Bucket list item:
Front row for a large show at BOK Center. Check!
Well, it wasn't really front row but it was in the pit,
which was actually in front of front row and we were right next to the stage for
Kenny Chesney, Jake Owen and Chase Rice on the Big Revival Tour.
How did we get these amazing passes? Well, this time it wasn't me or Renee that
won them. I know, -- it’s a shock! This time my mother-in-law entered a bad
Hawaiian shirt contest on Facebook from 106.1 The Twister and won them and
surprised me! Best mother-in-law ever!
So Renee and I wanted to be able to secure our spots at the
stage and we showed up at 5:30pm when the doors opened. We were the first ones to enter the
“sandbar”. I was completely surprised that
no one else was there and really it didn't start filling up until about 15
minutes before show time. We found out
later that they were handing out sandbar passes to people, aka pretty girls, as
they walked in for the show. Only a
handful of people actually purchased these passes and the rest were won from
radio stations or given out in the lobby.
So we picked our spot and a few minutes later another few
people showed up. Tamara and Mike, our
new friends, stood next to us and we decided we would help each other through
the night if we needed to leave our spot for something. It is definitely better to make friends in
that kind of situation than enemies. It
will make your night go much smoother.
It’s also good to make friends with security! This is Malachi (sorry if I spelled your
name wrong, bud). We got to know him
pretty well over the next couple of hours too.
He was a nice little resource when some girls decided to pull some
punches behind us. The kept pushing and
shoving each other to get closer and when they weren't allowed to do that
anymore they started saying really catty things about how ugly the girls were
and how bad their hair was. Talk about
“mean girls!” We just stood there
holding our spots and laughing.
Pretty close to 7:00pm Chase Rice opened the show. From where we were it was difficult to hear
him. He was over powered by the
music. Not sure if it was that way for
the whole arena but was an issue for us.
He had a lot of energy. He played
to the crowd well and definitely tried to get those in the sandbar a lot of
attention. We got a hand slap a couple
of songs in.
He sang “Cruise” - a song he co-wrote with Florida Georgia Line, “Ready Set Roll” and “Gonna Wanna Tonight” along with a couple others. He reminded us of Sam Hunt in his style. Not my favorite of the 3 but he was good. The great part was his guitar player, Brandon Autry, was from Tulsa. It’s so nice to see hometown guys up on stage.
After about a 15-20 minute intermission Jake Owen came
out. He was a hoot to watch! He had palm trees set up in the background
and performed his whole set barefoot. He
seemed like he was truly having the time of his life with a genuine smile from
ear to ear his entire set. He jumped and
twirled around and even got up on one part of the stage and laid down while the
band played.
Renee saw Jake Owen with Jason Aldean in 2012 where she
purchased a license plate. She brought
it in hopes that he would sign it.
However, he ignored our corner of the stage the entire time! We didn't even get a hand shake from him
during his set.
Jake sang all his hits including “Beachin’”, “Anywhere With
You” and the very touching ballad “What We Ain't Got”, which he mentioned was
his favorite song. He ended with my
favorite of his “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” and mixed it with ”Theme from Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air.” That was a fun way
to end his part of the show.
We waited another hour before Kenny Chesney came out. He said during the show they were having
technical difficulties and thanked everyone for being patient. I found out from my niece who had seats up
above us that the board to the side of the stage was not lit up and they were
frantically trying to get it to work.
She said they even group hugged when it started working.
Finally at 9:30pm the lights went out and a video
started. There were very large screens
to each side of the stage and a long screen high above the front of the stage. Where we were standing we couldn't see any of
them. The first video was a lot of
different people, including several celebrities, welcoming us to the show all
while Kenny’s “Spread the Love” played in the background.
After that video ended another one started. I couldn't see what it was that night but I
found a video on YouTube of another show and watched it. It’s very hard to explain so I’ll just put a
link below and you can see it for yourself.
Start watching about 1:45.
In our show it did not play on the curtain. That could have
been some of the technical difficulties he was talking about. But even as I watch it now I don’t really get
it. I know it has roots from his song
“The Big Revival” talking about old time weird religions but honestly it did
not fit with his whole beachy, no shoes, no problems persona. And after waiting for an hour and then
through 6+ minutes of videos I just wanted him to come out and sing. I could have done without one or even both of
the videos.
Finally Kenny came out and he did not disappoint! I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of his but I do
like most of his songs. But if there is
anything about that man, he knows how to put on a show! His smile is contagious and you can tell he
loves his job….and his fans! Since we
were behind him at times, we could see what he was seeing. There were several times where he looked up
into the crowd and picked out one person either taking a picture or dancing
around and pointed them out. He was
extremely good at that audience connection that I feel is so important in a
show.
He loved his front row and sandbar fans a lot! He was constantly grabbing hands and singing
to all of us. He only came over to us
twice but when he would stand in one place and sing he made eye contact with
our side a lot.
His band sounded great and his bass player, Harmoni Kelley, was
amazing! You don’t see very many women playing bass and she rocked it. She also sang a cover of AC/DC’s “Whole Lotta
Rosie” and that gal can sing! I want to
be just like her when I grow up.
Kenny Chesney has so many hit songs it’s impossible for him
to get them all into one night but he sure tried! I knew just about every song and he sang my
favorite of his about half way through – “Young”. He ended the night with “The Boys of Fall”
and then brought Jake Owen and Chase Rice back for the encore to sing “Tractor’s
Sexy”.
After they finished the song all three of them took time to
sign autographs for people in the sandbar and front row. We were bound and determined to get that
license plate signed! We yelled and
screamed and Renee held it up high for Jake to see. He finally came over and signed it. Mission accomplished!
So overall, the experience in the sandbar was one I will
never forget. However, as a concert
junkie, I realized that I actually prefer to be a few rows back from the
stage. I feel like I missed a lot of the
overall show. Now don’t get me wrong, it
was amazing to be that up close and personal with the guys but really all we
could focus on was them. I missed being
able to see the rest of the band play unless they were walking right in front
of us. It was almost a “can’t see the
forest for the trees” type of thing. I truly enjoy the whole show and being in
a pit you definitely sacrifice some of that.
It’s a trade-off for sure.
Renee and I also realized that we are getting just a little too old to be standing for 6 hours on concrete in one place, fighting off girls half our age to get a hand shake or an autograph! We would have liked to have had a seat to sit in between the acts.
But was it worth it?
Absolutely! It was a fantastic
show and one that I will put up toward the top of my list of great shows you
should go see. Would I do it again in
the pit? If I were given the tickets, I definitely
wouldn't turn them down!
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