opportunity rocks

Getting a second chance at something is just a beautiful thing. The rock and roll gods smiled down upon me once again; Scotty and I scored some tickets to Styx and Boston for Tuesday night. I made sure to snap an obnoxious amount of pictures, trying to make up for the ones I didn't take the weekend before.

Yes, Jonathan was still out of town and yes, he was fine with me having another platonic date with Scotty. Love that man o' mine.

At the Doobies concert, we paid ten bucks a pop and ended up in the sixth row. This time we paid sixty and this was our view.

Right in front of the railing? Are you kidding me? I resigned myself to my fate and attempted to eat the sub-par chicken strips I paid the equivalent of my 401K for. Scotty disappears, hell-bent on taking care of this unfavorable situation. An usher approaches me ten minutes later and says, "Ma'am, we have new seats for you and your husband if you'd follow me."


Wait, husband? I don't even want to know what he did to get these (way, way better) seats at the front of the balcony. Later he told me he pitched a fit at the front desk and said he wanted to know how he was supposed to explain these seats to his old lady. Whatever. I was just grateful, for the second time in as many weeks, that I didn't have to break the law to get a better view of Tommy Shaw and whoever else was left of Styx.


Styx was just incredible. I was wishing I was down front again like I was last time, but that would have set me back almost two hundred bucks. The sound was great and they put on a really polished, seamless show. I got to hear some songs that I already loved like "Come Sail Away" and hear previously unknown ones like "Lorelei" and "Miss America" that are now new favorites.




Is it strange that I think Tommy Shaw is kinda hot? You know, for 54? He is really short, yeah, and his cheeks are kinda poochy like he just had a root canal, but otherwise? Could I have a show of hands, please? No takers? Okay. On to Boston.


Boston's lead singer commited suicide about a year or so ago and now they have this new guy they found on Myspace that was working at a Home Depot. I thought they sounded great (I made sure to get a video of "Amanda") but there was one hurdle I just couldn't get over, even from the balcony.

Dude. What's with the black pants and bright white Nikes? They look like the ones my grandmother wears when she goes for a walk, not the ensemble you put on when you're about to perform with one of the greatest rock bands ever. It drove me nuts the entire evening. They were great otherwise. I didn't think they had the chemistry with each other and the audience that Styx had, but I suppose that is to be expected given the situation. All in all, a fabulous evening with amazing music, crappy food, and a good friend.

And I brought my all-important camera so I can show 80 blurry photos to people who weren't there and couldn't care less. Such as Jonathan, who made it home safe and sound last night. If anyone does want to see the blurry videos I took, they will be on YouTube (username: amandathejeweler) here in the next couple of days.

Journey will be putting on a show here in July...I'm already preparing myself.