So… the day began with a two and half hour drive to the show. What a perfect day for an outdoor concert! Clear skies, 84 degrees. We had pretty good seats, but were curious if there were better seats available. So we walked up to the ticket window and jokingly asked, ‘Have any front row tickets?’ The guy said yes. Of course, I said, ‘WHAT!’ and he said yes he has some and do we want them. Um, no thanks. We’d rather sit way in the back. Ha! Out came the plastic and we got front row center tickets!!! I swear I was going to fall over. My friend kept laughing and calling me a freak. But neither of us have ever had front row anything! Needless to say, we were very, VERY excited about the show now. And, to top it all off, cameras WERE allowed.
We walked around the grounds and checked out some of the Jeep stuff, but it got damn hot so we headed to the main stage to check out our seats. *Nearly faints* All I can say is wow, wow, wow. We were right in front of the main mic- and where Sheryl would eventually stand and perform.
9:26 AC/DC rocks the house as final adjustments are made for sound. The lights go down… music fades, crowd screams, band walks on stage… BOOM! Steve McQueen rocks the house beginning with the opening riff to the sound of race cars. Lights fade in and out with each riff, only get getting a brief look at the band- and Sheryl. After about four rev ups, SM goes full throttle, and the crowd explodes as the lights come on and Sheryl is rocking with her red telecaster.
I swear if I were any closer to Sheryl, I would have been on stage with her. Saying that I could reach up and help her strum her guitar is not an exaggeration. We were blown away, not only by finally seeing her, but at how tiny she is! Someone saw me with my camera and came out and told me to stop taking pictures and put the camera away and not take it back out because ‘he was watching me’. That took me back a bit since other fans had their cameras out and were not asked to put them away. My friend thinks it’s because my digital camera has a viewfinder like a digital camcorder, and maybe they thought I was video taping. Needless to say, I was a bit miffed, but I did get more pics during the encore.
After a 14 song set, Sheryl and the band come back for an encore. Sheryl sits at her piano and talks about the song 'Safe and Sound', and how the song took on new meaning after 9-11. Sheryl made everyone’s jaw drop. You could hear the raw emotion as she sang, especially at the end. There was video in the background of a lot of pro-peace, anti-war stuff, and even a photo of Bin laden was flashed as well as the a quick snippet of one of the Towers. When Sheryl finished the song, the crowd was silent- in complete awe. Personally, I would have prefered footage of the heroes of 9-11, but hey, I'm not Sheryl. As she finished, some crew guy ran on stage under the piano and helped her take off her heels. She immediately jumped on the piano and did a cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Rock and Roll' - and brought down the house!
Here are some of the pics!
