Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

I am a Texas girl, born and raised, and like most, I love my country music.  Among my favorites are Garth Brooks, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum, just to name a few. 

  

I am not a huge concert attender.  You know, there's those people that always know who is in town when and where they're playing, when tickets go on sale and the best seats to buy for that venue -- ya, that's not me. The last one I remember wanting  to go to and not just tagging along was Keith Urban way back in 2006. So when I heard Lady A would be in Dallas, me wanting tickets was unusual. 

Sometime before Thanksgiving, I asked boyfriend if we could go and he of course said yes -- probably thinking it was in February and there was a good chance I'd forget by then. I suggested we buy tickets when they went on sale and he assured me we could find better/cheaper ones if we waited and scoured Craigslist, eBay, etc.  Being the good and trusting girlfriend that I am, I said OK and waited. 

While patiently waiting, I decided it wouldn't hurt to add the tickets to my Christmas list just in case anyone was feeling generous. Sadly, this did not have the intended effect and by New Years, I was still ticket-less.  I continued to bring up the concert whenever it felt appropriate, you know, as a subtle reminder, but day after day no tickets showed.

About a week before the concert -- and coincidentally just before Valentine's Day -- we talked about going once more and by this point, I think boyfriend realized I could not be talked out of it.  On Valentines, he gave me their newest CD -- which I'm shocked I did not already own -- and mentioned he had been searching for tickets and had hoped to give them to me then but was having no luck.   He searched online ticket sellers -- sold out -- and checked Craigslist and eBay but could not find anything short of a $300 price tag for the two of us, and those weren't even decent seats.  After an unsuccessful ticket search, we decided we'd just go to an early dinner and head to AAC with cash in hand hoping for some scalpers. 

So in the midst of Saturday errands and rain, -- just what you want when trying to scalp tickets -- we went to the ATM and withdrew cash to carry out our plan.  As we talked about dinner, I realized I wasn't even positive what time the concert started so I hopped on the Internet and looked up the event. I saw the 7:30 start time and nearly shut the laptop, when the "Purchase Tickets" button caught my eye. I figured, what the heck and clicked on it, chose 2 tickets and searched for best available. I could hardly believe it when I got results back!  Two tickets had magically appeared -- they were more than half-off the price tag we were finding anywhere else, AND they were floor seats!  At this point, I was convinced anything available just 2 hours before the show started must be terrible so I immediately called boyfriend and asked about them. He was as shocked as I was when he heard they were floor seats and said "Get 'em"!  I made my online purchase and we went ahead with our dinner plans, feeling much more relaxed and at ease knowing we had tickets.  When we left for AAC and it was STILL raining, we felt even more grateful we happened across them. I'm certain trying to scalp in the rain would have been cold, wet, frustrating, and worthless.

Once we picked up our tickets and made our way to the seats, we were even more amazed by how awesome they where. We started talking to the people around us and one couple mentioned how excited they were that it was finally here since they bought tickets months ago. Another girl mentioned she was able to get her seats because she was in the Darius Rucker fan club and got to purchase them early -- little did we know he was one of the performers that night. No one could believe we'd bought ours just 2 hours before the event, including us.  We didn't dare mention what a bargain they were!

We had such a wonderful time and enjoyed all the bands.  The opening group was called Thompson Square, which I didn't think I had heard of. I'm queen of knowing every word to a song, but having no clue who sings it! I was surprised when I recognized a couple of their songs and thought they were really great.

p.s. all these photos were taken from our seats with very little zooming involved :)

Next, Darius Rucker came out. Again, I wasn't sure if I knew a lot of his songs until each one started and I looked at boyfriend and screamed, "I love this song!!!!" I have so few pictures from this part of the night because I was too busy singing along. We both really enjoyed his performance -- he has a great voice and was really entertaining. He even gave us a little flash back to his earlier singing career and busted out some Hootie and the Blowfish before ending with Purple Rain.

Last, but certainly not least, came Lady Antebellum.  They were equally as wonderful and I was so happy to see them! They played all their singles and a bunch from their new album. I managed to snap a few good pictures before singing the rest of the night away. You should know, I don't normally sing in public and only those closest to me have ever heard me try, but it was just way too much fun not to. So, I apologize to anyone around us who had to listen to my tone-deaf singing yelling :)

At one point during the show, all the groups came back out and performed together!

Boyfriend was such a great sport considering he had no clue who the opening performers would be and knew only one Lady A song -- his love of country music does not run as deep as mine :) 

All in all, it was an amazing night and I could never have imagined something working out like this.  For two overly planned people, this was one time waiting seriously paid off! Still not sure I could do it again, but luck was definitely on our side Saturday night!