Garth Brooks concert - Louisville

When Garth Brooks announced his one measly show in Louisville I was concerned about getting tickets... & I was irritated because he does 4 shows everywhere else-why not here?  (2 on Friday night & 2 on Saturday night.)  Shauna & I wanted to go again (you may recall we saw in him in Atlanta a year & a half ago. Refresh your memory here.) 

I had a really tough time getting tickets when they went on sale-I was on my computer & phone trying to get them to pull up for any show I could.  As the tickets went on sale he announced 3 more shows for Louisville - gee thanks for the heads up, Garth.

Shauna's dad & step-mom were going to go too but I could not get 4 tickets together so I did 2 & 2.  After 45 minutes we had 2 sets of 2 tickets...in the VERY back & top of the Yum Center for the 10:30pm Saturday show.  

I was NOT happy about that - who wants to sit ALL the way back there, plus the top of the Yum Center is very steep & we all know I'm a little sketchy on heights in my old(er) age...

A few days before the show, Shauna's dad & step-mom backed out.  She was able to sell their tickets & we had to come up w/ a plan for getting downtown & fighting all the people...you know how I am.

We eventually decided the plan was there would be no plan.  We were going to eat dinner in Indiana & then go downtown to survey parking, etc & check out parking near the 2nd Street bridge & maybe just walk over from there.  

Brian offered to take us & pick us up...even though it was going to be the middle of the night before we were done.  We jumped out of the car at 9:45pm while just sitting in traffic one block from the Yum Center.  We had big plans to drink a lot (since we had a DD) & we drank all the way over, we drank while we were waiting to get in & then we were gonna drink inside.  We're loud anyway, but we're even louder when we drink.  I reminded Brian that we were gonna be loud when he picked us up.  He responded with, 'Uhm-I can bring ear plugs...'

(Which he did have with him when he picked us up!)

THANK YOU again to Brian for being our chauffeur!

The Yum Center did a really good job of tweeting info about when the doors would open etc.  Even though the 2nd show should have started at 10:30 the doors weren't going to open until after then.  (Of course this happened to us in Atlanta too so we were old pros at what was going on.)

The sea of people was CRAZY.  We sat on the steps of the LG&E building across the street from Yum to drink & make fun of all the girls in their skimpy dresses because it was really cold.  We've wised up in our concert wear - comfort (& warmth in this situation) is key for us.

Little did we know that 2 hours from this picture we would be on the front row for the Garth Brooks show.  

YES WE DID.  

Hang on, I'll tell you ALLLLL about it...

We even came prepared with gloves.  It wasn't too bad at all.  I had a button up shirt on, a black shirt on top of that & a fleece lined vest.  Shauna wore a long sleeved top, a vest & a jacket.  We wanted to wear layers we could take off inside.  Shauna even had the good idea to bring a garbage bag so we could put our layers in them & sit on the floor.  A) they wouldn't get nasty on the floor & B) drunk people wouldn't spill their drinks on our clothes.

As we funneled our way in we stopped at the top of the stairs & looked back.  We could see people in every direction.

Then we saw these guys in the SAME shirt.  If they did it on purpose I hope they take that secret to their grave.  I'm not positive they were together, but it seemed they were.  I mean-if you're a guy & you see a total stranger wearing the exact shirt as you don't you try & get as far away as possible?  I mean-for girls it's cute & funny - for guys not so much...

Ok so here's the story:  We were in section 314 which is in the VERY back of Yum.  We were able to get tickets on row A so I didn't think that would be AS bad because we wouldn't have to climb up so many of those 'straight up' steps!  We were going to sit down, remove our layers & get more drinks.  (Being herded into a building for hours like cattle can really be a buzz kill.)

As we were standing chatting w/ the lady that seats you, a man leaned over & smashed Shauna's hand as she had it on the rail.  She looked at the guy & said, 'Hey man - are you ok?' because it was apparent he was SUPER drunk.  He said 'oh yea - I'm fine...'.  He started to walk down the steps towards our seats & he fell face first onto the steps - like he went down like a tree.  He was so drunk he didn't even try to break his fall.  Shauna is a nurse & she immediately leapt into action.  She threw her stuff down & ran down to render first aid.

First thing she yelled up to me, 'Jaime - give me your black shirt - he's bleeding everywhere!' & since I can't help in any other way - I do what she tells me!  I immediately threw off my purse & vest to remove my black shirt.  (Remember I had a button up top on under it.) When I went to lift it my other shirt lifted too - I turned to a lady standing near me & said, "Can you hold this shirt down so I can take my other shirt off?" & she just looked at me.  I said, "That man fell, he's bleeding & my friend is helping & she needs my shirt!  HOLD MY SHIRT DOWN!" & she did.  As I threw it down some other men standing there said, 'No-don't ruin her shirt - use this.' & threw down a bandana.

As I stood there {I mean-I have no medical training whatsoever so I just do what Shauna needs me to do like tossing her my shirt.  Yes, I've been w/ Shauna when things like this have happened before - she's the person who jumps in to help no matter what - it's who she is. Since I can't really add anything of value to the medical situation I stay out of the way, wait for her & do the things she needs...& hold her stuff!  :) I'm the support crew.}

The guy busted his nose & mouth open & knocked his teeth out.  I don't know how long it took but finally the paramedics took him out on a stretcher.  Shauna went out with them so I continued to stand & wait for her.  We couldn't even get down to our seats if we wanted to because there was blood all over the steps. 

This is how fast the next part happened:

I heard the 5 minute start warning announcement & I texted Brian so he would know we would be about 2 hours from that time.  It was 11:36.  Next thing I know Shauna is yelling for me & she has several people standing around her including the Yum center seat finder lady.  I thought they were going to take her out to get a statement or something about what happened, but when I got over there  there's a girl there w/ one of those concert badge thingies rambling about how they're taking us to the front row.  UHM - WHAT?  

And I was like, "Come on - no you're not!"

Yes they were.

(Shauna & I were totally in shock.  We were like looking at each other & kept asking them if they were serious!)

The Yum center lady (Dawn) had called down & told them Shauna needed to be upgraded for helping & since we were together I got to go too!   They told us Garth doesn't sell the first 4 rows of seats - he saves them for the night of to give to people who may deserve them or stand out to his spotters.

 I must say 'THANK YOU' to Shauna, again, for being selfless & being rewarded for her effort.  

And JUST like that we were being escorted to the FRONT FREAKING ROW by Garth's people & security.  We said 'OH MY GOD' about a million times & we got to our seats as he was coming out to sing.

Needless to say we never moved from our spot.  We didn't go pee, we didn't drink anymore (so Brian didn't really need those earplugs after all!) & we never sat down.  

(Turns out seeing an uber drunk guy smash his face, your friend have blood on her clothes & watching her take care of him IS the biggest buzz kill...)

The hardest part of my night was trying to get a selfie where you could see his head.  He was always too close.  (First world problems, I know!)

Ya'll we could feel the heat off the lights!

How often do you get THIS view of the crowd?  Most the time you're looking down on everyone else - not this time, people!

That's Shauna taking a photo of him.  

Singing & selfie'ing'.

Shauna had her hand on his boot.  

If I was able to get his head, he's blurry... curses...

I can't believe the energy level this guy has - he's no spring chicken, people & we had to take naps before we went to the show the night.  He did tease through the show about how he was worn out & old & this video shows a bit of him teasing that.

You also get to hear him say a dirty word at the end...

We have decided that we will probably never top this night.

But we vow to never stop trying...

We have come up w/ a new concert plan - I will push people down stairs & Shauna will take care of them...

Totally worth it.