Year End Music Recap

I saw some fabulous music in 2010 and as it’s such a huge part of my life, and I didn’t really start blogging heavily until September, here’s a recap of the concerts I saw in 2010!

Matt and I rang in 2010 in Chicago, watching Umphrey’s McGee jam out in the gorgeous Aragon Theatre.  Umphrey’s played for three nights and we went to them all, while exploring Chicago during the day and spending five whole days together as a couple (this was unprecedented at the time, as we lived three states apart!)

Matt went to some great concerts throughout 2010’s winter months, but I didn’t see another show until we went to the Summercamp Festival in Chillicothe, Illinois over Memorial Day Weekend. We saw Umphrey’s perform a few more times, along with Moe., Keller Williams, Avett Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Cornmeal, Pretty Lights, Bassnectar, and a ton of other fantastic bands. Great weather all weekend, but probably the dirtiest fest I’ve ever been to; it was insanely dusty! Didn’t ruin a good time though

Next was our epic 10-day road trip, which I just talked about. Let’s focus on the music! Our first show was the Phish Summer 2010 tour opener at Toyota Park outside Chicago. We had some friends going to the show and despite kind of a crappy venue, we raged

Then we headed to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio where we saw Phish play at the absolutely beautiful Blossom Music Center. This is a tiny venue meant for orchestras and classical music. The inside is pure wood and it’s located inside a state park. The lot situation was kind of confusing (there are like, five different lots!) and it was incredibly hot, but we loved it once we got inside! Just beautiful.

Next we visited Hershey, Pennsylvania, for their third tour stop. Hershey was a great little town to walk around in. We didn’t visit the amusement park but I really enjoyed the lots here! And it was super easy to leave post-show, though we could have walked from our hotel. This was also my favorite show of the first four Phish shows of the summer tour. Just a great experience all around in Hershey.

The last Phish show of our road trip was in Portsmouth, VA. A tiny coastal town, the arena only held about 6,000 people, which is incredibly tiny! It was a hard ticket to get, but we managed to find a pair and knew it was the perfect turning point in our road trip.

After Portsmouth, we turned around and started heading back home. The finale to our amazing road trip was in Indianapolis, where we stopped to see DMB play two nights at Deer Creek in Noblesville. This is very much a “home venue” for us; though neither of us live in Indy, we spent the first year of our relationship meeting there as a halfway point, and have plenty of friends that live there and come to town for shows. DMB at Deer Creek will always be on our must-see list of summer concerts, forever.

Night one we also experienced a major storm that destroyed many of our friends tents and canopies. It was incredibly scary but thankfully everyone was OK and continued to have an amazing time after cleanup. These people amaze me!

Our road trip ended after Deer Creek, but our summer concert schedule didn’t die down one bit. I saw DMB at my home venue, Pine Knob (unfortunately now called DTE Energy Music Theatre) in Metro Detroit, with fellow Detroit die-hard DMB fans, and some of the first members of the DMB family I’ve ever met. I really want to try to travel back to Detroit for this show every year! I love Pine Knob!

Another reason I loved this show? My friend Kelly and I had third row center

Our next adventure took us to Wisconsin, for DMB’s Fourth of July two-nighter at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, one of the biggest and best venues in the country. This show is truly in the middle of nowhere, and camping is always a great time. This is very much DMB family headquarters, so it’s awesome seeing everyone! This will always be a stop on our summer tour as well

Unfortunately, my camera was stolen before Night Two, so I have limited photos. Thanks to my friend Kim for taking this of me and Matt, one of our favorite photos together!

Our next adventure was back at Deer Creek in Indy, to see Phish’s two-nighter. This was a special weekend for me and Matt, as our first date was at Phish’s Deer Creek show the year before! Another great weekend with close friends. The awesome thing about Phish is that it’s almost better on the lawn than in any seat in the pavilion. People give you plenty of dancing room and you can just chill in the back and rage!

After the Phish show at Deer Creek, my next concert wasn’t until September, when we went to Chicago to see DMB end their summer tour at Wrigley Field. I ended up moving and starting my job the week before the trip. I couldn’t ask for any days off for the shows, so I got out of work on Friday, went straight to the airport, took a one-way flight to Chicago, took two trains downtown, and met Matt and friends in front of Wrigley literally 30 minutes before DMB went on stage! It was an adventure but totally worth it. What a great weekend in the city, with our closest DMB friends!

Once I was settled into our house here outside St. Louis, I finally was able to attend shows at the Pageant. It’s been voted Best Mid-Sized Concert Venue in the country and it’s absolutely magical inside! The first show I caught there was the Avett Brothers, with Grace Potter & the Nocturnals opening. This was truly one of the best shows I saw all year! The Avett Brothers are so fun. Bonus: got to meet Grace Potter!

Very quickly thereafter we saw The National rock the Pageant. They are incredible. I have no words. I would see them again in a heartbeat!

We ended up catching J.J.Grey & Mofro at the Taste of St. Louis Festival as well. We didn’t stay for the entire show but I had never seen them and I was glad we went! It was a fun time, as was the entire Taste festival!

Our next concert was more of a show. We saw Roger Water’s perform The Wall at Scottrade Center downtown. Check out my recap of this amazing experience.

We spent Halloween with Umphrey’s McGee again, back at the Pageant. We had a friend in from out of town and had an amazing two nights dancing like crazy!

One of our last shows of the year was Furthur at Chaifetz Arena. Furthur are the remaining members of the Grateful Dead and they do what they’ve always done best…play Dead tunes! It was fun but would have been so much better outside on a hot summer day!

Our last trip was to Charlottesville, Virginia, to see DMB’s last shows of 2010. I wrote a very long entry about it, so you can check that out. Needless to say, it was the perfect way to end 2010!

I saw a lot of fantastic music in 2010. This is a typical concert year for us, and while next year might be a bit different with less DMB, I’m sure we’ll make up for it with Phish. We have a heavy concert schedule at the Pageant in January and February, so we’re starting early and starting right!

Happy New Year!

Question: What’s your favorite concert experience?