2003 when I was 20 (so old!) was my first concert. Randomly Mid-Missouri got a lot better people than Northern Nevada. Steadman opened for Jason Mraz. It was a really cool first concert, because Steadman sings amazingly and Jason Mraz talked a lot throughout the show, telling song origins and being funny. that same year I saw John Mayer, who was good, and Shania Twain who is SUPER-talented! I cheaped out and ended up in the second to last row, but boy can Shania belt it out! She had costume changes and was totally giving things to the first few rows and singing autographs as she sang. I wish I would have paid for better seats!
I saw Ani DiFranco, in Columbia, Missouri because she is Douche’s favorite. All the lesbians young and old were there, so that was cool, but I am fairly unimpressed with Ani. Firstly, she doesn’t vary her guiter riffs. Her singing voice is sub-par. She thinks she’s so profound, so her lyrics are pretentious. She can’t really be a lesbian icon, because she was married to a man at the time. I especially do not like the drug rumors. And she did seem jittery and erratic to me, so I could see how she might be doing coke or some other upper. I can say, she is very congenial and the audience wants to LIKE her.
I also saw Soggy Bottom Boys who opened for Blind Boys of Alabama because of Douche. It was a really good show though I initially had no interest. The blind guys would get up and rock out dangerously close to the edge of the stage, and their gospel flavors would just inspire the crowd to really get into it!
Then, I went to a flurry of Indigo Girls concerts. The first was in Saint Louis with Douche. Then, two years later I saw IG on all three tour stops near Missouri: Saint Louis where Girlyman opened, the Blue Note in Columbia (which the Girls hated, b/c the acoustics weren’t right for them), and Kansas City. The Kansas City show was especially good, as the crowd was really into it, and Amy and Emily were surprised by that, and geared up to meet the energy, and promised to come back in the future. Then, I saw them again in 2006 in Saint Louis with Lori. And in 2010, I saw them in Tacoma with Cool. I make all my girlfriends go to their concerts with me, I guess! Now Cool and I are going to see them at the Seattle Zoo next month.
In between, the IG I don’t remember going to any other concerts. Maybe there are more that I just don’t remember right now. . . I tried to see Dave Matthews Band with Cool, even had the tickets, and went to the Gorge and everything. Only to find out that the tickets were for the day before. It. Was. Heartbreaking. That super-sucked!
In 2016 I saw Lord Huron and Trampled By Turtles at The Complex in SLC. The venue was horrible! It’s in a bad neighborhood of abandoned buildings, trash, and the edge of the homeless population. The first thing was getting frisked. The venue is literally a dark, dank warehouse that someone slapped a stage into. There is no seating, sticky concrete floors, and the alcohol options are sorely lacking. You can get over-priced watered-down (I assume) cocktails in a different room and miss the show, or pay for over-priced piss-water fratty beer in a sectioned-off portion of the main room. Who doesn’t sell a single craft-beer option in 2016??? Get with the program! The sound is loud, but garbled. You are packed in like cattle, and as always, people are rude. And the tall people always push to the front. The two screens went black. There were 45 minutes between the opening act and the main band. The small of “fart” would waft by frequently. It was hot. I’ll never go back to that venue–I’m too old for that crap. But both bands were awesome! Lord Huron opened and I’m sure some of the crowd came just for them. People seemed really into it, and knew the songs. They made a fan out of me, too. The light show was good, and they rocked! It’s the very first time I’ve ever heard the crowd chant, “one more song” at the end of the opener. I don’t think they prepared another song, or maybe someone told them time was too short, because there was no encore by the opener. But the crowd most definitly clamored for one and it would have been awesome to see! Looking back, I’m kinda glad they didn’t because things moved slowly enough as it was, and that standing in a jam-packed group on concrete super-sucks. Then, Trampled By Turtles came on and were amazing. I would describe their sound/genre as “hipster bluegrass.” It’s the instrumentation of bluegrass, with less country of vocals, more indy/alternative singing. I like them all the time, especially their fast songs. But watching in person made it even better. Their hands move so fast! And the harmonies and timing are so awesome! TBT just moved into my top 4 favorites. I think this year (this moment) it goes: Indigo Girls (because of 1sts/nostalgia, longevity, a huge catalog, ability to tame any crowd, and ability to grow with the times), Brandi Carlile, Dave Matthews Band, then TBT.
’03 Steadman opened for Jason Mraz- Jessie Hall(?) CoMo
’03 John Mayer- Jessie Hall(?)(2nd x) CoMo
’03 Shania Twain- Arena(?) STL
’03 Indigo Girls (1st time)- The Pageant(?)(2nd x) STL
’04 Ani DiFranco- ____Theater(?) CoMo
’05 Soggy Bottom Boys opened for Blind Boys of Alabama- Blue Note, CoMo
’05 Indigo Girls (2nd x)- The Pageant(?)(3rd x) STL
’05 Indigo Girls (3rd x)- Blue Note (2nd x) CoMo
’05 Indigo Girls- _____ KC (4th x)
Oct 2005 Miranda Lambert played a concert prior to the NASCAR race & sang the national anthem- Kansas Motor Speedway, Kansas City
’06 Girlyman opened for Indigo Girls (5th x)- The Pageant(?)(4th x) STL
’10 Indigo Girls (6th x)- Pantages Theater Tacoma
06/’11 Empty Space Orchestra opened for Minus the Bear- Knitting Factory, Spokane
Got a table and beer service
07/’11 Indigo Girls (7th x)- Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle
10/’11 Brandi Carlile- Knitting Factory (2nd x), Spokane
(left an hour early b/c of super late start and necessity of working early the next day)
Sat, 9/1/’12 Avett Brothers opened for DMB- Gorge
Thurs, 10/’12 Brandi Carlile (2nd x)- Knitting Factory (3rd x) Spokane
Sat, 11/23/’12 Brandi Carlile (3rd x) w/Seattle Symphony- Benaroya Hall, Seattle
Sun, 8/31/’13 DMB (2nd x) @ Gorge (2nd x)
Fri, 8/29/14 Brandi Carlile (4th x) opened for DMB (3rd x) @ The Gorge (3rd x)
Sun, 8/31/14 Brandi Carlile (5th x) opened for DMB (4th x) @ The Gorge (4th x)
Sun, 8/16/15 Anderson East opened for Brandi Carlile (6th time) @ Red Butte Gardens, SLC, UT
Wed, 9/9/15 DMB (5th time) @ Stateline (Harvey’s, Lake Tahoe)
Sat 8/13/16 Blind Pilot opened for Brandi Carlile (7th time) @ Deer Valley Resort in Park City
Mon 8/15/16 Lord Huron opened for Trampled By Turtles @ The Complex in SLC, UT.
TBT didn’t take the stage til 10 PM, so we left after 2 songs. I never want to have to leave a concert early again!!!
3/23/18-3/25/18: 1st Annual Innigsfestival (Young the Giant, Cold War Kids, Lord Huron (2nd x), White Buffalo, Luke Combs, The Head and the Heart, MT Joy) @Tempe Town Park
10/3/19: Tour de Fat- Trampled by Turtles (2nd x). @tempe town park (2nd x)
8/11/19: bought ticks to see Young the Giant in Phoenix, but Cool was being bipolar & it was on a Sun and I had to work at McKesson early Mon, so we didn’t go. I hate that so much!
2/29/20: 3rd Innings Festival (2nd x): (Portugal the Man, Jason Isbell, DMB (6th x)). @tempe town park (3rd x)
——Covid taken seriously——-
7/6/22: Katie Pruitt was 1st opener. Tanya Tucker was next. Brandi Carlile (8th time) @ Kansas City’s Starlight Theater
3/12/22: Indigo Girls (8th x) with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra @ Powell Music Hall
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