Here Comes the Sun

This past Friday,  we went with some family and friends to see Paperback Writers perform as The Beatles at a local outdoor mall. I love The Beatles. LOVE them, in fact our wedding ceremony had a Beatles theme. It was super cool. We got to the show early to save some seats (we set up several chairs, a blanket, and a cooler) and then went to dinner a few stores down at RA Sushi. My in-laws are new to sushi and were a bit apprehensive, but we ordered for them and they're now converts. After dinner we headed back to watch the show and enjoy the awesome weather and good music.

Then I found that this man, had moved our cooler and had placed his chair on my blanket that was obviously reserving the area. I kindly asked him to move, but he refused saying he didn't have room. I let it go, my husband wasn't there yet and there was a possibility he would get off work too late to come so I let it slide. Inside, though I was seething at how rude he was to move other people's stuff and actually take up enough area of a stranger's blanket that those people couldn't even stretch their legs out.

Well, the show went on and the band was amazing. A few songs in, my husband called to say he was headed over and I told him about the rude man above and he assured me he would handle it. Right when I hung up with him, jerk face waved over two friends to him where he was saving seats for them. Oh hell no.

Again, very politely I explained that if he had enough room for two more people to join him he needs to move off my blanket. He told me no, and I explained, politely, that my husband was coming and I needed the space on the blanket to put another body. Then he told me, verbatim "I'm not moving sweetie". Then I got ghetto on him.

We had a little tiff where he got snippy with me and Matt's bff and my soon to be brother-in-law had to get in his face, about the appropriate way to talk to a woman. He backed off sheepishly and moved. We apologized to the people around us and they all said it was ok, he was rude (I guess he also had his kne, digging into a woman's chair right into her back) and applauded us for getting rid of him. After I was vindicated, I really enjoyed the show.

The band is in full costume, accents, and plays as though they are the Beatles members. It was great! In between breaks, they had trivia questions and giveaways for the mall shops, my only regret was I didn't know about the concerts at the mall sooner so I could check all of them out! Each week is a different band, next week is The Rolling Stones and we're all going again to catch the last show of summer.

Everyone was singing along and by the end of the night the whole crowd was on their feet dancing. People of all ages, and this young men next to us played air guitar and drums all night long. It was an amazing night and I'm so glad we had the chance to check it out.

I Want Your Bad Romance- Lady Gaga

Last Thursday night I went out with some of my girlfriends to see Lady Gaga. It was the BEST show I've ever seen! She is definitely worth every penny of my hard earned cash. I wish I had better pictures of her on stage, the costumes and stage were incredible. I tried to get some good shots of the screen to get a better picture for you guys.



The CRAZY opening band Semi Precious Weapons- They were so weird! The frontman is definitely a combination of Billy Idol, Ziggy Pop, and Lady Gaga. Not my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat.



The opening for Lady Gaga! She came right out after the opening band, not like other superstars (ahem Britney Spears)  where you wait 45 minutes before their first number.



My girls with their paws out
 


Lady Gaga working the stage!



After the show, B and I in our new concert shirts
 

There were SO many people dressed up! It was so fun to see how creative some people were. I bet some of them had to have been planning for a while. Here is one of my favorite costumes I saw, but trust me, there were ALL kinds of crazy ones!


Some protestors outside, didn't know being a Gaga fan would send me to Hell. Weird:
 

Her entire show was insane- definitely the best performance I have ever seen. I would love to see her again the next time she comes into town. If she's coming to you, buy her tickets! Her show is efficient, her costume changes quick, and visually stunning. The dancers were incredible and really got the crowd pumped. She played almost all of her songs, all of the good ones anyways! She always debuted a few songs from her upcoming album and I CANNOT WAIT for it because the songs were killer.

After her show, I must say I'm an even bigger fan than I was before the concert. Not only did her entire show rock, she really connected with the audience. She is so warm and really cares about her fans. Throughout the entire night she told everyone to be free and not to be afraid to be themselves and stay true to who they were, that everyone is born rockstars. Gaga wanted everyone to leave her concert not loving her more, but loving themselves more. I thought that was so freaking cool of her.

I know there's a lot of talk and controversy around Gaga, but I just adore her. She really performs for her fans so they can feel proud to be who they are. She has said this hundreds of times in interviews and again at the show, that she was a "freak" in high school and people consistently told her she couldn't sing well enough, dance well enough, wasn't thin enough, couldn't play well enough etc. but look at where she is now. She stayed true to herself and kept pushing forward, unafraid of what others thought of her. Lady Gaga is very inspirational and I believe she will always be an icon.