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Concert reviews and confessions...

Wow, what an exciting evening I had. First I'll review the concert, and then I will share some observations from last night along with some of my hopes and dreams. Aren't you excited?

I hope this is coherent, because I firmly believe that I am knocking on death's door right now. You see, the show wasn't over until well after midnight. By the time we got done with saying hi to the guys and meeting up with one of Jackie's friends it was almost 1 a.m., and it took forever to get back to Jackie's house last night. So, as I tried to make it home last night, I ate to stay awake. The mini-muffins I bought at the gas station were OK, but why I tried to eat cheeseburgers at 3 a.m. is beyond me. Especially when I am on a strict diet. So, now I am deathly ill. I have been on the couch since 5:30 a.m, with no chances of leaving and being a productive citizen anytime soon.

Anyhow, I will spare you the tales of my distress here. On to the concert.

Last night we went to see Jason Aldean and local sensation, Eric Dove. We saw Jason in October and LOVED him, so we were looking forward to seeing him again. Originally we were supposed to see Jason last night and Chris Cagle tonight. However Jackie had to work and I am poor, so we aren't going to see Cagle tonight. I thought I'd be disappointed that we chose Jason over Chris, but frankly Jason never disappoints me.

We'll start with Eric. Oh, sweet Eric. We just love him. He is great. We got there early enough that we were pretty close to the stage and Eric was loving that we come to his shows enough that we know the words to his original songs. And he always does very fun covers. He kind of has that same vibe as Kenny in that you get the feeling that he'd much rather be in the Keys with a drink and his guitar than on a stage in freezing Ohio. Especially on songs like "Nobody Does Nothin' Better Than Me." If you go to his web site, you can hear clips of his original songs. (There are three full songs at his MySpace.) He's very talented and I always enjoy his shows. If my ass ever gets to Nashville, I've signed up to help Eric get a record deal so y'all can enjoy him as much as I do. He's absolutely great. Honestly, I'd have paid the $15 to see Eric even if Jason never hit the stage.

But lucky for me, Jason was there. And oh my goodness! how hot did he look! He was wearing one of those "softball-style" long sleeve t-shirts. It was an old Alabama tour shirt. Wowsers. I was worried that his set would be the same as last time, but it wasn't. He started with my absolute favorite song "You're the Love I Wanna Be In," so I felt like it might be a let-down. OK, how could I think that? Seriously, now. It was a great show, even better than last time. He added several songs from his CD (I think only two of them weren't in the set list). Plus he does a lot of covers. They played for a long time. The covers weren't exceedingly memorable, except that he did this tribute to Alabama. Of course, that made me a little sad because no one knew the words to their songs. Hell, I'm pretty sure most of the crowd wasn't alive when those songs came out. He ended with "Hicktown" and did "Sweet Home Alabama" for an encore. Let me just tell you he is the only person from Georgia I've ever seen with such HUGE love for the whole damn state of Alabama. I have expected him to break out in a "War Eagle!" or a "Roll Tide!" And this wannabe Volunteer is very glad that didn't happen. Mostly because there was a rabid contingent of fans from Georgia who were very drunk right behind me last night.

I think one of the things I love about Jason is that his band is just great. They really get into it. The lead guitarist looks like David Spade, so I pretty much call him that. I never understand Jason when he introduces him. I looked on the Internet, and I'm pretty sure what he's saying is "Kurt." Well anyhow, I like David Spade better. He is so much fun. But last night I rarely saw him without a drink and poor little guy was leaning up against a pole to keep his balance. But let me tell you, he puts a lot of fun into the show and can play the hell out of a guitar. (Why do people say that? Who put hell in the guitar? Maybe it was Robert Johnson.) However, it was the rhythm guitarist who caught my eye. Not only is he adorable (pictures to follow -- of him and me together! -- as soon as I find the cable for my camera!) but he is a great guitarist. Last time I was over on Jason and David Spade's side, so I totally missed this dude. But what a sweetheart. And I can safely say that until last night, I had never wanted to be a Les Paul before in my life...

So, I enjoyed the show last night, but General Admission sucks ass. Yeah, you can get close, which Jackie and I ALWAYS do, but people suck. Somedays I'd much rather sit in the rafters than deal with that stuff. Although maybe it's just because the show was at a bar and scary rednecks could drink whatever they wanted. And did. There were plenty of people who were beyond drunk half-way through Eric's set, so by the time Jason got out there, they were embarrassing and rude as hell. There was this one lady right up by the stage who was touching people and getting all in everyone's shit. This young guy (it was an 18+ show) decided to do a little dirty dancing with her in hopes she'd leave, but that just wound her up even more. She was probably in her 40s and wasn't a looker, but she really thought she had a chance with Eric. At one point she took his beer off the stage and refilled her glass. No shit. After the other night when the object of my affections got lambasted by a "fan" I was already feeling bad for these folks, but that gal cemented it. Eric needs Crazy Red-headed lady, Jason needs Rude-Ass Georgia Bitch (we're getting to her) and Kenny needs the folks he has. I was very nice to not name names, wasn't I? Although Kenny probably needs them less. But they buy CDs, they come to shows and I guess putting up with their crazy shit buys your boats and beach houses. Or sometimes just puts food on your table.

So, anyhow, this Crazy Red-headed Lady was so drunk that we were actually making fun of her and she didn't even notice. Like at least a dozen people, laughing our asses off, and she was oblivious. I was afraid that one of the girls she kept touching was going to punch her and we'd get caught in the crossfire. Seriously, it's a pressure cooker down there. And that's the last place you want to be with Rude-ass Georgia Bitch.

Rude-ass Georgia Bitch was this older gal from Georgia who drove all the way to Central Ohio (probably 9 hours at least) to see Jason. He's from Georgia. She kept reminding us of that. Loudly. She brought him a Dawgs hat. Or at least I think she did. She had this Georgia hat and kept holding it up. Jason pointed at it and asked for it early in the show and she told him no. Later on she decided she wanted to give it to him and tried to steamroll every other person in the bar to give it to him. That was pretty much her MO all night. She would try to push and claw her way closer to the stage, spilling her drink and pissing people off. When those of us who got there hours before her and, frankly, didn't really like her told her no, she'd get pissed and bitch about our lack of "Southern Hospitality." Frankly hon, I think my friends from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi would still kick your ass if you tried that shit. She was the type -- you'll get this I hope -- with a fuzzy cell phone cover. She thought she was the shit and told us (loudly, again) about the time she "had sex with Keith Urban in her car." Yep, sure, sweetheart. If she did, it was when he was on the crack. That's all I have to say about that. I love the security guys at shows. God bless 'em, they earned their money last night. They had to tell her to stop recording at least four times. So I guess Kenny's not the only one cracking down on that.

There was also a gaggle of hot young things who so desperately wanted to be "in" with the band, and didn't seem to care who they got in with. They were all about Eric and Chico, and then all about all the boys in Jason's band. Seriously, I see that at every show I go to. I've even seen trashy trailer park moms dress their teenage daughters up and drop them off at a bus in hopes that Kenny and crew would notice them. Is it really that freaking cool to get a chance with some person who happens to play guitar for a living? These women make me lose faith for my entire gender. They make me embarrassed to be a woman, they make me embarrassed to be someone who enjoys concerts.

And mostly, they make me embarrassed about the current object of my affection. And I HATE that. I know I'm not a "band slut," "road whore" or whatever you want to call them. But unfortunately they precede me. I probably would've been a little more aggressive last year if it weren't for all of them. They are so caught up in the bullshit. They don't care WHO it is, as long as it happens so they can tell people shit like "I banged Keith Urban in my car." It's pathetic. But it makes these guys leery of every woman who shows interest. Everyone has an agenda, and rarely is it as pure-intentioned as mine. No one sees a guy, thinks he's cute and special (even when, apparently, others find him very unattractive) and wants to have more with him than 15 minutes on a bus. So, when that does happen, it's a lot harder. You wonder how you're supposed to even pursue something like this. Because you surely don't want to wait by the buses and be bunched in with "those girls."

posted by Laura at 1:01 PM