Falon’s World

Well today was the big kick-off for B93’s Birthday Bash 17. We bought our tickets months and months ago and were ready for a day out in the great weather with some live music. I was especially excited for today with several people I was really looking forward to seeing. The torrential rain from the night before had disappeared and it was a beautiful and sunny morning. We headed out a little late since I worked last night, got out at 7:15 this morning. Eric picked me up (late as he slept until past the time he was supposed to be at the hospital to get me) and we headed home to catch 2 hours of sleep before getting on the road.

It was a sloppy, muddy mess at the fairgrounds:

We missed Frankie Ballard and the first special guest, Bomshel. I was ok with that. Last minute, Eric decided to park in town and walk in, paying $5 extra rather than wait in a line at least an hour before getting in. That enabled us to be in our pretty excellent seats for The Lost Trailers. I was excited to see them and was not disappointed, they put on a great show!

Next up was Julianne Hough, I had no idea what to expect but she was pretty entertaining as well. Tiny little thing, definitely could tell the men in the crowd liked her lol .

Next up was Zac Brown Band. I was really excited to see these guys since we had only saw part of their show at the Intersection last time and what we had seen was really good. Their flight from Denver got canceled and Kenny Chesney sent his jet to get them to GR. They had to stop to buy new guitars and other instruments and then at Wal-Mart – attire was Dickie’s all black and white bandanas…pretty freakin’ cool!

Next was supposed to be a Special Guest, Craig Morgan and Blake Shelton. We went out for a break and some water, saw some friends:

When we got back, we discovered that they were clearing out the grounds due to mass flooding from the river into several different parking areas, leaving many people stranded…

They announced the Special Guest as Michelle Branch and put Craig Morgan and Blake Shelton up on stage with her all together. They each played about 2 songs and then they closed the place down .

Craig Morgan is one of my all-time favorites and I was beyond disappointed that he wouldn’t be performing an entire set.

I was also excited to see Blake Shelton, Eric says he’s a great show and I’ve never seen him but enjoy his music…another bummer…

We left very disappointed to hear on the way home that they were cancelling the second day of Bash and refunding for the tickets. Then we realized how burnt we were and that was the cap to the evening.

Eric’s Croc got caught in the mud at one point and sprayed mud all over his back…resulting in a very interesting burn…

For our Two Year Anniversary, I got Eric tickets to Rascal Flatts, a band which he really loves and which he hasn’t seen since we started dating. I think their music is ok, a little too boy-bandish for me but still alright. Therefore, I was blown away by the amazing show that they put on. Jessica Simpson was annoying and overdramatic with the way that she moves her mouth and plays with her hair but that was to be expected. In the row in front of us, there was a drunk woman with the shortest skirt I’ve ever seen on. She was crying for Jessica Simpson and she kept bending over the row in front of her, baring her ass for all to see and not even noticing. She was obnoxious and horrible and eventually somoene complained and the woman and her very embarrassed…guy friend were kicked out.

The rest of the was just awesome though:

For New Year’s this year, Grand Rapids decided to have their own ball drop. Both Eric and I wanted to be there for the beginning of this tradition so we gathered up some friends to head downtown.

It was FREEZING!!! When we got there, the Plain White T’s were on stage, they were quite good, I enjoyed them. Even pulled a girl up on stage to sing along with them.

When they were done, we went back to the Eric’s work to play some Mexican Train before heading back into the frigid air again.

There were a LOT of people:

We ended up behind the Christmas tree:

I got caught up in the crush of people and literally lifted off my feet. I get a tad people-claustrophobic in situations like that and Eric helped get me to an area that was a little more clear to watch the ball drop.

The timing was off but overall it was nice to be there for the first one. We may watch from this vantage point instead next year:

Some people had said that they could not go out on the day of my birthday but were up for going out the night after. Of those only three actually came. We went to see Eric Church at the Intersection with special guests Get the Cat and The Bronk Brothers. We had the Get the Cat passes so we got in for free and we also had a couple of tickets so two of the three that came also got in for free. That was neat .

Get the Cat was on first. They’re a good time, both on stage and off and play some interesting twists to some great songs.

Next up were The Bronk Brothers – they’re also really neat, and really, really nice. My favorite though, is when the harmonica comes out:

Then Eric Church took the stage. He’s a fantastic show and we just saw him at Birthday Bash but he’s still awesome. I even finally bought a shirt I had been eyeballing for quite awhile.

When his show was 3/4 of the way over, the couple that had met us there had to leave and Eric was his usual flighty self so I was sitting at a table by myself for awhile until he finally reappeared. The show was good but I didn’t have the best time I’ve had at a concert (there were a LOT of really, really sloppy drunks (and minors) there, I got hit on quite a few times as well – which always makes me kind of uncomfortable) and I was ready to head home but we had promised to meet some people at McFadden’s so that’s where we headed next…

When we got there our friends actually had a booth (hard to come by!) so I was really happy to get to sit down for awhile after several hours standing in heels. Although this was to be my celebration, Eric got pretty lit – as did everyone else we were sitting with and I was ready to go after about a 1/2 hour – but we stayed way, way later until Eric was ready to go and we finally headed home.

Here are some drunk photos:

I did make an attempt to get into the spirit of things:

But, by the end of the night I was pretty aggravated and just wanted to go home…

Happy Birthday…

After reviewing our finances and the lineups for Birthday Bash this year – we decided to only buy tickets for Saturday (although I went through significant trouble to find tickets for Eric for Sunday, and schedule the pet sitter in an attempt to surprise him…only to have him change plans and not go *sigh* ). We slept in and were late leaving and getting out there but were ok with that. Especially since once we arrived, it rained and we ended up not even sitting in our seats, until the rain stopped and the sun came out

EMILY WEST

She was…interesting. I had never heard of her before (or at least that’s what I thought, until she played her hit Annie’s Gonna Git a New Gun) and so didn’t really know what to expect. She was wearing an interesting outfit for a country concert, high on a stage (but there was a lot of “interesting” outfits to be honest), she also giggled kind of a lot – which isn’t really my thing but…her voice was fantastic and I do like her Gun song so it was overall ok. I mostly just enjoyed watching her flirt with the guys filing past to take her photo…

The rest of Eric’s Emily West photos are here.

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ERIC CHURCH

We’ve seen Eric Church several times (even had our photo taken with him last year ), so we knew we both enjoyed him and his music. This year was no different. He’s very energetic on stage, although he did develop this new…hoppy thing when he’s in front of the mic, it was still a great show. Some of his most popular songs include How ‘Bout You, Guys Like Me, Sinners Like Me and Two Pink Lines. Although, Eric listens to that CD a lot so I know the words to pretty much the entire thing and some of my personal favorites are Before She Does, Can’t Take It With You and Pledge Allegiance to the Hag. Either way, a great job and fun act to watch!

The rest of Eric’s Eric Church photos are here.

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BLUS AT THE INTERSECTION TENT

Eric has become friends with yet another local(ish) band, Brian Lorente and the Usual Suspects. I had seen them once and thought that the lead singer had come across as too cocky for my tastes. But, Eric really enjoyed them so he went and saw them several times without me, said the guy was really nice. I actually met him (and he is nice, and funny) before they went on stage in the Intersection tent. We rushed over there to see them between main stage acts.

They do play some very fun songs, but I felt out of place while Eric left me to one side of the tent and ran around taking photos. Plus, I was really looking forward to seeing the next main stage act and we missed the beginning . Anyway, the rest of Eric’s BLUS photos are here.

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BILLY CURRINGTON

I had been really looking forward to seeing Billy Currington and was upset that we had missed the beginning. Some of my favorite songs are Good Directions, Why Why Why and Must Be Doin’ Something Right. We got to our seats though and it was a pretty boring show. He has songs that I love and a great voice but he’s not very active on stage and was therefore a little boring to watch. Kind of a disappointment but oh well.

The rest of Eric’s Billy Currington photos are here.

Next on the list was a Special Guest, of which we did not even have a hint of who it might be. Eric rushed back to the Intersection tent for some more of BLUS, but I elected to stay in our seats. I didn’t want to miss the beginning of the special guest because, from my experience, they don’t stay that long (I was right).

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JOE NICHOLS

I was pleasantly surprised when Joe Nichols took the stage . Some of his songs that I like are Brokenheartsville, She Only Smokes When She Drinks and Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off. He wasn’t on stage for long but he was fun. Eric missed about 1/2 of his show but managed to get a couple of photos.

There are a couple more of Eric’s photos of Joe Nichols here.

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CHRIS CAGLE

The closer for the show tonight was Chris Cagle, someone that we’ve seen numerous times in concert. There are too many songs of his that I love to list. The last time we saw him though, I wasn’t very impressed, he was kind of a pervert and that kind of put me off. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about seeing him this time…it was awesome! He wasn’t a pervert at all and did far less talking and more singing than he used to as well. He pulled some phone and camera antics that were fun and amusing. I think he’s lost some weight too.

I think the crowd loved him too…

Eric took a lot of neat photos of him, they are here.

Overall a beautiful day with great music!

I’ve loved Jack Johnson’s music for several years now. I missed my opportunity to see him the last time he was through Michigan and that really bummed me out, which Eric knew. So, for a surprise he bought me Jack Johnson tickets for DTE in Detroit – the catch? He didn’t realize that he would be in DC for a work conference So, I had to find another date and decided to bring our friend Allison.

The trip there was…eventful. Mike drove Old Goldie and almost got into an accident before we even got on the highway. It was 100% his fault and the pissed off lady followed us down the next road to pull up alongside and swear – it was fun (that was sarcasm).

After that it was truly uneventful. We reached our destination plenty early and us girls wandered around inside, I had never been so it was fun to see all of the stuff. I scoped out the t-shirts in case I decided I just couldn’t live without one. We put claim on our spot with a couple of blankets and sat back to enjoy (and not enjoy) the two opening acts. The boys finally joined us and some serious drama ensued making the rest of the concert less than enjoyable for all of us. I still managed to have a great time, my date ( ) was fantastic and the music was fabulous – he was great to see in concert!!

I forgot my camera and no one else has put photos up so here is one crappy one from my phone:

I also caved and bought a shirt

The ride home left something to be desired and when we finally arrived it was really late, 2:00 in the morning so I just let the dogs out and crashed. I hope next time that Eric can come with!! It was still a GREAT surprise though!

ETA: Tina posted photos

We drove up to the Crazy Horse tonight to watch Branded play. It was a lot of fun. Neither of us drank very much because we went to pick up Eric’s boss, Dave and wife and friends to drive them home. It took FOREVER, the roads were kinda crappy, but that was ok becauese I was driving the truck, so no big . Plus, money is always nice! Since the lovely and angelic Mason ate my camera case, I’ve fallen out of the habit of bringing it places. So, no photos because Eric hasn’t posted his yet, sorry.

Thursday

I laid around A LOT and did a little cleaning and finished up one of Eric’s gifts.

Friday

We did massive shopping. We hit Hobby Lobby, 3 different pet stores, Home Depot and got the dogs licensed. It was productive, but I don’t have anything to show on here. Then we had friends over for pizza, headed out and went bowling

Photo of Eric bowling by me:

and then back to our house for a little while (I went to bed).

Saturday

We went to the Intersection and saw Branded and Emerson Drive. It was a good time. Had some drama up by the stage with these two girls thinking they deserved to be treated like queens and meanwhile shove everyone else around – they weren’t very popular. Oh well, otherwise had a blast.

Sunday

We went up North to see the ‘rents and the grand’rents. It included delicious food, Christmas decorations, puppies and a trip out to Silver Lake.

Silver Lake photos (all by Eric):

The boys raced around like Looney Tunes:

Mason hit a huge patch of ice and looked a cartoon the way his legs were flailing around wildly, trying to find purchase. It was hysterical, probably why neither of us got it on camera…the look of shock on his face – priceless. Midas, on the other hand, always finds time to lay down, he LOVES to snow snorkel:

This is my fave, he looks vicious – but really he’s just chewing ice/snow

Tonight right after work we hurried home and through our evening routine to rush out the door to Battle Creek. We bought front row seats to the concert at the Kellogg Arena featuring Jake Owen, Little Big Town and Sugarland. We tried to see Little Big Town this summer but they ended up not being there (Eric bought me surprise tickets too ). I loved them the last time we saw them. We saw Sugarland with Kenny Chesney this summer.

Parking was HORRIBLE and we ended up parking in a non-spot, illegally, in a bank, but right across the street. We missed part of Jake Owen though. It was fantastic being able to come in and sit in the front row and there he is, right in front of us, no heads in my way, no stupid people…just us, then the stage Terrific!

(These photos were taken with my camera by Eric because the security wouldn’t let Eric use his. The rest of the photos are here.)

Little Big Town was fantastic again! I love how each of the main 4 can sing…it’s great and very entertaining.

Sugarland was great again as well. Her outfit was a little…interesting. When she came out on stage Eric said, “pssst, is she wearing a bra???” lol.

Then Little Big Town and Jake Owen came out and they all performed together:

Then we were all allowed to crowd up next to the stage, I got my ticket signed on both sides and a pick and Eric got a pick and one side of his ticket signed.

It was one of the best concerts I’ve been too and definitely worth the $42 we paid for it!!

After visiting with the fam up north we came home for a relaxing afternoon and then got ready to go to the Intersection for Branded’s CD Release Party. Mike, Travis, Tara and Nate all accompanied Eric and I to the show. It was an absolute blast! I got to see everyone who I haven’t seen in awhile and I got loaded . I had so much fun and it was so great to see the crazy huge crowd that came to show the band their support. They finally had some merchandise in too so that was really popular. We ended up not getting home until after 3 am, but it was so worth it!

Here’s the band:

The band’s beer (it tasted yucky):

There was some crazy dancing:

This was our group:

Eric and I:

Then we hung out backstage for awhile:

I was really wore out by the end of the night (the signatures are from the band…they insisted they must sign something and that’s all I had):