Brooks and I recently went to the Kenny Chesney concert at the Alltel Pavilion, Walnut Creek. Pat Green and SugarLand opened for Kenny. It was our first concert at the Alltel Pavilion and we were both excited.

Whenever we would mention driving to the concert, our family members would get concerned looks on their faces and ask if we knew how to get there.

We are not known for our sense of direction; we get lost a lot.

I think our family was afraid we would get misplaced.

Anyway, we set off to Raleigh that Saturday afternoon, with our driving directions in hand, and we arrived at the Pavilion with no problems.

Since we were early, we parked our car, rolled the windows down and hung out with the other tail-gaters until we could go inside the gate.

Brooks and I were parked next to a group of college age kids who were standing in a circle around a cooler of beer.

Each person was taking turns chugging red wine from the box.

One big guy caught our attention because he chugged for a very long time.

I didn’t think anything else of it and we went inside to find our seats.

Our seats were on the John Deere Lawn and we found places close to the front and spread out our beach towels.

Pat Green was the first singer to go on stage.

Although he did not sing long, he gave a good performance.

My favorite song that he sang was “Feels Just Like it Should.”

SugarLand went next and they also gave a good performance.

They had a lot of energy and interacted with the crowd.

After SugarLand, there was a short intermission so the stage crew could set up for Kenny.

During this time, we had the opportunity to people watch and noticed there were a lot of people drinking.

My sister and I do not drink, so we had the advantage of being completely lucid while we were people watching.

Brooks and I were talking when all of a sudden she started laughing and said, “Look, Meagan.”

I looked up and there was the same big guy who was chugging wine earlier.

He was leaning against the stair railing as though it was the only thing keeping him upright.

He had a beer in hand and he was trying to put his shoe on. Let’s just say it wasn’t working out for him.

A few minutes later I looked up and a guy in an orange shirt was doing jumping jacks.

It was crazy.

Right before Kenny came on stage, I was still sitting on my beach towel when all of a sudden a drunk guy leaned down beside me.

I had never seen the guy before in my life so I warily looked up at him.

“Have you seen the … the … beach ball,” he slurred.

“I threw it over … over … here.” “I don’t know where it went.”

The beach ball he was referring to was one of several that had been thrown into the crowd.

The purpose was to keep the ball in the air and to not let it hit the ground.

Now, I really didn’t care about the beach ball.

I was there to see Kenny.

If I want a beach ball, I can go to the Dollar Tree and buy one.

I was eager for the guy to go away, so I said, “Yeah, I think it is way, way, way over there-very far away.”

He looked confused but said, “Oh, okay.

Nice talking to you,” and he left.

I looked over at Brooks who had been trying very hard not to laugh during this whole exchange.

As soon as I looked at her, we both started laughing.

It was just so random.

After we had calmed down a little, Brooks looked at me and said, “I was getting ready to hand you my shoe so you could hit him with it.”

I appreciated that.

Kenny came on stage shortly after and we enjoyed the concert without any other incidents.

He is an awesome performer and we were on our feet the entire time he sang.

He gave such an energetic performance and everyone sang along with him.

I was so excited when he sang my favorite song, “The Good Stuff.”

Some of the other songs he sang were “Live Those Songs, “How Forever Feels,” “Young,” and “Where I Come From.”

I had so much fun that night and going to the concert was definitely the best birthday present I have ever received.