Today – Labor Day was the last day of the Minnesota State Fair. It was also the day that I checked an item off of my personal bucket list. I went to see Bonnie Raitt perform live.
I’ve been a fan of her and her music since her album “Nick of Time” was released in the late 80’s – early 90’s. But honestly, I bought and endlessly listened to “Nick of Time” and “Luck of the Draw” almost exclusively. There were a couple listens here and there of other stuff but my personal fascination with her was from those two albums.
I heard a live recording of her once – doing “Angel from Montgomery” – where she thanked the crowd and told them she loved them and to “take care of each other”. I thought that was the coolest thing and I adopted it for my own online shows as part of my parting words. “Take care of yourself, take care of each other. Have a blast in your Second Life if nowhere else, and until the next time I’m signing off in three, two, one…”
When I heard back in June that she was going to be at the Minnesota State Fair on Labor Day I jumped at the chance to get tickets. I ended up spending over $300 on two floor seat tickets. To me it was worth it – I didn’t know when I’d get a chance to see her again – if ever – so I wanted to be able to enjoy the experience without worrying about heights and tight seats.
Even though the day threatened rain and my energy level was lower than usual, I made my way via car, bus and foot to the Great Minnesota Get-Together. We left later in the day, not really planning on doing much prior to the concert other than getting chocolate chip cookies [check] and Star Tribune Fair T-shirts [check, check].
And of course, we planned on hitting as many Pokestops and catching as many Pokemon as we could. The Fairgrounds were rife with Pokestops – more than 20 from what I could tell – and 6 gyms! Both Smidge and I finally caught a Snorlax. I personally caught more Drowsees than you could shake a stick at… (I use that analogy but I have no idea what it means… And now I had to look that up. You can read what I found here.)
After stopping for Philly Cheese Steak for Smidge and a burger for me (and yes, some mini donuts), we ambled over to the Grandstand. When we arrived, all of the seats were wet from the sprinkle of rain we’d gotten earlier. I didn’t care though and plopped myself down to get comfy. Turns out the money I paid for the seats were well worth it! I was disappointed to hear, though, that we wouldn’t be able to take any pics during the show.
I have to say, I’m a satisfied customer. The show was incredible. I remember seeing film clips of girls screaming and crying over the Beatles and I always scoffed at them. I couldn’t imagine why they’d react that way. Well, I was in tears for about 1/2 of Bonnie Raitt’s set. Her musicianship is stellar and her voice – my heavens her VOICE – was so unreal. Like she tears off a little piece of her soul with each song and distributes it to every single person in the audience. Completely authentic. Genuine gratitude to the audience. I’m going to start counting the days until I get to see her perform again.
So very thankful for having a life that allows me to do things like enjoy a fair and world-class musicians.
The Tauntress 