2Cellos

Thank You Denver! #photooftheday #usa #tour #music #2cellos

I'm there! On the far right in the top balcony. You can't see me? You'll just have to take my word for it.

It's been years since I went to a concert, but I love these guys and I wanted to see them perform in person. Last year they toured the U.S. but Denver was not included. Midland, Texas, was included but not Denver. Midland? And not Denver. Really? Now, some of my favorite relatives live in Texas, but not in Midland!

My son John and his wife Sonja live near Dallas so they were able to go to the Dallas concert a year ago February. They introduced me to 2Cellos music. John plays cello. And their seven-year-old has just started lessons this year. John and Sonja very kindly bought me a T-shirt and waited in line to get it autographed. I wore that T-shirt lots, until I realized the autographs were fading from washing.

Then last November 2Cellos announced their 2016 American tour, and Denver was on the list. So I quick, quick bought two tickets.

I like all kinds of music. Maybe I should say many kinds of music. I'm not a fan of Country/Western, opera or operetta. Not fond of elevator music either.

My two favorite types of music are hard rock and classical. Watch this video and you'll see why I like these guys.

Welcome to the Jungle

The concert was in the Buell Theater in downtown Denver. Now driving in downtown Denver on a Saturday night is not my favorite activity, but the light rail goes downtown and it's cheaper than parking. 

What I didn't know when I bought the tickets, was that the new light rail line out to the airport would be open for business the day before the 2Cellos concert. And it would be free from noon Friday until ten Saturday night. Denver International is no where near the Buell Theater. In fact, it's 26 miles from downtown Denver. But the entire light rail system would be free during that time.

Even better! I could see 2Cellos in concert and not have to drive downtown at night. Wouldn't use any gas and wouldn't have to pay lotsa money to park. I love the light rail.

Of course I gave my husband right of first refusal on the second ticket and he refused it. He's not a big 2Cellos fan and he's even less enamored of crowded performance halls. My daughter Grace quickly agreed to fill the void.

The only thing left for me to plan was what I'd wear. You watched the above video, right? So you know this was a rock concert even if it was being done in an upscale theater. My 2Cellos T-shirt of course.

Senior Citizen Fan Girl!

16th Street Mall in downtown Denver is a veritable smorgasbord of eateries. Everything from cloth-table-linens style seafood and steak places to fast food Mexican. We ate at The Market which is a little place stuffed to the gills with umpteen different kinds of coffees and teas, honeys, jams, and every kind of homemade dessert a heart attack could desire. I had a Reuben sandwich and coffee. Skipped the desserts. I was too excited about the concert.

Oh, and it's prom season here in Denver. A young man appropriately attired came in accompanied by three young women, all wearing full-length evening dresses. One of the girls was wearing a princessy dress in the same apricot color as the young man's tie and vest so she was probably his official date. They gathered up at the counter to order and he announced "Okay, ladies, order anything you want." A man after mine own heart.

My own Senior Prom date was very like this. One of my friends was a Cuban refugee and her parents were old-school so they wouldn't let her date, but she could go to Prom with me and my date. After dropping into a couple of standard Oklahoma-style after-parties, we went to her house where her parents were giving a party for us -- and all their Cuban friends and family. Wonderful food and music and dancing on the lawn. 

But I digress. Back to downtown Denver. From The Market, it was a short walk to Denver's Performing Arts Complex and the Buell Theater. The Buell is beautiful. And huge. There's a bar on each floor. (Grace had champagne with the concert. I had water. Alcohol puts me to sleep.) And elevators, thank goodness. I do pretty well climbing stairs, but coming down is a slow and arduous process and I hadn't brought my hiking sticks.

Like I pointed out in the pic at the start of this blog, our seats were in the top balcony. I guess my fear of heights showed. The young woman ushering us to our seats suggested I walk on the side of the aisle with the railing saying, "Some people experience vertigo." Which I sometimes do and I did use the railing.

I was the only one there, at least that I saw, wearing a 2Cellos T-shirt. I did see a young man wearing an Oklahoma City Thunder T-shirt. That's a professional basketball team. And I'm originally from Oklahoma, so I thought I should speak to him. He was sitting a little ways away from us, but I figured I could shout "Thunder Up!" and he'd look around at me. Grace shushed me. She's not really shy or anything, she just has higher standards of deportment than I.

Oh, the concert. The concert!

Luka Šulić, born in Slovenia and Stjepan Hauser, born in Croatia, were classically trained and can play standard classical fare. But what makes them outstanding are their covers of songs by U2, Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, etc. Instrumentally. They don't sing.

I swear Luka, the one on the left,
would fit right in with the Hrdlicka side of my family.

Theater employees in matching vests, dress shirts, and ties spent the pre-concert time moving through the audience telling people they couldn't take pictures or videos during the performance. Unlike most of the rock concerts I've been to, where the employees mingling were wearing matching brightly colored T-shirts marked SECURITY.

(Bye-the-by, when Luka and Stjepan came on stage, they said we could take all the pictures and videos we wanted.)

I do have to say that the audience was well-behaved and even though this is Colorado, there was no tell-tale smoke wafting through the light show.

In fact, I was a little concerned that the audience was too well-behaved. It seemed to take them a little while to get into it. But then they did and it was nonstop clapping, whistling, screaming, moving to the music. 

In the old-days, I'd have danced in the aisles, but they were so steep and so high up. I limited myself to dancing in my seat. And singing along. It was so loud, nobody complained about my singing.

Speaking of loud, the couple behind us had brought their two young children, but they wisely had also brought hearing protection for the littles and both were sound asleep before the concert got well underway. 

About half-way through the performance, their drummer came on stage. Drusan  Kranjc is of the John Densmore (The Doors) school of drums -- hard and harder. With the intensity of the cellos (I bet you never thought of cellos as intense!) and the crashing drums the audience was pumping adrenaline.

My favorite pieces were "Welcome to the Jungle," "With or Without You," and a surprise for me The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction." OMG!

It was after 10 when we got back to the light rail and a Transit Authority cop was right there. I asked him if the freebie ended at ten like they said it would. He said, "It's supposed to, but we're not enforcing it. Go ahead. Get on." Yes!

2Cellos said they'd come back. Gonna start saving my money today. I want seats right down front!