Rock of Life.....

A friend of mine invited me to go to see Rick Springfield last night in Nashville at the Wildhorse Saloon. (Thanks Yvonne!!)


Of course I wanted to go ... Rick is such a sexy beast ... and besides ... how many chances do we get in life to relive our teenage years? I don't wear makeup anymore ... so no blue eyeshadow or eyeliner ... no mile high hair - mostly because I don't have that much hair anymore, and let's face it they just don't make hairspray like they used to.

We listened to the obligatory Greatest Hits CD in the car drive up. My trusty TomTom directed us right to the door of the Wildhorse ... but not to a parking garage. We drove a block up the street and pulled into a parking garage that had an automatic attendant box where you just pay and pick up your ticket for your dash. So we paid the $10 and pulled on in. Once around the corner though I realized that this was the mini garage. The spaces were tight and the ramps were only wide enough for barely one car ... they actually had a sign to tell you to blow your horn before using the ramp so other cars would know you were coming. I suggested that next time we find a larger garage ... and one with better lighting.

We walked down the 2 blocks to the front of the Wildhorse and asked these two throwbacks to 1984 (you know the type ... hair too tall and hips too wide .... obviously they were cheerleaders in their thinner life) if they were the end of the line. They said yes. We commented on how short the line was considering that the doors opened in 2 hours. They made a comment about how it's a shorter wait for the ones who are not in the "general admission" line ..... we politely said our goodbyes while they sneered down their noses at us and moved ourselves out of the "we paid way too much for our tickets" line and got into the general admission line.

The General Admission line was shorter anyway. As we stood in line we talked with a few other fans waiting to get in. Suddenly a Trace Adkins look alike - complete with long black jacket, cowboy hat, boots, black jeans, and bolo tie - came up pinching his fingers together saying "wristbands ... wristbands". That must be the international sign for "give me your tickets so I can band you like a penguin". He made sure that we all had our checkered nascar looking wristbands and stayed in line like nice middle aged women.

They opened the doors and we headed right to the second floor - you know ... where all us "general admission" flunkies were permitted to be - and got in my opinion the best seats in the house.


Do you see on the right side of this photo the post? You see the two smaller posts to the left of it that hold the railing in place? That's where we sat. Right between those two posts. We had an unobstructed view of the stage. It was perfect. We had the counter to sit at and seats to sit in. No worrying about will I be able to see over the person in front of me or will I get shoved once the show starts.

Since we had a long time (another 2 hour wait) until the opening act went on stage we decided to grab something to eat. They had a limited menu, but good choices. We both got the Tequila Marinated Chicken with fries - and we both highly recommend it to anyone who goes and sees it on the menu. The sandwich was huge and a great value at $8.99 including fries on the side. I stuck with my southern favorite sweet tea - mostly because I'm middle aged and didn't want to fall asleep after a beer and miss the show.

The opening act was The Squirts. They are actually the drummer, the bassist/backup vocals, and the guitarist from Rick's band. They were okay ... but nothing memorable really. Every song they did sounded pretty much the same for whatever reason. They only played a few songs anyway....

Then it started .... the heartbeat .... the purple lights on the stage ... the low hum .... he's coming out .... The place went nuts. It was a great show. Rick seems to enjoy climbing out on the tables at shows. He did this several times. As well as call someone on a cell phone grabbed from the crowd, have people randomly sing with him during "Don't Talk To Strangers", pulled a 12 year old up on stage since it was her birthday. He's a wonderful showman.

During the last couple of songs while he was straddling tables and chairs in the crowd beneath me, he looked as though he might come upstairs. I'm leaning over the railing to see if I can find him and he popped back up on stage. I thought that was it. Next thing I know there is a mad rush for the end of the counter where I am now standing. Rick is climbing up on top of the counter ... right on the other side of the pole that I am standing next to!! He starts singing Jessie's Girl. He passes me and we have a moment ... I touch his arm ... He is sweaty as hell!! My mom reaction was - eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!!! Then my 15 year old reaction was - Oh my gosh ... I just touched Rick Springfield!!! Dr. Noah Drake!!! Holy Hotness Batman!!!

That was pretty much the end of the concert. We make our way outside. Amazingly enough the line of kids waiting to get in to the club. It's freakin 11 and there is a line waiting to get in! I forgot about college life. Nights that start at 9pm. Ahh the pre-family life. We get to the parking garage (which now smells of freshly placed urine puddles) and hurry up to the car. We make our way out of the garage and into traffic. The traffic wasn't too bad considering that it was a saturday night afterall.

We find our way onto the interstate and decide that we want some Dunkin Donuts. We're both from up north and DD are like the holy grail of donuts. Unfortunately we have to go through the drive through...have you ever tried to remember all 30 types of donut they sell while going ordering to some disembodied voice in a box? They don't even list them all on the order menu. We each got a dozen to bribe - I mean thank our families for giving us the night away. I also sweetened the deal with a box of munchkins - BD will love me. I had to spring for the large coffee...I swear they make it with crack instead of sugar. We hit the interestate again and head south. We made it back to town around 1:30 am. Waaaaay past my oldtimer bedtime. I went to sleep so fast I didn't even bother to take off the wristband......ahhhh welcome back to 1986.