live music

215, a photo by kristin~mainemomma on Flickr.

saturday we saw one of our favorite bands play live in one of our city's parks with a fantastic view overlooking the water.
Mumford & Sons threw one great party with their Gentlemen of the Road tour.
We bought the tickets on a bit of an "OMG Mumford!!!!" impulse.... i imagined packing a big cooler full of drinks, fruit, sandwiches, snacks... we'd spread out on a blanket in the grass... and then my husband read the fine print : no food or drinks to be brought into the venue.  :-(
the gates were to open at noon and the music to last til 9PM, with 2 little ones a picnic basket was so part of my plan. (sigh) for the past week i obsessed and worried about how we would make this work for us. what time should we go? should we eat there? how much will that cost? how long will the kids last? will they have fun? they LOVE mumford, we played the heck out of their first album, but all of it was a huge unknown and the planner in me was having a hard time embracing all the unknowns... eventually we decided we would eat good food all day at home and drink lots of fluids.. we cooked an early dinner and filled up and headed out, blanket, sunscreen and empty water bottles in tow. we had to park and walk in since roads were shut down to the park. we walked right through the gates, the kids got to get their faces painted. kellen chose the mumford mustache and casey got a pink cupcake with sprinkles painted on her cheek. they had an arts table set up for the kids to string beads on gimp. (fun!) then we began snaking our way through the masses of people who already claimed their patch of green grass. we eventually found a good spot for us and sat. the food lines were insane! (SO happy we ate at home) though the kids really wanted a burger and cupcake, i was craving a big lemonade, but it just wasn't going to happen. the kids sat and got into some of the 6 opening acts. Dropkick Murphys got Casey up and Irish step dancing, and then as the sun began to set, the moment we were all there for, Mumford took the stage and did not disappoint. it was awesome. the kids were great. they danced and sang. the finale all bands joined on stage for an amazing rendition of "The Weight".  then to top it all off, fireworks lit up the night sky. we walked back down the hill with all the other concert goers, a huge happy parade right down the middle of congress street!
yeah, it was pretty much perfect.

 i am so glad we went for it. this was a really good lesson for that planner in me who likes to control a little too much. we went with the flow, we made do and we had an EPIC summer adventure.

thank you Mumford & Sons for choosing our little corner of the world. we are ever grateful you did.