"Straight On" To My Heart Adventure

 Hi friends,

So glad you stopped by my blog today.  If you aren't familiar with my blog, I'm a busy mom whose life had taken over, and somehow I came to a place where I hadn't gone out with the girls in eight...long...years.  Recently I took back over my life and started doing fun things again.  And, BTW, there is NOTHING more fun than an 80's rock band concert.  In my blog I take you with me on my "Tales of a Paint Girl."  I got the name, "About Paint Girl," because my husband and I have owned a paint company, All About Paint, for about 20 years now.  I keep the books, and do social media marketing, while he runs the painting side of the business.  

Now on to the fun stuff.  On my latest adventure, concert buddy, Sue, and I (pic of us, above left) went to see Heart at an outdoor arena on a gorgeous July evening.  This time we were joined by new concert buddy, Jana--who BTW, is the World's Greatest hair stylist (pic of us, below right).

It just so happened that Heart was playing on a Friday night at a local outdoor arena.  The opening bands were scheduled to start at 5:45, which isn't the easiest time to get to a concert on a FRIDAY (WEEKDAY) with work and all, so we were running a tad late.  And, as I recall, we were all STARVING so we stopped at Wendy's for a fast bite to eat before getting to the arena.  When we arrived around 6:15, the place was already PACKED and all available "seating" to see the stage was taken.  Our lovely seats that you see here in the pictures were so far on the side of the stage, that we couldn't see the stage at all!  Not to worry, I still have two legs to stand on, as do my concert buddies, so we left our seats behind and went to the standing room only area located in front of the stage.

First up was a local bar band called Hit Parade.  These crowd pleasers played a wide variety of familiar rock songs.  We only saw the last couple of their songs since we were running late, but they did a really nice job.

Up next was Gina Glocksen (pic below), who took ninth place on American Idol Season six.  I didn't watch American Idol season six, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I was more than pleasantly surprised with this rocker's heartfelt, powerful, raspy vocals.  For her first song, Gina slayed Janis Joplin's, Piece of My Heart.    Also really great from her set was her rendition of 4 Non Blondes's song, What's Going On.  I would, in fact, be happy to see Gina in concert again. 

Up last was Heart. WOW! (I could pretty much just say that and end this blog, but I won't! :) )

Man, oh man!! These girls still got it!  Ann's vocals were FABULOUS.  And who doesn't like Nancy on guitar?!   Now I must say that between concert buddies, Jana and Sue and myself, Jana is the biggest Heart fan of the three of us.  I had just as much fun seeing Jana grin ear to ear during the show as I did watching the show itself.

And, all I really, really wanted was for them to play What About Love, which was, BTW, their third song of the night.  I was so happy that they played it--and that it sounded so great--that the show could have ended there and I would have gone home happy.  But fortunately for the rest of the crowd, they continued on and did songs like Alone and These Dreams and a great older song that I've never heard before called Dog and Butterfly.  (You should really look it up--if, like me--you've never heard it before.  Just sayin'...)

Here's a video from the show, that your's truly did not record, of Heart performing These Dreams.

Now, if you'll excuse me, concert buddy, Jana and I would like to side-track for just a moment-if you'll let us--and talk to Really Rude People.  It's NOT OK, Really Rude People, to cut in front of Other People who have been standing all night to see the band up close just because you wanted to Sit Down during the opening acts and have now decided you would like a spot Right-Up-Front.  It's also not OK, Really Rude Man-To-My-Right, to save spots for Twenty-Five-Or-More of your "closest friends," thereby pushing the rest of us Quite Further Further Back than we deserved after standing there for hours!  (No joke.)  It's been a Really Long Night, when mild mannered About Paint Girl (who--she and her friends--started out in the 5th standing row and are now in about the 15th standing row) starts telling people, "No, you're not excused.  I was here first!  You've got to go back!"  Now I know, Dear Friends, that this isn't any of you, but perhaps you know a Really Rude Person and could Kindly Relate this Important Information to them.  It would be a Shame for mild mannered About Paint Girl to have to deal harshly with one of these Really Rude People again.  (On behalf of all other Nice, Friendly, and Mannerly people around us, who were also pushed far back, we thank you for letting us relate--or perhaps vent--this Important Information.)

And so know I'll continue writing about the show, which is why you're reading my blog, right?  As the night went on, Heart played favorites like Straight On (video below), and even did The Who's, Love, Reign O'er me, which, if I recall correctly was the last song of the night (of the first ending).  Bows taken, goodbyes spoken...

And then, much to the delight of their fans, Heart returned for an encore and performed Crazy on You and Barracuda.  Wow!  Like I said earlier...these girls have still got it!  After their encore, they exited the stage abruptly without a second round of bows or final farewells to the audience.  Which, I--and others around me--found a little strange.  So (with lights still out on-stage) we assumed what any good fan would assume, that they wanted us to cheer for yet another encore, which we did.  But they didn't return.  Eventually (about 8 minutes later) the lights went back on, and the roadies came on stage and started shooing us all away.  It was indeed the oddest ending to a concert I've ever experienced.  We, the fans, stood around and wondered out loud if Heart perhaps was in a hurry to catch a plane to the next show.   Eventually we all dispersed to leave for our cars.

Don't get me wrong, it was a GREAT show and I would happily see them again.

I'll be seeing Styx soon and can't wait to blog again.

I hope you've enjoyed my blog.  I would love to hear what you think or hear about your adventures.

Until next time...
Best Wishes,
Erica Basile