OAR Live at Red Rocks
3:30 A.M. felt extra early this morning. Our goal was to leave for the airport by 4:15 A.M. so I wanted to have enough time to take a shower as well. Chris, Amanda’s boyfriend, was nice enough to get up and take us to the airport. Her friend and neighbor Adie also had an early morning flight so she rode with us as well. The trip in from Beaverton was quick and we were to the airport a little before 5.
Mandy and I chose to just pack carry-ons. We checked in at the automated machines but ran into a problem. I had called a few weeks ago to get Mandy seated in Economy Plus with me. When she pulled up her reservation, she was seated in 23E, which is not only a regular economy seat, but a middle economy seat at that. Unfortunately there was no way to fix this problem on the computers, so we had to get in a different line where an actual agent could help us. Fortunately this didn’t take too long. The agent was able to put us together in 9E and F which are nice seats on a 757.
Within 30 minutes of our arrival at PDX we were through security and sitting at our gate. They kept announcing that the flight was super full and that some passengers would need to gate check their rollaboards. I wonder if the guy who decided to start charging for checked baggage realized the increase in carry-ons the fees would cause? Mandy and I boarded with the Executive Premiers and had no problem storing our stuff. Even better, we ended up having an open seat in our row. We chatted for the first little but of the flight, and then in typical Katy fashion, I fell asleep.
After landing a couple minutes early in Denver we made our way to the rental car bus stop. It was sitting there just waiting for us. Mandy took care of booking our car and got us a fabulous deal with Alamo. I typically rent with Hertz but this experience made me want to rent with Alamo again. As previously mentioned we didn’t have to wait for the bus at all. There were popcorn and lattes free for the taking. The service was friendly and efficient. We even got a nearly brand new Subaru Legacy all for $14 a day. Who says there is not a silver lining to a down economy?
Before long Myrtle, my portable GPS system, was hooked up in the Legacy and we were on our way to the hotel. We found a pretty sweet deal at a Hyatt Place at the Denver Tech Center. The hotel included parking, wi-fi, breakfast and a very large hotel room for $80 a night. I had never stayed at a Hyatt Place previously but I would certainly stay there again.
Amanda and I were both pretty hungry from our travels, and lack of breakfast, so after checking in we decided to go to a brewery in downtown Denver called the Wynekoop for lunch. Mandy likes her beer and her sister, who used to live in Denver, said this was a fun place. We sat at the bar and had fun chatting a little with a handsome bar tender. I had a pulled pork sandwich that hit the spot. I don’t remember the beer Amanda ordered but I believe she liked it. Her salad looked pretty good too. I purchased a pint glass to commemorate the stop.
Post lunch our lack of sleep caught up to us and we decided that a nap before the concert would be a good idea. We went back to the Hyatt Place, took naps, and then cleaned up for the show. The show was scheduled to start at 7 P.M., so we decided to go to the cute little downtown in Morrison for dinner. It is clear on concert nights that the town is rocking, so parking was a little bit difficult. Needless to say though, we eventually drove to the front and parked. We lucked out and got one of the last tables in a cute little Mexican restaurant called The Morrison Inn. The service was fast and the food was good. It was just what we needed.
Before we knew it we had parked our car and were marching up a rather large hill to “Red Rocks”. The views were truly remarkable. I will post a few example pictures at the end of this blog.
One of the first things I wanted to do once getting inside the venue was purchase a limited edition poster made exclusively for this show. I like to get concert posters and they are particularly cool when they are limited edition. We decided to hit the merch booth at the top of the venue so we could both buy our poster and check out the view from the top of the amphitheater. Just as we were getting helped with our posters a massive Denver lightening storm blew in. It was seriously like God turned on a faucet. Fortunately I had on a gortex trench and Mandy had her super Target blanket that had a vinyl like side. I brought a tube with me to keep the posters nice while we were at the concert but it turned out to be a good moisture barrier as well. The guys helping us did their best to keep the posters dry. They needed a little guidance in this area but I did my best to do it tactfully. Just as we were walking away from the tent half of it blew over as did both of the tables located to our left. We decided to seek shelter at a nearby tent/beer garden that was a little more substantial. We made friends with the couple closest to us and within ten or so minutes the storm was over.
The opener for the concert was a fellow named Brett Dennen. Sadly for him he is not the most attractive guy in the world but he has an incredible voice. His music can be heard here http://brettdennen.net/. He played for roughly an hour and I honestly found the whole thing quite enjoyable.
The OAR performance was amazing. Red Rocks is the biggest venue I have seem them play to date. Their sets were much more elaborate than I am used to and I enjoyed the additional elements. Another highlight was their cover of U2’s Bloody Sunday. In the four previous shows I had attended I had never heard them cover another band. The fact that they chose one of my favorite songs by an incredible band was an awesome perk. The only negative thing about the concert was the drunk and high guy next to me. He kept trying to dance with me. My personal space was being violated on a constant basis. I was doing my best to ignore it… and then he grabbed my ass. That was the last straw. I threw his hand off of me and told him, “you need to keep your drunk ass hands off of me. It would be impossible for me to be less attracted to you. If you touch me again, you are going to have some serious problems.” He didn’t touch me again but he did continue to get in my space. Mandy wanted to take him on but thankfully she didn’t. She did yell at him once which was kind of funny, but no punches were thrown.
After the concert Amanda and I decided to wait a while to exit because there were going to be 9,000 drunk people marching down the hill and we were in no hurry to join them. We also weren’t in a huge hurry to sit in traffic behind them so we took a few more pictures and went to the bathroom. OAR offers recordings of their concerts on thumb drives roughly 15 minutes after their shows end. I decided that I wanted to get one of these so Amanda and I got in the back of the line and waited for the last batch of thumb drives. By the time we started hiking down the hill it was after 12.
On our way down the hill we saw the band’s bus. When OAR played in Eugene in January of ’09 Amanda and I met most of the band. We even went out with Michael Paris and Benj Gershman after the show. As we passed the bus we saw that Richard was talking to some fans. He was one of two band members we hadn’t met, so we decided to stop and introduce ourselves. I also wanted him to sign a poster that I had the other guys sign in Eugene. The only band member we had left to meet was the drummer Chris. We decided to hang out and wait to see if we could catch Chris on his way to the bus. While we were waiting Michael came by. To my shock and amazement he remembered Amanda’s name from our night out in Eugene. We had fun talking to him for a little while until he had to go and meet up with his cousin. Shortly there after Benj came by. Benj too remembered us from Eugene. We talked about the show. Amanda told him it was all awesome except for the drunk and high guy grabbing my butt. Benj then checked out my butt and said he understood the guy trying. I thought that was pretty funny and Amanda enjoyed it too. I told Benj we were waiting for Chris so that I could finish my poster. He offered to go and get him for us. Within a minute Chris was there. Like every other member of OAR, Chris was a super nice guy. It is really easy to love a band that creates awesome music, puts on a great show and treats their fans like they are long lost friends.
By the time we made our way down the windy road to our car it was 1 A.M. There were not many people left in the area at this time but we did pass one group of people. There were five guys and one girl playing beer pong. As we walked by they asked Mandy if she wanted to shotgun a beer with them. Anyone who knows Mandy knows the automatic answer to this question was yes. We ended up hanging out for roughly two hours with mostly Matt and Brian. They were Airforce guys that came from Colorado Springs for the concert. I had fun talking to Matt about his experiences in the service and Amanda had fun keeping us all entertained with lines like “My jeans are sweating!” and “Want some coooooooookies?”
When 3 A.M. rolled around I realized I was pretty dang tired. I think Amanda was getting a little tired at this point too so we decided to say goodnight to our new friends. We walked the rest of the way to our car. We had parked next to a porta potty and Amanda was super excited to use it. Once she completed her business we got on the road back to the hotel. We arrived at the Hyatt Place around 3:45 A.M. exhausted from nearly 24 hours of activity but very pleased with our action packed day of fun.
Until tomorrow,
Katy
OAR playing “On My Way” at Red Rocks on June 5, 2009.
The view from the top of the Red Rocks Amphitheater before the show started and the sold-out crowd filled in.
No comments:
Post a Comment