My concert wants

I really wanted this to be the year of the concert. I have a few people I would almost kill to see:

• Michael Buble'
• Mumford and Sons
• Matchbox 20
• Maroon 5
• Jason Mraz
• John Mayer

I'm really into these guys right now. I'd love to see them all live. However, my concert viewing is not getting off to an auspicious start. I was told I was going to be given a ticket to see matchbox 20 as a Valentine's Day gift. They were playing a small, extremely awesome venue just 45 minutes from my house. That didn't happen because the purchaser in question waited to long and the tickets were sold out. I tried winning on the radio and such to no avail.

I need to start checking concert tours and see who is going to be near me, if anyone. And start saving money. Tickets are sooooo expensive.

I'd also love to see Billy Joel if he were to head this way on a concert tour ever again, with or without Elton John but I think I would have to sell my body to science and get an advancement on that to pay for a ticket to see those guys.

Mac and I make a tradition to see Green Day but that probably won't happen because Mac and I were both completely disappointed with the 3 albums: Uno, Dos, Tre', that were released last. I also know Bon Jovi is on tour and I've seen them 3 times in concert but that might be enough for me. I can't decide if I want to see them as old rockers.

But it's just March so anything can happen this year and I might just get an earful of good music!

Who would you like to see in concert?

Maggie

Train Ride

While I'm not someone who is a frequent concert goer, I've had the chance to see 2 concerts in just one week, which is pretty damn cool is you ask me!

Last night I saw Train and is was fabulous! My seat was amazing, less than 200 feet from the stage! I loved every single minute of the night. The music was great, the seats were great, the crowd was great! It was one of the best shows I've been to in years. I had so much fun and was so impressed with the show they put on.

The down side is that not one single picture I took with my cell camera turned out. Yeah.

But it was still an amazing night. They sand a ton of stuff from the California 37 album, of course, and then lots of their other hits like "Meet Virginia", "Hey Soul Sister", "Marry Me",and "Drops of Jupiter", just to name a few. And one thing that was completely awesome was their own medley of songs. that's right, they did a medley of their own music. You know how you go to a concert and you know the band can't sing ever single hit they've had or the concert would last about 9 hours? Well, Train made a medley of some of their older hits and sang that, flashing the album cover on a giant screen behind them on stage so the audience knew what album it was from. I thought that was pretty cool, so I think they managed to sing every single hit song, as well as every single popular sing they ever had, as well as 7 songs of he newest album, California 37.





One thing that's super cool is that one of the songs on the new album "Bruises" is a duet and the lead singer Twitters and gets a woman (or group) of women to sing it with him during the concert. No, I wasn't the lucky winner (OMG I Wish!) and this isn't the footage from our concert- it's not on the web yet- but it's from another concert and is a totally great song:





And of course some guy in the the audience proposed to some girl and she said yes, during the beautiful love song "Marry Me" which I have to admit it completely romantic and just about perfect. And the lead singer knew and told the audience and the woman was screaming and crying- not sure if it's was because she was proposed to or because Pat Monahan (lead singer) talked to her from stage...



Hope you enjoyed the videos! Now got get California 37! It's the best! Or get tickets!

Loved it!
Mags

Oh Kenny! Oh Tim!

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing the Brothers of the Sun tour, which was AMAZING! This is the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney tour. While I'm not a huge fan of country music as a whole, I do LOVE Tim McGraw. A lot.

After 2 opening acts, Time played for about 90 minutes, then Kenny did the same, then they performed together for about a half hour. It was awesome and so much fun! These guys are really good and know how to give a kick ass concert, for sure!

We also had great seats- we were at stage level about at the center of the arena. I went with Photographer, her daughter and some of her friends. I actually knew everyone and the 6 of us women had a great time! I'm go glad I had this chance to see Tim McGraw. And while I'm not a huge fan of Kenny, I have to say this: I saw him in my hometown in 1999 in a venue that holds 300 people. And then last night he was playing to a packed stadium of around 70,000. Holy wow Batman!

It was also a pretty good crowd. People were nice and having a good time, lots of drinking, singing, and dancing. The woman behind us, though, had a REALLY good time. She drank so much that when Kenny came on stage she sat down. And then fell asleep. Through his entire set. She woke up when Tim came back on stage and she swayed and staggered and we though she might fall down or puke on us but instead, she staggered out of the aisle and left. I can't believe she slept through a CONCERT! My ears are still ringing today and she slept?!?

I couldn't smuggle in a good camera so I took pictures with my phone. I wish I was standing next to Tim but...

And here's Kenny:

And my souvenir t-shirt and cup:

Here's the official video of one of my fav Tim songs that he performed last night:




Again, it was a great night and so much fun! these guys are fabulous performers and love their fans, and the fans do love them, me included!

Mags

What would you do for a concert ticket?

I'm not really a huge fan of country music. I know some, and like a little but when I lived in the Wild West it was country music overkill and I just have not been a huge fan ever since because I think I ODed.

That being said, I *heart* Tim McGraw. Yes, I do listen to him and buy his CDs and have him loaded on my defunk iPod and will even stop the radio on a country station if he's on.

He's the only country music singer I would pay to see in concert. And even better I don't have to "pay"... cold hard cash, anyway. But I do have to do something... grade papers. Yes, I feel like I should be holding a sign card that reads: "Will grade for Tim McGraw."

He's going to be in the capital of my home state this summer, with some guy called Kenny Chesney (something about a sexy tractor?????), live in concert. And my friend Photographer LOVES him. She and 4 of her friends are going and invited me along. I said I'd love to go. Tickets are $135 and I never mentioned money being an issue but since she KNOWS my life, her proposal is that I could grade in exchange for tickets.

I've graded for her before; she's a high school English teacher and our teaching styles and methods are very similar. As is the way we grade so I've graded for her in the past and she pays me. This time, I get Tim instead of cash!!!

Over the Christmas break, I agreed to grade some HUGE Scarlet Letter projects (technology meets Hester Prynne meets essays) for her AP kids because her father-in-law died. These huge ass assignments would've garnered me $75 in cash so I'm almost there!!!!!

The lengths I will go to for Tim McGraw....

Maggie Mae

Gone country

There are so many parts to this story... I feel like I have to explain myself before I can explain myself.... clear as mud, eh?

In May I bought 2 tickets to see Gary Allan, a country music singer, who is ITSam's very favorite singer. I wanted to surprise him and was so excited to score these tickets. I kept my mouth shut and told no one about the tickets because one I told the secret I would tell him.

Then and I had a huge fight at the beginning of June, and I figured I'd offer to sell him the tickets. Then we slowly made up so it was a non-issue.

Then he broke up with me in July, about 2 weeks before the concert.

I'm not a fan of country music, over all. A very little of it goes a long way, in my opinion, so I wouldn't have just gone alone or with friends. And at the time of the break up, it wasn't really near the forefront of my mind.

A week after the break up I remembered the tickets. The same day I remembered the tickets, I had to have a serious conversation with ITSam about furniture and phones.

One conversation led to another, then to another, then to another. We certainly were NOT back together but lots of apologies were issued from him. That didn't fix it at all, but it was a start. We talked lots and I finally decided I would just take him to the concert.

I didn't know what to do and we were talking and I didn't want to lose the $80 bucks. I figured, if nothing else, that he would feel really guilty over everything, the way he treated me, etc., if I took him to a concert. It was a weird choice, I know, and it was spur of the moment, but I decided it. So be it.

Anyway, all that being said, I saw Gary Allan in concert a few weeks ago. (I also surprised Sam with the tickets and made him ride in the car 90 minutes, wearing a pink sleep mask the entire time, so he wouldn't see where we were going. People looked at us strangely as we were hauling down the highway at this strange bald guy wearing a pink sleep mask... some, tiny revenges are awesome!)

It was a great concert!!! He gives a good show. I was pretty impressed because he seems to be just a regular guy with a guitar, just singing his heart out. I really liked his show- no frills, no pyrotechnics, etc. Just a guy, singing. It was great.

And even though he's really country (and twangy) and he looks hot in his jeans, and doesn't wear a cowboy hat but would be sexy if he did, I still really liked the concert. (And it was a great chance for me to wear my pink cowboy boots here in the Midwest!)

Since then, I've been listening to his music quite a bit. This is really, REALLY out of the norm for me since I haven't listened to country music since I got back here from the Wild West. None of my car radio stations are pre-set to country and I think I might have about 50 country songs on my personal iTunes account--- that would be 50 out of the 1672 on my account. But I'm really digging Gary Allan!

Great songs by him are "Watchin' Airplanes", "Songs about Rain", "Best I've Ever Had", "No Regrets", "Her Man", "Right Where I need to Be", "We Fly By Night ", and Bourbon Borderline." "We Fly By Night" is my favorite of them all!

I strongly urge you to check out his music, his sound.

And it did make ITSam feel pretty crappy about how he treated me, that I had planned all this for him...

And it made me miss country music just a little bit.

Back in her boots,
Mags

The last song

Last night was Mac's last choir concert of his high school career. It's also supposed to be the most fun concert of the year because it's full of special acts featuring seniors, and the most talented kids in the choir, but mostly a focus on the seniors. In the past, these have been amazing and so much fun!

And I am sorry to say it was the worst concert I'd ever been to, in all the years I've been going to these; it was not good. I was soooo bummed, especially since it was Mac's last performance.

The music was good- at least the concept was. It was "through the years" and sort of an evolution of music from the '50s to now.

But it was obvious to the audience that the kids were just not into it. There were few special acts and most of those weren't very good. It was just a very lackluster performance on the kids part.

Usually the kids are smiling and laughing and you can just feel the air pop from their energy. There was none of that. Many of the kids weren't even smiling. There was no energy to the dancing. They seemed depressed. Kids were lagging behind on their dance moves.

It was just sad.

I asked Mac about it, being nice and doing the mom thing rather than ask "what the hell was wrong with all of you at the concert?" He said the kids were just burned out and the choir director tried to "cram" rather than start practicing months ago like usual, she tried to do it in a few weeks. There are about 170 kids in the choir and they did excerpts from about 100 songs. It was not something to cram.

Mac said that the kids were tired, didn't want to do it, and there had been lots of fighting and "drama". And rather than the director stopping it, she sort of fanned the drama flames, which is sad. Lots of the kids also said that since the director's children had graduated and were no longer in choir she didn't care about making a good spring concert. Whether that's true or not, it seemed to be the perception of many of the students in choir and as we know, perception is everything.

Mac and the director had much angst between them this year for various reasons, both faults of BOTH people, not all just Mac. And the director had several personal things happen that would strain her abilities, I'm sure but it was just sad that it seemed.... depressing rather than a show case for all the talent in that choir.

I did go ahead and buy a copy of the DVD and will be posting, via youtube, two clips of Mac's solos. I'll keep you updated when that goes up. (Even he didn't have his normal performance face on!)

As for "Mac High School Milestones" all we have left if graduation and the open house. Then we're off to college! Oh thank God!

Mac's mom,
Maggie

It was windy in the Windy City, and other stuff

Saturday in Chicago was a good time. The boys LOVED the concert and thought it was the best show ever and XRay Girl and I laughed and talked and hung out which always equates to lots of fun.

Since the boys were going to the concert festival and XRay Girl and I were not, we had to have a game plan about dropping the boys off, getting them again and parking in the midterm. According to the concert web site, if we produced a ticket stub, the parking was free. But the web site neglected to tell WHERE the free parking was located, which of course we didn't find out until we arrived. We wait in a looooooooooong line of traffic to turn into the 'event parking' and the guy says to me "$20". I said, "I thought it was free?" And he said, "Oh, the free parking is at Solider Field. Now move on or $20." (He is so not getting my vote for Helpful Parking Lot Attendant of the Year Award!) So I pull ahead to another guy and he gives the worst directions in the history of the world on how to back track to Soldier Field. So we let the boys out with a promise to call them when we knew where the car was and we told them we would meet them where we left them, at the concert's conclusion. Out they went and off we went to find the elusive parking at Soldier Field.

Now Soldier Field is a large place and we could obviously see it and we could figure out which was the parking garage. But with event parking and event road closings, getting there was almost impossible, and we were only armed with directions like, "turn around and go back and when you get to the roundabout turn left and then to to the first non one way thru street and turn at the stop sign and it should be a little bit down on the left." Wha???? And we forgot one little thing: the only way to get free parking was to produce a ticket and our "tickets" had just gotten dropped off VIP style at the concert. Well shit! So, I said to hell with it, got back in line to go back, and pay the $20 for the parking at the arena.

After finally getting parked, we were at the museum complex, meaning we were smack in between the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Planetarium and the Shed Aquarium. XRay Girl and I were going to go the Aquarium. There were about 173 people in line in front of us but we didn't care. What we did care about was the admission price of $29.95+ tax EACH. For that price we could have lobster for dinner rather than look at 'em through a tank so we decided to ditch the fish and walk the lake shore walk to Navy Pier. It didn't look very far from where we were...

Now here I want to say that at times I am the quintessential mother. It comes more from being organized and list making than being a good mom, I think. Before we left home I made sure everyone had gone to the bathroom and we had cell phones charged and the tickets and directions. I packed a box of snacks and a cooler of bottled water and juices. I had a loaf of bread and a package of ham so they could make sandwiches on the way. I also packed a separate cooler of Power Ade for the boys so they could hydrate after the concert. I made sure they had an extra change of clothes in case it rains and a few garbage bags to sit on if they got wet, even though the forecast was, and I quote three different web sites: "a high of 71 and partly cloudy." I made sure everyone had a jacket, and cash. So you could say I was organized.

What I did forget was my own jacket. But it was supposed to be, and I quote three different web sites: "a high of 71 and partly cloudy." And I wore jeans and a t-shirt. And it was cold. Damn cold. It was never partly sunny the entire day. Not a single shine of sun did we see. And as for the 71--- 51 was more like it!

So we walked from the aquarium to Navy Pier along the lake shore route- about 3 miles- and I froze the whole way, and it was my own stupid fault. Then we got to Navy Pier and walked all over it. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore, and I bought a stupid sweatshirt. Thank god it was on sale. It's bubblegum pink and says "Chicago Navy Pier" on the front. XRay Girl, who wore a very light weight jacket, was also freezing, bought one as well, in kiwi green. Oh, yes, weren't we cute in our matching sweatshirts that just screamed "tourists"?

After strolling around Navy Pier, we hadn't done enough walking so we walked the 6 city blocks up Grand Ave to Michigan Ave, aka the Magnificent Mile. We went in a bunch of the shops- including Tiffany's- I LOVE that store! Something about all that jewelry is magical and sparkly! We also went to a shop in Macy's called Lush which sells all natural body products like shampoo, lotions, and the like. The sale associate Kate did all these awesome demonstrations on us of these cool products.

Farrago met us here and declared he was starving so we went for pizza at a place called Pizza Duo which is one of the most famous places in the city to get the infamous Chicago Deep Dish. While we were having dinner, Mac called and said they were ready to go. He said the last band sucked so he and his buddy were sitting in the car and would wait for us. We were just finishing dinner so we paid, and Farrago helped us find the right bus and off we went to collect the kids.

We rode the bus and we knew we were the last stop but the bus just kept going and going and going. I thought when it was the last stop, he would just stop at the last bus stop place thingy. So we were about 1 block from the parking lot and I asked our bus driver if we could just get out where we were because he passed about 47 bus shelters and I was afraid he would turn left when we wanted him to turn right. He asked me where we were going and I told him to the parking lot, one block ahead. Our super nice bus driver dropped us at the parking lot where we left the car!!! He just went 1 block extra since no one else was on the bus but us!***** Is that cool or what?

And we only got lost once, on the way there. XRay Girl is not allowed to read the directions anymore- she skipped an entire line sending the boys into convulsions and me into serious eye rolling mode since I was driving on the Dan Ryan Expressway. But what was cool about getting lost is that we had to go through Chinatown- twice because I was in the wrong lane- and XRay Girl, Mac nor his Buddy had ever seen it before. The boys thought it was the coolest thing ever. Mac said, "OMG, I just saw Jackie Chan" and would point to a guy. Then about 20 feet later he would say, "OMG, I just saw Jackie Chan again" and point to a different guy. He did this for about 3 blocks until we all screamed at him to shut up! But really, it was a riot. They also saw an older Chinese woman and all the jokes about her special powers and herbs and wisdom... oh just imagine two 17 year old boys ...

But it was a very cool day. I'm glad I was able to take Mac and let him have this experience. I like being able to do things like that when I can. Even when, at first, I really didn't want to! Sometimes being a mom is cool!

***** This is the second time in my life that a public bus driver went out of his/her way to drop me off where I needed to be. In summer 1990 I 'lived' in NYC for what was supposed to be a summer but... anyway. My friend and I were going to take a Circle Line Cruise around the city and we were running late and freaking out. The stop for the cruise was near the last one on the route and the bus driver heard us talking about whether we could run for it and still make it on time. She gunned the bus the three extra blocks and dropped us smack dab in front of the Circle Line Cruise Office. We had 4 minutes to spare.

Maggie

On another note...

If I could just say no... I wouldn't get myself into these things

In March Mac told me about some band I never heard of coming to some venue I never heard of on a day I didn't really pay attention to in Chicago-- who says I don't listen?

Then last weekend he mentioned it again. he said I gave a distracted "uh-mmmmmmm" and went back to my computer.

Well, I guess he was really serious about going and I guess I said something about being willing to think about it and it was time to think about it.

So Mac took matters into his own hands. First, he hates his father the Fucktard Asshat Spermdonor for LOTS of reasons right now but he put that hatred aside and asked his goodfornothing SD for money for the concert. His dad said he would buy the ticket. Then Mac turned in the job applications so if I let him go to the concert, he could pay me back for any money I spent-- you know, on the off chance that he could go. And he also took out the trash, emptied the dishwasher, vacuumed the living room rug, agreed to paint the shed when it stopped raining, and washed cookie sheets (they don't fit in the dishwasher so they have to be hand washed!).

With all that happening, the stupid check engine light came on in my car so I can't drive three hours to Chicago. Mac appealed to Daddy-O who said YES that I could drive HIS car to Chicago. Mac has a friend who can go. Now it was all up to my and my wallet. Do I have enough money to put gas in Daddy-O's car and pay for food? Am I willing to spend all day hanging around in Chicago? Do I want to give up almost an entire weekend to do this? No, no, no, and no. See, I can type that right here but I can't seem to SAY it to Mac.

I was just thinking about it. I never said yes. But... I thought now it would be BAD to say no. I told Mac if XRay Girl would go with, then I would say yes. (I have friends in Chicago but I had no idea, on short notice, if anyone was free, though I did send an email tonight to see!) She said YES. So Mac, Mac's Friend, XRay Girl and I are taking Daddy-O's car to Chicago on Saturday. While the boys see the concert, she and I are going to do.... something. What I'm not sure, but we'll find something... from 2-11pm.

Of course, I'll be taking a TON of pictures!!!!

And XRay Girl hasn't ever been to Chicago that she can remember in the last 20 years. So we have things we want to do like Chinatown, Watertower, Magnificent Mile, and Navy Pier.

Now, if I said no, then I could stay home with my sullen teenager and feel guilty. So guess what I'm doing on Saturday?

Windy City here we come,
Mags

Oh yeah, and I'll be posting pictures on my traveling blog, which hasn't had any pictures posted on it since I was in Indianapolis, IN last September! (I hope hope hope I can add pictures to this blog this summer!!! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go anywhere--- Ireland again? London? regardless, Chicago is a start!)

Mother and son review

So EventChaser and RazorGator gave me free tickets for the Metallica concert- which we thank you VERY MUCH for, but I couldn't go- long story for another post later- so Mac and his friend went to the concert!

And Mac helped write the review! (Though he mumbled something about being the only kid with 'concert homework'...) Do we have another Cameron Crowe here? Or is more like Mac and Maggie, the writing duo? In reality, why do I have a feeling he and I will never write sitcoms for a living after this?

Anyway, go check out the review! And thanks again to EventChaser and RazorGator for making this possible! As always, they rock!

Ticket windfall- can we say Metallica?!?

RazorGator and EventChaser have done it again with concert tickets to see--- METALLICA!!!!!! And guess when??? TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, Metallica tickets tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis!

Mac thinks I'm the greatest mom on earth. And that's right, I am!

And I think he wants to marry the women who work at EventChaser...

So thanks to RazorGator and EventChaser for this great opprotunity- again!

Concert queen,
Maggie

Mac, Green Day and me, or more aptly titled: "I *heart* Billie Joe!

*I didn't take the very last picture on this post. The rest, however, are mine.*

Last week Mac and I made an impromptu trip up to the Windy City of Chicago to see Green Day in concert, and it was astounding!

We almost didn't make it, though. As you know I was given free tickets but Fed Ex didn't come through. We waited and finally the company sent the tickets via e-ticket so we still made the show. Let me tell you, it was touch and go for awhile there- I went from greatest mom ever for scoring free tickets to the worst mom on Earth when there were no tickets to the Greatest Mom on Earth when we were back on again. Talk about roller coaster! Only in the life of being a mom to a teenager, I say!

The drive was good- Mac and I jammed to several Green Day CD's all the way up, getting ourselves psyched for the upcoming show. I had great directions to the United Center (thank you Mapquest!) and other than a freaking horrible traffic jam at the Damen Ave exit, all went well and smooth. I didn't even get in a wrong lane and blow through a toll on the EZ Pass by accident. And I didn't close my eyes and hyperventilate myself into oblivion when I crossed on a huge bridge into Chicago on the tollway- but that was close.

Farrago, my Chicago guru, had told me the United Center wasn't in the greatest part of the city and we should've plan on hanging around there. Well, the original plan was to park at the United Center and then head to the East side of the city so Mac could see Navy Pier and eat at the Hard Rock Cafe but we didn't have enough time after our late start. So Farrago, being the super hero gentleman he is, met us at the "House that Jordan Built". But he needed not to fear for our safety. The entire block of Madison Ave, running in front of the United Center, was lined with concert goers. People had been camped out all day long to get the best floor spot or in hopes to catch a glimpse of the band. There were "punk" rocker kids all over the place. And lots of teenagers with their parents. And while this sounds hilarious, Green Day had their first hits in the late 1980s, and I happened to be a teen then, and then their reclaimed their popularity and soared to Super stardom in 2005 when they released American Idiot. And then with this album 21st Century Breakdown- well you can see the cross generations here so it made since for there to be people Mac's age and mine all together. And it did make for an unusual blending of people to see a pop punk group.

Anyway, Farrago met us and we headed to the infamous Billy Goat for supper. This is the same Billy Goat that was featured on Saturday Night Live skit starring Dan Akroyd and Bill Murry. The Billy Goat was a popular place for the Second City actors to hang, as well as most newspaper men in the entire city, most notably the departed columnist Mike Royko- who was an institution in and of himself.

The Billy Goat is known for "no fries- cheeps, no Pepsi- Coke" and "Cheezeborgor, Cheezeborgor, Cheezeborgor". The original owner, a Greek Immigrant, named the place after a goat allegedly fell off the back of a truck and stumbled into his diner. Customers belly up to the counter and order food quickly or the short order cook will order for them. It's fun and a bit quirky. The food is hot, served quickly and is basic but good. Mac liked the buns on his burger... go figure.

After dinner it was back to the United Center to stand in line to enter at Gate three. And special thanks again to Farrago for hanging out with us. We appreciate it!

Once Mac and I got in the Center, scored a freaking cool $40 t-shirt and found our seats, we soaked up the ambiance. There were 2 college students sitting in front of us who were finishing college as summer interns at a radio station in Chicago who had worked the Center all day long, doing give aways. We chatted with them and they told Mac it was cool that his sister would bring him to the concert- go me! He didn't even roll his eyes and just grinned. They were also super impressed with Mac's music knowledge. My child is the next Cameron Crowe, thank you very much!

Verizon Wireless Blackberry (I won't say one bad word considering my past relationship this is particular phone :ahem:...) was a corporate sponsor of the concert so there was a running marquee allowing folks to text message VZW and the messages would post on the marque inside the arena for everyone to read until the concert started. This was fun because there were the obvious "Scream if you love Green Day" which caused the entire crowd to ... well, scream. There were "I love you, moms" and "Will you marry me?"s and greetings among friends. I sent one that said "Event Chaser rocks" and we took a picture which was just a ginormous blur. I also sent one that said "Have fun Mac- you rock! Love mom" and he thought that was hilarious. The ones that made me laugh were the various forms of fans proclaiming their love to Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. "I love you Billie", "Shelly is Billie's biggest fan" , "Jane wants to Marry Billie Joe", "Alice Loves Billie Joe" and the like . There were tons and tons of these, which made me smile and chuckle to myself. This guy is MY age (seriously, Billie Joe Armstrong is 37 years old, as am I) and married (as I am NOT) but these teeny-bopper girls were proclaiming their love publicly to their rocker idol. How cute and sweet, I thought.

Mac and I suffered through the opening act- they sucked so much I don't even want to give them print space here- and then Green Day took the stage. They rocked the United Center for 3+ hours with a show that blew me away. (Go read my review here at EventChaser for the details!)

This was one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to in my life (They were even better than they were when I saw them with their American Idiot tour 3 years ago). I stood the entire time and rocked with the rest of the crowd. Mac didn't even care that I didn't act my age since he didn't know another soul in the place- and that all the other parents acted like the kids. I had my "rock arm" pounding the air and sang with every song. Come'on, it was a total concert experience!

Billie Joe had that audience eating out of the palm of his hand. We sang when he told us to do so. We were quiet when he told us to be. We screamed and cheered and jumped up and down like he did. We chanted his name and swooned when he crooned a ballad. When the screen behind the band had a close up of his face, the girls in the audience went insane. He was audacious, profane, profound at times, but mostly just pure entertainment. Diminutive in stature, he still stood as a giant before the audience of 23,000 and partied like a teenager, rocked us out- wearing his typical all black, signature tie, black eye liner coating his lovely lashes, arms crawling with tats, black Chuck Ts adorned his feet, and his wild unkempt heavily dyed black hair in all directions, with a voice that spilled over the crowd, pulling us all in, weaving around us into a cocoon with him and... well, all I could think was "Maggie LOVES Billie Joe. MARRY ME!"

Still rockin' out,
Maggie

Green Day Review up at EventChaser!

My very first professional writing gig has merited a posted, public review!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!! So check out my review of the Green Day concert at the EventChaser website. My tickets came from RazorGator, who helped make this moment for Mac and me possible! Thank you EventChaser! Thank you RazorGator!

I'm going to read "me" (you should too- go ahead, I'll wait right here) again, and then start preparing my Oscar speech for when I win the best screenplay award...!

Published at last,
Mags

I'm an official Event Chaser!!!!!! (consider it a commerical interruption of Retail Therapy Week!)

I'm going to see Green Day in CONCERT next week because I'm an EVENT CHASER!! I'm soooo excited! Go me! Go me! Thanks to Event Chaser and RazorGator for this chance to be a professional writer and for the free tickets!

Green Day's new album 21st Century Breakdown is amazing so this concert should be fantastic! I had the pleasure of seeing them on their American Idiot tour a few years back and if this one is half as great- then... WOW!

Watch for my review!

What a rockin' summer!
Maggie