Blues Traveler - June 7, 2014 (sorta...) and Avril Lavigne and the Backstreet Boys - June 18, 2014

So I know the title of this one is confusing...and I'll explain.

We headed to the Taste of Syracuse (a local outdoor festival featuring local restaurants) to see Blues Traveler...because who wouldn't like food, drinks, and a FREE Blues Traveler concert?  So after parking, walking forever, attempting to meet up with the entire group of friends we were meeting, and being starving cause we hadn't waited in any of the long lines for food yet, we couldn't even really get in the vicinity of the stage.  We stayed to hear one song - which one?  I can't even remember - and then walked away to find food and never turned back.  I did see them on stage for about half a second and we heard that one song...so I'm still counting it, but it doesn't really make for a great concert experience story.  So instead, we're going to skip ahead to a couple of weeks and talk about a piece of 2000's-tastic awesome-ness that seriously made my June.

Now...I loved Avril Lavigne back in the day.  Don't get me wrong.  I bought her album, Let Go, and rocked out to it in my car on my way to high school.  Heck, I'd even been through Napanee with my family on vacation and I'm pretty sure I'd seen her at the small local store there.  Things really were *complicated* when you're a high school girl, and I wanted so badly to shove it in the face of the skanky girl who wanted the sk8tr boi.  But I never, in a million years, figured I'd be 29 years old singing along at the top of my lungs to Avril.  But here I am getting ahead of myself.  The show started even before she took the stage...

...a few minutes before start time, Brian Littrell came out on stage with his son (speaking of feeling old....) and asked the group if we'd mind a little mini-concert before the show started.  He was adorable...and quite good!! Check it out!

After he sang a couple of songs he headed back off stage, and then we were just waiting for the show to start.

First off, Avril is tiny.  I mean TINY.  She looked like I could put her in my pocket...but energetic and sounded great.  She sang all the songs you'd want to hear if you were there to see Avril Lavigne.  She worked the crowd well and really brought in the nostalgia.  I had much more fun than I expected as I really wasn't one to "care" so much about seeing her...after all, I was actually there for the Backstreet Boys.

A little Complicated for you:

After Avril's set, it was time for what we were all there for...Backstreet Boys!!  Now, this isn't my first rodeo, but we brought a friend who'd been wanting to get to a show for quite some time.  She'd given up the opportunity a couple of times, but finally decided that this was it.  

Let me tell you - if you're looking to be entertained, this show definitely does it.  There is never a down moment, which, incidentally, is also really impressive.  They dance, they sing, they wear coordinated outfits. 

And even when they slowed things down, it was fantastic.  (I apologize - I didn't realize the camera didn't auto-focus on this one...)

I love seeing them playing instruments and changing the perception of what they do.  So many laugh about my love of boy bands...but really, they are seriously fantastic musicians.  Period. 

Our friend looked at me after the show and said "I'm so glad I finally came to a show with you guys....that was amazing!"  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what I wanted to hear!  Such a fantastic night!!

Next up:  Home Free at UGa!!! 

Goo Goo Dolls - The Otis Midnight Sessions with Run River North (April 7, 2014)

The Goo Goo Dolls have been one of my favorite bands since I really knew enough to have a "favorite band."  This past year marked the 10th time I've seen them live in concert...and though this was a slightly different show than those that preceded it, it was no less special.

Back around 8th grade, my friend Jen decided to give me a "music education."  I was, at the time, listening to mainly whatever my parents listened to in the car and hadn't really branched out beyond oldies and country of the mid-to-late 90's.  We spent several weekends together and she had me listen to groups like Matchbox Twenty, Live, Gin Blossoms, and, of course, the Goo Goo Dolls.  From then on, I was hooked...forever.  To this day, Dizzy Up The Girl is still one of my favorite albums of all time.

When the Goo Goo Dolls were returning to our area (right here in Syracuse...we didn't even have to drive anywhere!) and it was 5 days before my birthday, I knew how I wanted to celebrate turning 29...with my girlfriends and our boys and the Goo Goo Dolls.

After a fiasco of getting tickets which involved actually GOING to the box office after a freaking blizzard the night before (instead of screwing with Ticketmaster online...), almost not getting tickets at all, and ending up with 6 seats in different rows...2 of which were on the opposite side of the theater...we were set to go.

I'd never heard of Run River North until we arrived at the show - in fact, I don't think I even knew who was opening for GGD until we showed up and Run River North had a merch table set up.  They play a kind of chill folksy music on a variety of instruments.  The lead singer doesn't wear shoes.  They were...to say the least...interesting.  I didn't dislike them, but I wasn't totally inspired to run out and buy their album, either.

Run River North

RRN finished up and then it was time for Goo!  Going in we knew that this was the Otis Midnight Sessions, Acoustic tour...so it was going to be different than what we'd been used to at the previous 9 shows.  In the past, the Goo Goo Dolls put on a high energy rock show, usually with lots of staging and with Johnny Rzeznik running around the stage.  Previous to this tour, Mike Malinin, drummer for the Goo Goo Dolls had parted ways with the band, citing personal and family needs.  So this tour was just Johnny and Robbie Takac, a stage, their instruments, and some low key backup.  Really, the setup was beautiful:

Johnny and Robbie remained seated through the whole show, playing hit after hit as well as some newer stuff.  I could not have asked for anything else in the setlist and I, as usual, enjoyed every single note.  Johnny and Robbie told stories of the songs, including much of their debauchery in Buffalo, NY, just down the Thruway from where we were that evening.  The show was at the Civic Center here in Syracuse, in the smaller of 2 theaters at that venue, creating an intimate, no-one-has-a-bad-seat kind of experience.  I've pulled a few of my favorite shots from the show to share with you:

All in all, the acoustic show was an amazing experience.  It was great to hear a kind of boiled down, back to the dorm rooms at Buff State type of jam session that has led to so much of the success of the GGD over the years.  You could see the comfort between Johnny and Robbie and they really seemed to enjoy playing their hits for some truly invested fans...including the guy who kept yelling things out about Buffalo during any of Johnny's stories...yeah, even including that guy.  It was a perfect way to spend my "birthday" and I couldn't have asked for a better show. 

(Me - the short one in the middle - and the gang after the show!)

You can experience a bit of the show with the YouTube playlist linked below...all my videos from that night's show :)

Up next:  Blues Traveler (Sorta...)

Goodbye 2014...

So...19 concerts in 2014...and I managed to blog like 3 of them.

Follow through is sometimes my catching point on these blog things...but they're here and I love them...and I'm going to try again.  Be looking for more updates from my 2014 concerts...

And I have 8 to go to hit 100...it might not happy BY my 30th birthday (in April) but likely will in 2015 sometime...so the year I turn 30...which, for me, is still pretty impressive.

I'll be back periodically...check back in! :-D