Aging

I am officially old. If not old, without a doubt middle aged....and you know, it's really not all that bad. Aging has a few drawbacks, I will admit...the three or four day hangovers, the random hairs that sprout from funny places (the mole on your cheek, your chin, nipple, you know the ones I am talking about) the funny smells (again you know the ones I speak of).
I am reminded of my age as I sit recovering from the Taylor Swift concert I took my almost nine year old to last night. It's funny though, as normally, when I am recovering from a concert, I am trying to suffer through the shitty, kegged beer headache and the hoarse-from-screaming sore throat. Today, I am simply recovering from the headache caused by the screaming 12 year old girls and the confusion I have in still trying to decipher a single word that Ed Sheeran spoke.
 Let me explain. (The 12 year old girl thing should be obvious, the Ed Sheeran thing...he was Taylor's opening act. He is a scruffy bearded, tattooed Brittish ginger that kind of resembles Prince Harry, sort of...(it was dark and we were far away).) The thing that confuses me is that I think the Brits' ability to sing perfectly intoned, understandable English, yet NOT be able to SPEAK a lick of anything that can be deciphered is the 8th wonder of the world....I did get a chuckle out of the two teen girls seated behind me and their reaction to Mr. Sheeran. I now know how us middle aged housewives sound/act when we attend a Bon Jovi concert...we are fucking pathetic. I swear they hyperventilated when he took the stage. They swore they (and these are their words) "smelled British" and here's the best part...at one point one of them screamed, "He just smiled at me!!!!" Our seats were in the upper bowl of section 217...Jaci even asked if we would need tissues since dad said the tickets were nose bleed seats. Sweetheart, he isn't even aware our section exists...he smiled at the gal 2 feet in front of him, not at you.
I was not alone last night, as the majority of the 13,800 people in attendance were parents there with their 6-12 year olds, so I wasn't the only one showing their age. I do have to admit, I was mildly entertained. I did not have high expectations going into the show. My younger brother had seen Miss Swift a few years ago and said the experience was akin to listening to an alley cat have its tail stepped on for two hours straight.
Mr. Sheeran, while not being able to speak, can sing and did so with only his guitar and some piece of equipment that recorded his guitar licks and singing and then looped it to make it sound like he had background singers and a band...it was pretty cool. Brett Elderdge, a country newcomer who Jace swore was Luke Bryan, was pretty good too.
As for Miss RED herself, I can see why she is nominated for Entertainer of the Year as she does put on a show. There were dancers and light shows, lots of big screen graphics, drummers dropped from the ceiling, fireworks, smoke, she flew above the crowd in a cage sort of thing. It was a show. Her music was too loud and if I was not forced to listen to her RED cd on my drive to the big O, I would have been lost, as 13 of her 17 songs were off of that album. I did appreciate that she moved to a smaller stage at the back of the auditorium and did an acoustic set. She did sound pretty much like she does on her albums, which is why she has had success in country music land. In country music land, if you can't sing live, you don't last long.
The bottom line was my almost nine year old was awed. She went from screaming/crying, appearing as though she was about to pee her pants to silent reverence...watching her was worth it...even if it was the first concert I can remember in which I didn't stand once, or drink a single glass of shitty kegged beer. (Well, if you don't count the two concerts I attended while pregnant and the Alabama and Oak Ridge Boys concerts my parents took me to when I was five and six at the Iowa State Fair.)