LITTLERED MOMENTS . . .: SugarLand 2011-August 20th

This post is going to be LONG and detailed, sorry! I'm also going to act like a 12 year old backstreet boy fan in this post-but I don't care, get over it! ;)

I've waited and waited to blog this because I wanted to give it the time it needed! Sorry it's 2 months late! What a fun day.. .. .. where do I even begin!?!. . .

If you didn't hear about the Indiana State Fair tragedy, SugarLand was playing at a fair and a huge wind gust came and the stage collapsed, killing 7 people. It happened about a week before Utah. I was so nervous they would cancel Utah's concert. It was quite sad! Lots of SugarPit people injured, dead, all the equipment was ruined (they had a broadway-type stage set up). But the Utah show was to go on!

Our awesome shirts that we made.

The back of our shirts.

Okay, since I am a member of the SugarLand fan club (you betcha!) I had access to what they call "SugarPit" tickets. These tickets are like the sand bar, they are standing only, right up against the stage. You know, where all the mosh pits go down and such. With these tickets, you get let into the venue before any of the general public. But it is a bit more complicated, we didn't want to be in the very back of the SugarPit, we wanted to be front and center! This venue was also outside (usana amphitheater). So we (Caecee, Holly, and I) packed LOADS of food, snacks, cherry pepsi (of course), and water and we arrived at the venue at about noon if I remember correctly. The doors didn't open until 6:00pm but we wanted to be first in line so that we would be able to be the first into the SugarPit. I was nervous because I read that in other states some fans camped out overnight! But no worries, we were in fact the FIRST ones there! We layed out our blanket, hauled in our 2 coolers and very large treat bag and we just hung out!

First ones in line-WAHOO!

Holly and Caecee waiting in line!

Sounds boring but really, it was awesome! We met SO MANY awesome people most of which were from out of state and have met SugarLand multiple times. It was fun to hear all of their wild stories! It was very hot and it also down poured rain for about a half hour. But it was so worth it! We ate, drank (pepsi), and had such a great time!

All of the AWESOME fan club members that we made friends with!

Around 3:00pm the line behind us was starting to get big and I was just so proud that we were the first ones in line! About at that same time we heard SugarLand start doing sound check. So a few of the other fan club members and us hiked up this hill to watch SugarLand do sound check. We started yelling and screaming and Jennifer (lead singer) stared at us like we were nuts. Then the venue security came and told us that we couldn't watch the sound check and we had to leave. But . . . we didn't. We watched until Jennifer stopped singing and she started walking up and down the isles of seats. The sound check got me so pumped!

Standing up on top of a huge hill watching sound check. . . sorry you can't really see anything in the picture!

Around 4pm the fan club rep. from SugarLand came and hung out with us, gave us our pit wrist bands, and told us how all this would work. It was fun to talk to her, it was cool to meet and chat with someone who actually works for SugarLand. She was calling me freckles. . . I guess I was sunburned!?! Finally around 5:30pm she led us into the venue. It was a great feeling being the first ones leading a huge line into the venue! Then right as we were almost to the SugarPit (it's a long walk all the way to the front of the stage) some drunk, *bad word* dude came running up past everyone. The fan club rep. started yelling at him, and then I unleashed my beast. No one was about to get in front of me after camping out for 6 hours! NO ONE! And boy, did he march himself back to his spot in line after I told him!

Getting ready to go in the gates! WOOOOT!

We ended up exactly where we wanted, front and center!!! AHH! It was saaaaaaaweeet! Sara Bareilles was the opening act and I have to say, I wasn't looking forward to her but I was so WRONG! She was excellent. One of the best opening acts I have ever seen. She was hilarious, and her voice is amazing! It did help that we were 4 feet away from her. Then Kristian (the dude in SugarLand) came out and sang with her and that was just fantabular. Then SugarLand came out and I almost passed right out. All the screaming, the heat, and the fact that they were right in front of us-it all got to me! But I was fine! The only problem we had in the SugarPit were these wasted girls that kept thinking they could stand in front of us!?! But after a couple shoves, they went back to their spot.

Sara Bareilles

So close!

*Sorry for the profanity! Kristian singing with Sara.

Soooo goooood!

It was so fun being that close. We were right in front of Jennifer's mic, it was pretty cool! We had A TON of posters, and we got pointed and nodded at from SugarLand. My favorite part about being so close is you could hear them talk to each other when they took the microphone away, like in between songs. It was just totally different concert experience being that close. Having to zoom out on your camera to get a picture. . .So awesome! She can totally sing and hit CrAzY notes and he can play the guitar like none other! I even got a drip of sweat on my arm from Kristian. Kinda gross, but that's how close we were! At the end of the concert, they even gave Caecee a set list. SO GREAT!!! One of the best musical experiences I've ever had! I had a lot of sore muscles, raspy voice, and sunburns the day after but it was SO worth it!

I could go on and on. . . but I won't! Here are some pictures. . . they are worth 1,000 words! I have some good videos but since you can here me screaming and singing, I will not be posting those. Sorry to disappoint ;) The video at the end is just a slide show of much more pictures from the day!

Can't wait until next year!

Enjoy the pictures!

SugarLand coming on stage!

Jennifer Nettles.

Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush!

SOOOO CLOSE! I hate this picture of me but it does show how close! Except the stage was taller than me! It was hard to get my head and her in the picture because it was so tall!