First Concert

At the beginning of the summer, Mike went through the list of concerts taking place at San Diego State’s Open Air Theatre (OAT). You see, we live about a mile from SDSU and the OAT, as it’s fondly known, has a grassy area outside where you could, if you were so inclined, bring a blanket and listen to (but not see) a concert happening inside.

(A million years ago, my friend Ruch and I “saw” David Gray that way. It was a blast!)

It makes a lot of sense with a kid who doesn’t know a lot about music and who doesn’t especially love loud noises or bright lights. We figured it’d be a nice way to introduce Michaela to a fun experience, make the most out of living so close to the venue, and have a nice summer night.

All summer, we’ve had various concerts on the calendar but not gone. Last Sunday night we finally rallied for the Postmodern Jukebox and Straight No Chaser concert. I had heard of PMJ but don’t know any of their stuff, and I always secretly harbored the idea that SNC was a country band (don’t ask me why). Mike put on some SNC and I realized they’re actually an a capella group and they’re really, really good.

We gathered a blanket and sweatshirts (Michaela and I, anyway. Mike the hardy Coloradan scoffs at sweaters in the summer) and Ubered to SDSU. We got to the grass and we were the only ones! I guess people who like these two groups are less frugal than us? We sat down and listened to PMJ, who were up first, while Michaela danced and ran around like the but she is.

The PMJ set had just ended when a venue manager came up to us and asked if we wanted to go inside. We quickly said yes and thanked her profusely. Walking in, we explained it would be Michaela’s first concert, to which the woman replied, “Well, she’s going to have pretty good seats for it!”

And then she walked us down to the fourth row of the venue!!!

So we got to see Straight No Chaser – who were AMAZING – up close and personal. They sang a lot of different songs, including “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” into which they inserted some lines from “The Lion King.” We loved it because we just saw that movie last week at the El Capitan Theatre during our LA trip; it was Michaela’s first time seeing the movie, and she totally got the references in the song.

By the end of the show – 10:30! – Michaela’s eyelids needed to be propped open with toothpicks. We hadn’t planned on staying especially long, but you can’t turn down an opportunity like that! We ordered another car to drive us home, stopped at Jack in the Box for a quick bite (the night just kept getting better!), and then poured Michaela into bed to dream about her first concert.

It was awesome.