I'm a Believer

I never told you about Neil. Here's the full scoop:

We packed up the babies and grabbed the old ladies the car and headed off to Chicago around 2pm. We were a little nervous about parking at the United Center but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that arriving 4 hours early means you are the first one in the parking lot!

We did NOT park at the back of the lot and run to the United Center, ala the Griswolds, but parked in the very first parking spot at the front of the lot. WE'RE #1!!

The security guard told us as we entered that this "wouldn't be a big concert." I practically leaped from the passenger side to yell at the man that this was the biggest concert of my life and "We've got COSTUMES!!" (That was an exaggeration. George Clooney did not have a costume.)

Our honor of being the first in the parking lot lasted about 3 minutes, before our new friends/clingers parked right next to us. She outdid my customized Neil t-shirt with one of her own and rolled her eyes at me when I said it was my 1st Neil concert. When you've been to five I guess you get the privilege of carrying a chip on your shoulder.

We sweated our way down the block to the Billy Goat Tavern for a Cheezbugga Cheezbugga. The crew there knew their crowd and plugged the jukebox with song after song of Neil goodness. I serenaded George and did my best chair dancing since high school.

We walked back to the parking lot and got into the car so I could change into my "costume." As we people watched, my hopes of not being the youngest people there began to fade. I realized there was a good reason there was no opening act and the concert was slated to end at 10:30pm. I also realized I wouldn't have to worry about standing throughout the whole concert.

After we were inside it was a mad dash to the souvenir stands. I hemmed and hawed over t-shirts and sweatshirts and programs and stuffed frogs, ultimately deciding that the best souvenir would be my pictures. Boy, was I wrong.

We made our way to the seats on the floor in row 22 and had people take our picture.

Then we read the Tweets about the concert that were being shown on the jumbo screens. Lots of "Shout out to my mom at the Neil Diamond concert!" and "Neil, play Forever in Blue Jeans for my grandma!" Thank God we finally found some hipsters to make us feel better.

The concert started with Neil coming on stage to Soolaimon/Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show and I thought I was going to explode with happiness. I danced and danced and sang and sang. I was not the most exuberant person there--that honor went to a woman seated about 10 rows ahead of us. For the entire length of the concert she held the open LP cover of The Jazz Singer over her head with one hand, while waving manically to Neil with the other. After he FINALLY waved back to her (not gonna lie...I was jealous) she then used that arm to very theatrically mimic all of Neil's movements while he sang.

Overall Neil was a total class act. People made fun of me for wanting to go so bad but honestly, the guy is like 71 years old and he sang for the ENTIRE TWO HOURS. Hardly any chit chat, no costume changes, no pyrotechnics...just awesome music.

And of course, even more magical than the pictures, the parking spot, the fans, the t-shirt, and my memories of the concert, was the life-changing moment after the concert when George Clooney got down on his knee.

Best concert ever.