Rascal Flatts Ramblings

So, last night I went and saw Rascal Flatts at the Comcast Center with Darius Rucker as the opening act. Despite the rain, it was a great show from start to finish and I had a blast. Here are some random observations from the night:

-Normally I'm not a big concert goer, because I don't like being squished by people or hearing songs that I previously enjoyed being bastardized in a live setting. Fortunately neither of those happened because the section we were in was not sold out and also the band didn't try to improve on songs that were already good. Also we were close enough to the stage that I couldn't hear the people around me who wanted to sing along. To summarize Matt Damon on SNL, "Let me make something abundantly clear. I don’t want any of you drunks singing along to ‘Me and My Gang' in my ear. I came here to hear Rascal Flatts, not the shipping department at Circuit City."

-The talent on the stage was only matched by the talent in the stands. I don't know why, but country music draws in the cutest girls (alas, it also draws in the girls who used to be cute before they grew that beer gut). However, a concert is a terrible place to try and pick up girls, because yelling in someone's ear is never that romantic. Plus, the guys I was with are both in long-term relationships and have had their wingman privileges revoked.

-The only downside of the night was that I had to miss the second half of Notre Dame / Michigan (though, given how the game turned out, maybe I shouldn't be that bummed). The worst part was how I found out they lost. I was walking past a group that had a different game on the radio and I asked if there were any big upsets. The kids said, "Actually, no huge upsets today. In fact, I think Oklahoma State was the only Top 25 team to lose... (10 second pause) Oh, and Notre Dame." You dick.

-I appreciated that Rascal Flatts didn't jam the new album down our throats. They tried to mix in old and new stuff and did so very well. There is nothing worse than when bands abandon their hits to just try and sell the new record.

-Darius Rucker actually was the same way. He only has the one solo album, so he still went back into the Hootie & The Blowfish catalog. I'll be honest, the crowd went a little nuts for the old Hootie stuff. That's one of those groups that everyone loved growing up (hell, they sold 20 million copies of Cracked Rear View) but now everyone tries to pretend they didn't like. Hard to keep up the front when you flip out for 'Only want to be with you.'