Rapids Jam Part 1

One word to describe the first two nights of Rapids Jam.... Anawesomefuntimewithcountrysingerswhowerethebestever.

I had an awesome time at Rapids Jam. The singers were great, although I didn't like a song by Lee Brice called "Beer!" or a couple of Willie Nelson's songs about drugs. Besides that, the music was entertaining, (all pure country and NO bluegrass) the food was good, (Papa John's and Helen's Hamburgers) and the security tight (not good for me when I brought a video camera).

Although I didn't enjoy most of the songs Thurs. night (expect for a few songs from Jamie Johnson), I was very attentive Sat. night listening to artists such as James Wesley, a true country singer, and Craig Morgan. I also enjoyed fan favorite, Darius Rucker and the all-exciting band Sugarland. Tonight the performers will be Clay Walker, Bucky Covington and Lady Antebellum.

I will be enjoying them a lot.

Some of the singers Thurs. were southern rock, a kind of music I DO NOT like.

So now, without further ado, I will tell you the story of the first two night of Rapids Jam!

At 2:45, we were about to go to the festival, when, above all odds, it started to rain. After a few few minutes of pouring water, it stopped raining.

Yippee!

We took the jeep and drove to the festival.

The plan for the night was that Mom would drop us off and we would walk to the outdoor stadium, get settled and set up our chairs and wait for Lee Brice to come on. Mom would find a parking spot and then join us at the concert.

That was when all the balloons broke lose.

First, as we came into sight of a cross guard, he told us to go through the camper line.

"I'm just going to drop them off and and go park", Mom said as she started to pull over.

"You have to go through there."

"I'm going to go through the front gate."

"Suit yourself." We pulled around and saw a police man, who told us to go all around to the other side of the park. When that was done, another man, a staff official, told us to go back around. It was a game of connect the dots. One man told us to one way, another telling us to go back. It took us a long time to connect the picture.

Finally we were dropped off where the stage was 500 yards away. We also had to stop and get scanned by a metal detector. That was the bad part. Rebecca and I got through easy; it was Dad who was stopped.

"No SLR. Sorry sir, but we can't allow you to have that kind of camera."

As Dad went back to the car, we sat down in our chairs, by the security guards and waited for Dad to come back.

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to a half hour. As Dad came back, with Mom, we went inside.

The concert stage was as big as the moon. The countless stands and booths numbered to thousands. The many, many rows of chairs made people everywhere know the magnitude of this event. I was blown away.

We took a spot where we had direct seeing access to the jumbo screen. We also sat by four ladies, three of them 17 and younger, one of them being the mom.

My mom got to know the lady, known as Melissa. She is a teacher who could be reading this blog right now, since my mom gave her the link. She was a very nice lady to talk to.

As Lee Brice came on, everyone moved their eyes to the stage. He was a very interesting artist, but I don't like the kind of music he sings. Next was Randy Houser, whom was a pretty good singer with an interesting swing. Then a man named Jamey Johnson came on. He was really cool. I had heard his songs on the radio but never knew who it was. He sang a song called "In Color" and "Play in the Park" .

Finally, a 78 year old man came on the stage. Can you guess who?

Yes, it was the one, the only, Willie Nelson!

He sang songs like there was no tomorrow. My favorites were: "Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys" and "On the Road Again" and no one could forget "Crazy". Willie was pretty good.

Out of all the things that happened that night, the highlight and the funniest thing, would have to be... a shirtless man who was dancing around. He was a beach boy looking blond. He wasn't exactly... I don't know how to say this nicely... sober. Anyway, he was dancing and twirling his feet around and doing cartwheels. He looked like a crazy monkey with a little too much coffee.

All in all, I had a great time. There was no bluegrass or old timey country. It was true country which I like. Since I don't have room to fit the whole second night in here, I'll need to write a new post.

See you then,

Andrew