Life Is Good Today: Zac Brown Band Recap

Good morning! Happy short week!

A few months ago, a big group of my friends bought tickets to see Zac Brown Band, and the night finally arrived last Friday! SRK drove down from Maryland to join us, and my friends were all able to get off work early to meet at my apartment around 3:30pm. We got over to the venue a little after 4, and got our tailgating area all set up!

me & SRK

One of our friends has a portable grill, so we grilled burgers, dogs, and chicken for dinner. We set up cornhole as well as table games, so there was plenty of opportunity for activities for all! This was truly tailgating done right.

my favorite people

We got into the concert a little after 8:00, which turned out to be perfect timing. The opening acts had finished {we'd heard they weren't worth seeing, and it took a while to gather our group and put away all of our stuff} and it was only 10-15 minutes or so before ZBB came on.

And, as usual, they were fantastic. Ever since I first saw them, I have not been able to get over how truly talented the band members are as musicians. When they play instrumental solos, especially my favorite of their covers - The Devil Went Down to Georgia - it is just unreal.

fiddler/violinist

Their concerts are always so fun because they play a wide selection of their own songs, but they also do several covers. They regularly play the aforementioned Devil Went Down to Georgia, as well as Sweet Emotion, but on Friday they also did a couple of metal songs. The crowd went nuts for these songs {and it was cool to see how versatile they are!}, though I didn't appreciate them as much as most everyone else. {Apparently one of the songs was Enter Sandman by Metallica. Whatever.}

during The Devil Went Down to Georgia

I love Zac Brown's beanie. Absolutely love it. My most favorite man with a beanie in the whole world.

After the concert, several of my friends came back to my house to spend the night. It was fun to have a little sleepover! The concert was amazing and I would recommend that even if you are only a casual ZBB fan to go see them live. It is so so worth it. Our group has gone two years in a row, so it looks like it's going to be an annual tradition as long as ZBB keeps coming here - and I am very, very excited about that!

Question of the Day:

Have you ever seen ZBB in concert? 
Who is your favorite act to see live?

American Saturday Night

Immediately following DC's birthday celebration, I headed out to see Brad Paisley in concert with a few of my friends. The ticket was a bit of a last-minute purchase {I couldn't decide how appropriate it would be to go to a concert the same night as DC's birthday}, but I really wanted to go so eventually I decided that it would be fine. {Side note: it was fine. By the time I got back from the concert, DC was over at her boyfriend's anyway, because everyone else had gone home. Win-win!} {Another side note: DC and JB got engaged this weekend! A big congratulations to my roomie and her brand-spankin'-new fiance!}

{source}

A summertime country concert is one of my absolute favorite things - especially in the south. There's just something about the weather, the atmosphere, the venue, the friends, the cornhole - just everything! - that makes it so memorable and perfect, no matter what. Side note: "Paisley" is the perfect southern name. Anyway, I digress.

And, Brad did not disappoint. He was awesome in concert. I was pleasantly surprised by this - I really love him as a singer, but for some reason he never struck me as a big performer. But he sounded wonderful and I knew every word to every song he played, so I was a happy camper.

our group!

I will be honest and say that tailgating is probably not something that needed to happen after the day we'd already had at DC's birthday pool party. And that's all the explanation I will give about that.

my friend NC

The Brad Man wore his signature white cowboy hat, which made me so happy because I was finally able to wear my brand new Stetson {which is kind of white, which kind of made me feel like hat twinzz with BP}! My brother bought me this Stetson for my birthday last year, and I absolutely adore it, but I don't have many opportunities to wear it {go figure}. So bring on the summer outdoor southern country concert! Boy, that was a mouthful.

We were obviously super far from the stage, but it didn't matter at all. Though, we were a bit too far from the stage for me to not freak out when Carrie Underwood appeared to duet with Brad while they sang "Remind Me." It wasn't until two days later, when I was still hyperventilating about Carrie Underwood being at the concert, that I did more research and concluded that it was a hologram. Alas, Brad. You duped me!

But I don't mind. The concert was fantastic, and it was a wonderful way to end a wonderful day full of wonderful friends. Brad is actually playing in Virginia at the outdoor concert venue the next time that I'll be in Maryland, and I am sorely tempted to go see him again. I guess I should save my money for more important things, like graduate school and paying my rent, but, Brad.....

Today.

My friend WB sent me this image to explain today:

Add in almost all of my best friends in the world {missing a couple!}, and it makes for one happy girl.