Dallas, Texas - Adele

Dear Friends:

Last week, my wife and I traveled up to Dallas, Texas.  We were only there for about 18 hours - but it was totally worth it ; )  First, we had a chance to see my son, his wife and their kids.  That's a good enough reason right there!  The bonus is that we went to see Adele in concert...amazing.

While driving up to Dallas, we stopped at one of our favorite Texas cultural icons - Buc-Ee's!  While there, I always try to grab just a little of their unique beef jerky. I don't know exactly what makes it so great - but the name pretty much says it all...Hill Country Bohemian Garlic Beef Jerky.  It's delicious...and right on the edge of "too spicy" for me:

We spent the afternoon with the kids and had a blast playing with toys and wrestling with the oldest grandson:

It's always a highlight when the little ones just want to give you a hug...it's the best feeling in the world:

That night, my wife, my son and his wife all went to dinner.  It's so cool to be able to have great conversation with your kids and their spouses.

We headed to downtown Dallas, and took our seats.  We didn't have the best seats in the world...but they were just fine.  This wasn't the type of concert that you needed to be up-close to see all the action.  It was all about an incredible vocalist...and her voice.

She appeared on a tiny stage, in the middle of the arena.  The large stage at the end of the venue had giant video screens...with just eyes showing...it was a cool effect when she started singing and the eyes opened...

At one point, she asked all the people in the arena to turn on their phone lights.  This is something I've seen with several artists...and it's still amazing.  The amount of light generated by thousands of individual phones is still impressive to see:

She finished the normal part of the show back on that tiny stage, in the middle of the arena.  They extended a "cube" of screens down from the lights and projected her image.  It was a nice way of making sure everyone could see her:

I tried really hard to get a shot of my wife and I, with Adele in the background.  Complete fail.  At least you can see the smiles on our faces...because it was a fantastic show:

I've probably mentioned before...but I don't actually go to too many concerts.  My expectations for the sound and vocal quality is really high.  Many artists may give a spirited "live" performance, but I really want to hear the vocals and music to be outstanding.  Adele didn't disappoint.  She's truly gifted...and it came through on every song.  She's also a little "chatty"...which is probably a defense mechanism for how nervous she must be on this big of a tour.  I've never heard an artist talk quite so much.  However, it really endeared her to the audience, and we learned a lot more about her along the way.

A fantastic night, that we were able to share with those we love.  That's the best kind of experience!!!

Thanks for reading ; )