This is a rare year for me, an actual Valentine this year. My main squeeze bought some killer tickets to see John Mayer and took me along. Because she’s part of the John Mayer fan club (The Local 83) we went down early so that she could see the sound check, a special invite only kinda thing. So we planned to leave early to enjoy the festivities when I was able to wrangle an interview with Soulive. They were the opener for the evening and their blend of funk, jazz and progressive hip hop is phenomenal. (See the music write up on the interview at THE DROP) It meant our leave time had to be bumped up just a little bit.

Driving down was great, laughter and music filled the air with tunes from Tahiti 80, Damien Rice and Rosie Thomas. We arrive at the venue and immediately conduct the interview (which was a great time) but the venue must have just had the circus there the night before because the place smelled like a cross between donkey butt and a pig farm on a hot summer day (like you could taste it).

After sound check and the interview we joined several others for the “pre-concert party” put on by K92. In theory this was going to be a great time. What’s not to like about food, drinks and free Beer Koozies! WOW! Rapture! The literal translation of what that really meant was… civic center concessions, cash bar and free beer koozies! While at the “party” they kicked off the entertainment with Simon Says and then musical chairs.. at first they were going to be “adult” (loser has to do a lap dance) Since I left my hot pants and body glitter in the car I didn’t partake but that couldn’t stop Jill. She was out grabbing a chair and that left me on purse duty.. PURSE DUTY!!! What did I get myself into?

Thankfully the lap dance portion of our program was postponed due to the fact that none of the contestants seemed to be too keen on the idea. Highlights included a woman diving for the back side of a chair and her resulting trip to the medical center (Don’t be a hero.. it’s musical chairs!) And then it came down to Jill and another woman… and Jill won. SHE WON!! Backstage passes to a meet and greet with John Mayer. It was crazy… You know what George McFly says about accomplishing anything when you put your mind to it.. well, he’s right.

The worse thing of the evening was to come up in short order. Earlier in the day I met an older couple that had been married for 50 years while I was hanging around during sound check. I struck up a conversation thinking that there had to be a great story as to why this 70′s-ish couple is at a John Mayer show. It turns out that the older woman claimed to be John Mayers biggest fan and that they had driven to several shows within a 300 mile radius. My favorite quote was, “We’ve been married for 50 years but she gave her heart to John Mayer.”

While the party is still happening they On air personalities had the idea that someone could meet John Mayer if they shaved their head. Several people volunteered. After a bit of realization most backed off except for one woman – the older woman I met earlier in the day. I was shocked. They aren’t really going to shave somebody’s grandmas head? Would they? Surely it’s a nice prank and get the clippers but when push comes to shove… her resolve is all we need to know. Unfortunately clear thinking didn’t prevail and they shaved this womans head. 300 people looked at the train wreck of follicle proportions and couldn’t turn away. I too was entranced by what I was seeing; caught somewhere between this is so cool that she would do that and horror at mid-30′s dudes laughing and carrying on while putting her scalp under the knife.

The atmosphere was more awkward than the last time I tried to make a smooth move on a woman after a hot date. Most people had their hands to their mouths with their eyes drinking in the horror of the many hair creations that were made on this womans cranium. She did it, a real trooper but I’m sure before she went to sleep there were some tears.

The concert was really a great spectacle. The seats were incredible and it was great to see so many people having a great time. Here’s some pics to better convey the day. Let me know what you think