We left the house around 10am. The concert didn't start until 3:30pm, but we wanted to get there in plenty of time and to get a good parking spot and hopefully avoid the long lines. As we got closer and closer to the Lincoln Financial Field (where the Philadelphia Eagles play) I got more and more excited. My excitement faded just a bit when we had to pay $20 just to park the van. Ugh. I'm not sure I understand that. Just imagine the money they make just on parking. Holy Cow!!
We parked in lot E but then moved to D where Michelle and her sister-in-law were. (Michelle went to school with Dennis and is the secretary where he now works.) It was under a bridge so we were shaded from the sun. Still, it was hot and humid, in the 90's but it was better than being in the direct sun.
Michelle and her sister-in-law had tickets for the sand bar (the country version of a mosh pit) so they headed in around 2:30pm. Michelle promised to get me a good pic of Kenny if she could and she'd e-mail it to me later. I was turning a bit green with envy but at the same time, her tickets cost her A LOT more! I was just happy to be there and I took some mental notes from the advice that Michelle and her SIL gave me. (I was told I could get great deals on tickets if I join the KC fan club, but they told me that's not so).
Dennis and I headed into the stadium around 3:30pm. I was in awe by the whole thing and could feel the anticipation building as we entered the stadium. I was just a few hours away from Kenny!!!
Once inside, we decided to get my shirt first and then I'd change into it in a bathroom. I knew just what shirt I wanted. It was incredibly hot in the little shop where shirts, etc. were sold. The sweat just poured off of us. It felt hotter than a sauna, although I've never been in one. LOL They didn't have the shirt I wanted but they did have the hat. I was hoping to a shirt and a hat and I was going to get a different shirt until Dennis burst my bubble. He only had a little cash on him. The hat was $40 and he could get me a light up necklace but that was it. After it was all paid for, he burst my bubble again (in this case, a bubble could be burst twice). He had just enough money for the tolls on the Turnpike to get us back home (which, by the way was $3.25).
We then went up to our seats. We had tickets for section 224, row 8, seats 3 & 4. Wow! We were pretty high up. It wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. I have a fear of heights and one time we were at an arena for a monster truck show and we were up high and you had a feeling of falling frontward. This was not the case. There was a glass wall-type thing getting in my way, but other than that, it wasn't that bad. It was actually kind of neat!
We sat in our seats and watched Gary Allen sing 2 songs. He has a few songs that I like, but it was hard to recognize them. When he left the stage, we left our seats to get out of the sun. We then went down to the 100 level and tried to think of how we'd be able to get at least a drink. We were both hungry since neither of us ate anything at all up to this point. The food and drink prices were outrageous, just as we suspected they'd be. I remembered that I had a few dollars on my debit card and we decided to give it a try. I got a bottle of water and Dennis got a soft pretzel.
Leann Rimes came on next. She was real spunky and put on a great show. Her voice is just beautiful. She hit some high notes and it gave me goose bumps! We were still on the 100 level and we walked over to a shady place to stand. It was then that I noticed the buses below. We could tell which ones were Kenny's. There were pirate flags in the front windows, but we figured it was probably his band's bus. He wouldn't be in something so obvious. There was another bus with "Kenny Chesney Poets and Pirates" on it real big. We knew he wasn't in that one either.
We went for another walk and by this time Sammy Hagar came on stage. We didn't like him in the '80's and we didn't like him now. The first song he sang was, "I Can't Drive 55". Blah. We went for another walk and ended up back over by the buses. It was then that I met up with a woman that we'd seen a few times. She was telling me that Kenny was in the white bus and he's been in and out a few times. One time, he went down onto the floor to buy a Corona, but was mobbed by the crowds. She got a picture of him. Well, that was all I needed to hear. The whole time Sammy Hagar was on, we stood there and watched Kenny's bus. I didn't want to leave that spot and chance missing Kenny. It was then that I saw Keith Urban. I was too slow with my camera and missed the shot, but it was so exciting to see him! I then hung my camera around my neck.
We watched as people went in and out of the bus. We knew there was something going on because there were golf carts parked just so and men on radios. Just like that, the door of the bus opened and I got my camera up to my eye and there he was! I didn't have time to really focus and I couldn't help but scream, "Kenny" when I saw him. I couldn't steady the camera real good and since there was another vehicle in the way, I just got a picture of his head. Still, I was very happy!
Keith Urban started singing and it was then that we went back to the spot we were at to watch Leann. Dennis and I both watched as people just wasted the water they bought. We were so parched. We were too exhausted to even think of climbing the many flights of stairs to get to our seats. Luckily, every time we came back to this spot, there was a place for us to stand.
I really enjoyed Keith Urban. He was great! He thanked the crowd for coming and paying the high gas prices to get there. He sounded so good and sang in such a way that you felt like you were in the front row. It's hard to explain and I did get more goose bumps on my arms! He was fantastic!
Dennis wanted to leave "our spot" to go and sit down, but knowing that Kenny was up next, I wasn't leaving! lol I was right behind the last row in the 100 section. I told him he could go and sit down, but I wasn't leaving there. He stayed.
(above and below pics are of our seats
from where we were standing)
A big curtain covered the stage with the whole Poets and Pirates thing on it. Then, it lifted. I was looking for Kenny but didn't see him. There were guys on the stage with some sort of cannon-type things shooting things (I'm assuming they were bunched up shirts) into the crowd. We were no where near close enough to catch any but I imagined how lucky the people that caught them were.The anticipation and excitement was surreal. Then, he came out. I screamed at the top of my lungs like a teenager. LOL It was just an amazing and uncontrollable feeling. He started with "Summertime", which also happens to be my ringtone, by the way. :) I sang loud and proud to each and every song! It was just amazing! The goose bumps and chills up my spine were continuous! The other songs he sang were:
- Young
- Big Star
- Beer In Mexico
- Never Wanted Nothing More
- When The Sun Goes Down
- No Shoes, No Shirts, No Problems
- Shift Work
- Wild Ride
- Got A Little Crazy
- Island Boy
- How Forever Feels
- Don't Happen Twice
- Back Where I Come From
- Don't Blink
- Live Those Songs Again
- Keg In The Closet
- I Go Back
- Living In Fast Forward
- Anything But Mine
"Anything But Mine" was the last song he sang, and by this time, Dennis wasn't looking so good. With each song before this one, he was asking me how much longer this would go on. I was feeling pretty ill myself and quite thirsty. We watched as quite a few other people were leaving too. We were right by the steps where we came in and as much as I didn't want to, I told Dennis it would be alright to leave. As we walked (almost ran) away from the stadium, I could still hear him singing and I was a little sad, but at the same time, Dennis was getting light-headed and I was just so thirsty too.We got to the van and we each had keys in our hands ready to unlock the doors. We each guzzled down a bottle of water in seconds. We decided to leave the lot since we'd be beating the traffic. We both admitted that we were missing the boys too. More than likely, they'd be in bed before we'd get home. We drank water and iced tea almost one after the other for the whole ride home. We didn't listen to the radio, we just talked. I was surprised that despite being hungry and thirsty, Dennis actually made some nice remarks about this experience. He admitted that Kenny sounded great live. (I already knew that since I have his "Live" CD. lol) He even said he wouldn't mind doing it again and next time, we'd have more money with us! I'll take that as having another chance to see Kenny again! WooHoo!!
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