Last summer, the stars aligned to have my family in Denver at the same time as The Avett Brothers’ annual 3 night residence at Red Rocks Amphitheater was happening. Ok fine, it wasn’t an accident at all.
The original Denver dates of our cross country road trip overlapped with, gulp, Nickleback at Red Rocks. I’ve long dreamed of seeing a show at Red Rocks and I couldn’t handle the idea that Nickleback, of all bands!, would be my one and only option. Thankfully, I saw that The Avett Brothers run started a few days later so we restructured our entire 3-week journey so we could see one of our all-time faves in one of, if not the absolute, best venues in America.
Best. Decision. Ever.
Not only we were even treated to incredible music from Seth, Scott, Bob and company but also feel in love with the opener, Lake Street Dive. Then we got to watch a remarkable lightning storm on a crisp summer evening up high outside of Denver, Colorado.
It was hard to imagine then that we’d ever match that live concert experience but back then we never though we’d be on a cruise ship in Mexico watching a country music superstar perform in a small theater.
Last week, my family had the privilege of sailing on the Carnival Splendor as press invitees to experience the Carnival Live concert series with country music superstar Sam Hunt while docked in Cozumel.
While we weren’t actually familiar with Hunt’s music beforehand, we took a quick liking to him, his approach to writing and making music, and the way he performs with passion and a clear love of what he’s doing. Plus, seeing him in such an intimate setting, while on vacation, in a great port of Cozumel made the experience so much cooler for us.
This got us thinking about which bands you’d love to see in amazing and/or amazingly unusual places. Here’s some of the responses from the Life of Dad Facebook community:
Daniel Horscroft: Oasis and the Stone Roses Co headlining on Montego bay beach in Jamaica. [that sounds INCREDIBLE!]
Brian Kutys: 36 Crazyfists at a hometown show in anchorage Alaska. [I always wished I could see the band that changed my life as a teen, The Afghan Whigs, play a hometown gig at Bogart’s in Cincinnati.]
Rick McCord: Mumford and Sons in Scotland. [in a castle or something? That would be wild]
William Nielsen: Daft Punk would be playing at my house! [the comforts of home are hard to argue with!]
The Carnival Live concert series is putting more big time bands, and comedians too, on board their ships, including Life of Dad favorite Jim Gaffigan, Jay Leno, Chris Tucker, Journey, Tim McGraw and Little Big Town.
