This, from the crazy whose iPod cycled through the ND Fight Song, two Christmas songs, something from the Newsies soundtrack, and a New Kids in the Block song yesterday...

Steve and I rounded out our summer concert experience last night, heading to the Tom Petty show at Philips Arena here in Atlanta. We have now officially done one concert that we both loved this year, one concert more for me, and one concert more for Steve. Don't get me wrong, I love Tom Petty, and I always have a fantastic time at his shows, but this was definitely a 'can't miss' evening for Steve. So we made sure we didn't miss it.

In fact, we basically sat on the stage so as not to miss it...

See that right there? See how close we were? Let's just say I had a much clearer view of Tom Petty than most people ever really need...

And see how far I had to walk to get to a bathroom?

You can't even see how far I had to walk to get to a bathroom. That's how far it was.

Steve was thrilled.

Anyhoo...

You know how they say you learn something new everyday?

Well, yesterday I learned that I am not such a big fan of Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Seriously. The dudes opened for Petty last night, and they honestly almost put me to sleep.

While I can appreciate a good guitar solo as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy hasn't picked up a guitar in his entire life, either), I don't need to hear an entire set list made up of 20 minute songs, especially when 15 of that 20 minutes consists of 6 guys standing on stage making weird facial expressions while watching one guy play the guitar. Even if that one guy playing the guitar is good like Stephen Stills. I can handle maybe one or two of these songs, but that's where I draw the line. I lean more towards the good drum solo side of things, if you must know. Or maybe just the loud drum solo side of things. I've never picked up a drumstick in my life, either, so who am I to say what's good and what isn't?

(Also on my list of things I don't need? An organ solo. Not a piano. Not a keyboard. An organ. I mean, what??)

Whatever. Care to guess what else I learned last night? Graham Nash is English. Neil Young is Canadian. Stills is from Texas, and David Crosby is from California. Yes, I wikipedia'd these fools during one of the 17 guitar solos. (I'm probably pretty lucky the waaaay more into it than I was people around me didn't take this as a personal offense and try to drag me from the arena.) Also, did you know Neil Young and freaking Rick James were in a band together in the 60s? You do now. It was apparently a disaster, involving a thieving manager, military AWOL-ness, and the FBI. Good times.

I love Wikipedia.

So, to sum up the evening:

*Tom Petty = AWESOME!

*Crosby, Stills, and Nash = eh...

*Sitting on the floor = totally worth the extra ticket costs (especially after listening to the encore from farther up so we could avoid the mad rush of people trying to get up the stairs when the concert was officially over...it was a completely different (and less entertaining) show from that level).
*Being able to offer my extra hair tie to the extremely long-haired gentleman in front of me when he gave his up for his wife's use = highlight of my night!

*Not drinking at a concert = ridiculously entertaining experience, especially when you can be all judgey, judgey with the drunk dancing happening around you.

*Going to bed at 12:30am and getting up at 5:30am to head to work = not something this 30-year old enjoys as much today as the 20-something she used to be did in the past. Even without the drinking, it's tough.

Thank goodness today is my Friday!