Washington, D.C. - Part 1

I spent this last weekend in Washington, D.C.  The reason?  Really, it was two-fold.  First, my brother-in-law and his awesome family live there.  Second, I had to fulfill a gift to my wife.  Let me explain.  Gifts for my wife are sometimes a challenge.  Not that I don't know what she might like...it's that her birthday, Mother's Day and our anniversary all fall within four weeks of each other. That's a lot of thoughtful gifts to assemble in a month.  This year, I decided to do something different.  I combined all of them together into one, special present.  I gave her tickets to a concert.  This wasn't any concert, it's the Justin Timberlake/Jay Z Legends of the Summer Tour.  They were only appearing at some of the country's largest cities: Boston, LA, Chicago, Miami…and DC/Baltimore.  I decided to combine a trip to the show with a chance to visit with my wife's awesome brother and his family.  My youngest son has cousins that are about his age, and they love to play together.  My youngest daughter has cousins that are in the same age range (but this will become more valuable as they grow a little bit older).

The concert was held in the Baltimore Raven's M and T Stadium.  Normally, this is about an hour away from DC.  Due to the rain and the time of day, it took us three hours to get there.  I was a little frazzled by the stop-and-go-traffic.  However, by the time we finally made it, all the frustration was worth it.  I was lucky enough to secure tickets that were in the first 20 rows at the show.  Here's a pic, before the show started:

The stage set design was amazing.  They used an elaborate array of video screens that were embedded into the stage.  The projection allowed for creative use of colors and images throughout the show.  Here's a pic from the opening, with a collection of classical sculptures that mimic Jay Z's newest album cover:

Here's a series of images and videos from the show.  The sound on the video clips isn't great - I'm sorry about that - we were close enough that the sound was a little overwhelming to my little phone's mic.  You'll still get an idea of what the show was like:

Here's me and my hot date…enjoying the show.  It rained a little on us, but the temperatures were welcome - much cooler than Texas this time of year:

Just to prove that Jay Z was actually there, I include this image of him performing in front of the giant video screens on one side of the stage:

The show was fantastic.  JT was in good vocal form, which is the measure that I use to grade concert experiences.  We had a blast…and most importantly, my wife was delighted with the gift ; )

However, the fun didn't stop there.  Just two nights later, my brother-in-law scored tickets for us to see The Killers.  Not only was it a great show, but it was really, really fun just to go on a double-date with these guys.

As you can see, the vibe was a bit different for this show.  It was a gorgeous evening and we had a blast listening to the band.  We were also entertained by one girl who was drunk out of her mind.  She stumbled and fell all over people for about 50 feet on her way to the bathroom.  So sad...

The band was in great form.  Brandon Flowers, the lead singer, was in fantastic vocal shape.  As a member of our Church, I was quite proud of his performance and the band's success over the last decade.

This is about as good of a shot as I could get in these conditions...

Another great concert experience.  We actually realized that we don't go to many shows.  I think that many performers that sound great in a recording, don't have the ability to pull that off in a live setting. That, to me is the most important barometer for paying to see a show like these.  There are very few bands that we make the effort to go see live.  I guess we're good for a while now ; )

Next post - the rest of the fun in D.C., including a monument that most people don't take the time to see in our nation's capital...