SHORT BUT SWEET
We are already about to head out of Colorado – hopefully to come back someday, maybe for a longer trip with the kids! We had a great time having lunch in Fort Collins with my friend from elementary school (and after that too, of course) though we could have talked for soooo much longer so . . . yes, another reason to come back here!
I am only mad at myself that we forgot to take a pic – honestly too distracted with the catching up!
AND THEN THERE WAS RED ROCKS!!!
Just wow. Last night was memorable! Both because it was awesome and because there were some slightly dicey moments (though in retrospect, everything was fine!).
We stayed a hotel ~15 minutes from Red Rocks (Courtyard Marriott), which was great and easy. The front desk manager remarked to us that there was ‘plenty of free parking’ so we figured that meant we didn’t have to rush.
SOOOOO we rolled up to the venue at ~7:15 (show started at 7 but with two openers, and we had seats) and learned that the ‘free parking’ at Red Rocks sometimes means parking on the side of a mountain road and a hike up a mountain road! We couldn’t really gauge how far away we were from the venue and I remarked to Josh that I would probably NEVER find my car again if alone, but — spoiler alert — it was fine. It just felt like a little adventure, compounded by misty rain and low 50s temperatures.
Luckily we wore a million layers and ponchos and totally overdressed because we are true Floridians now and to us that is (%&#(#($ cold. And it worked out! My feet/hands still froze but otherwise I was fine and the concert was SO GOOD. Seriously, not a dull moment — Brandi is an excellent performer and while we missed the first opener (Allison Russell), her second opener Lucius was fantastic and they both ended up doing multiple songs with her!
She did a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” which was amazing and even threw in a Joni Mitchell cover (“Woodstock”) at the end, plus obviously a ton of her own songs, old and new. I would have loved some more Highwomen content but I’m guessing she saves those songs for when she is with the other members of that group.
And in the end we half-jogged through the rain on the mountain roads and found our car (it was probably less than a mile, it just felt longer on the way there!) and made it back to our hotel around midnight. Victory! (Also very glad I managed to nap prior to the concert because 12a here = 2a eastern and my god I have not been voluntarily up that late in at least a decade).
ANYWAY, this is a reminder to myself to keep doing things like this once in a while because man, it is FUN and makes me feel so alive (and incidentally kind of . . . younger, in a way?).
100% worth the planning, the cost, and the logistics. Grateful that we were able to make this trip!
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Awesome! I saw Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby this summer here in Indy and have tix to Amanda Shires here in October. I told my husband that I needed a Brandi concert to at least the Highwomen separately! So we are headed out of town to catch her tour this fall 🤩🤩🤩
I love Brandi!! Her shows are always amazing, and it seems like she treats her openers really well. You might like her memoir, Broken Horses—I think it came out last year. There are some juicy (in a good way) Joni Mitchell and Elton John stories.
Red Rocks is definitely on my bucket list for concert venues. I would love to see The Highwomen at some point, too.
Even though I am a huge Brandi fan, I have never checked out The Highwomen! I will have to do that some time. I am glad you guys had such a good experience despite not having great weather. She is an amazing performer! I figured out that I have seen her in concert 6 times since 2009! She is sooo good live. She also did some virtual concerts during the pandemic and I watched most of them. They would do one album at a time and play the whole thing from start to finish and say who wrote the song/what inspired it/etc. it was so cool!!
How fun!!! It’s always satisfying when the work and various investments of time, logistics and money required adventures like this pay off. It at sounds phenomenal (well, except the 2 am time zone imbalance!)
I own a coffee shop in Fort Collins – let me know next time you come and I will treat you to coffee!
Oh wow! That is so cool, we thought it was such a cute town!!
Well that’s cool! I live in Fort Collins too. 🙂 Now I am curious which coffee shop you own!
This sounds awesome. So fun and, yes, a reminder that life is out there even in the evenings. I personally like to be in bed by 9pm and don’t do many evening commitments, but seeing Ed Sheeran this summer was a real reminder to me that out in the world, fun late nights are still going on… and joining in with one occasionally also made me feel younger!
We flew up from Phoenix and went to the show on Saturday night (with Allison Russell and the Indigo Girls). Also lots of walking and dicey weather, but SO worth it. Glad you had a great time too!
Yay!!!! Ahh jealous of the indigo girls though Lucius was great. Now I have Gallileo in my head …
If you feel so inclined, I sent you a fun video on Instagram from the show.