Jon McLaughlin Concert

Last week, I went to a Jon McLaughlin concert with our good friends Jon & Jaclyn. Nick was supposed to come, but couldn't make it.  The concert was at one of my favorite venues in Annapolis, Rams Head On Stage.

These two are moving to California in a couple of weeks, and we're so sad to see them go.

Jon & Jac

Jac & me at our table - Poor Jac didn't realize she was ordering a fish sandwich. Oops.

I only knew two or three of Jon McLaughlin's songs, and they were all very different from each other, so I wasn't really sure what to expect his stuff to sound like. Once we got through both opening acts (which were good, but seemed to drag on forever), the real show started. I really liked his music from this album (Promising Promises). I didn't realize he is a "piano man".

Here are some shots Jac took during the concert:

 

 

 

 When he came out for the encore, Jac shouted out for him to play "Beautiful Disaster", so he did. She caught a clip of it before the video monitor lady found her out ; )

After the Concert, we bought our cds and waited to have them signed. This is one thing I love about this venue. It's small enough that you don't have to wait long after the show to meet the artist.

Waiting in line with our goodies.

The signing.

The photo in which he looks extremely tired. Who can blame him - it was midnight by this point.

 Want to hear one more? Here you go!

KEANE Strangeland Tour

Our last KEANE concert was 2 years ago (see that post here), and KEANE was touring again promoting their new album, Strangeland. We are so lucky that they have been playing at venues super close to us. This year it was at the Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda. After the last concert, we found out that our friends Matt & Vanessa also like KEANE. It was nice to be able to share the experience with them. 

 The concert was amazing, as usual. 2 hours of great music! We missed most of the opening act, Mystery Jets, but what we heard sounded pretty good.

The band hasn't blogged their US tour yet, so I'll have to add the band's photo of the audience later. It's always fun to see things from their point of view!

If you're looking for a good concert, they'll be in UT/CO/CA later this month.

Here's a clip of the concert from some fan lucky enough to be close to the stage:

Wrapping up February

Changed my hair color
I love that it's kind of chocolatey in low light and gets all golden in the sunlight. But no one told me that when you change your hair color, you also have to adjust your make-up colors. Still working on figuring that out.

Scars on 45 Concert

We went to see Scars on 45 in Annapolis at Ram's Head On Stage. It's definitely a venue I'll keep my eye on for more shows. It's table seating and the kind of place that it's worth paying for even the higher priced shows because you're so close to the band.
This band is one of our favorites. We got to meet them after the show and have a picture taken and a shirt signed. Great fun!

Valentine's Day Dance

Our ward goes all-out for Valentine's Day. They hire a DJ, deck out the gym, plan floor shows and have great food all night. EVERYONE dances-from the babies to the 80+ crowd. Even the senior missionaries were tearin' up the dance floor. As you can see, we had a great time!

Flat Stanley
My cousin's son's school was sending out Flat Stanley to various places to learn about geography. They mail him to you and you take pictures of him places then mail him back. Sadly, I was a little slow in getting downtown to take pictures with Stanley (sorry Kyle). But, we saw lots of things and hopefully he's made it home safely.

Stanley saw Abraham Lincoln:

Stanley rode a horse with the U.S. Park Police:

And Stanley tried to climb the Washington Monument:

A couple of friends from the ward came downtown with me and were great sports about holding Stanley for pictures.

KEANE Concert

Several years ago, my friend Barb introduced me to KEANE. I was able to introduce Nick to them, and we always hoped we could make it to one of their concerts someday. .They recently released a new EP, which meant a tour! Nick saw a poster for it on the metro and it was only about 2 weeks away. Perfect timing.
It was at the MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION, which is only 30 minutes from us. It is an outdoor location, so it was pretty warm still, but the rain let up just in time for the show.
The drummer of the band blogs about their tours and takes a picture of the audience at each venue. Here is his photo from our concert. You should be able to click it to see it bigger.
The opening acts were also really great. The first was FRAN HEALY from the band Travis. He's from Scotland, so it was fun to hear him talk between songs. Next up was INGRID MICHAELSON. She is quirky and really fun to hear live.

I love bands that sound just as good, if not better, live, and Keane is definitely one of those (the video below doesn't quite capture their true sound). They packed the concert with as much music as possible, and it was all very high energy. Here is a You Tube posted song from our concert. I actually think this was taken by the girl sitting next to us because it is the same view we had. We're pretty sure that Nick is the one "OOH!" that wasn't exactly on cue :)

We definitely hope to see them again when they come back to the states for their next tour.