after that I became obsessed with seeing them in concert every year. When I married Arnold we kept up the tradition of going every year together since he likes them too (but not as much as me!! ;) 3 years ago they were coming to town and my Father-in-law was going to take me for my birthday. Arnold was going to stay behind and watch the kids since we couldn't get a sitter that night. I was so incredibly excited. And that turns out to be the same Summer I ended up in the ICU in the hospital because I got bloodclots from my c-section with Rachel. It was a really scary time. I was pretty drugged while there so I was told I DID ask them if I could leave the hospital to go to my concert, but they said no (how could they?!) Anyway, after that they weren't touring around here for awhile and it had been a long, long time since I had gotten to go.

Well fast foward to this year and we hear that they are coming to Charlotte with The Allman Brothers!!! My father-in-law buys me, him, and Arnold tickets to go see them for my birthday!!!! Needless to say I was thrilled. My FIL and Arnold are huge Allman Brothers fans so that's the number one reason they wanted to go, but I'd like to think its because they love me and wanted me to be happy ;) The concert was going to be in an outside arena and my FIL hates it when it is so hot outside, so he was pretty much dreading it. I was too, but I still wanted to dress up anyway. I had gotten a new top, new jeans and new shoes to wear (to wear for anytime, but the concert was an excuse to get them!) Arnold kept telling me I was going to be in pain wearing those shoes, and he was right.. by the end of the night my feet were aching!

Anyway, the concert was friday night, and thankfully Arnold was able to be off of work that whole day, so we could get some things done around here before we went. We dropped the big kids off at my parents' house around 3:00, they let them spend the night while we went. Then we dropped off Rachel with my Mother-in-law. We went by the ABC store and Arnold went in and came back out with a huge bottle of George Dickel Tennessee Wiskey. I was like dang.. that is a big bottle.. and it was $20! He had gotten it because it's one of his dad's favorites and he said they were going to tailgate with a friend of his that was coming from work (another big Skynyrd fan as I've heard ;) I don't drink anymore but they seemed pretty excited about it, haha. We set off on our trip down to Charlotte around 4:15pm or so. Arnold's dad was nice enough to drive for us so we didn't have to worry about that, so I set up front with him and we stuck Arnold in the back ;) When we got close, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It had used to be a Ham's, but it had turned into a Japanese buffet called "The Fuse." They had seafood galore in there.. crab legs, crab meat, stuffed shrimp, coconut shrimp.. you name it. I think I ate two plates (shh, it was a special occasion! ;) And Arnold ate sushi (yuck, I still don't get the excitement over raw fish!!) Anyway, it was YUMMY.

We ended up getting to the arena around 6:30. We stopped by the bathrooms before we went in. I HATE public bathrooms, they always gross me out bigtime. But I had drank so much tea at dinner that I had to go. Then we ended up buying bottled waters because It was still so freakin hot and you know how much drinks are at concerts.. $5 for bottled waters and $12 for beer, ridiculous! And guess who didn't end up drinking the whiskey?! It was way too hot for alcohol, they would have dehydrated! That didn't stop everyone else out there, though ;) Anyway, we went and found our seats and sat down. We actually had pretty decent seats! We weren't THAT far away from the stage, and a little over to the left. We sat behind a family of four that all had matching Allman Brothers tshirts on. it was SO cute. I could see our family being like that in the future when we try to drag our kids along with us to concerts ;) There wasn't anyone who showed up to the right of where Arnold sat, so we were able to spread out some, which was good. The whole place reeked of sweat because it was so hot and everyone out there was so packed in together.

Finally around 7:30 Skynyrd came out!!! It is always so exciting to me, I always get goosebumps. I turn into a totally different person at concerts, and I was dancing around and screaming like everyone else. Arnold asked me what I was smoking, ha! They did a few songs from their new CD they have coming out later this month, and I really liked them. And of course they did several classics as well. And then they came out for the encore and did FREEBIRD, my alltime favorite song.. and i won't lie, it was beautiful. I almost cried when they left the stage, ha! They didn't get enough stage time in my opinion, but I may be biased. The night flew by because I was having such a good time. Then we took an intermission and Arnold got us some cokes (another $9 right there!) and we waited for the Allman Brothers to come out. They came out around 9:15. I had never actually sat through an Allman brothers show, but I have to admit, it was pretty good. I take a sedative for anxiety and I usually take one at night, so I went ahead and took it then. Um.. between the pill, the music, and the crazy flashing colors and designs they had on one of the screens, I felt drugged. Crazy, I actually felt like I was "into" it like everyone else, ha! At least it was good, legal fun ;) And everyone else around me was smoking pot and dancing with each other. I just sat down and took it all in ;)

The show ended around 11pm and then we had to swarm out with the crowds and walk the long distance back to the car. It started raining right before the show ended, so we had to walk in the rain, but it felt GOOD after how hot it was! Although it wasn't fun feeling the mud squish between my toes and mess up my new shoes! As soon as we got back to the car I took my shoes off and stayed barefoot the rest of the way home! It was crazy and hectic trying to get out of the parking lot, but we finally did. Arnold's dad drove home while I kept nearly nodding off in the passenger seat, and Arnold kept running his mouth in the back about random stuff (he will never talk to me but he won't shut up when I'm trying to sleep!!! ;) We didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning. We went ahead and took Rachel home with us since we had to drop FIL off anyway. We got home and got into the bed at around 2am. It was EXHAUSTING but so much fun!!! I had a great time and can't wait until the guys take me back again ;)

Dressed up before the show :) Everything I'm wearing came from Target. Haha, I think I have a slight obsession with that store ;)

Brooke wanted to pose for the camera, too ;)

This is the BEFORE shot of Arnold and I. Waiting for the show to begin.

This is the AFTER shot at the concert. After we had sweated and my hair was slicked down and my makeup was starting to run. I felt naaasty. 

Me with my Father In Law. In between bands. See, I wasn't lying.. it was hot out there!!!