Ed Wind & Fire

Today ended up to be a really great day, and when I woke up this morning I had no idea where I would be 12 hours later.

Gabe called to invite me to see Earth Wind & Fire and Chicago live in concert! It seems his dad goes wayyyyy back with the EW&F guys, and he was able to snag 4 passes for Gabe. So there we were, only about 10 rows back and smack dab in the center. We also got special "Guest passes" that we hoped would get us backstage, but no one working at the Starwood Amphitheater seemed to know what we could and couldn't do with them. Fools!

Earth Wind & Fire put on an amazing show. I've never been much of a fan of music from the '70s (I still hold fast to my theory that nothing good came out of the '70s), but I'm not so anti-70s that I can't appreciate a good show when I see one, and EW&F definitely put on a good show. The sound was amazing, Philip Bailey has a range that would make Mariah Carey cuss, and the horn section was unbelievable. They had the entire crowd on their feet...and then Chicago came on stage and bored everyone to tears and they played their little power ballads and all the white girls in their late-30s stood up and raised their hands and sang along and wished they were back at Senior Prom again.

Luckily EW&F came back onstage at the end and both bands played together. The sound was, again, amazing.

Even more entertaining, though, was watching Phillip Bailey spot Gabe during the show, recognize him, and tell him to go backstage. It was great!! After the show Gabe and I found out what the magical Guest Passes were for. There was a holding room of sorts where a "meet & greet" was going on, so Gabe and I waited in that area to figure out how to get backstage from there when suddenly a voice called out and there was Phillip Bailey. Making his way through the crowd, he had come out in search of Gabe (and me, since I was with Gabe). That was really really cool. He took us backstage and introduced us to the other 2 founding members and we got to hang in his dressing room for a bit and try to carry on good conversation.

All in all, a great night. Lots of fun and it won't soon be forgotten!

I still think that 70s music is horrible, but at least I am learning that the people who make it can sure put on a great show.