Wowies

So.. wow. Matt and I saw Rascal Flatts last night in Nashville, and it was definitely the best live music performance I've ever seen! I had head-to-toe goosebumps for most of the show, and it takes a whole lotta talent to do that to me!

We only took our point & shoot (we were told before we left for Nashville that no professional cameras were allowed into the concert, bummer) but I'm still totally happy with how most of the shots came out!!

Even though it was less than a 3 hour drive, it was still Dex-boy's first major car trip. Here he is near the beginning, looking perky..

Then about a half hour in, dropping fast..

He finally gave in and snoozed-out for the rest of the trip, cuddled against the seat. Don't you just want to eat him up???

War protest bus we passed on the way in. We later saw them in downtown Nash setting up shop on the main strip through the Vanderbilt campus. I hope they, um, accomplished whatever it was they were trying to do?

Dex 'n daddy in the hotel room. Dex did not know what to think about all of the cars and people downtown.. he thought it was the coolest thing ever. Though this hotel was nice (downtown Sheraton), my only complaint is that they are advertised as pet-friendly, yet there is NOWHERE to walk your animals! The concierge actually said "Good question" when I asked her where we should take Dex to do his business. There is seriously no grass downtown, short of walking 3 miles to Centennial Park just to let him pee. We ended up just walking him in a bed of ivy we found across the street (it was either that or coax him to climb into one of the flower pots sitting around, so... yeah.)

We brought Dex's crate with him, since he still sleeps in it at night (and he considers that his haven and goes in there for security) and he still is not allowed free roam of our house while we aren't there, but he was scared in the hotel room and would just howl when we tried to leave him in there when we left for the concert.. so we ended up letting him roam free in the room when we left, hoping and praying that his potty training skills would serve him well.

Outside of the arena (last time I was there was in '99 for a Backstreet Boys concert. Yeah, I was a total teenybopper. Deal!):

I have no idea how Matt managed to get such FANTASTIC seats just 3 weeks before the concert, especially in Nashville. Hello? But look at how close we were to the stage!! Best birthday present EVER.


In our seats.. pretty giddy after seeing how close we were sitting.

Opener.. Jason Aldean

Time for my boys! How can you not love a group that comes out and announces right off that they are so glad to be back home with all of the "double-fisting biscuits 'n gravy eating rednecks" of Tennessee?

Joe Don spent a lot of time on our end of the stage:

This was during the acoustic set, where they sang music from their new album (coming out on the 25th!) and then each of them picked any RF song they wanted and sang it solo while playing their instrument. This was one of my favorite parts of the whole concert, because even though their harmony is unmatched, individually they have such amazing voices! They also picked some of my favorite lesser known songs from their 4th album that I wasn't expecting them to sing at all! Woohoo!

The killer set. This pic doesn't show it, but every flat surface was a display screen (even the ones on both sides and on top of the stairs that aren't lit up in this shot)

Jay

Gary (I think he looks like he's in serious pain when he sings, but hey, whatever gets that awesome sound out!)

Jay again

Us in our seats

Cell phone salute just before the encore (Life is a Highway, which I totally predicted would be their encore song, but they also sang their own version of Journey's Don't Stop Believin', which sounded awesome)

Just outside of the arena, with famous music row in the background (RF actually got their start at open mic nights in one of the bars on that street)

Goofing off at the hotel later (Dex was a total rock star and didn't mess up the room at all! it was pristine! He's such a smart little man now!)

Dex posing with mommy (and a lesson that no, ISO1600 is not usable in extreme low light on a point 'n shoot camera when trying to shoot natural light. o wells!)

Matt having less luck getting Dex to pose with him

Saturday morning, we were feeling pretty sorry for poor Dexman, who had been dragged all over the place with no real fun just for him, so after a quick breakfast we took him down to Centennial Park, which is also the location of Nashville's Parthenon

I LOVE this picture. Dex has such a look of sheer bliss on his face! It looks like he's laughing!

I'm now TOTALLY rabid to shoot a wedding in this park. We don't have anything massive and cool like this here!

'nother view of the Parthenon

On the way home.. total Corgi face. It kills me how he sits with his paws rolled up under him. I swear he learned it from the cats.. I've never seen a dog who sits like that so consistently!

And that's that!