Play On!

So, I was getting really nervous that 2010 was going to slip right off into the past without Bobby and me getting in our concert fix. Luckily though, with my handy-dandy great ticket getter, we scored some 2nd row seats to see my best friend Carrie Underwood perform! Yeah! We turned it into a mid-week date night and had my gals and their guys join us.

Well isn't this picture just cutie-patootie.
We missed Sons of Sylvia, the opening act because our dinner took a little longer than expected and the traffic was atrocious. We did, however, make it in time to hear Billy Currington. I think Bill has a great voice but he was slightly low energy for me.
And, I could barely stop staring at his hairy hairiness. So much hair. Lots of scruff. Don't get me wrong. I like a man with curls but I prefer a more Deirks Bentley kind of curly look. The old woman behind us was all things Billy Currington and her dancing made me agree (mostly) with his song, God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy. Most of you know I'm not into beer. I would much prefer some of Mrs. Bell's sweet tea. Moving on.
We had a brief intermission while they were setting up Carrie's elaborate concert set. Here's our token concert shot taken by my outstretched arm.
A'lyce was my second row girl buddy. Ash didn't have tickets in our section :( We got a quick shot of us before the show started. One of these people was not invited in this shot. I'm talking to you in the back, Cyclops.
I'm going to go ahead and say that I was truly ecstatic to see this concert. I'm sure I felt that way because I'm pretty much responsible for Carrie's success. If it had not been for me feverishly voting for her in Idol Season 4 she'd still be singing at the pumpkin fest in Checotah. It's true. One person really can make a difference.

She came up out of the floor singing Cowboy Casanova. I was lovin' it already.
Did I mention that we were on the second row? Oh yeah, up close and personal. I was pretty happy that I caught this picture. She's noticing and pointing at.......
Ashman. Oh yes he did. He sported his Carrie Underwood t-shirt. Talk about impressed. I'm sure she was. He was awarded with a quick point/eyebrow raise/tiny wave. I'm sure she then pressed her secret "creepy" button on her mic that initiated additional security detail to eyeball the big guy in the little t-shirt.
In any case, we all got a great laugh out of it.
In Jason's defense, his buddies got him the shirt and he was just man enough to sport it.
Besides myself, I'll tell you who has some serious pipes. Carrie Underwood. She blew me away with nearly every song. Gerry House on 98FM always calls Martina McBride "two lungs and a larynx" because she has such a big voice in a little body. I think Martina just met her match!
Let's talk about outfit changes. There were lots of them. Pink puffy tulle dress. She looked a lot like my Peaches and Cream barbie doll. I loved that thing.
She can sing just as well suspended in the air on a swing as she can standing flat footed on the ground.
Somewhere or other she lost the tulle and was left with the black jeans. As great as the 2nd row tickets were, they were too close for me to be able to get a picture of her shoes. It was the height of the stage and the closeness of my seat working against me. How sad. I love shoes. I'm not sure that any of the three of you that read this blog would know that.
If Carrie ever sells this shiny bustier on ebay I'm going to bid on it.
Her perceived number one fan.....still watching intently.
Who'd of ever thought a truck would've come out of the stage and that she'd ride around the crowd in an old Ford? Not me.
But it was cool. Once again, heights have no effect on her singing ability.
The truck came right next to us. I wanted to use this opportunity to tell her that I live close by if she ever wants to hang out but time was limited so I didn't.
Next outfit: lighted metal stand alone dress thing. When she was done with this song she literally just walked out of it.
I was so glad she went old school and set up her Grand Ol' Opry mic stand and belted her duet with fake Randy Travis. I say fake because they pulled that trick that makes the whole crowd go bonzo because they think the second half of the duet is actually there but then it turns out that he's just being played on the stage screen in the back. I don't know how many times I'm going to fall for that before I wise up.
She sang a beautiful song to her Mama while she played a little piano. I was unaware that she also played instruments. The smoke added a nice effect but really made my voice scratchy so the chance of her asking me to be a back up singer was totally shot. Durn that smoke.
When she got up from the piano half of her dress was missing. Given our seats, I was a little nervous about the view that we might get. I was really relieved to see that she kept it G-rated by sporting some spanx under that little dress.
Her last wardrobe change was my favorite. So cute and flirty. Such a sweet looking outfit to wear when you're talking about busting up someone's souped up 4-wheel drive. Guess even the sweetest thing can turn ugly when a man does you wrong :)

If I liked Carrie Underwood before this concert, I totally love her now. She put on a great show. She can sing like nobody's business and her rendition of "How Great Thou Art" nearly brought me to tears. Awesome. Really, really awesome.
It was great also, to hang out with my peeps, have a great dinner, and LOTS of great laughs.
And so as not to forget the men, here is a quick after concert mug shot:
Jason put his cover shirt back on. He was tired of all the smirks from the security people.....and he was nervous someone would nominate him to be her fan club president.

Outstanding show, wonderful seats, great friends. What more could a gal ask for??