2 days in Atlanta = BEST VACATION EVER?
YES!
I spent the past couple of days in Atlanta, and I had the absolute best time! Read on!
On Valentine's Day this year, my husband surprised me with 2 tickets to the June 24 Yankees/Braves game. A few weeks later, I found out that Eddie Vedder was embarking on a solo tour - with a stop in Atlanta on June 23. It could not have worked out more perfectly...but it ended up being even better than I could have imagined!
On Tuesday, we headed to Atlanta, checked into our hotel, and headed straight for Cobb Energy Center to enjoy our first Eddie Vedder solo tour. If you don't know, Eddie Vedder is the lead singer of Pearl Jam - and I've been a fan for 17 years now. My husband and I have been to six PJ concerts - and we've always gotten our tickets through the fan club, which gets you the best seats in the house. We've been front row - or very near front row just about every time. But, unfortunately, Pearl Jam hasn't toured the southeast in a few years, so we let our fan club membership lapse. I got these tickets through ticketmaster. I did it AS SOON as tickets went on sale, however, our seats were BACK ROW center. No kidding, the wall was right behind us. No complaints, though - we were happy to be there. We sat for awhile, completely alone in the back row, but finally, another guy joined us. "Could your seats be any worse?" he cracked. We laughed, assuming he was another nosebleed section resident. But then, he flashed a crew pass and pulled out two tickets from his pocket. "I work for Ed and he would like to upgrade your tickets...to the FRONT ROW." 
Of course, I was skeptical, but my husband readily agreed and swapped our tickets for the upgraded ones. So, down we went, from back row center to front row center. And we weren't the only ones! Ed had reserved most of the front row for people like us! We sat among three other couples who were enjoying the mysterious ticket upgrade. Meanwhile, our old tickets went to people outside who were unable to get tickets to the show. We went from bad seats to best seats in the house - and they went from no seats to enjoying a great show!
And it WAS a great show! I wish I could've taken pictures or video, alas cameras of any kind were forbidden by the venue. (Fingers crossed for a dvd release in the near future!) Ed did all the Into the Wild songs, some awesome covers, and a few Pearl Jam gems like Lukin, Sometimes, I Am Mine, Small Town, Soon Forget, Dead Man Walking, Porch to name a few - and the most amazing performance of Arc using this wicked looping technique (used brilliantly by opening act Liam Finn as well in his set)...Ed's voice was unbelievable throughout and the crowd interaction was great. Just a really incredible vibe. Indescribable, in fact. All I can say is...you had to be there!Front row upgrade, excellent show, and a handshake from Ed himself...
that's a pretty GOOD night!
Complimentary video (not from "my concert", but this is one of the songs he did perform Tuesday night):
NOW, onto day 2...
(aka my FAVORITE part!)
For those of you reading this who don't know, I am a big baseball fan. In fact, it's really the only sport I like. I grew up in Baltimore as an Oriole's fan. When I was 12, I became obsessed - collecting baseball cards, watching every game, spending an hour pouring over stats in the sports section, and watching Sports Center and Baseball tonight over and over all morning long. (This was also the start of my love of baseball PLAYERS. Shout out to Brady Anderson, my first 
baseball love.)
baseball love.)Now, 19 years later, I have evolved. I am a PROUD New York Yankees fan. And so, of course, I was THRILLED when my husband got us tickets to the June 24 Yankees/Braves game! (Thank God for interleague play! Did I just say that? Well, if it brings me the Yankees, then yes, interleague play rules.)
So, my husband and I headed to Turner Field - he in a Braves cap, me in a Yankees cap - and took our seats - right behind the Yankees dugout (yay!). If you watched the game on tv, you probably saw us. I was the one between the tall idiot in the Braves cap (aka my husband) and a guy I will refer to as Chatty McFatty. This guy talked the ENTIRE game (not to me, thank goodness) and repeatedly shouted obnoxious things to the players. Boy, I'd love to go heckle him at his job...
Chatty McFatty aside, I had the greatest time cheering for the Yankees along with all the other Yankee fans in my section - and there were tons!There were SOOOO many great things about the game...
Joe Girardi got thrown out (I LOVE when that happens - it got the Yankees fired up!) ...
Derek Jeter stole a base (love base stealing, LOVE Derek Jeter!) ...
I got to see Mariano Rivera pitch (woo!) ...
...and the Yankees won!
Call to the Braves bullpen: You suck!
*Price of a coke and water at Turner Field: $8.50
*Price of primo seats to the Yankees/Braves game: Who cares, 'cause it's on my husband's credit card
*Making eye contact with my favorite baseball player: sigh...priceless...
3 comments:
Great! Glad you had a good time! You didn't tell me you got to shake Eddie's hand! Or make eye contact with Derek. I did see you on tv!!!!!!!
OH MY GOSH!!! Gave me chills to think of the thrills! Your two (well three counting Allen) favorite men!!!! WOW! You deserved a great time and YOU GOT IT! Cade still loved Derek because of you, much to his father's chagrin. And he still sings that SNL song...you know the one.
Oh, and Chatty McFatty made mo so laugh out loud- I can imagine the Emmalee looks he incurred. Probably has not job to heckle.
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