This summer was full of fun concerts. Here’s a summary of the ones I went to.

No Doubt
Blog Reader Kristen and I started the summer concert season out with a little No Doubt and Paramore action. Nothing like a couple groups of rocker chick lead singers to feel all empowered.

Bedouin Soundclash kicked off the show. I remember enjoying them, so I’ll have to go check out some of their albums.

Paramore was great to watch. Hayley Williams has such a powerhouse voice and she’s so cute and punk rockerish. One of the guitarists was doing flips while playing the guitar on stage.

No Doubt was amazing on stage. They were so quirky and didn’t lose the essense of who they were 10 years ago. They had a wacky wardrobe and were crazy on stage. Gwen Stefani looks awesome too.

One of the best parts of the concert was during the encore. Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash came on stage and sang the song with No Doubt, and there was a drum that everyone banged on. It was fun to hear them all singing at once.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures. We were too far away from the stage to get anything good during Paramore, and during No Doubt the girl next to me (who was actually in front of me from the angle we were at) was quite tall and large and dancing the entire time, so I couldn’t really see the stage ever. And my camera at the time really sucked. There were lots of creatively dressed people in the audience, very interesting hair too, but none of those pics turned out in the dim lighting.

The Fray
On July 21st Renee and I went to The Fray concert. Jack’s Mannequin opened for them. The only song I had heard of theirs was before the concert “The Mix Tape” and it’s one of my favorite songs. They were good, but mosty the lead singer kept me entertained. When he played the piano he would sit facing the side toward the audience and he would just rock out. I was surprised he could play at all while doing that, it was crazy. Toward the end of their set he also jumped up on top of the piano. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I would think about doing if I had a grand piano in front of me is leap on top of it.

The Fray were fantastic. The lead singer Isaac Slade sings with so much emotion and all their songs are all so great. Piano standing must be a theme with these guys because he jumped up on the piano just like Jack’s Mannequin did.

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Kings of Leon
Blog Reader Kristen and I attended the Kings of Leon concert last night. White Lies, a band from London, opened the show. Neither BRK or I had heard of them but we both enjoyed their set.

Kings of Leon put on a great show. They have great music and they sound just as good live as they do on recordings. The lead singer, Caleb Followill, has a great voice. It’s gravely, but smooth, and he can sing or scream equally as well. I also think they have good personalities. They were really personable, talking about how they attended the Vikings game the night before and celebrated the big win even though they aren’t from here, and they didn’t need to emphasize with the f-bomb every time they talked to the crowd. And apparently yesterday was special because they had their first #1 hit, I assume it was “Use Somebody” because Caleb held up his index finger for a little while before the song started. The only thing I was disappointed about was they didn’t play “Closer” which is one of my favs.

The audience was a completely different facet of entertainment. Lots of interesting people, in looks, clothing and personality. Stand outs of the evening include a guy who towered over everyone on the floor but was considerate enough to stand off to the side. And let us not forget the security guards that were rocking out.

There was also a group of guys that were dancing and getting progressively more drunk throughout the evening. I probably would have been content watching them all night if the view didn’t get blocked half way through KOL’s set. I took this video of them, but at the time I didn’t realize it was a bad idea to hold the camera portrait style. Just tip your head sideways, because it’s totally worth the irritation.

There was also a guy dancing on the stairs across the Target Center from us. He was really getting into it and the security guard kept sending him up to his seat. During the encore BRK saw him take a swing at one of the guards and he got taken out, struggling the whole way. Good times, good times. I will definitely see KOL next time they come to the Twin Cities.

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That wraps up this summer’s concert series blog post!!