It's not summer 'til I've been to a concert

I was not one of these adolescents or teenagers who went to concerts. As much as I would have loved to, I just never had an opportunity to go to one. There were some pretty awesome artists touring when I was growing up in the 1980's. I can imagine how awesome it would have been to see Madonna, Michael Jackson or Prince. I was 19 years old before I went to my first concert and it wasn't a rock concert. It was a country singer, Travis Tritt. An evening of watching him perform in the intimate Park West venue and I was hooked. Ever since then I've loved attending concerts and have been to way more than I can count.

My first concert at a big venue was Garth Brooks at the World Music Center, which was then the Tweeter Center and is now First Midwest Bank Amphitheater. A group of us went to the show, including my sister-in-law, Sherry. It was 1992. We watched from the lawn seats.

Well, a lot has happened since 1992. I've had 5 kids. Sherry's kids are all adults. But we both still love concerts and country music, so this summer we decided we'd go see Toby Keith's show at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater. My summer just isn't complete until I've been to an outdoor concert at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheater - and there's always more than one.

The day before the concert there was some nasty weather. Huge downpours flooded the lots at the concert venue and a Journey concert had to be cancelled. Luckily, enough of the water had dried up the next morning for Toby's show to go on. We headed to Tinley Park and crossed our fingers for good weather.

We stopped on the way for dinner and martinis at Gatto's Italian Restaurant. I also write a food blog, (Chicago Foodie Sisters - www.chicagofoodiesisters.blogspot.com) so I'm always looking for new places to dine and this one was new to me. We then went over for the show and I took her on my secret route (well, not really secret, just much less traveled road than the one leading to the big parking lot) and we were there in just a few minutes.

Toby Keith's gorgeous daughter Krystale Keith was on stage and she has got some pipes on her. Up next was Colt Ford singing some country rap. Not exactly my thing, but you could tell he was having a blast up there on stage and how could you not love watching that?

As Colt Ford finished up, I went out seeking nachos and saw the Illinois Lottery tent. I'd applied through a blogger program for their "Anything's Possible" Music Tour to attend the event and blog about it. Unfortunately I wasn't picked as a blogger for this concert and we purchased tickets and attended on our own, but I stopped at the tent and they had a pretty cool set-up with some nice gifts if you purchased $5 in lottery tickets. 

I talked to the staff to see if any other bloggers had cancelled and if I could possibly get into the lottery section for the show. We were escorted there, but just after we walked up on deck, it started pouring down rain. Since we were getting soaked, we realized we were better off back in our regular seats. So we hung in the lottery section for about five minutes, took this picture and then went and sat back down in section 104.

We had pretty good seats and enjoyed Toby's show. We decided in recent years that if we were going to a concert we needed to bite the bullet and buy pavilioin seats. The days of hanging in the lawn are behind us. Toby didn't disappoint. He always puts on a good show. This was my third time seeing him in concert.

As I watched him sing "I'm Not As Young As I Once Was," I thought of my friend, Fran, who went with me to see him in concert at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre about 5 or 6 years ago. She loved country music and we'd go to a lot of concerts together. Fran passed away last month at the age of 80, so it was quite bittersweet.

Toby is known for his patriotic anthems and at each show I've been to he has ended it with his songs touting the good 'ol USA and has had military personnel in uniform join him up on stage. It's always special and a little emotional, this time even moreso since Sherry's two sons, my nephews, James and Jeff, are in the military. One is in the Marines and the other in the National Guard. 

So here's a peek at the grand finale.

It was a fun night where we got to be a little nostalgic and relive our days of attending country concerts back in the 1990's. Can't believe it's been so long since our first concert there. When we got home I posted the following on my Facebook page:


"Sherry and Carrie at a concert in 1992: 
- Lawn seats in the rain. Who cares?
- Hang out in the parking lot following the show. No one's moving. Who cares?
- Contemplate what bar to go to after show
- Call in to US99 to chat with DJ about the show and make requests
- Head to White Castle

Sherry and Carrie at a concert in 2014:
- Dinner before the show.
- Seats in the pavilion so we don't have to sit on the lawn in the rain.
- Plan for fastest route out of parking lot so we don't have to hang out in parking lot.
- Yawn as we make our way out of the parking lot.
- Home by midnight."


As Toby sang, "I'm not as good as I once was." :) But that won't keep us from having fun at concerts. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to attend some other concerts this season as part of the Illinois Lottery Anything's Possible blogger team. This was my second concert at the venue this season and I'm ready for more. Hoping the next one will be some classic 80's rock with one of my boys.