It’s no secret that I enjoy going to concerts, and I’m pretty open to seeing almost any show. My dad took me to my first concert when I was only 7 years old—Tanya Tucker. I remember the show being put on hold because of the rain, but she performed once it cleared up. I just think it’s so cool to be able to put a face and personality with the person singing the song you hear through your speakers. Plus the people watching is fun. 🙂 This post may seem really long, but it’s mainly just pictures.
Sad news…my camera has just about died, so most of these photos were taken via my cell phone. You can still click on some to make them bigger.
Taylor Swift: August 14
My friend Chelsea and I are kind of in love with Taylor Swift. We went to her show the first time she came through St. Louis a couple years ago with our other friend Kelsey. We bought the tickets this past February [and event got pre-sale tickets] and then had to wait six months for the show…
This show was so much more theatrical than the last show she did. You could definitely tell she had put more thought, effort, time, work, money, everything into it. There were acrobatics doing crazy stuff in the air, a ballerina, a lift that took her up in the air across the entire audience, and a second stage in the back where she performed several songs acoustically [she even did a cover of Nelly]. The stage set was also really dramatic—hanging picture frames with videos playing in them, a bridge, stairs, a sweet light show, and of course…fireworks. However, I’m bummed that I forgot to count the number of times she had a costume change. Last time it was 12, and Lady Gaga had 14 she was here last summer. I bet Taylor had about 12 or so this time around as well.
I believe she was singing “Mean”
And then she walked right in front of our seats…We wanted to get closer, but the guards wouldn’t let us. Boo. So I had to snap this picture super fast.
Sitting on her second stage singing a bunch of song acoustically. She even used a ukulele for one song.
And then there were some fireworks.
This one might be hard to see, but this part of the concert was really cool. If you look at the middle bell towards the top of the photo, you’ll see an acrobat hanging from it. These bells were really low to the stage to behind with and Taylor was using a mallet prop to bang on them. They slow rose up and just about this time is when an acrobat dropped down from each of the bells. It was so cool. They made appearances a couple different times throughout the show.
And this was part of the finale. She stepped into this lift [made to look like a balcony], that floated her across the entire arena to the people who had higher–up seats. She flew directly over us, but since we were only 4 rows from the ground, she didn’t come down any lower. She’s on the right side of the picture you haven’t found her. There was lots of confetti too. Overall, it was a great concert.
Super Jams 5 with Lil’ Wayne, Rick Ross, Keri Hilson, Far East Movement, and Lloyd: August 21st
This was my first ever rap concert, and boy was it a treat. I normally only go to the alternative/indie rock shows and a country show here and there, but this was bit out of my element. I went with Tim ‘s and my friend Weezer, who loves rap music—we were able to score a Groupon deal for decent seats. I definitely felt like the awkward, white girl who doesn’t know how to dance…yup. The thing that surprised me the most about a rap concert was how short the opening sets were and how short the time was between the acts. There always seems to be a 30-45 minute wait between bands at rock shows, but the wait was only like 20 minutes tops. I was okay with that. This concert was at an outdoor amphitheater, so the pictures are a bit darker.
Rick Ross performing.
Weezy on the bridge. I was pleasantly surprised at how much he talked and interacted with the crowd. He joked around and told short stories…it was pretty cool.
And then Birdman and the rest of the CMYMB team came out and performed with Lil Wayne. That was also cool because they weren’t included in the lineup. Nice little surprise for the audience.
The backdrop to his set was really cool. The “boxes” each had a screen on it, and just about every opening you see there was either a band member stationed there or dancers. His DJ is in the open box right in the middle. The screens all slid shut at the end of the show.
Loufest II: August 28th
So Loufest is a two day outdoor indie–rock concert “festival” that takes place in here St. Louis the last weekend of August. This is only it’s second year, but they’ve done a pretty good job for a rookie festival. I went to both days last year, but only one day this year. For the first festival last year they had bands that included She & Him, Broken Social Scene, Jeff Tweedy from Wilco, Social Distortion, several local bands and many more. This year they had Deerhunter, QuestLove from the Roots, Cat Power, The Hold Steady, TV on the Radio, and a bunch more.
I didn’t really get to take pictures this year because I was working/helping with a booth we had there for work. We were part of the “Press” for Loufest…sounds so official. We just did some Twitter stuff for them.
So here’s QuestLove doing a DJ set. Originally the entire Roots crew was set to perform, but they were unable to get out of NYC because of hurricane Irene shutting down airports. QuestLove was already in Chicago, so he was still able to come. He mixed 85 years worth of music into 1 hour. It was pretty impressive and it was a nice switch up from the indie rock that had been playing all day.
Saturday night’s headliner was The Hold Steady. I don’t really listen to these guys, but Tim does so we were up close for about half of the set.
So I’m taking a small break from concerts now. Or at least until a concert we have tickets for in October.
—m.