Last night was the first concert on the country mega ticket… Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley on the Locked and Reloaded Tour. We headed out to the Sleeptrain Amphitheater for the first show that I’ve been to at that venue since high school. We got there a few hours early and enjoyed some tailgating time. The people watching was amazing and we got to see a ton of really impressive trucks.

I absolutely love concerts on the lawn… don’t get me wrong, some shows are not set up for that, but this one was perfect. We had a blast hanging out and really enjoyed the atmosphere and the show. Dan (Brigitte’s husband) took a moment between artists to educate me on where real cowboys keep their money…

The show itself was really good… the opening act was Joanna Smith, who I honestly hadn’t heard of before this. She was pretty good and sang for about twenty minutes. She was followed by Randy Houser, who I absolutely love. I was a little bummed… he didn’t do “Anything Goes”, which is my favorite song of his.

After that, Dierks Bentley came out. He was super high energy and although I was a little skeptical of his live singing ability before this (I wasn’t all that impressed with both his and Miranda’s performance on the ACMs), they both kicked butt live. He did a really good job of interacting with the audience and I think my favorite song he sang had to be “5-1-5-0”.

Finally, it was time for Miranda Lambert. She was absolutely amazing – like much of her music, her show is centered around strong women who are normal people (she even said at one part “I’m a normal girl – I eat chicken fried steak, I drink beer, and I shop at Walmart”). Brigitte and I even commented that she seems like someone we would hang out with – just a normal girl who loves what she does. She had an amazing amount of energy and sang every one of her big hits, along with some newer songs from her latest album. About halfway through her set she was joined on stage by the Pistol Annies, her country girl band. They were so good… they have these really tight harmonies and sing some great songs!

It seemed like Miranda was finally done and was getting ready for her encore. The stage went dark and we heard “red red red red red red red red redneck”. Yup, out came none other than Blake Shelton himself, accompanied by the Pistol Annies to sing “Boys ‘Round Here”, which is his newest song on the radio that is constantly stuck in my head. It was such a great finale!

The weather was absolutely beautiful and perfect to kick off this concert series… I can’t wait for the next one!