Warning: This is a long one!
Is it possible to have the perfect concert experience
weekend where everything goes just right even when it seems it’s going
wrong? If it’s possible, then my friend
Amanda and I did just that.
Amanda and I are big fans of The
Swon Brothers - a country duo from our home state of OK - and have even traveled as far as Dallas/Ft. Worth to see them in
concert....or what they like to call a #Swoncert. We are also HUGE fans of their
keyboard player, Seth Costner. Being
that big a fan of someone can cause you to plan a crazy road trip and decide to
see the same band play 2 nights in a row in 2 different states. Well, at least it can cause me to do that
anyway.
Amanda and I found out The Swon Brothers were playing the
Ellis County Fair in Hays, KS (5.5 hour drive) and had talked about going to
see them. Then they announced a show
here in our hometown of Tulsa, OK. We
scored front row seats for that show but still had the bug to go to KS. So, we decided to just go for it and make it
a girls’ weekend and see them in both states.
We had a presale code for the Tulsa show and got front row
off to the side but then, a couple weeks later, they opened up front row center
seats. So, of course, we bought a second set. Within 2 days I had sold the first set to a
friend who had read my blog about them from the Texas show we went to. She had never heard of them but trusted me
from my review and was excited to go and take her son who was turning 30 that
week. Sweet!
Our weekend started on Friday, actually. We drove to Hays in a yellow convertible
Camaro that Amanda rented. You should
have seen the 2 of us trying to get the top to open. Neither of us had ever driven a convertible
before so the owner’s manual was our friend! And even with that, it took a bit to figure it out. We finally got it open but it didn’t last long. No way were we doing that whole trip with our
hair whipping all over the place. Plus I
would have to wear sunscreen to keep from frying in the sun. Redhead problems!
As we were leaving, our friend Kristina Carlyle from the
radio station 106.1 The Twister played us a request of the The Swon Brothers
song “Later On” and then dedicated another song to us for good travels on the
road. Too fun! This day was off to a great start.
We took our time driving and managed to find “Road Trip
Radio” on SiriusXM that just played great songs. Amanda found out that I know the words to A LOT of
songs. Didn’t matter what genre, I was
belting out the songs. Have I mentioned
before that I’m kind of addicted to music?
We arrived in Hays about 5:00pm, checked in to our hotel and
headed to the fair. This was just the
cutest county fair ever! You could tell
they put a lot of work into it and the community really comes together for
it.
We didn’t do too much walking around because our main goal
was to secure front row for the show. We
were the 2nd set of people to go in the concert area. We were able to rent chairs for $1 each so we
grabbed those and headed to the stage.
Front and center baby! Right
where we wanted to be! We made friends
with the other group that came in the same time as us. We agreed to watch each other’s stuff if we
had to leave. In talking to them we
mentioned we were from Tulsa. “Oh! We heard about you” they said. What? We had planned to have a great time there but were
we already legends in Ellis County before we even got there? Well, ok then.
We just hung out at our seats for a while and watched the opening
act do their sound check. It was 101°
outside but it didn’t feel so bad. We
were in a little bit of shade from the stage and the wind was blowing. And boy was it blowing! All of the sudden, somewhere around 6:30pm,
70mph straight line winds started blowing across the parking lot. Dust was everywhere and the stage started
shaking. The lights were moving, the
speakers were swaying and even the drums were falling over. It scared us a bit so we decided we were not
going to be by that stage during all this.
We took refuge over by a beer truck.
At this point we figured out that our back stage passes had a typo. They spelled Swon wrong! Oh no!!!!
You had 1 job, Ellis County! We
had quite a laugh about that while we were in the middle of this horrible dust
storm.
Then out of nowhere the heavens opened up and it poured down
rain. I mean hail and so much rain you
couldn’t see 5 feet in front of you! We raced into the 4-H building to stay
dry. I’m glad we did. We got a chance to look around at the sewing and art
projects, the veggies that were up for display and even got to cast our vote
for the best bedazzled bra to raise money for charity. Yep! I said bedazzled bra! The minion bra was in the lead when we
left. I told you this fair was just
adorable.
It didn’t rain for very long so we headed back to our seats
to assess the damage. Chairs were still
there but just wet. I had brought a
towel with me so we wiped them down and took our seats again. The parking lot was muddy but not for long. Within a half hour or so it was completely
dry. Amazing! The winds didn’t quit though. The band members were having a tough time
keeping the instruments upright for a while.
One of the drummers ended up just sitting at his drums for about 20
minutes so they wouldn’t fall over again.
The opening act was Curtis Grimes. He was a contestant on the first season of The Voice. We had meet and greet passes with The Swon
Brothers so we didn’t get to see most of his set. He did a great job with the few songs we did
get to see him perform.
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| Curtis Grimes |
I mentioned band member Seth Costner earlier. I became a fan of his after seeing him with
The Swon Brothers the very first time back in January.
He released an EP several years back and when I heard it I couldn’t stop
listening to it. He has so much
talent. Over the last 6 months or so I
have listened to his music so much I pretty much have every word of every song
memorized. He has new music coming out
soon so I’ll be bombarding all social media about it when it happens. But for now, go listen to his EP From
the Ashes or check him out on YouTube.
Here’s a great one to start with and also my favorite song of his. Seth Costner - "The Easy Part"
Anyway, Amanda and I decided just for fun we would have some
t-shirts made to support Seth. We even
had one made for him. He came out to say
hi before the show and we were able to give him the shirt. He even wore it for the concert that
night.
When we went back to meet Zach and Colton Swon they noticed our shirts right away and loved them. We got to talk to them for a little bit, got a picture and then it was back out to watch the show.
The start was delayed because of the wind but they finally
decided to go for it. They had to keep
the roof of the stage lowered until about half way through the show but it
didn’t seem to matter. They started the
music and Amanda and I were on our feet dancing and singing for the next hour plus.
There’s nothing like being front and
center and the only ones up dancing. But
that seemed to be a theme for the weekend.
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| The Swon Brothers |
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| Zach Swon |
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| Colton Swon |
Not too long after that, Colton came over and put the mic in
front of Amanda to sing Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ in the Dark” with
him. Totally made her night!
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| Seth Costner |
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| Aaron Wolfcale |
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| Joe Henderson |
These boys really can put on a show! If you want a detailed review of what they can do, just read my previous blog entry here.
They are working on new music now and I videoed one of the new
songs “Just Another Girl.” You can see
it on YouTube here.
After the show was over we got a chance to talk to several
of the band members who are all just the nicest guys ever. Then we headed out with the convertible top
down to grab some late night food at IHOP.
No way were we sleeping for a while after the day we had!
As much as we wanted to sleep in, we needed to get back home
for our second concert of the weekend.
So, we said good-bye to Hays and drove back to Tulsa Saturday morning. After just a couple of hours at home we were
off to Hard Rock Casino for what was sure to be another amazing show.
We had meet and greet passes for this night too. So once the doors opened we headed over to
get in line for that. Remember the
person I sold the other set of front row tickets too?
Well, she happened to be handed meet and greet passes as she was coming in that night for the show. And it made it even better that it was her
son’s birthday. I even saw after the
show that he got one of the drum sticks.
How perfect!
We got our picture again with Zach and Colton and they were
even kind enough to sign our tickets for us.
You really can’t ask for nicer guys!
They remembered us from the night before and asked us where our Team
Costner shirts were. We opted for Swon
Brothers shirts this time. It is their
concert after all.
The Joint was sold out.
The opener was Corey Kent White who was on this last season of The Voice. He is from Bixby, OK. I grew up in Bixby so it was really neat to
see a hometown boy make it big. He
sounded great! He’s got a smokey voice. He played several
songs but his cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together” was fantastic! His voice is perfect for that song. I would buy a copy of that for sure. I also liked his song “Till I Find a
Keeper.” I hope he goes far. He’s got the talent for it.
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| Corey Kent White |
Now time to bring out The Swon Brothers! We noticed that everyone stayed seated during Corey’s set. This worried us a little bit. We tried recruiting those around us to stand with us but it was no use. The music started, we jumped to our feet and we were the only ones. I was quite a bit self-conscious about it at first. We could see our heads bobbing up and down on the big screen. But it didn’t take long for me to forget there were 2,500 other people in the room. It was all about having a great time and for me that means dancing! So I apologize to anyone that might have been behind me that night. But sitting just wasn’t an option.
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| Zach and Colton Swon |
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| Colton Swon |
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| Jeff Coleman |
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| Seth Costner |
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| Aaron Wolfcale |
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| Joe Henderson |
I have seen The Swon Brothers play 5 times now. This was the best I had ever heard them. I don’t know if it was the home state crowd and all the family and friends there to support them, the venue itself or a combination but they sounded amazing! By the time they got to the classic rock portion of the show several more people got brave and stood up. That added even more energy to the place. As soon as the show was over I said “I want to do it again!” I sure didn’t want it to end.
After the show we were able to chat with the band
again. Then we got in line to meet Corey
and the brothers one last time. I can’t
say how much these guys appreciate their fans.
They just get it. They stayed to
sign autographs and meet each and every person.
That means a lot to the fans and you can tell it means a lot to them
that people are there to see them play.
And that was the end to our amazing Double #Swoncert Weekend. We could not have asked for it to be any more
perfect. The next time The Swon Brothers
play your town make sure you go see them!
I can’t promise a perfect concert experience but I can promise a really,
really great show!
Do you love The Swon Brothers, Corey Kent White, Curtis Grimes or any of the other band members? Chat with me about them on Twitter @shanherrold
Do you love The Swon Brothers, Corey Kent White, Curtis Grimes or any of the other band members? Chat with me about them on Twitter @shanherrold
