I got to spend a good deal of Saturday with three of my sisters – Lori, Michelle, and Christina because we went to the Tears for Fears concert at the Toyota Amphitheater in Wheatland. I have been wanting to see Tears for Fears for literally 40 years! They were one of my favorite bands in high school, and I never got an opportunity to see them in concert then. It was a very warm day, especially coming from Mill Valley that had a high of 72. Christina and I arrived at Lori’s house in Citrus Heights at the hottest part of the day when it was in the high 90s. Luckily their air-conditioning was working, I think Javi was most grateful for that. He is definitely a city dog and used to cooler temps. Lori’s husband Toby made us a delicious tri-tip dinner with green beans and potatoes, then we were off. It was a pretty quick drive to the venue and parking was easy and free! Once we got inside there were tons of booths selling all different kinds of alcohol at inflated prices, as usual. We found our seats, but they were still in the blazing sun so we hung out a shaded grassy area until the sun had gone down further. We heard the opening band, Cold War Kids, start to play, but since Christina was the only one who knew their music, we decided to wait a little longer before heading to our seats. We weren’t close to the stage, but still had a good view and the tickets were only $25! We were surprised by the diversity of the attendees. We figured the majority would be folks in the 40-60+ age range, since Tears for Fears were big in the 80s. and early 90s, but there were lots of folks in their 20s and 30s and a fair number of kids who were there with their parents. We all agreed that these parents had provided their children a good musical education! There was a little dust up with a woman sitting a couple of rows in front of us who lit up and started smoking a cigarette. There were signs everywhere, including on the huge screens by the stage, saying that it was a no smoking venue. Several people near by (including us) told her to put out her cigarette and she got affronted told everyone to calm down, it was no big deal since everyone was over 18 (no idea what her logic was there). One guy got very upset and threats of a fight arose, but her friends quickly calmed her down. I got the feeling this was not the first time this sort of thing had happened with her. Luckily, after that everything was fine and not long into Tears for Fears first set she left her seat and never came back. We were all like little kids, bouncing in our seats in anticipation, and a when they came on stage a huge roar went up. They were promoting their album that came out last year, and played several songs from it. One song in particular, My Demons, I loved. I was very impressed with the variety of their new songs, and particularly at how well Roland’s voice has held up. He sounded exactly like he did on their first album, The Hurting. We sang ourselves hoarse and cheered and cheered. It was a fantastic show! And we were able to get out easily. I have never been able to get out of concert so fast. We slowed down a bit by the nearby Hard Rock Casino venue, where a ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd concert had just gotten out. That’s another concert I would’ve loved to attend. It was midnight by the time we got back to Lori’s house -apparently her sons Larkin and Rowan were very concerned that we weren’t back by 11 PM. I felt like we were back in high school again!
We all slept in the next day, then had a walk around Lori‘s neighborhood and saw a family of turkeys. Spent the rest of day driving back to mom’s and doing bits and pieces, I’m glad to be back where there is cooler weather.
