BROTHERS OF THE SUN

♫♪ I've got a golden ticket ♪♫

I've never felt so much like the kids from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"! 

Thanks to Beth and Pete, I'm the recipient of a 'golden ticket' to see the unarguably best summer concert tour coming to LP Field!


KENNY AND TIM! TIM AND KENNY!


THE BROTHERS OF THE SON TOUR!


Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw combined their considerable talents for the Brothers of the Sun Tour at LP Field and oh what a combination it was! 

I gotta tell you, some things are just meant to be -- the concert was absolutely FABULOUS!


Joining the headliners on the ticket were Jake Owen (what a cutie pie!) and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

WOO HOO! What a show! It was non-stop, seat of the pants, high flying fun from first note to last. Sounds all kinds of corny, but truly I didn't want it to end!

Beth and Pete brought me along with them to enjoy the concert and share their company. We had a ball! We enjoy a pretty companionable relationship. The verbal sparring matches are hilariously good fun to either participate in or to watch from the sidelines. Plus, I flat out just enjoy their company.


Both Beth and Pete are sharp witted and maintain a healthy level of insanity which meshes comfortably with my own. It makes for some rather interesting conversation to say the least.

Departing Athens on Saturday about 1:30 or so, the assumption was that we had plenty of time to drive to Nashville, dump our gear at the hotel and drive to LP Field for the concert.


That was the plan. It was a good plan. It was a rational plan. It was a workable plan.


Apparently, everyone else going to LP Field thought the same thing about THEIR plan.


Therefore what was once a good idea suddenly became a not so good, not so workable and most certainly not so rational idea. The definition of insanity began to creep into the cogs.


We hit a traffic jam that was MILES long. It seemed as if everyone in the greater Nashville metro area was doing exactly what we were doing! Well, they kinda were. Where is beaming technology when you need it? Somebody needs to get on that and I mean right now!!


The traffic was stopped dead still for some of the time and Beth decided that we probably could have run from car to car on the roofs all the way to LP Field.


Hmm. Well, Beth and Pete could have run the distance... I would have walked it. And arrived with bacon scented feet.


It was a grindingly slow massive mess.


The temperature gauge in the truck said it was a scant 108 degrees outside. Nice. I'm sure the combination of all that asphalt and all those nice hot cars contributed mightily to the heat. I'm just glad I wasn't really a strip of bacon and a freshly cracked egg outside the truck. I would have been cooked well done in no time at all. WHEW!


Thanks to the parking lot formerly known as a freeway, the cars breezed along at an impressive 3 miles an hour --- when they moved at all. Woooooo. Don't let that high rate of speed fool you.


A Galapagos turtle would have roared past us on foot and met us while comfortably sunning himself in our chairs at the stadium. Maybe even a DEAD turtle...


While movement was alleged to be happening, it wasn't very much nor very fast. That may be considered "forward progress" according to some folks reckoning, but to those of the Three Musketeers riding along in Beth's George, it represented a frustrating and irksome wait when you are really wanting to bake inside LP Field and enjoy a concert instead.

As we were edging nearer and near to the correct exit, various cars were jockeying for position for the ever more selective lanes leading to the stadium's personal exit from the freeway. Without too much warning, a small, white SUV from the left lane cut in front of us to get into "the good lane". 

Why are there always some jackasses that make it a point to cut over at the last possible split second before they are cut off entirely?? 

That has always been a sticking point for me. Surely the MILES of people patiently driving along in the correct lanes should have been some sort of "hey, moron, get into THESE lanes NOW instead of pissing off every single person in the line!!!"


According to the markings on the nasty little lane stealing SUV, inside were some hated Boston Red Sox fans as their car plate and decals informed us. BOO! HISS!


HOLY COW!


How in the world did this injustice on wheels manage to get in front of us!! Launch the on-board bazooka! BOOM! Oh wait, we don't HAVE an on-board bazooka. . . time to consider a refit!!


Fuming mad, Beth said that had she known they were Red Sox fans, she never would have let them merge.


Me neither.


I hate the Red Sox.


My cup brimming with the milk of human kindness stops at line cutters anyway and more especially so against Red Sox line cutters. I'm sure they are all somebody's children, I'm just not sure whose.


A pox upon the Sox! Pbbbbbbbbbbbb!


Creeping along bit by bit, we finally got to the LP Field exit where mayhem ensued. Everyone was trying to be in the RIGHT lane to exit even though BOTH of the exit lanes were heading to the concert. Trolls!


We got a bit of delicious revenge on the Red Sox fans who had insinuated themselves in front of us. We jumped out into the more open left exit lane and roared past them. 

I sure hope the fact that Beth's truck George bears a New York Yankees sticker left a Lot's Wife pile of salt in the Red Sox fans wounds as George left them in the dust in the right hand lane.


Oh the thought! How delightful! Muuahahahaha!


I hope the Sox lose every game they have left in their season.


TWICE.

I should be ashamed.


Yeah. Right. We all know THAT isn't going to happen any time soon.


Finally, after crawling along slower than a snail's pace, we got to the designated parking lot and got paid up to get George settled into his spot before we left him behind and went into the stadium. Sadly, George isn't allowed inside to enjoy the music.


Imagine how much quicker we could have gotten to our seats if George had blazed the way! Muuahahahahahaha!


Thanks to the traffic level and the sheer volume of people trying to cram into parking areas filled with tailgaters grilling, singing, sunning and drinking, we missed seeing the opening act of Jake Owen perform.

Jake Owen - picture borrowed from the newspaper.

SADNESS! 

He is a pretty good hunk-a-hunk o' burnin' eye candy. Oh yeah, and Jake can sing, too. Talk about a God-given voice! It truly was a real bummer to miss out on Jake and Beth was a might more than peeved.


I can't blame her.


I wasn't exactly singing Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" at the thought of missing that cutie pie sing, either. *SIGH* 


Dang Red Sox Fans!! IT WAS ALL THEIR FAULT!! (Hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! -- blame must belong to someone and I'm gonna give it to them!) 

I'm trying to be all "Que Sera, Sera" about it all, but frankly I just couldn't muster it up. I had wanted to hear Jake! I know! I know! We just heard Jake at the Fest, a scant few days ago, but this is different!!


Grr!

By the time we actually had found said parking spot for George, headed into the stadium and Pete gave us each our tickets, we made our way through the search area where they must think we are all terrorists of some sort, survived the beeping scans of the tickets and the turnstiles that led into LP Field, it was time for a quick visit to the restroom.


Folks there really isn't any such thing as a "quick visit" to the women's restroom. If you are a dude waiting for women, sit down, rest yourself and hope that the line doesn't stretch any further than from the stadium to Brentwood. In this kind of weather, the bathroom aerobics begin. There is nothing more invigorating than trying to peel off soggy clothing only to make the sad attempt to haul it back up into place without looking like a 5th degree bag lady who got rolled for booze money by a bum in a skid row alleyway.


At this point, I'm just going to settle for having my butt covered in some measure and hold my head high as we leave the ladies room.


When that task was completed and we had made our way down through the security by the staircases that guarded the field level seating, we received a red armband that the attended carelessly swiped a black Sharpie marker across. I'm not sure what they did that for since we had to show our tickets every single time we tried to enter the area.


Oddly, we had have our tickets likewise black striped by that same Sharpie marker to garner official admittance down to the floor level seating. Weird.


The stage crew was already setting up for the second opening act as we marched ever onward toward our seats. The music was presented by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. I know Grace Potter from her duet with Kenny, but that's about it. Reserving judgment, I got into my seat and waited.


It was roughly a thousand degrees in the afternoon's full sun. Okay, so I might be off by a degree or two, but I'm close. Glad I was baptized in SPF 50 sunscreen! The sun was as high as an elephant's eye and the stadium was awash in a warming glow and blazing heat that turned everyone and everything into cookies baking in the LP Field oven.


I'm just hoping I don't melt.


That would be messy and hard to explain if Beth brought me home in a Ziploc baggie. Poor Rick would be stuck with trying to refashion me with repeated attempts in the freezer. Wonder how I'd look with a gooey arm on my forehead? Then again, he might just quietly slip me into a nearby dumpster and run away shouting "I'm free! I'm free at last!" But I digress...


Grace Potter strutted out in a brown leather mini with a white long tank dress over it and got her set started. She was wearing these high heeled demi-boots that sure didn't seem to trouble her any as she pranced all over the place singing, dancing and playing her songs.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals take the stage!

The gal has chops both vocally and on the guitar and piano she was playing later in her set.  While I didn't care for everything she sang and more than likely wouldn't add much of her music to my collection, she definitely got lots of people in the crowd wound up and ready to go. And in a related or unrelated side note, I remember having legs like that about a gazillion years ago...


Beth pointed out that there was a bridal party all decked out in identifiable gear in the first mezzanine section across from us who were all evidently HUGE Grace Potter fans. The bride had a sash and tiara on and she and all the girls in her entourage were singing every word and dancing with each other while the set raged on. Nice bachelorette party!

As for me, I was looking forward to hearing Grace singing with Kenny. Though that didn't occur until way later on in the evening during Kenny's set, it's still a great moment musically. Their duet "You and Tequila" is awesome! Tight harmonies and a flat out good song.


As a side note, there is one line in that song that never fails to get to me. It says "it's always your favorite sins that do you in". Ain't it the truth???


In an interesting addition to that thought provoking line, I overheard someone saying that we are all only as strong as our biggest secret sin. Wow. Truly a lot to consider. It's all about what we DO and THINK regarding those favorite, secret sins.

After Grace finished up her solo set, the stage crew got things set up to receive Tim McGraw. I'm always amazed at the speed and efficiency with which the crews rig the staging at a concert. They generally have a very limited time to accomplish a great deal and they manage to pull it off in relatively great speed without killing anyone to do so. I'd hate to have their job. It would be a pressure cooker every single night on the road. One 'oops' and your boss would have a backdrop floating down onto their head. Not cool. 

I'm thinking you'd be getting your own ride home if that happened. 

Tim's band got the music started and the noise level in the stadium took on a life of its own. They kicked things up a notch and then Tim materialized on the stage after a few tantalizing bits of video of him walking through the various parts of LP Field appeared on the large monitors that flanked the stage. 

Tim McGraw making everyone REALLY happy!

Man! Does that guy have a voice and stage presence or what?? And holy Moses at that white T-shirt and those tight, white cowboy cut jeans! All I can say is that God certainly takes some extra time on some of His creations. *wink wink* WOW!

The thing that was really brought home to me that impressed me the most about the entire event was that while the songs Tim sang were the exact same songs I sing to with him on the radio, it just really wasn't the same. Not even close! It was SO, SO much MORE!

There was a palpable emotional current running through his live interpretation of the music. Tim was literally pouring himself into each one of his songs. There is truly something to be said for attending a live concert!

It wasn't any different when Kenny came out later. They just made the songs all better by being there live! Sweat flinging, music singing live, live live! The songs became a group event shared by everyone there. Truly amazing!

While I enjoyed both Kenny's and Tim's music on the radio prior to coming to the concert, seeing them sing live and in person just seemed like it was creating a personal tether between what they wanted me to hear them saying in their songs and what I got to take home with me from the experience. I just wish I had a total recall play loop in my head to review it over and over again forever!

Have to admit, while all of my drooling hero worship was going on, I kinda felt bad for Beth trying to take pictures of the action. 

From her perspective height-wise, the people all around us were in her way in almost every angle. And frankly, no one wants to get an assortment of butt pictures of fellow concert goers. That is just gross. Unless you are a proctologist. Which Beth is not.


She did get up on the chair a few times to capture some shots during the entire show. I just worried about the steadiness of the chairs and tried to make sure she didn't fall head over tea kettle and didn't become pavement pizza trying to get up and down out of the slick plastic chairs. 

I can't wait to see her pictures since Rick's little red snapshot camera doesn't really do a good job at these events. Snapshots with no discernible movement - that it does well. But concert pictures, well, let's just be kind and say I have a host of nice blurry pictures of whatever happened. I finally stopped taking any photos of any kind. It just wasn't worth it to tell people "And this tiny, miniscule, microscopic WHITE blur is Tim. This tiny BLUG-GRAY microscopic dot is Kenny."  Somehow I think they would find themselves less than impressed. I know I am and I took the dang pictures!

Note to self - Self, give me a new camera for my birthday.  

Well, okey dokey! I'll just do that!

To Shelley, From Shelley, Love Shelley.  

Why thank you, Shelley!

Ideally, I'd like to find one similar to the Kodak camera I wadded around for the 4 years of Thomas' high school band experience. That was a nice and compact but extremely versatile camera. I'll have to do some looking.

Anyhow, to go on with the show, Tim McGraw sang his hits starting with "Felt Good On My Lips" and we all started to sing along. Tim was singing and moving around and was all over the stage from one side to another and charging out on the catwalk, slapping hands and kneeling to sing to the fans who flanked each side.

I'll bet the pictures of the people near the catwalk weren't blurry! HA! But then again, maybe their proximity to the headliners made their pictures worse than mine.

Tim sang “For A Little While” and “Down on the Farm,” and "Last Dollar (Fly Away)". I LOVE that song! As a teaser of his new album coming out, Tim sang “Mexicoma” followed up by the seasoned hit “Just To See You Smile”.


Digging into his considerable musical career's worth of songs, introduced the next number by saying:  You don’t mean to be an ass but sometimes you are. I know I’ve been an ass sometimes but you always wake up every morning and try to put your best foot forward everyday and be the best person you can be. That’s what this song is all about.” Tim then sang "Better Than I Used to Be".


Tim said he wanted to do a special song and said he hoped we'd like it. Okay, Tim. We will. No problem there. He started singing solo then for the surprise his wife, Faith Hill comes out on stage to sing a duet with him of "I Need You"!!

HOLY HANNAH! That was freakin' AWESOME!!

Watching them as they performed, the depth of their love for each other was tangible as they sang to each other only. We might as well not have even been there... they were locked into one another and just being for one another. It was a personal moment of their love set to music that was just transcendental and beautiful. 

Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and thinking about Rick. Yeah, I know. Mushy alert klaxons are going off all around us. Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Get over it!

Hollering out "Y'all ready for some country music?", Tim cranked out “Back When” as LP Field sang full volume to the tune.

 “Everywhere,”  and “Where The Green Grass Grows” which is one of my favorites. The visual imagery of living on your own plot of ground enjoying life is rich and full in that song. Of course, he also sang "Southern Voice" and “Live Like You Were Dying.” I've like both of those songs since day one. Each of them speaks to me personally.

After Tim's set started to wind down, Beth and I decided to hike up to get some water and Gatorade. We walked back to the break between the seats and the beer tents in the back of LP field where the end zone normally is. Talk about a difference in temperature! It felt like about 20 degrees cooler! Weird but true.There was even the hint of a breeze.


As we took in the relatively cooler temperature, we listened from the back of the floor seating area as Tim sang his encore numbers of "The Cowboy in Me” which he started off as an a capella rendition and closed up his solo part of the tour with “I Like It, I Love It”  and his new song “Truck Yeah”.


While the screaming was still going on, Beth and I started up the stairs to the refreshment stands. There were only about a gazillion people crowded around the beer tent and T-shirt tent. I looked at the selection in the T-shirt tent as I had previously thought about getting a shirt but the prices were a bit higher than I had imagined paying, and the shirts weren't really anything special like I had hoped, so I passed on the shirt and decided memories were better.

Matt Hasselbeck, the Tennessee Titans quarterback came out and threw some rifle-shot footballs into the stands. The only reason we knew that is because people started screaming and we turned around to look. Dang! I wish I could have been a receiver! Tim also tossed some pretty credible throws for short distance. Again, it would have been cool to catch one, but alas it was not to be...

The stage shift was still going on when Beth and I came back down with more water, Gatorade, Coke Zero, pretzels, hot dog and a pizza for Pete. The pretzel I got had enough salt on it to raise the collective blood pressure of LP Field by 5 points or more. I scraped most of it off. Salt is one thing, but when there's that much... they need to ask if you want a pretzel with your pile of salt!

The sun was fully down and the night sky was winking overhead when the buildup started for Kenny Chesney to take the stage. There was a video presentation of places that Kenny and his tour had landed and places that his songs were about. It came like blurbs of ground control video and sound as if a space flight were bringing the show to Nashville. When the ship controller showed "NASHVILLE" as the destination, the crowd went hog wild and the lights were flashing everywhere as we all craned our neck to find out where Kenny was coming into the stadium.

Kenny came in on a chair suspended from wires that came from the midpoint of the stadium and was summarily deposited on the catwalk! All of this was done while he was singing "Beer In Mexico"!


WOO HOO KENNY!!! YEEOWW!!

Kenny Chesney entering LP Field on a suspended chair

Kenny ripped off "Summertime" which we all gleefully added our voices to and followed up with  “Keg in the Closet”, "Reality", and "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem" with the same thunderous volume of singers from the stadium. By this time in the show, his clothes were already soaked in sweat --- which is just an indication of both the heat and humidity of the night and the complete level of enthusiasm and joy Kenny poured into every song.


He slowed things down a bit with the more contemplative songs of “I Need to Do,” and his new single “Come Over,” “Somewhere with You” and “Old Blue Chair.”


"Living In Fast Forward" and "Out Last Night" in short order. Lots of singing, dancing and just getting into the mood of the music... so very cool!

Kenny on the catwalk!

When he sang "Somewhere With You" it was so cool seeing and hearing everyone getting into the music! Kenny sang "Anything But Mine" and once in a while, he'd stop so the audience could finish the lyric.


That has to be somewhat gratifying to hear that many voices sing your words back to you! I know sometimes that an artist assumes a fame not in evidence when they turn the mike to the crowd and ask them to sing along and few know the words. That was not the case as thousands of voices sang Kenny's heartfelt words right back up to the stage.

Kenny  talked about the song “You and Tequila” and it evolved into a funny moment, as he was telling us about him playing Mexican restaurants while in college with just him singing to an acoustic guitar for all enchiladas he could eat and tips people would give him.


“When you make $50 in college you can eat Taco Bell for a month,” he said. “A lot has changed since then, but a lot hasn’t. I’m going to do this song the same way.”


Then, Kenny and Grace sang their aforementioned duet, "You and Tequila" and Kenny mentioned that it had just won some kind of award for the writers of the song. Nice! I'm sure they writers appreciate receiving the recognition of the award and of the performers who are out their making it happen.


While Grace Potter was trying to exit, Kenny called her back out to the front of the stage. Her birthday was this past week on Wednesday, so Kenny and company got her all set up with a guitar shaped cake and a gallon sized margarita. Some of the Brentwood High School Marching Band came out and played "Happy Birthday" while we in the audience were asked to sing along.


We joined in, somewhat together, and sang "Happy Birthday" to Grace at Kenny's behest. It was a lot of fun to see the camaraderie between the two as the tribute for Grace's birthday transpired. It was as if she was embarrassed by all of the attention! Kinda cool.


Chesney gave a nod to his East Tennessee roots with “Back Where I Come From” saying, “It defines how I grew up.” The crowd erupted in cheers within the first few bars. He referenced the song again before closing the show with “Boys of Fall.”


“Way back our lives revolved around certain things:  It revolved around church, revolved around school, family, friends and sports and it revolved mostly football,” he said. “That’s all we had. This song goes out to all of you boys of fall out there and all you girls of fall, too.”


Kenny briefly left the stand and then he and Tim then brought on everything they had and just blew LP Field up to the stars.


Their duets were worth every moment of traffic, sweat, sun and waiting! They sing SOOOO well together.They performed their duet “Feel Like A Rock Star.” Tim McGraw appeared on the center stage at the beginning of the song, then walked through the crowd to get to the end of the catwalk where he joined Kenny on the main stage to continue singing through their new hit song.


Then, they each traded verses on their individual career making smashes “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and “Indian Outlaw.” It was a hoot to watch them swapping back and forth!


Jake Owen and Grace Potter then returned to the stage and helped shut down the stadium with the group's cover of "Running On Empty” that was AWESOME to enjoy singing along with them. I think Jackson Browne would have been proud of the job they did on his song. I sure was! After the show was done, the full complement of talent on the stage took time to autograph shirts, hats and all sorts of things and Kenny even gave a little boy an autographed guitar. He looked like he might be 4 or 5 and kind of overwhelmed by all the attention.


Kenny also autographed a Tennessee Titans football helmet for a gal in the beach area for her birthday. Some present, eh? He had to track her down but finally got it to her. Shoot. If Kenny was gonna autograph something for me, I wouldn't be hard to find at all.


The entire experience was completely FABULOUS and I am thankful that Beth and Pete thought to include me in it. THANK YOU!!!