Music Midtown

{This was written on September 25, 2011 and left to rot. Oops. Better late than never, I suppose.}

It's no secret that I love concerts. I know I've said before that I prefer small, intimate venues, but after today's Music Midtown I'm not too sure - festivals and small venues might now be tied in my book. I just really love concerts.

Basically, Music Midtown was a full day of music in Piedmont Park. Two stages, multiple bands, lots of fun. When we got to the park, we bummed around in front of one of the stages, waiting for some band called Walk the Moon to come on. As we stood, a guy came around with a paper plate and asked if I wanted some face paint. The answer to this question is always yes, my friends. So, he proceeds to dot my face with purple and carries on his merry way. 15-20 minutes later, Walk the Moon takes the stage and THERE HE IS. Front and center, the face-painter is also the leadsinger/keys. And he touched my face. And all of us ended up being pleasantly surprised by their show, seeing as we had never heard of them before. Very nice. After their set was over, we continued to take in the atmosphere. The next band we actually stood and listened to fully was Manchester Orchestra. Then...

...The Black Keys. Since we stood at the stage for the hour in between Manchester Orchestra and the Black Keys in order to move on up through the crowd, we witnessed the set-up process. It included inflating a giant Tiki man, tire, and hanging a giant inflatable dreamcatcher. Um, yes. I loved their show. It was fun and you could tell that they were enjoying it as well as the crowd. On that note, I will say that I've never felt so strongly about the band enjoying the concert as much as the crowd as I did about Coldplay tonight. They were amazing, y'all. They played Yellow. They added an audience chorus at the end of The Scientist and Chris Martin proclaimed it "sounded fantastic". They covered Everybody Hurts in honor of R.E.M. They applauded the crowd. They sang a stanza of Georgia on my Mind as a prelude to Fix You. They were pretty great, and we were less than ten yards from the stage. All in all, a superb day.