Rascal Flatts!

Thursday night we were lucky enough to get to see Rascal Flatts in concert! The tickets were an early birthday gift for Brady from my parents. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Not only are they our favorite group, but neither of us had seen them in concert before.

We stopped off at home to feed the dogs and get them situated (we've been pet-sitting Brady's boss's Golden Retriever/Lab mix Sasha), then eventually found our way  to Cricket Pavilion. It was a beautiful night--nice and cool with a breeze sweeping through. We weren't sure exactly where our seats were so we weaved through the crowds until we found ourselves lined up pretty much with center stage. As we got closer and closer, we kept saying how fantastic our seats were.

A couple of us in our seats...

Jessica Simpson was the opening act and we'll jump up to her defense--despite the tabloid rumors, she does not have a weight problem people. She does, however, have a slight difficulty walking in her high heels :) We agreed though that she was great opening for Rascal Flatts.

Then it was time for the Flatts. They had a forest projected onto the screens on stage and in the night sky, there was what seemed to be a shooting star, but soon you realize it's a comet. The same time the comet came racing toward us, the stage exploded and there they were! Very cool entrance.

I think this was during "Secret Smile"..."You make the sun shine down..."

"Life is a Highway"

They had some great solos with the guitars and fiddle. Each of the guys did pieces of some of their best known songs, like "Skin (Sara Beth)," "I'm Movin' On," "Praying for Daylight," etc. It went to show that all of them can really sing and though Gary has the fantastic lead vocals of the group, the songs belong to the whole band, not just him. Speaking of vocals, you know how some artists sound great on CD and they sound like an American Idol reject live? Yeah, not Rascal Flatts. They sound just as good as they do on CD.

There was also a part of the show where Gary pulled this 10-year-old little girl named Taylor on stage. Her mom told him that she wrote a song so he asked Taylor about it and the crowd started cheering for her to sing. At first she had stage fright, but as soon as she started singing, she got confident really quickly. It was a cool thing for her and she was pretty good for her age!

Another funny part of the night was when a fan standing by the stage offered Gary her drink. It looked like some sort of blended concoction. He takes it from her and mid-song, sniffs it and asks "What the heck is this?" When there was another break in the song, he shrugged, took a sip, and handed it back. This was about the point that Brady questioned my assessment that Jay was the comedian of the group.

"God Blessed the Broken Road"

"What Hurts the Most"

Hi, we're Krys and Brady...and we're reeeeeally excited!

This is really dark, but it shows how close we were to the stage :)

During the encore, they ended with "Bob That Head," which was the name of the tour!

We had such a fantastic night and were so thrilled to see them in concert. Thanks again Mama and Russ!