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| A nice lady behind us volunteered to take this picture with my phone. |
Lizzy and I went to see Carolina Liar,
Kelly Clarkson and The Fray at the (PNC Bank) Garden State Arts
Center Sunday. I bought two second row seats several months ago off
of EBay and the girls were fighting over who was going to go with me.
I told them they were on a point system based on chores and
behavior. Well, Emily bowed out of the contest, so even the regular
chores stopped being done... epic parental fail.
The Garden State Arts Center is one of
those great places. It's an outdoor arena with amazing acoustics,
good venues and it's exactly 15 mins. from my house. VIP parking
isn't cheap but is worth not having to walk or be bussed.
Lizzy and I left the house at 6:00pm
and arrived at 6:15p.m.. As we approached the entrance gate security
downed my mirrorless camera so we had to go back to the car, luckily
it was only about 100ft away. That left us with only one camera,
Lizzy's old Kodak with abysmal zoom and battery life. After grabbing
a bite to eat and some shirts, Lizzy and I made our way down to the
seats. Lizzy's excitement grew with each security check point we
past. As we got down to row B, Lizzy could not believe how close we
were and her eyes widened. A few moments later Carolina Liar was on
stage and playing. The bass vibrations shook us, as we watched.
Lizzy put in the earplugs that we brought with us.
No one was sitting in the seats in
front of us.
After Carolina Liar did a generous set,
it was time for Kelly Clarkson to come on stage. She was amazing!
Lizzy and I sang all of the songs she did. I realized that her songs
had special meaning for me, they were my divorce songs. The Kelly
Clarkson station was one of my first on Pandora. I listened to
'Breakaway', 'Because of You', 'Stronger', 'Already Gone'. They were
bubble gum in a time when I needed something to chew on.
Lizzy's night went from great to insane
when Einar Pedersen (Kelly's bass guitarist) leaned over and gave her
a pick.
Still, no one was sitting in the seats
in front of us.
After Kelly's set was done, Lizzy
wanted a Churro. We went to the concession stand; they were sold out
so she settled for a pretzel. We went back to our seats. As The Fray
came on, the Security guard told Lizzy that she could move up to the
front row. Though Kelly Clarkson and her band stole the show, The
Fray was brilliant. As they sang, 'How To Save A Life', I tapped
Lizzy on the shoulder. She turned around and paused her singing just
long enough to flash me a smile. It was a 'define irony moment'. We
came to a concert with the 1st American Idol winner and
now were belting out a song from The Fray, that we sang on the
American Idol video game frequently.
Last birthday Lizzy got hugged by Triple H, this birthday she got to see three great bands, a guitar
pick and a front row seat at an excellent concert. What did I get?
One of only a few, 'Super Dad' years left.
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