Red Hat Amphitheater

My Letter to Brandon Flowers

August 15, 2015August 15, 2015 alittlebitsquirrely

I’m not going to lie. I was super bummed when you cancelled your show at The Ritz. If you knew me, you would know I live for concerts. It’s my thing. It was also an early birthday present to myself. I’ve always been a fan of The Killers since day one and was lucky to see y’all at Red Hat Amphitheater. When I found you released a solo album, I was all over it like white on rice. Then I found out you were coming to The Ritz the day before my birthday. That was the perfect present. Fast-forward to Wednesday. You cancelled the last leg of your tour with no explanation. Major buzzkill. It better have been for something serious like a busted vocal chord or you got SARS. The only good thing that came out of it was they refunded the tickets. The bad news is I can’t use my ticket for my display I’m going to start working on… it just wouldn’t be right. Another buzzkill.

It’s a good thing I have a forgiving heart. You’re still on probation with me. I’m not saying I forgive you right now, but give me time. And by time I mean a few weeks. I will eventually build a bridge + get it over it, but I just can’t listen to your album for awhile. I hope you understand. Also, if you ever become single again feel free to reach out to me.

Bye Felicia,

Jessica

My Bucket List of Bands

It’s Been Awhile… Part 2

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015 alittlebitsquirrely

Whelp, I’ve done it again. Failed at keeping my blog up to date, but you know what? I’m bound and determined to not give up.

With that being said, I’ve decided to do a recap of the concerts I attended in the summer of 2014 all into one post. Boom!

First up, Weezer at DPAC! Phenomenal show! I’ve been a fan since the 90s and was beyond excited when I got invited to see them with one of my best gal pals. A majority of their show was playing their music from the beginning of their career. It was pure bliss.

Next up was Vampire Weekend at Red Hat Amphitheater. My friend Natalie and I had pit tickets for the show and while I’m not the tallest person (I had difficult seeing the show), I was of course in my happy place, jamming out to the music.

The last summer concert was probably my favorite. He’s been on my bucket list to see, well basically forever. It was BECK at Red Hat Amphitheater! If you ever get the chance to see him live, DO IT! He played a lot of his old music from his albums Odelay, Guero, Modern Guilt, and more as well as tunes from his latest album, Morning Phase.

Can I also mention how much I love his style?! I pretty much loved his entire outfit and his hat! I wonder if I could pull that look off myself…

If there’s one thing I will splurge on it’s concert tickets. Those few precious hours takes me away from whatever is going on in my life and takes me to my happy place.

What’s your happy place?

xoxo

My Bucket List of Bands

Somebody Told Me

August 25, 2013 alittlebitsquirrely

It would be hot as Haiti’s for The Killers concert and they weren’t lying. It felt like I was trapped in a sauna with scores of people surrounding me and incredibly stuffy it was hard to breathe, but who cares… I was FINALLY seeing The Killers. Ever since they hit the music scene, I’ve been waiting ever so patiently for them to come to Raleigh or anywhere in the state of North Carolina. My dreams came true on August 12th when they performed at Red Hat Amphitheater.

They really rocked their first show in Raleigh playing several of my favorite songs from their early music like All These Things That I’ve Done, Human, Somebody Told Me, Mr. Brightside, When You Were Young, and Losing Touch. I had a major swoon moment when he sang a tidbit of James Taylor’s Carolina in My Mind. At that moment, Brandon Flowers made me weak in the knees.

Due to the insane heat we had to get some “air” which basically meant we needed to get out of the massive crowd. While we were standing off to the side a man came out of the pit and ripped his wristband off and proceeded to give it to us. For the remained of the show we took turns going in the pit to get an up close + personal view. It was oh-so amazing. I felt like I was on cloud 45,985 watching Brandon Flowers commandeer the stage. The only downside of the night was the heat, it was rather unbearable, but we mustered through it!

Not my best concert photo, but here’s Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Swoon.

My Bucket List of Bands

The National

June 25, 2013 alittlebitsquirrely

FINALLY!! After a few years The National made it back to Raleigh. I can officially now mark them off my bucket list of bands I want to see. P.S. AMAZING show… I would definitely go to another one of their shows. I’m absolutely smitten with Matt’s voice, he could totally have his own radio show with that deep, smooth voice of his.

Ok, back to the show. I honestly wasn’t sure how the weather would pan out since we had thunderstorm warnings/ tornado watches out the night of the show. The skies cleared as soon as we arrived (I missed the first act) and it was smooth sailing from there!

Despite buying seats I still couldn’t see over all the tall people. They need to make a section at Red Hat Amphitheater for fun size people like myself. I always get stuck behind a guy that’s as tall as Shaq. Not cool. That’s what I call, “short girl problems.” Luckily I was able to shuffle around since there were some unsold seats around me and I got a good spot to see the band. Not only did I get entertainment from the band, but the 50-something year old man in front of me was dancing his heart out and was super crazy.

Here’s some highlights from The National show:

DSCN1069 — The National at Red Hat Amphitheater

DSCN1078 — The National at Red Hat Amphitheater

DSCN1081 — So Matt came out into the audience + walked right by me. This is a photo of him and since I spazzed out taking the picture this is what I got. Fail.

DSCN1074 — The National at Red Hat Amphitheater

DSCN1083 — The National at Red Hat Amphitheater

DSCN1100 — The National at Red Hat Amphitheater

DSCN1097 — The National closing the show at Red Hat Amphitheater

The National closed out the show with Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks. You can check out the full video here (I didn’t record the whole song and let’s get real, I’m not a professional videographer). They are truly a beautiful band… amazing show!

xoxo

My Bucket List of Bands

My Mini Bonaroo

April 15, 2013May 8, 2013 alittlebitsquirrely

I’ve never been to Bonaroo or Coachella because I don’t think I could handle the insane crowds. I’m lucky if I can hang out at the NC State Fair for an hour without the crowd driving me nuts. In case y’all didn’t know I don’t celebrate massive crowds.

I’ve discovered a happy medium… go to three concerts in one week! Sounds reasonable, right?! On the upside I’ll be able to go home, sleep in my own bed, and take a shower in the comfort of my own home vs. camping out for multiple days in a row and probably get zero sleep. The only downside I can think of is having a terrible time getting out of bed the following day to go to work. I think I can do it! (Just as long is I live off of coffee and water).

For those of you curious as to what shows I’m going to…

6/10- The National at Red Hat Amphitheater. I bought seats for most of my concerts because frankly, I’m too old to be hanging out on the lawn.
6/11- Passion Pit at Koka Booth Amphitheater. Remember in the above statement when I said I was too old for lawn seats? Yeah, well I bought lawn seats for this show. Koka Booth is a small venue, so I think I should be able to see the actual performance (fingers crossed).
6/13- The Lumineers at Koka Booth Amphitheater. Ok, so I had jazz hands when I was purchasing pre-sale tickets and I meant to purchase lawn seats (again, Koka Booth is a small venue.. blah, blah, blah), but it turns out I bought pit tickets. Fail! I guess the upside is I can be super close to the band that’s if I don’t get trampled.

Needless to say I’ll have different views at each concert… lawn, seats and the pit. I wonder if I can score backstage passes to see the JoBros when they come to town…

xoxo

My Bucket List of Bands

It’s Showtime!

February 25, 2013May 8, 2013 alittlebitsquirrely

I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty excited about some of the shows coming to town this year. I just bought pre-sale tickets to see Fun. at Red Hat Amphitheater and Band of Horses at the Ritz in May. I also learned that The Postal Service will be coming to town this summer too. The things I find out on Twitter is enough for me to spazz out at work.

I have a wish list of shows I’m itching to see and my fingers and toes will be crossed until they come to town.

Ok Raleigh… you’ve heard my requests, now let’s make this happen!

xoxo