I promised a recap, so even though I am about to Fall Asleep Right Now, I will try and recap. Shoot me if I miss anything.
And I'm posting it on this blog with reblogs turned off because most people following this blog know by now whereabouts I live. I'll edit this to put on my main account and toss into my queue to avoid doxing myself.
So because the venue was right on the beach (literally... the back of the stage was snuggled into the sand dunes) and I needed an excuse for going down there without telling the boys that we were in fact going to a concert AND Middle has been asking for a year to go to the beach AND Eldest was, functionally, the only one who had ever been, we went to the beach first. We all got very wet and very sandy and I got very sunburned (they had rashguards) and much fun was had by all and Youngest and I brought away some seawater in our lungs as a souvenir because we got knocked over by a wave. Youngest is a trooper and held onto me tightly and when I managed to get back to my feet and ask if he was okay he just sort of coughed some and said he was okay and drank some water and headed right back out into the waves. Maybe not a very wise trooper but definitely a trooper.
Two hours on the beach and we sludged the quarter-mile back to the car to rinse off with jugged water I had brought and change clothes. The tickets I had purchased (with my emergency fund, oh well) said that check-in started at 4:30 but we got there and it didn't start until five.
And then me being part of my family (our surname really should have been Murphy) despite marrying out of it, the tickets I had bought last-minute for the boys were not on her list, and despite the tickets very plainly saying "VIP tickets" she was trying to tell me they were general admission only.
No Ma'am They Are Not I Did Not Spend My Emergency Fund For The Year To Be Turned Away At The Gate.
I insisted. She called her manager over. Her manager was all "🙄 They say VIP on them, write them down on the list and let them in." God bless you, Nick.
We got Lanyards. We got Banners. We got Signed Posters (Ian has terrible handwriting but I suppose he signs a lot of things so I'll forgive him.) We got to stand in the volleyball court and wait another twenty minutes for him to show up. Middle was Tired and Hungry and Crabby and Naughty. I was Excited.
(While we were hanging out waiting for the gates to open, I was talking to some older lady and her daughter, and not paying much attention to anyone around. A couple of people passed by and one of them glanced over and said "Hey, thanks for coming, just give us two minutes, I've got to go use the bathroom and we'll get started." Y'all I just about hit ORBIT he was RIGHT THERE like THREE FEET AWAY. His security guy was being very patient.)
He showed up. He apologized for not coming down for photo shoots and hugs and explained that the last couple tours he did that and took back bugs and got the baby sick, and Caroline had forbidden it. Good for Caroline. He doesn't need to be taking back germs as souvenirs. He sat down on the stage and chatted. He did a Q&A. He complimented my mulberry Montana shirt. (Y'ALL.) We all played a little game wherein the first person to correctly name two of his songs from the first few bars got to go first with pictures. (I did not win but I DID get the first song. I ought to know the Stampede whistle by now.)
We all got first dibs on merch. I spent... a genuinely obscene amount of money on merch. I regret Nothing. (Yet. I might when the credit card bill comes in next month.) Something for Eldest, something for Middle, something for me. Youngest wants Rodeo Time. (I got a sweatshirt. It is 100% cotton. It is Geronimo themed. I regret Nothing.)
We then spent an extremely trying two hours, broken only by getting food for everyone, being bored. I brought cards to play but Eldest was the only one who nominally wanted to play, so we did one game of Go Fish, but since Eldest does not know and refuses to learn how to hold cards properly, the game was more trying than enjoyable. Middle passed the time by being naughty and Youngest passed the time by drinking two cups of water. Actually they all did that so we passed the time by drinking water and chasing cards and bathroom trips.
Kenny Whitmire wasn't nearly as bad in person as his YouTube song was. I feel kind of bad for him, no one paid him the slightest attention at all. I don't think he even got any applause when he was done. I'm still not going to be a follower but he didn't make my ears bleed.
And then. 8 o'clock. Stirring by the rail. (Oh yeah, so, arrangements. The venue was two stories, plus a volleyball court. The stage was set up on the other side of the volleyball court. The bar itself and the patio were on the second story, and had a few picnic table sort of things. We were VIPs so we got to be up there. GA had to be down in the sand or on the boardwalk over to the beach.) The band had been spotted. We switched from live opener to recorded Johnny Cash. Tune-ups began. Johnny came on stage. I do not know the other guys' names but they came on stage too. Lights began to flash. Heads were craned. Excitement began to ramp up.
Whining began to settle. Earplugs were plugged into little ears. I did not realize it until I was reviewing the photos later on, but I actually managed to record the moment Ian came on stage. I did not personally see it. Score 1 for recording. I instructed Eldest to kick off his shoes and stand up on the bench part of the picnic table so he could see, and picked up Youngest so he could at least be as high as I was (I couldn't really see either.)
Middle child does not like loud noises. Middle child had a meltdown, wailing and howling, almost inaudible over the thundering thumping bass of Stampede's opening. I shoved his earplugs more firmly into his ears and swathed his head up in his towel and got him as far back towards the wall away from the stage as I could with his hands clamped over his ears and told him not to move and retrieved Youngest and went back to try and see.
Middle child did not stay where I put him, Middle child drifts around like an air hockey puck at the best of times, Middle child was distraught and confused and just beginning to be intrigued and also had wanted to explore anyway. Middle child drifted. Middle child did not disrupt anyone because their attention was glued to the stage. Middle child came up beside me so I sat him back down beside the wall again and told him to stay. He did not stay, he went and stood up beside Eldest.
Ian left out the second verse of Stampede. 😂 I, honestly, do not remember everything he sang. He went straight from Stampede into Barn Burner. He also, in no particular order, did Horses Not Hearts, White Buffalo, Long Live Cowgirls, More Than Me, Horses are Faster, Cowshit in the Morning, Mountain Time, an Ozzy Osbourne song, a verse each from 6 different pop songs from the 90s, the 2000s, and present day (and the only one I recognized was You Belong With Me because that was one of my jams back in the day), and he closed with I See Country, which I am so glad he did that one.
Everyone was so nice, from the lady who came over specifically to tell me I was doing a good job with the boys and tell them that they were behaving so well, to the bartender who was very patient with me, to the people who let the boys go ahead of them in the bathroom, to the security guard who came over and told the boys they couldn't stand on the bench and then went and cleared people away from the rail so the boys could sit on the deck and see through the rail, to the very tall older gentleman who offered to put Youngest on his shoulders so he could see better (this would not have gone over well with Youngest, who is wary of strangers, but it was a very kind offer,) to the people who moved aside so that I and the boys could see.
It was great it was amazing I got to sing along in a live crowd to songs I could sing in my sleep I got to see Ian I got to meet Ian I got to watch my boys have the time of their lives I got to watch Middle shed his wariness and dislike of loud noises to the point he lost his earplugs by the end of the night and rejected having them put back in (if they had been necessary I would have insisted. I don't know if it was because it was an outside venue or not a terribly large one or what but the music was loud, but not hurt-your-ears loud. Except for, admittedly, that opening bass.)
We got to see the tour busses, which were doubly interesting for 1, being busses, and 2, being the tour busses. Very exciting.
We oozed along home and got in about 11 and promptly had Meltdowns and Showers and Bed and everyone was asleep roughly 30 seconds after their head hit the pillow. Except me. I had to stay up and shower and get something to eat. And then I went to bed.
12/10 would do it again. If I could afford it.
annaxmalina
andulkaphoto
turnnoffyourmind