Tim, Lady A, and 20,000 Screaming Fans

After weeks of scorching heat (just look at our yard), the temperatures finally cooled down just in time for the Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum concert on Saturday night. My coworkers Kaylyn and MJ and I (Jason wanted no part of this) grabbed our blankets and headed to the big outdoor arena in Northern Virginia and set ourselves up on the grass for what was a really awesome concert.

On the grass with MJ and Kaylyn--check out MJ's gigantic bag of peanut butter M&Ms. Yes.

When we first found out about the concert, we were mainly excited for Lady A--our boss really likes them and made a point of passing their CD around one day so that we all became fans. Seriously, they are really good. I made it through the first draft of my thesis on their second album. So we were really going to the concert for the opening act, and they were awesome.


The thing is, Tim McGraw is really good in concert. In college, Shaanti, Jenny, Alison, Amanda, and I went to the Faith Hill/Tim McGraw concert in Boise--I was definitely a bit Faith fan and basically went for her, but after the concert I scooped up every Tim McGraw album I could find (I seriously lived off of them in Oxford the next semester). He is that good. As the day went on, I got more and more excited for his part of the concert, too. He definitely didn't disappoint.

The big entrance

Just a few people here, huh?

Even the opening-opening act, Love and Theft, was really good. Plus (plussest of plusses), we got hooked up with meet and greet passes and got to shake hands and get our pictures taken with Lady A before the concert. Sweet!

Oh, just us with Lady A.

My favorite parts of the concert were when the 20,000 people sang along with their favorite songs--like this moment when Tim sang "Where the Green Grass Grows." Maybe you don't care to watch videos on concerts we go to. In that case, just consider this one for my benefit, because I will enjoy watching it over and over...

Lastly, I just want to say that Northern Virginia "cowboys" are such a foreign concept to me. Granted, I did see two boys in FFA shirts (rock on). But most people were dressed in short dresses and ankle boots...or not wearing shirts at all. And no one had manure on their shoes. People watching was almost as good as the concert itself...