Summer concert series - Brantley Gilbert

Our first (yes, I said first) concert of the summer was Brantley Gilbert at the Yum Center last Friday night.  I don't really know this guy or his songs - but when I heard 'suite' & 'free' I said - sign us up!  

A guy that helps us on the farm is engaged to a young lady that is a manager at one of the First Savings Bank branches.  They would like to get some of our farm business (meaning they want us to put some of our money in their bank.)  She had access to their suite(!) for the concert & invited us to come.   

The view...

She had invited the boys & their wives, but my sister in law couldn't go so Brady came with us in her place.    Brian was going to meet us there after he got off work so B-rad & I picked up Brady & we went to dinner.  I probably didn't say 10 words (I KNOW...)  because those 2 were blabbing about boring farm stuff, boring heavy machinery stuff, boring fast car stuff, & boring 'lets discuss how to make our car radios loud enough to make our ears bleed' stuff.

They are like 2 peas in a pod.  Sometimes it's scary...  I guess I should be thankful our nephew doesn't completely hate being seen in public with us...

Please notice Brady leaning OVER the protective glass in the suite.  And if you look closely behind the bill of his hat...you can see his Uncle B-rad leaned OVER the protective glass too...

  And I was all like, "Hey B-rad - do you know how broke we would be if I could have these seats for every concert?"  

I mean - what's NOT to love?  

The chairs are nice, big, leather seats with cup holders & teeny tiny tables between them.

Some guy kept coming in to check on us to see if 'we needed anything'.  If we did need it - he got it for us...

This suite thing might be THE way to go...

Segregation is alive & well when it comes to having suite tickets.  Not just anyone can go to that area.  They looked at our tickets at like 4 different checkpoints.  Your own kitchen, PLUS the restroom was RIGHT.OUTSIDE.THE.DOOR.  You know what that mean, ladies - no long line for the bathroom.  SCORE.

And we did what any self respecting, country living, farmer being, never been in a suite before kinda people would do.  We looked through all the cabinets.  Yes, we did....

 Then we came across this fun menu.  And by fun I mean ridiculous.  The numbers listed here are the important part - what they are for is insignificant.  It wasn't lobster - I assure you...  In the spirit of full disclosure - I think these are for larger quantities - not just like a single serving but STILL.  $110 for chicken tenders?  We saw a Papa John's cheese pizza listed for $27.

All the suite stuff aside - there was a concert going on.   Brantley Gilbert is classified as country/country rock.  Sometimes I felt like I was at a country concert & a minute later I felt like I was at an AC/DC concert.  Ya'll now I'm a self-appointed concert connoisseur now so I'm always looking for cool things that are different or special at each concert.  

What I liked was that the 2 opening acts (Eric Paslay & Thomas Rhett) & Brantley were song writers before they got their own deal.  They each sang a song they had written for other artists.  Eric Paslay wrote Jake Owen's 'Barefoot Blue Jean Night', Thomas Rhett wrote Lee Brice's 'Parking Lot Party' & Brantley Gilbert wrote Jason Aldean's, 'Dirt Road Anthem' & 'My Kinda Party'.  (If you are not a country fan - I apologize for you not understand what any of those songs are...)

What I didn't like - no freakin' giant screens to show the artist.  UHM, what?  Who doesn't have giant screens in the Yum Center?  

Here's what I decided about the whole suite situation - you know - in case you ever have the chance to buy yourself a suite or something.  I feel it's my civic duty to keep ya'll informed w/ Jaime Mac's pros & cons.  I'm a giver, people.

Pros:  Nice, large, leather chairs.  Your own bathroom.  Your own guy saying, "Do you need anything?".   You are segregated from other concert goers. 

Cons:   Everything is hella expensive.  You are segregated from other concert goers.

Ok so segregation is listed twice... It's a double edged sword, people.  It was really nice to be in your own little area, but by the end of the night I missed being in the crowd & that energy & dancing & singing at the top of my lungs.  I almost felt on display.  Not that anyone was looking at me, but when you're in the crowd you know no one cares or is paying attention to you.  

That being said, it may not be as bad if you shared the suite w/ people you know.   We were there with strangers & I didn't feel comfortable acting a dancing/singing fool in front of them... 

SOO the moral of the story is - if you can go in with 11 of your closest, most funnest friends & get hooked up with one of these suite thingies - I highly recommend it!