Back in December of last year, I gave Colin his first-ever "1/2 Birthday Gift" - 2 tickets to go watch the final stop of George Strait's "This is Where the Cowboy Rides Away" Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. We had seen his show here in Las Cruces that Spring, but this show was going to be a big party with several special guests joining him.
Well, his birthday came on the 3rd of June:
We had a nice celebratory dinner with the kids, Grammy, Grampa and Gramma Mary that night, then the next evening met my folks in Deming so they could have the kids and early the next morning, we were Dallas bound:
We had a nice drive there and after checking into the hotel room, got dressed up and headed down to the Stock Yards for a nice dinner and some dancing, an early celebration for our 17th Anniversary which was just days away:
The Stock Yards is one of my very favorite places and I was so excited to be back for the first time since we took the kids there in 2010! It wasn't a long stay, but we will definitely be back! After a yummy dinner at Riscky's Steakhouse, it was off to Billy Bob's of Texas for a night of dancing to Kevin Fowler!
We met my brother and sister-in-law and friends, Justin and Desi Wetzel, there. They also had tickets to George Strait, just not with us.
It was a great night and Billy Bob's was everything I expected! So much fun!
The next day, we had a late breakfast and spent some time shopping at Bass Pro Shops before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. We planned to be there very early because of parking and stuff and boy we were! Found our parking lot with no problem and walked over half a mile to the stadium:
The doors opened about 30 minutes after we arrived and we were just as excited to see the new stadium for the first time as we were for the show. It was pretty breathtaking!
We were way up there, too! That was fine with me, though, thanks to the ginormous screen that we could watch! There were people who paid way more than we did for standing room-only tickets so I was pleased with our seats, no matter how high up they were.
At 6pm, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel came out and performed a 1-hour set. They were amazing as always:
About 30 minutes after that, the King himself, took the stage. He was smiling from ear to ear and said several times how excited he was for this show.
He performed a few songs...
...then was joined onstage by a very goofy (and
possibly drunk?!) Vince Gill who stumbled getting on the turning stage and then limped his way over to join George in singing "Love Bug". Vince wasn't one of the ones I was looking the most forward to anyway, but was very disappointed in how he was dressed (he looked way more sloppy than the other guys in their ripped jeans) and how strange he was acting.
Each special guest would sing 2 songs with him and then George would sing 1-2 by himself before another special guest came out. Second guest was Jason Aldean, who was another one I wasn't too excited to see, but he impressed me. He sounded good with George, and more importantly, you could tell he was so honored to be there:
A highlight of the show, was when George's son, Bubba, joined him onstage to help him sing "Arkansas Dave" a song he wrote for his Dad to sing:
(sorry for the picture quality - cell phone was all I had and I took them from the screen). Bubba is a cutie for sure, like his Dad, and as he was exiting the stage, George told the audience, "He sure picked a hell of a time to debut his skills!" referring to the crowd of 105,000 that broke the record for largest indoor concert ever!
Eric Church was next and I have to admit, I was very excited to see him in concert for the first time, but was shocked by how "starstruck" I really was when he walked out on stage! I really enjoy Eric Church and his music and he just sings with so much passion!! "Cowboys Like Us" was one of the two songs he sang with George and he also was so humbled to be there!
Sheryl Crow was the first of the women to come out on stage and she probably was my favorite one. She looked beautiful and sounded great!
Martina McBride, who opened for him last Spring when we took the kids to see him here in Cruces was really great, too. She sang "Jackson" and "Golden Ring" with him, like they did all through his tour and it was so much fun!
Faith Hill looked great - way healthier (not so skinny) as the last few times I've seen her on tv. I've seen her before in concert and she does a wonderful job!
Another favorite for me, the one I was most excited for, was definitely Alan Jackson. I've seen him before, too, but he is just wonderful and, like George, one of the greatest! In between songs, he toasted George (with water!) and it was very cool to hear the two of them go back and forth praising each other. They also sang their duet, "Murder on Music Row" which is a very good and very true song!
Miranda Lambert was also exciting to see and she was very giddy to be up there onstage with the King! They sang "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" which I thought was perfect.
Kenny Chesney was next and sang "Oceanfront Property" which was also fitting. He was exciting for me to see, too, as it was a first.
He was the lucky one that got to sing "The Fireman" with George and the lights and flames for that performance was pretty cool:
This was taken during the cheering and begging for an encore. All the tiny lights are from cell phones! It looked pretty cool!
And speaking of encores, what an encore it was!! All of them, including Ray Benson, came back out together and sang "All My Exes" and a few other songs before George sang "This is Where the Cowboy Rides Away" and said a tearful goodbye.
Then it was confetti and balloons from the ceiling as he waved to everyone:
Wonderful concert!! Worth every penny and we were so blessed to have gone!
The next day, we went to Grapevine to shop and for lunch at Love and War in Texas, one of Colin's favorite places. We also drove down to Historic Grapevine, kind of on accident and were pleasantly surprised! So beautiful with historic sites and fun boutiques:
Monday morning, before making the trip back home, we met our college friend, Cory, whom we hadn't seen in several years for breakfast. It was so good to see him and catch up for a couple of hours!
The trip back was good and uneventful and then we still had a few days before getting our kiddos back. They had a great time with their grandparents and cousins during their annual summer-time together. I'm sure there will be more pics to come when I get them from my mom, but here are a couple I took of them Thursday evening at Hotel E here in Cruces, there last night together before we got them back on Friday:
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for taking such great care of our kids while we were gone, and then some!
