My younger sister gets these wild crazy ideas that she ropes me into. She and I both agree that she should've been born first--I kind of slack of when it comes to stereotypical "big sister" things. When we go out, she's the one that does my hair and helps me pick out my outfit. It's how we roll. But anyways, a few weeks ago she comes to me with this crazy idea about going to this concert. For Christmas, I got two tickets go see the Broadway version of "The Lion King" and she got tickets to go to an Ed Sheeran concert with her friends. I love Ed Sheeran---I think he's incredibly talented--but let's be honest guys: it's the LION KING. Only the greatest movie ever made that is now translated into a Broadway musical?! Hands down, Simba wins everytime. So when my sister approaches me with this idea about going to see Ms Underwood, I thought she was crazy. A) I'm not saying I'm a starving college student, but I do have rent payments that will be due when I move back up to school---not to mention buying groceries. And B) She just went to a concert! I'm a Carrie fan, but not enough to start abandoning rent money in order to go see her. And with recent Christmas expenses, I didn't think the parental units were going to be too excited about this wild and crazy plan of hers. But, being the fantastic older sister than I am, I agreed to back her up as long as she presented this idea to the parents first.
Honestly, I thought she was going to chicken out. But she didn't! I jokingly suggested that she make a PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate why we should go to this concert. And she actually did! It was pretty cute too. Long story short: we were given permission to go to this concert.
But my dear, sweet sister wasn't interested in JUST seeing Carrie Underwood. Oh no! Carrie's show was being opened by none other than country heartthrob Hunter Hayes. As it turns out, my sis was really only going for Hunter----Carrie was just a perk. Lil Sis then conveniently mentions that there's an opportunity to do a Hunter Hayes meet-and-greet. And of course, she gets her way :)
And so, yesterday I met Hunter Hayes. Confession time: I didn't really know much about the guy going into this. The kid honestly looks like he's 14 so I wasn't sure how comfortable I felt being all scream-y giddy fan-girl over meeting him (and yes, I feel old just saying that). Turns out the guy is older than I am--so hey, that worked out nicely. He's a good-looking guy and impressively humble. Honestly, I thought his assistant/wrangler/manager guy was WAY better looking, but apparently he's not "allowed" to take his picture with any fans----yes, we asked. Hunter was incredibly sweet and was very good. He did a Q&A session with a group of us and then everyone involved got an autographed item and a picture with him.
Meeting Hunter really just cemented the concept of why I like country music so much. People like to hate on country...but I find that (generally speaking) it's the cleanest and most wholesome genre out there. It's GOOD. And yes, there are songs about getting revenge on those significant others that cheat on you (but come on, "Before He Cheats" is a CLASSIC!) but you know...I'll take those tongue-in-cheek humor songs over nasty crude ones about smut any day of the week. That being said, no I do not own a cowgirl hat. Or cowgirl boots. Or even a flannel shirt. I haven't started DRESSING the part, but I think I'm definitely a country fan at heart ;)
Cheesy as it sounds, the highlight of my night might just be the 1 1/2 hrs I got to spend killing time at a Starbucks with my sister. We fought like cats and dogs as kids---and to this day there's no one that can get me in a murderous rage faster than she can--but she's actually pretty FUN now. I don't know when she made the transition between "doofy teenager" to "fun girl to hangout with"...but I think she's more in the second category now. It was nice to talk. Maybe whoever said "siblings become your closest friends" WASN'T as deranged as I've always thought he was.
The concert itself was great. I went to Carrie's "Play On" tour a few years back with a friend of mine, and the two were very similarly staged. Her set was weird (TV screens that folded into this triangular shaped house-thing...?) but the music was good. The woman is absolutely gorgeous and being an incredibly low-maintenance gal I was impressed by her costume changes. Changing an entire gown in that short amount of time is impressive but everything from her shoes to her earrings changed as well. I'm pretty confident that Carrie Underwood wore more pairs of earrings, rings, and bracelets in that 2 hour span of time than I will where in the year 2013. Hot dang. And her shoes?! My goodness! They were so cute...but kudos to you Carrie for not falling and snapping an ankle. As a self-proclaimed Uncoordinated Klutz, my greatest fear in life is face-planting while wearing high heels. Doesn't matter how high, if they've been broken in or not, or if I'm walking across flat ground vs navigating stairs: if they have a heel, I will trip. It is guaranteed. Hunter himself did an excellent job with opening the show. Judging by the number of fangirl screams that surrounded me anytime he was on stage, I have a snagging suspicion that my sister wasn't the only one attending just for Hunter Hayes.
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| No joke: the guy is 21! |
