Saturday, August 1st I had the privilege of attending the Paul McCartney concert.  I went with my boyfriend, Dan, and the rest of his family.  It was an amazing experience, and I am glad I got to share with Dan.  He’s a big fan of Paul McCartney, and when the venue was announced there was no way he was going to miss it.  I remember him texting or messaging me about it, with a “squeeeeeeeee” tacked onto the end.  *smile*  I myself am not much of a Paul McCartney fan.  Or maybe I should say was not much of a fan.  I didn’t know much of Paul’s solo stuff, heck I don’t even know a whole lot of the Beatles music, although I do enjoy it overall.  I am open to almost all kinds of music though, and I enjoy concerts as well.  So it was nice that I was automatically included in these plans.  *smile*  It felt good that he wanted me to come along.

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Our understanding was that the concert started at 7pm.  So we picked up his sister at about 5 and headed out.  We gave ourselves extra time because undoubtedly traffic was going to be more congested than normal.  That’s an understatement.  We were barely moving while on the beltway. It was horrible.  The mood in the car was also going downhill awfully fast.  Around 6:30 I checked the tickets and they said the concert started at 7:30, so we had an extra half hour – awesome!  Only that didn’t matter because traffic still wasn’t moving.  We ended up playing tag with his parents, as we’d pass them and then eventually they’d pass us back.  Our chosen music ran out and we ended up sitting in silence.  The traffic had stopped completely and we weren’t moving.  The mood in the car was kind of sour at this point. I was so upset I was almost to tears because I knew how much Dan had been looking forward to this and now it seemed we were going to miss it.

Becky fired up the GPS on her blackberry and found us an alternate route.  Just getting the car moving improved everyone’s mood.  We made an illegal turn (following a bunch of other cars doing the same thing) and made it to the stadium parking lot.  Yay!  Of course we had to go get in line for a park, so we were really just sitting around some more.  Becky hopped out and headed up to the stadium while Dan and I waited to be directed to a parking spot.  After driving around to the other side of the stadium, we finally got to park.  I texted Dan the lot number where we were, that way we could look it up if we forgot.  Then we walked to the stadium. We were frisked on the way in, but it wasn’t really a big deal.

Once inside we found Becky and then hopped in line for some food. It was about this time that we found out the concert didn’t start until 9, and we hadn’t actually missed anything (when we arrived inside we had thought it might have been an intermission).  This lifted our spirits tremendously.  *grin*  So we grabbed some chicken tenders and bottled water and headed up to our seats.  Once we moved some people who had sat there mistakenly we sat down and were ready to enjoy the show.  Our timing couldn’t have been any better, as it started right after we got settled.  Dan’s parents hadn’t arrived yet due to the traffic, but they showed up not long after the first song, and therefore didn’t miss much of the show at all.

The concert itself was awesome!  For being as old as he is, Paul McCartney still knows how to rock.  And he enjoyed it too.  It was so much fun to see so many people having a good time.  The ages in the audience were the full range.  His music can be enjoyed by all ages.  I didn’t know all the songs, but I sung the ones I did know, and picked up on the chorus for ones I didn’t.  I grooved along and just had a really good time.  I loved seeing Dan so happy, he was grooving right along with me.

Towards the end of the show we had some pyrotechnics.  And since we were in an open stadium we got a good show there, with some fireworks. Not the ones that actually explode once in the sky, but more like streamers.  It was amazing.  And like I said earlier, you could tell that Paul was having such a good time too.  After about three encores the concert was finally over and it was time to head home.

But first we had to brave the souvenir stand.  I scored a cute little t-shirt, which got comments when I wore it yesterday.  Unfortunately Dan wasn’t able to get the shirt he wanted, as they didn’t have it in his size.  We said goodbye to his parents and then headed back out.  Finding the car wasn’t really that hard, but it was amusing to see how many people were having trouble finding theirs.  Of course I think a lot of them were intoxicated, which probably made it even harder.  Which we just found amusing.

The trip home seemed to go better than the trip there, but I was actually asleep for most of it.  It was late and I was tired. I coudln’t keep my eyes open.

I had a great time, so thank you Dan for letting me share such a wonderful experience with you.