We woke up Saturday morning in beautiful San Diego ready for a day of fun on the beach!
 |
| Beach Bums |
The beach house we rented was right on the beach overlooking the water. It was also right next to the Bellmont amusement park on Mission Beach. It was the perfect location! Luckily, the weather was unseasonably warm and made for a perfect day on the beach.
The girls played a little beach volleyball.
And playing in the sand is always a favorite!
Around lunch time, the boys and my oldest niece Micaela headed out to Coronado to see the USS Midway, an old aircraft carrier docked in San Diego. They said it was great, Kayman sure enjoyed it!
On their way back from the USS Midway, Andy was dropped off at the concert venue to get in line for the show. We had GA tickets, which meant that we were on the floor and wanted to be as close to the stage as possible. If you want to be close, you have to wait in line a little longer than the rest of the groupies.
*A BIG shoutout here to my incredible sister in law Hol for staying behind and watching the kiddos. She definitely took one for the team with this decision, and it was not her most pleasant night thanks to my kids. They did learn a very important lesson though...more on that here.*
Brandon, Micaela, Izzy, and I headed out for the show, grabbed some In-N-Out and took it to Andy in line. We then waited there for two hours before it was time for the doors to open. About 10 minutes before 6:00, door opening time, a big group of people started heading for the front of the line. After a minute of a continual stream of people, we realized that they were rushing the line. Sooooooo not cool. We made a run for it (along with everyone else who had been waiting for hours) to stay as close as possible to the front. A nice organized line with civilized people turned into this crazy mob in minutes.
The security guards didn't have a clue what was going on. I could talk for a long, long time about the horrible security, disorganization, and general lack of knowledge about the crowd at this venue, but I digress. We ended up with only 2 people standing in front of us once we got to the stage. Couldn't ask for much better with a stadium filled with a few thousand.
My favorite band at the moment, Nico Vega, opened the show.
We have seen them a few times in the last year. They put on such a great show every time. They have so much raw emotion just oozing from each of them as they perform. Aja, the singer, is an incredible vocalist and has some killer moves up on stage.
 |
| Aja Volkman dancing it up! |
My favorite is when she climbs up on the drum set. Of course.
 |
And she really loves her fans.
Rich, the guitarist, has a fabulous sense of style and some fancy footwork as he shreds on his guitar. Dan, the drummer, bounces on his throne as he beats those drums and sings simultaneously. So much talent!
It was really great to hear some of the new songs that will be on their album coming out on Feb. 25. I can hardly wait!
If you haven't heard them yet, check out their new single here. "I Believe" by Nico Vega
The second band that played was The Naked And The Famous. They were pretty good, but it's hard to follow Nico Vega and precede Imagine Dragons, in my opinion. I like them better on Pandora than I did live.
Then. Imagine Dragons.
 |
| The one and only...Dan Reynolds! |
 |
| Dan Reynolds |
Dan sings and dances his heart out on every song. He is so much fun to watch because he's so passionate about his music. Every member of the band is. The energy they pack up on stage is unreal. On this tour they have so many more theatrical elements to the show, it's just that much better. It's less intimate than the days when Dan used to crowd surf down at The Velour in Provo with a crowd of 50 people, but it's still as intimate as possible given the venue.
 |
| Dan Reynolds |
The encore is always the best. They end their show with "Nothing Left To Say" and this time they brought Dave Keuning from The Killers on stage. He rocked out with Wayne for quite a while. That was pretty cool.
 |
| Wayne Sermon and Dave Keuning |
They always end the show with a humble bow and genuine thank you to the crowd. These men and so talented, and have remained very humble throughout this explosion of fame. I hope they can maintain it.
 |
| Wayne Sermon, Dan Reynolds, Ryan Walker(touring member), Dave Keuning(Killers), Daniel Platzman, Ben Mckee |
I got the privilege of meeting Wayne's (the guitarist) wife Alex Sermon after the show. She is an incredible ballerina and a lovely photographer. I have been following her blog as she tracks the band tour and I love getting the inside scoop on their adventures. Alex was very sweet to take a few minutes to talk to me and let me take a picture with her.
 |
| Alex Sermon and me |
Dan and Aja are the cutest rocker couple ever. How great that they get to tour together!
 |
| Rock Star Love Birds |
Well said and documented. I kind've miss the good old days, like at the Rooftop Concert series in Provo when Imagine Dragons were performing and suddenly the power went out on almost all of the equipment. It wasn't an easy fix, so Dan Reynolds got a dance contest started up on stage to pass the time. Ahh the good old days. Wish the dragons would play Tokyo, America, and Darkness again. Guess we'll have to keep going to their shows until they do. Then we'll have to keep going to their shows to see it some more. Then we'll have to keep going to their shows to hear their new awesome songs they are writing this year. Oh yeah, Nico Vega is pretty much just as awesome. May they ever tour together!
ReplyDelete