Sunday, July 19, 2009

A Delightful Concert in the Middle of Nowhere

Have you ever been to the USANA Ampitheater? If you haven't and you plan to go sometime soon, beware. It's past Kearns, which is in the 60000 West area in the Salt Lake Valley. I didn't even know there were streets out that far west, but apparently, someone thought it was brilliant to build a huge concert venue in the middle of nowhere with terrible, one-laned street access. Nice.

After two hours of sitting in a stifling hot car in a pair of my sister's very-hot-but-very-sexy Hudson jeans, I was ready to call off the whole show for which I'd been so excited for the past 48 hours. Fortunately, though, Adam kept his cool and even shared some with me and we made it to the venue just in time. Once we found our seats, which were remarkably good, the sun disappeared behind the mountain and we reveled in the cool evening air. As long as I'm complaining about the venue (which turned out to be not-so-bad in the end), may I add that after charging $4 per 20-ounce bottle of soda, the staff there had the audacity to place a tip jar right in our faces? Are you kidding me? Okay...enough ranting and on to the George!

Julianne Hough was the opening act and she was so much better than I expected her to be. I love her on "Dancing with the Stars" but was suspicious of her crossover into music. I hate it when the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato think that just because they're good at one thing, they're good at everything. After a few numbers, though, I was convinced that Hough really does have some pipes. Her stage presence was obviously fabulous, and she is just so tiny and cute. I even think I'd buy a few of her songs.

Blake Shelton was next on stage and he played a fairly good set. He is a true hick, I guess, and that kind of turned me off, but he played several songs I like and it was a good way to pass the time.
Only nine more days of these in my life...poor Adam can't get a break from studying for the Bar Exam!

George Strait entered the stage in the most non-dramatic fashion ever, but once all eleven of his band members were playing, the music was wonderful. He really is a charming gent, and it was fun to hear songs from every decade of his career. His fiddle player is my hero...he looks like he's 90 years old, but he could really smoke!

Adam and I both noticed how fantastic it was to be kid-free (thanks, Leslie!)...especially from one 14-month-old little boy who loves to run away and climb on everything. We had a grand evening and finished it all off with a dip in the hot tub (not a skinny one, but it was fun nonetheless). What a delightful night!

2 comments:

Kahananui said...

How fun. I'm glad to hear about Julianne Hough...I was worried when I heard she was moving over to country music, I'm glad she's pretty good though. How awesome that you won the tickets and no kids = amazing!! Love that picture of you and Adam. You look fabulous!!

Leslie said...

what a good night out! i can't think of the last time we went on a date! I agree about the venue being such a pain to get to and leaving is a joke as well!