O.A.R. at the Raleigh Amphitheater

Recently my husband and I got to experience a concert at one of the area's neatest venues, the Raleigh Amphitheater. Right in downtown, this venue had great parking, is close to a ton of restaurants and bars, and is overlooked by this pretty tree art installation that reflects the sky and moves with the wind.

We were there to see O.A.R., one of my favorite bands, and we got there early to be in the front row. I'd read on Yelp reviews that the seated sections don't have a very steep slope, so it's hard to see the stage when seated, so we opted for the general admission pit tickets. If we were going to be standing the whole time to see, might as well be closer to the stage!

Our Meet and Greet With Sara Bareilles!

This past weekend was a blast!

On Sunday we attended a free concert in Golden Gate Park that was put on by a local radio station I listen to. Along with 14,000 other people, we enjoyed about 5 hours of music from Ryan Star, Five for Fighting, Natasha Bedingfield, Plain White T’s, and Sara Bareilles.

But the best part was that we weren’t “slumming it” with the rest of the crowd, sitting on blankets on the grass. Oh no! We were pimpin’ it with the VIPs in our own sectioned off area, with chairs, tables, umbrellas, free BBQ lunch, private bar area, AND we got to meet Sara Bareilles in person!

This VIP access was all due to the fact that I won the tickets from the radio station’s morning show, that I listen to everyday.

So, wanna see some pics?

Our VIP area, and BBQ lunch.

We had to wear special badges so we could come and go from our area. Gotta keep the riff-raff out, ya know!

The hosts of the morning show were in the VIP area, doing live broadcasts. As a dedicated listener, it was really cool to get to see them doing their thing.

Natasha Bedingfield, who was really, really good live! For some reason I had expected her to not be very good live (like Katy Perry on SNL, did anyone see that? Yikes!), but instead I was quite impressed.

Plain White T's went on next, and the lawn really started to get crowded.

While the Plain White T's were performing, we were given our cue to line up to meet Sara Bareilles. But first, I've gotta share some pics of the crazies. Seems like there are always some odd ones in San Francisco.

First up, this guy. Shirtless, wearing black dress slacks, and a backpack. He was quite entertaining during Natasha's performance, belting out all the words to her songs, and dancing. Doesn't look like your typical girlie pop music fan....

....but then, neither does this next guy. This guy was just a total mess. Belligerent, drinking beers he snuck in, could barely stand, but still dancing and dripping beer down his hairy chest. Klassy!

Anyway, back to Sara!

We had to wait in line for about 10 or 15 minutes, while she greeted other VIPs.

Then it was our turn! She is so sweet and pretty in real life!

(Photo from the radio station's website)

We didn't get to spend long with her, but long enough for me to gush that she is one of my favorite artists, a handshake and a hug (afterward my husband was all, "I'll never wash my hand again!" Dork.), and got an autographed poster.

While the meet and greet was going on, they brought out even more free food, this time it was hamburgers, hotdogs, pies, brownies and cookies.

Then we just had to hang out and wait a few more minutes for the performance we'd really come for.

And I must say, the performance didn't disappoint! This was the second time we'd seen Sara Bareilles in concert, and she was amazing again.

I really need to get a Flip video camera, my camera does pretty good sound, but doesn't take very good quality videos.

A couple more pictures of the performance.

And another video, with less people getting in the way.

And that was it! The concert got done around 5pm, and an hour later we were home, and spent the rest of the evening vegging on the couch, and catching up on shows we'd DVR'd the week before. What a great weekend!