Baseball+concert=heaven

About three months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays released their post-game concert series. Since they made it to the World Series last year and have improved attendance this year, the performers are considerably more high-profile than last year's, when I think the biggest name was LL Cool J. This year, the concerts will showcase artists like Pat Benatar, Ludacris, Flo Rida, the B-52's, Beach Boys, Daughtry, Big and Rich, Smash Mouth, and ... 3 Doors Down. One of my absolute favorite bands.

When I heard the news (which was sooner than most, because, haha, I work in sports!), I immediately texted Tim and told him we were taking May 30 off. (Working in newspapers means we work every weekend.) When he found out why, he refused, but I pointed out that a) it was baseball, too, and b) I've seen Dokken, Queensryche and Sebastian Bach in concert for him. And 3 Doors Down is as close to his music as I get. He even likes their song "Citizen Soldier." So really, this wasn't too much to ask, right?

Proving what a good sport he is, Tim not only took the day off, he also purchased awesome tickets to the game as part of my birthday present.

We started the day with lunch at my favorite downtown St. Pete restaurant, Red Mesa Cantina. Then we walked to the ballpark and got there early to watch some of batting practice. We got to see an amazing baseball game between the Rays and the Twins, and thanks to one of my fantastic coworkers, we were able to get on-field passes for the concert. The Rays' rookie phenom David Price made his first regular season start at home (he pitched in a post-season game last year and had a start on the road the week before the game we attended). We saw some big plays and home runs, and the Rays continued their streak of being undefeated in Summer Concert Series games (bringing the concert series record to 9-0 at the time).

The concert was absolutely awesome. There was initially some trouble getting down on the field - they'd closed one of the exits we'd been advised to use, then we had to fight all the foot traffic to retrace our steps. But we made it to the field before they started playing, and after getting over the shock of a) being on the same grass that the Rays play on and b) being so close to the members of 3 Doors Down, I really enjoyed the concert. The band played for almost an hour and a half and played songs from all of their albums.

I've seen them in concert once before - they played at the Post-Gazette Pavilion with Staind and Breaking Benjamin and I got lawn seats for $10 because I worked at the P-G. That show was great, too, but it wasn't as intimate, it was rainy, I was a lot farther from the stage ...

I'm so glad we were able to take the day off and go to the game and concert. It was a long day, but I loved it. I think Tim even likes 3 Doors Down now, too! :-)