The Ani DiFranco concert

A buddy of mine from work had a couple extra tickets to the Ani DiFranco concert on Saturday night.

"Who?"

Exactly. I'd never heard of her either. A quick trip to iTunes revealed some folksy, mellow acoustic music. Sure, it was a bit pro-woman, but the chance to hang out with my wife at a free outdoor concert was too good to pass up. So we decided to go.

We arrived on-time, picked up our tickets and made our way to the back of a very long line to receive wrist bands (why you need a wrist band when you have a ticket is beyond me). It's not often that I feel overdressed but the fact that I had on all standard articles of clothing (shirt, shorts, shoes) made me feel really out of place. That, and I'd bathed within 72 hours of the concert. Based on some snap judgments of other attendees, I would say the stereotypical Ani DiFranco fan is...how do I put this tactfully?... liberal, earthy, bra-less women who dig chicks.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

While waiting in line we became friends with a guy named Christian who was selling homemade jewelry to raise money to fix his '72 VW van. Christian was a proper earthy, hippie-type complete with a beard, matted dreadlocks, and nothing on but overalls. He seemed like the perfect candidate for my new project and he agreed.

When we finally found a spot at the very back of the venue we came upon a girl who had her back to us, laying on the ground puking. We spread out our blanket a few feet away and she slowly moved away, using a railing for support and continuing to vomit every few feet. We spent the rest of the evening screaming, "PUKE!" at people who wandered over to the barf-soaked open area looking for a place to enjoy the concert. Everyone was very grateful that we warned them and, hey, who doesn't like to be appreciated?

The acoustics weren't great so we couldn't hear too well. My wife and I passed the time enjoying the beautiful backdrop of the mountains and people watching. Then I suggested brainstorm Things You Won't See at an Ani DiFranco Concert. Here's what we came up with:

1. Confetti cannons
2. An opening prayer
3. A Saturday's Warrior montage
4. Tap dancing
5. Someone boasting about their Girl Scout Cookie sales record
6. Ventriloquism
7. The Pledge of Allegiance
8. Army recruitment officers
9. Sequins

Since we're old, boring, married people we ended up leaving around 9:30. Overall, despite all the "negatives" we had an enjoyable time.

Image courtesy of here.