Josh Groban

I'm not a big concert-goer, but I do have a small list of artists that I think are worth seeing in person. Josh Groban was one of those and since the man hardly ever goes on tour, it took a few years to cross him off. I finally did a week or so ago when he came to LA and it was definitely worth it. It goes without saying that Josh Groban is insanely talented! His voice is so effortlessly beautiful and his band was terribly impressive as well. Matt and I both enjoyed the concert very much (despite Matt's poking fun at a couple of his "cheesier" songs).

Spontaneity and Anberlin

It was late on a Friday morning, and we had tentative plans for that evening. But when Matt called and told me Anberlin was playing in Los Angeles that night, we threw those plans right out the window! See, I'm a total planner and hate not having any plans, but I definitely don't mind upgrading plans when a better alternative presents itself. In this case, one of our all-time favorite bands was playing at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip, and since attending a concert there was on our LA to-do list, it was like killing two birds with one awesome stone. Just five hours after that phone call, we were standing in line at will call on the Sunset Strip.

We had accounted for traffic that was magically not there, so we arrived nearly an hour before the concert started. That gave us plenty of time to scope out the venue a bit. It's such a cool setting and is extremely blue, naturally. I'm actually not really into concerts because I rarely think they're worth the money, and if I do go to a concert, I prefer country (I've seen Tim and Faith, Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, etc.) because A. the singers are actually talented, B. you don't leave smelling like second-hand smoke, and C. you get to sit in your chair and enjoy the music without having your personal bubble invaded by sweaty strangers. Gross.

The lack of "B" and "C" is what I have most definitely not enjoyed at non-country concerts in the past, and I was a bit wary of what the House of Blues would offer. Thankfully, it's a very clean, upscale venue, so "B" was not a concern, and we found the perfect solution for "C" -- a little nook about 1/4 of the way back, right in front of the sound/lighting people, and fully equipped with a "seat/stand," great views of the concert and a rather large personal bubble. Hooray!

The first band that opened for Anberlin was Civil Twilight and we fell in like rather quickly. As in, from the second they opened their mouths and said in full South African accents, "We're Civil Twilight." With accents like that, who cares what their music sounds like?! Except, their music was amazing so it was all the better. It was really funny, though, because my little sister Heidi had told me literally the day before how she found this great South African band and needed to show me their music when I came home. Yep, Civil Twilight. Heidi always finds the coolest bands first.

Matt and I weren't terribly fond of the next band, so it made Anberlin's appearance on the stage all the more welcome. They kicked off the concert with "Paperthin Hymn" and followed it with favorite after favorite after favorite in a very well-chosen set list. The first note of every song had us smiling because we'd hoped they'd play that one. Matt was a little worried beforehand that Anberlin wouldn't be as good live as they sound recorded and would therefore damage his perception of his favorite band. He's loved Anberlin for a long time, and it's kind of nostalgic since he'd listen to them before football at the Academy. Thankfully, his fears were entirely unfounded. They sounded absolutely incredible and delivered an awesome concert that still has us listening nearly non-stop to Anberlin today. (Seriously, all we listen to right now is Christmas music, Anberlin, Civil Twilight, more Anberlin, a whole lot of Taylor Swift's Speak Now, and more Christmas music.)

Moral of the story? Anberlin rocks. Proof below.

A Hollywood Classic

One of the highlights of our Summer was our evening at the classic Hollywood Bowl. Numerous A-list artists ranging from the Beatles to Journey to Carrie Underwood to Luciano Pavarotti have performed at the outdoor amphitheater over the decades. But the most notable group to see at the Hollywood Bowl has been showcasing their music there every summer since 1921: the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Matt and I purchased tickets for the final performance of their summer concert series and prepared for a delightful evening of Tchaikovsky and fireworks under the stars.

A Hollywood Bowl tradition is to arrive early and picnic before the show. These picnics are typically of the high-class variety, including gourmet sandwiches and expensive cheeses and wine. Matt and I went with PB&J for convenience but classed it up with sparkling cider since we don't drink alcohol.

When we were standing in the grocery aisle purchasing said sparkling cider, I suggested we go with Welch's since it's easier to open. Matt, however, insisted on Martinelli's and promised he'd be able to open it. That proved to be easier said than done:

Eventually we just went to a concession stand and asked to borrow a bottle opener. It worked like a charm and we were able to have a nice little picnic there at the Bowl.

Then it was time to find our seats. Someday, we'll spring for a box seat below but for now our budget requires the nosebleeds. The view is more impressive from the top anyhow. See the Hollywood sign under the lights on the hills?

As we sat there all cuddled up under the stars mesmerized by the beautiful music, I wistfully remembered the concert in the park in Vienna on our honeymoon. Matt and I have officially decided to make attending an outdoor symphony an annual Summer tradition.

It was such a lovely evening and we thoroughly enjoyed each piece. My favorite was the famous Waltz from Swan Lake--such a beautiful classic. I uploaded a video that has clips of the conductor's funny intro as well as the second half of the waltz. Ignore my horrible video recording skills and just listen to it as background music for the next five minutes or so. It is absolutely mesmerizing.

Swan Lake by LA Philharmonic from Ashley D on Vimeo.

Matt's favorite was probably the also-famous 1812 Overture. (What can I say? Tchaikovsky's a famous guy.) It was the final piece of the concert and was performed complete with the USC marching band and fireworks shooting out of the shell. It was an amazing finale to an incredible night!

Many thanks to whoever uploaded this to YouTube that night.

Our story doesn't end there, though. Remember when Matt was having a hard time opening the sparkling cider? And was trying to bang it against the lamp post to loosen the cap? Well, here's a little excerpt of our conversation at that point:

Me: "Why don't you try using the keys?"

Matt: Feels his pockets. "You have the keys."

Me: "I never had the keys." Pause as the realization hits.

"I think the car has the keys."

Sure enough, we were a solid hour-and-a-half away from our home and had locked ourselves out of the car. No worries, of course, since I made sure to include roadside assistance on our car insurance. In fact, I was--dare I say it?--secretly super excited that Matt had locked us out of the car. See, once upon a time in my college days, I was really, really bad at that game. In the span of about three months, I think I locked myself out of my car approximately six times. Then I gave my best friend Liz (who I was with 29/7) a spare key and that magically cured my problem. What it didn't cure was Matt's occasional teasing for my follies, so it was only natural to be excited that I wasn't the only one in our marriage with a history of lock-outs.

We decided to just enjoy the symphony and wait until after the concert to deal with it. As soon as the last note was played, I dialed roadside assistance. Within 20 minutes, we were being picked up by our own personal escort and driven to our car which was parked a mile away. It was like a free cab ride but cooler.

I was sort of concerned that we would get to our car and find that our keys were lost, not locked inside. But sure enough, they were happily waiting in the ignition. Such good little keys for not running away on us. One of my doors is permanently damaged from all of my lockouts and I was a little bummed when the nice tow truck man pried the other door open but oh well. He got us into our car and out on the road in no time.

And thus ended our eventful evening at the Hollywood Bowl.

Daughtry and Dancing (and us)

Late last week, I received a gem of an e-mail. It read:

"Dear Ashley,

"Dancing with the Stars... blah, blah, blah... Would you like to dress up fancy and see Daughtry perform for free?"

And I thought, Why yes, yes I would.

Okay, maybe that's not exactly what the e-mail said, but you get the idea. I had the choice to either A) endure many painful hours of watching rhythm-less stars try to dance at the premier on Monday night or B) enjoy to a mini-concert with Daughtry, Santana and the professional dancers at the results show. It was a pretty easy decision. Next thing I knew, it was Tuesday and Matt and I were on our way to Hollywood to see the Dancing with the Stars Results Show live. (PS- Many thanks to Christian for all of the screen shots of the show!)

When we arrived, Matt was convinced he was the only man standing in the check-in line so I quickly started pointing out all of the men I could find, but they were all twice his age. I commended him for being such a great sport about attending an old ladies' show, and then reminded him that we weren't there to see Dancing with the Stars. We were there to dress up fancy and hear Daughtry live in a small venue. Plus, I already got to see how live television works when I went to American Idol this Spring and thought it would be cool for Matt to see it, too. It's fascinating to see how small the sets really are (those wide-angle lenses are so deceiving) and all of the little things that go into a live national broadcast.

Since we didn't want to use a day of leave for our little excursion, we got there much later than the hard-core grandmas and were numbers 148 and 149 in line. We figured that nixed our chances of getting a good seat, but boy, were we wrong! As we walked onto the set, a producer directed me and Matt to the gold chiavari chairs next to the dance floor--front and center--for Daughtry's performance of "September." Since there wouldn't have been enough time to set up and take down his band's gear on the stage during the live show, they filmed that one song beforehand and spliced it into the live broadcast. And oh my goodness, it was AMAZING! We were a whopping 15-yards away from the band and it was like Daughtry was in our living room.

Oh, and let me just say right now that the dancing was phenomenal that night. I mean, I expected it to be good since it was only professional dancers performing, but they really blew me away. Kherington, from So You Think You Can Dance, danced to "September" and was absolutely beautiful. She had the most perfect legs I've ever seen and I was more than a little jealous. But then I came home and ate Matt's leftover birthday cake and decided that life is better with chocolate anyway.

For that first Daughtry song, we and about 75 other people were sitting in the VIP chairs that are reserved for the stars' friends and family during the actual show. (We were in Kurt Warner's family's seats in case you were wondering.) We knew we'd have to change seats right after the performance and sure enough, once the cameras stopped rolling on Daughtry they started moving everyone up to the balconies. Which would have been fine, of course, but once again a producer came over and pulled the two of us out of the pack. She asked us to follow her and then seated us right next to the band. We couldn't believe our luck. Well, actually, I could. I told Matt on our drive down that his good looks would probably get us good seats and they sure did.

We fully enjoyed the remainder of the show from our new seats, and it was kind of crazy being so close to the celebrities. Daughtry smiled "hello" to the two of us and was so close that we could have touched him but, thankfully, we're not creepy like that. (Or like the girl in the blue sequin dress who we watched run down from her seats and try unsuccessfully to hug all of the stars after the show.) In fact, it's not Daughtry's celebrity that we like; it's his music. And let me tell you, his music is amazing. He was really so impressive live! And Santana? Man, can that guy play a guitar! It pretty much rocked getting to see Santana's fingers move and hear Daughtry sing up close and personal.

However, there are disadvantages to being so close to the stars. I learned this afterward when I got a phone call from my little brother, who announced: "Guess what? After the last song everyone was standing up clapping and they were doing a close-up of Daughtry, and you and Matt were the background. But then you moved your hair and sat down and made a weird face and the camera was still on you so it was kind of awkward." Great. Don't you just love little brothers? We saw the clip and found that Christian was telling the truth and it was indeed slightly awkward.

I am sure the producers were just cringing but oh well. At least we have indisputable proof that I was there, right? Right... Anyway, back to the show. After the Photograph performance, there was a bunch of that Dancing with the Stars blah, blah, blah business that eventually led to The Hoff getting kicked off and the creepy sequined girl getting ushered off the dance floor after trying to give him a hug. Good times, no? We then walked to The Grove and celebrated checking the live studio audience thing off our must-do-while-we-live-in-Southern-California list with dinner and window shopping. It was a great way to end such a fun day!