This post has taken me a bit longer to put together, because life (and summer) with a six-month-old has felt like days fly by with only a scratch to the surface of my to-do lists! This past week, we began a sleep training program for Brynnley to hopefully help us all get a longer and better night’s sleep – and getting this active little one to bed closer to 8pm than 10pm will also open up a whole new world of personal time again which I am ready for! ☺️

We actually crossed this bucket list item off back on August 9th.

If you include county fairs and local festivals, we attend LOTS of concerts every year. We love live music so much and its definitely the form of entertainment I don’t mind spending money on! So already this year, I’ve attended quite a few concerts – Russel Dickerson, Lauren Alaina, Jordan Davis. (Noticing a country theme here?) But I knew the one I wanted to blog about for the bucket list item!

Remember Daughtry from American Idol circa 2006? Yeah, well, he’s still around, still putting out new music, and still very nice to look at 😁 There was a sale back in May where tickets were $25 each for one day only. I quickly texted my parents to ask for babysitting services for the evening, which they happily confirmed.

Zeb and I dropped off Brynnley at my parents’ house around 5pm and headed on our mid-week date night. The concert didn’t begin until 7:30 and the venue is pretty small so we weren’t worried about getting there early for good seats. We went to the brewery in the same parking lot as the concert house for a drink and dinner, and I think the majority of the other concert goers did the same. We were trying to figure out who Daughtry’s main demographic is, now that they’ve been around for 16 years. Middle age women was my guess, and the tables around the restaurant of Girls Nights Out seemed to support my theory.

I ordered street tacos and a glass of pinot grigio, and Zeb had a burger and a beer. We always sit on the same side when we eat in a booth, and people-watched around the brewery. I’m more used to dressing up for country concerts in my cowgirl boots and sun dresses so it felt a little out of place among everyone else in their black rock t-shirts and grunge hair.

We walked across the parking lot to catch the last half of the opening band, Black Stone Cherry. Zeb bought some ear plugs at the bar, which I judged as “so not rock n’ roll” but honestly, I really should have done the same! The indoor venue was so small, and my ears did not recover for 48 hours. I seriously googled “when should I be concerned about my ears ringing after concert” the next morning! Apparently ear protection is yet another lovely thing to look forward to in turning 30.

Daughtry’s performance was awesome, and even with general admission seats we still felt close to the stage and had a great view. I enjoyed the songs from his first album the most, but they filled the majority of their set list with titles off their newest release Dearly Beloved which I wasn’t as familiar with. We had a great time watching the band perform, and the only criticism I would give is it was way too short! In total, Daughtry only performed for an hour, and we were texting my parents that we were on our way to pick up our baby by 9:30pm. I felt like he could have easily spent another 30 minutes covering the hits that made them famous over a decade ago.

It was a great show, and the first non-country band I’ve seen in a LONG time!