The Best Concert I've Ever Seen

I am a little late in posting about this, but with all that has been going on, I didn't want to forget to tell you all about it.

On Thursday, April 10th (after a very few hours of sleep the night before due to Sierra's arrival), Katie and I went to see Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban in concert at the John Paul Jones arena here in Charlottesville. JPJ, as it is often called by us locals, is located just across the street from my office building. I have attended two other concerts there and quite a few UVA basketball games and other events. Katie, however, had never been and this was going to be her first time. I think she would agree when I say that this was an awesome introduction to the arena and what it has to offer!

The concert tickets were a present from my wonderful husband to me for Christmas. He had to work late that night (and isn't a big fan of country music anyway), so I asked Katie if she wanted to go. She was so excited and was happy to be my "date".

The concert was - as I said in the title of this post - the BEST concert I have ever seen! Carrie Underwood (of American Idol fame) opened and sang for about 45 minutes. Her voice is amazingly strong and beautiful. Hearing here perform live was a real treat! Then, Keith Urban performed for an astounding 2 hours!! Katie and I were really enjoying it but also trying to stay awake since we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

Keith Urban's performance was better than anyone I have ever seen. He interacted with the crowd very well - even calling three teenage girls up on stage in the beginning (they had a sign that read "3 Teens want a Hug from Keith Urban"). He had them come down onto the stage from the top of the lower level and he talked to them and gave them all a hug. It was really sweet. Later in the night, he signed a girl's cast and he also went into the crowd during one of his songs. After he was done singing that particular song, he autographed his guitar and gave it to a guy in the audience. Unfortunately, Katie and I were sitting in the upper level so we didn't get too close to him. In my opinion, he acted like this was the only concert he has ever done and his energy level and enthusiasm were incredible. It was astonishing to hear the number of recognizable "hit songs" that he sang. He is truly an incredibly gifted and talented artist!

These pictures certainly don't show you the awesomeness of the concert, but here are a few that I snapped during the event:

Me and Katie during at the concert. Don't we look just a bit tired?!?!

This is Carrie Underwood on stage. We were pretty far back, but her vocals were amazing!

Here is Keith Urban on stage. The video set-up that he had was awesome.
The videos of him on the screen behind him were so huge and clear!