We Could Have

It was a spur of the moment decision.  Those, in retrospect, are usually not the best laid plans of mice and men.  But, I did it anyway.  Nothing too new about that either.

A performer was coming to town.  Up until a few months ago, I had never even heard of this person, although I had heard a few of his songs.  That being in true Ruth form, my children would attest to the fact that their mother never knew the name of the singer or band, but did know most of the words to the particular song in question.  They would also attest to the fact that I usually waited until they were surrounded by their friends and then I belted out a few lines so they could be mortified.

The performer was Post Malone.  I had done a little research on him because back in July, I was asked to use one of his songs for a "Birthday Ditty"....something else I do.....that will surely be a riot at my wake.

Post Malone is a rap/hiphop and whatever else they call it, artist.  He was born Austin Richard Post and turned a whopping 24 years old this past July.  His father was a DJ and Austin Richard Post was exposed to many different types music.

In short, the kid is a self made success story, has sold over 60 million records and is a great example of never giving up on ones' dream.

My husband and I are both in our 60's.  This was the first major concert either of us had ever been to.  Seriously, I kid you not.  When I asked him if he wanted to go, I had to sing a couple of lines of one of the songs so he would know who we were going to see.  The tickets were purchased and we only had to wait a couple of days until concert time.  

The concert was held at the PNC arena, which seats nearly 20,000, here in Raleigh.  The PNC arena is home to the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League and the NC State Wolfpack men's basketball team.......and anyone who knows me well can bet their double hockey sticks I had to Google that information.  

The concert was to start at 8 p.m.  Even though we are only about 15 minutes from the arena and this being our first adventure of this sort, we thought it would be a good idea to get there early.  We were in our seats by 7:30.  As we looked out over the arena, we saw lots of empty seats.  Perhaps Post Malone did not draw a very big crowd, we thought. 

When the clock struck 8, the first opening act came on stage.  When the clock struck something after 9, the second opening act came on stage.  Both of these young performers were rappers and we knew none of their songs.   Now, for those of you who just rolled your eyes and mumbled something about rap music, understand this.....by the time the second opening act came on, the arena was nearly full.  It was full of young millennials and I would venture to guess that every nationality on the face of God's green earth was represented in the crowd.  Guess what?  Everyone of those young people knew every single word of every single song both rappers sang.  Even the young couple behind us, who spoke no English to each other, sang their hearts out with the rest of the crowd.

Shortly after 10, Post made his appearance amid a cloud of dry ice smoke, laser lights and lots applause due to a nearly packed house.  We sang along to the three songs we knew and listened to everyone else sing the rest.  I cannot end without saying Post Malone has an amazing voice.

We learned three things from our first concert experience.  1.  We probably won't do that again.  2.  Now we understand why the seats didn't fill up until later.  3.  If they had been handing out prizes for the oldest people there, we could have won.