Date Night!

For his birthday this year, Daniel received Josh Ritter concert tickets from Jon and Victoria. He was really excited. Josh Ritter is one of his favorites and the fact that he is from Idaho makes it even better. Last year we saw him do a little acoustic set at the Record Exchange and Daniel got his CD signed but this would be the first full concert of his we have been to.
The concert was last night at the Knitting Factory downtown (formerly the Big Easy). I really like this venue because it is small so you don't feel as if you have to squint to make sure you are really seeing the person you came to see. However, because it is small it can get very crowded. There are only a few tables and a few stools around the bar so it is very rare that we go to a concert there and get to sit at a table. We usually have to stand the whole time and fight off the people who are taller than me, i.e. everyone, to make sure I can see. For this concert we decided to get there early so we could get a table and sit and have dinner while we were waiting for the concert to start. This didn't work out quite as well as we had hoped. When the venue changed names it also changed a few other things and we didn't think we were able to go upstairs to what used to be the Bourbon Street Saloon to eat first. So we ended up waiting outside in line and even though there were less than twenty people in front of us by the time we made it through the doors they had let everyone upstairs come down too. We BARELY got a table and it was in the very back. But we were able to eat and did see most of the show with out too many people standing in front of us.
The good part about having a table in the back was the people watching. This is a favorite habit of Daniel and I's. We love to play the "What do they do for a living?" game, where we try to guess what someone does just by looking at them. Of course we also giggle about what someone is wearing or try to guess what people are talking about if we can't hear the conversation. We're horrible, I know! That is another thing I love about the small, downtown venue we were at. There is always a very eclectic group of people there. While we were waiting in line we saw young people with facial piercings and sleeve tattoos. We also saw an older man (65+) with an Obama '08 t-shirt picking up tickets. Inside there were women wearing backpacks and Teva sandals and others in lacy tank tops and heels. We especially loved the older couple who sat near us for most of the night. Toward the end of the concert, and after several drinks, they both stood up and started dancing. Neither could keep the beat or the rhythm but this turned into a win-win situation. They were obviously having a good time and Daniel and I enjoyed watching them.
Anyway, Daniel and I had a great date night and for anyone who hasn't ever heard of him or heard his music you should definitely look up Josh Ritter. He was raised in Moscow, Idaho and had a lot of great music.