Jamming with ABBA

I was very excited about a month ago to learn that the official ABBA cover band, called Arrival, was going to be playing a concert at the Sandy Amphitheater last week. I LOVE ABBA and really wanted to go. I called up one of my dear friends, and she and her little girl agreed to go with me. She was laughing about the whole thing and kept telling me her older sister and mother would be jealous, but I'm pretty sure she had a great time. And her little girl was so adorable, dancing to the music and making friends with the lady sitting next to us.

I was happy that entire evening and ran around with what I'm sure was the biggest, stupidest grin in my face. But who doesn't love ABBA? Their music is a classic. Did you know they were offered a billion dollars to do a worldwide reunion tour, and they turned it down?! That's crazy!

Of course the band played all the favorites from "Mama Mia" to "Knowing Me, Knowing You" to the great "Take a Chance on Me." I was overjoyed when they started singing "Fernando" which happens to be one of my favorites. I was slightly distressed when it looked like they were going to end without doing their most famous, "Dancing Queen," but it turned out to be their closing number. Wa-hoo! Here are a few pictures of the adventure.

Here's A jamming out to the music. She was so excited that her tongue got in on the action too. :)

The three of us

Here's the band jamming on stage in their 70s costumes and everything.

A and me being excited for the concert

Mmm, Christmas in the Aire

Oh man! I am so pumped right now! I just had the most wonderful experience, and I'm going to quickly record it in my blog so that I don't forget. I'm hurrying because I've been a bad child this week and haven't done so great with getting to bed on time so I'm extra tired. But I'm going to be fast, well I hope I will anyway. :)

Tonight my very dear Smirk and I had the wonderful opportunity of going to see Mannheim Steamroller in concert. I hope you're familiar with them, but if not, they're most known for their Christmas music which is a mix of traditional music with technical wizardry. I'm sure that sounds strange but if you ever hear them, you'll probably recognize them because they have a distinct sound.

Unlike some musicians, I'm proud to say that Mannheim Steamroller sounds just as wonderful live as they do on their CDs. They included some interesting elements to the concert, such as a screen behind the orchestra that often showed videos to accompany the music. I can't remember if it was "Catching Snowflakes on Your Tongue" or "Messengers of Christmas" but one of the two songs had an entire ice skating routineperfectly choreographed to the music. I thought it was pretty darn cool.

I could feel it as soon as the music started: the formation of the big stupid grin on my face. Such a look usually means either I'm REALLY happy about something or I've been mischievous. Since there wasn't any tricks going on during the concert, pretty much this look meant I was stoked for the entire two and a half hours I sat in Abravenal Hall.

The concert started out strong with "Hallelujah", "Feliz Navidad" and "Deck the Halls." They harmonize so well, and I love it when they start slow and build up. The entire group is so talented but I was especially impressed with the drummer. I thought I was going to be sad for the slower songs, but instead, the opposite happened. As the orchestra started into its rendition of "Away in a Manager", I felt goosebumps forming on my arms. And then as I let the music wash over me, thinking of its true meaning, tears started rolling down my cheeks. I wasn't sad, just touched.

The second half was quite interesting because it featured several of the band's more Middle-English sounding carols such as "Gagliarda", "Wassail, Wassail" and "In dulci Jubilo." For most of the second half, the orchestra had a screen in front of them showing videos of a Middle English style feast with nobles eating and servers popping in and out. I have to be honest though: it was trippy to have the picture up on the screen and then have the bottom half illuminated enough so you could see the orchestra through the picture. Tres interesante, but still a cool effect.

The concert ended with one of the group's most famous songs, "Carol of the Bells." It was pretty stinkin' awesome, except for the three screens in the background that had corny black-clad dancers. Oh well! This was supposed to be the last song of the night, but of course they did an encore and performed Smirk's favorite, "Silent Night" and now I can't remember the last song. Darn! It was an appropriate ending though.

Sorry this post is so long, but I just wanted to share my excitement and enthusiasm right now while it's fresh in my memory. G'night everyone!

My Life Would Suck Without You!!

My poor neglected blog! I am sometimes so faithful about writing in it, but for whatever reason, this month it's a struggle for me! And I've had some great things happen recently which I need to tell about.

Let's start with the Kelly Clarkson concert last Thursday. It was awesome!! She sounds just as great live as she does on her CDs. She performed some classic Kelly Clarkson tunes ("Breakaway", "Since U Been Gone", "Miss Independence") as well as some tunes from her new CD, which I love! I was hoping that she would perform at least one or two of my favorite songs on the CD ("Long Shot" and "Impossible"), but, alas, she did not. It was still a great concert. She closed out by singing "My Life Would Suck Without You." I have to admit that initially I was not impressed with this song, but after I used it to sass Speak one night it's sort of become an anthem from one of us to the other, so I really love it now. :)

My only beef with the concert was a) the choice of venue and b) that she only sang for an hour! I was hoping for an hour and a half to two hours but no such luck. One of my friends who attended the concert with me said that singers sometimes struggle with singing in Utah because of the elevation, so that may be why she didn't sing very long. It could've also been because the tickets weren't that expensive, but it's okay. Utah Valley University put on the concert and it was held in their baseball field. Umm, the diamond shape doesn't really lend itself to being a great location for a concert, especially when they jealously protect the playing area (not that I blame them or anything.) I really did enjoy myself! I'm posting some pictures below for your enjoyment!

Before I go though, I have to tell you one of my favorite parts of the concert which, ironically enough, doesn't have anything to do with the singing. So the weather was iffy when we went, but we were told the concert would go on, rain or shine. Luckily it only sprinkled on us and the clouds moved completely out by the time the concert ended. However, for a good part of the time Kelly was singing, there was a huge double rainbow across the whole sky. It was truly beautiful! I tried to capture it on film but couldn't quite get all of it. I'm posting a couple pictures I took of the pieces of it.

Andrea and I are excited to see Kelly!

Here's where Kelly will be singing shortly. Check out the crowd!

Here's the major portion of the rainbow. I really wish I could've caught the whole thing. Oh well!

Here is the side by the stage. I loved the double rainbow. It was so beautiful!

Here's the crowd jamming to one of Kelly's songs. I think it was either "Since U Been Gone" or "Breakaway" but I'm not sure.