Sugarland May 2009

I'm going back in time for a little while to share some of the more memorable moments of this past summer. While I didn't feel like I could blog about this stuff at the time, I most certainly am making up for it now! :)

Back last spring, I bought 2 tickets (not knowing who I'd be going with) to the Sugarland concert. They were coming to town on the very last day of school, and I thought that would be a perfect "school's out" treat for myself! Since I had met Joon, I knew I had to drag him along for the ride. Country is really not his type of music, but he loved this concert. He didn't like all the standing up we did for the entire show, but he enjoyed himself (I like to think it was because he was with me! :))

Matt Nathanson opened up as the first act, and he wowed the crowd with his voice. Man, can he sing! If you don't know who he is, he is the guy who sings "Come on Get Higher". It's on my song list at the bottom of the screen if you want to hear it. He sang a few songs, and Kristian Bush from Sugarland came out and played a little jam session with Matt. Since the concert, I've downloaded Matt's CD, "Some Mad Hope". It's a really good CD. My favorite song of his before listening to the CD was, of course, "Come on Get Higher", but now it's "Wedding Dress". What a beautiful song...how great would that song be for a wedding dance? :) Hmmm...

After Matt's set was over, the "real" opening act began. Billy Currington came out and gave a great performance! I'd never really known this guy before except maybe a song or two on the radio, but he was good. His biggest hit was "People are Crazy", but he sang "Must be Doin' Something Right" and kicked it into high gear with "I Wanna Be a Hillbilly". Billy definitely earned my respect that night with these and a bunch of other songs. He seemed to be very comfortable on stage and talked to the crowd between each song.

Finally, the wait was over! Sugarland came out and rocked it!! They started with a ballad from behind the screen, then transitioned into "Settlin'". This was their introduction to the KC crowd of 10,000 or so screaming fans.

We all went nuts as they sang hit after hit. Jennifer and Kristian belted out "It Happens" (see the video below--just be sure to pause the song at the bottom of the screen before you push play on the video), "Want to", "Stay" (which the whole crowd, including me, belted out along side of her), "Joey", "Genevieve", "Everyday America" (they showed pics from all over KC that they had taken that afternoon), "Blood on Snow", "Who Says You Can't Go Home", etc. They played too many of their hits to name them all, but what a wonderful night of music, dancing, and singing right along with them. Even Joon found himself singing along at a few parts! :)

The most surprising events/songs of the night were:

*Jennifer broke into a Madonna medley during one song. She interrupted her own song to sing "Holiday", "Into the Groove" and (I think) "Best of my Love".

*Before the finale, both Jennifer and Kristian got into these blow-up bubbles and literally walked/rolled across the floor on top of the audience. That was fabulous!

*Perhaps one of the best moments came during the encore. The entire band, including Jennifer and Kristian, came out dressed as the B-52s and performed "Love Shack". It was so awesome!

This was a great experience to share with Joon. It's definitely a concert I'll never forget! Can't wait to see what Sugarland does next!