Yours Truly, Julie: When you think Tim McGraw...

This past Thursday night, my sister-in-law Natalie & I went to the Tim McGraw concert--compliments of my Dad's boss who gave them 4 tickets (VIP box seats!). My Dad & Kathleen were supposed to go with another couple that they work with, but they couldn't attend so they asked the family if anyone would be interested. Apparently, only Natalie & I are country fans, so we jumped at the chance.

IT.WAS.FANTASTIC!

The Band Perry & Luke Bryan opened for him. We missed The Band Perry--sadly we were sitting in traffic for 45 minutes just trying to park...what good is VIP parking if you have to wait in a ridiculous line just to surpass everyone once inside the gate? I feel like Verizon Ampitheatre in Charlotte needs a new layout...ANYWAY, we were sad about missing The Band Perry because they are basically amazing. However they did come out and sing a couple songs with Tim McGraw so we heard them a little. Go check them out if you haven't heard them! We found our box a few songs into Luke Bryan's performance and we were actually pretty impressed with him. I only knew a couple of his songs so it was good to hear some new stuff!

Our seats were awesome! Box seats are the way to go! We had our own little private "booth" with 4 chairs, a table & a waitress! No one was crashing into us, no one was spilling beer on us (well...minus the fight that happened in front of our box that sent alcohol flying...) and we could just sit/stand/relax. We were in like the 2nd section back from the stage. It went, pit seats/way VIP boxes & then our box. We had a great view of the stage & screens. And we had an awning over us luckily...it had been drizzling all day. Sucks to have lawn seats when that ends up happening! I would know...I usually am in the lawn...haha. So I definitely felt all high-roller this time :)

Ok. So best part of the concert? Well, I think our waitress felt bad for us because Natalie & I ordered drinks and after she handed us our regular, 20oz diet cokes, exactly like the ones you buy from the gas station, she said "that'll be five dollars." FIVE? For a 20oz? Is it in a gold bottle or something? But seriously, $5? Plus tip? hahahahhaha. But we were dying of thirst. So we gave in and accepted our average plastic bottled drinks. And then she gave us the best insider tip ever. She was like, "See how the stage lights are all coming on and you think Tim McGraw is going to step out on stage any moment now? Well, he's not. He's going to walk right up this aisle in between these boxes and the next section and perform right here in the middle of the crowd." Natalie and I exchanged glances and then climbed up on top of our chairs and got our cameras ready. At that time we heard ridiculous amounts of high-pitched female-voice shrieks. Tim had arrived! And looked AMAZING! How old is he now?! He was RIPPED! This just like blew me away for some reason. I think he used to not be so fit. I have never found him super attractive. Until last night that is. haha ;)

There he is a few feet from our box!

Here he is performing a few feet from us during his "secret" opening

a little blurry...

and a video...

He walked right in as our waitress whisperer had said...we were like 10 feet from Tim McGraw! And he got up on this little platform in the middle of the crowd and opened with "BBQ Stain." Yay for old favorites! It was awesome! And what's even better? My bff Jessica was also at the concert (complete and utter awesome coincidence) with her company in a box right across the aisle from our box...and RIGHT NEXT to the secret platform Tim McGraw stood on and therefore walked RIGHT past Jessica's box. And on the way to the stage, he.shook.jessica's.hand. And Natalie & I saw it happen and shrieked from the top of our chairs in our box across the aisle as it happened. We were out of control, for sure. Like 13-year old girls. We were like, "He just TOUCHED Jess! We saw it!" We were so pumped for her...AND a tad jealous. duh.

And then he performed for like the next 2 and 1/2 hours! It was a long & glorious concert filled with old songs, new songs & even an unreleased song! It was so fun. We were dancing & singing all night and its a good thing Stu & Justin weren't there because they would have left us out of embarrassment, i'm sure.

Natalie is so much fun to be with and I have decided to make her my new concert buddy. She will make the most of it! And it had been SO long since I had been to a country concert and I really do think they are the most fun. Everyone sings & dances (partly due to lots of alcohol consumption) and it seems there is a good mood in general in the air.

Jess visited our box sometime during the concert and yes, we did touch her hand, the one Tim McGraw touched...hahaha. We were just being crazy & hype from all the excitement of the concert and turned into temporary star-struck lunatics. It was all in good, country-concert fun.

Thanks Dad for inviting us! My Dad looked less-than-thrilled about being at a country concert, but Kathleen looked like she was having a blast! I think they had fun watching Natalie & I act like spazzes....

And yes he sang "Indian Outlaw" but not "My Best Friend", which is my personal favorite. Bottom line: Great concert!!!

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