O.A.R. Concert!!!

Here's Jen posing in the front row with Kelley James (the opening act) freestyling in the back ground.

Every summer, O.A.R. makes a stop in Charleston to play a show at the Family Circle Cup tennis facility.  Once Jen told me about this concert, I knew we'd be there.  When the dates where announced, I drove over to Daniel Island and got our general admission tickets.  We showed up about an hour and a half early and scored a front row spot on the left side of the stage.  I'd never seen O.A.R. but have listened to their music for years.  I used to loop one of their live albums on my iPod when I would play poker at Soaring Eagle in Mount Pleasant, MI.  Crazy Game of Poker is also one of my favorite songs (surprising, I know).

Kelley James was the opening act and put on a great show.  The best part was when his band played a beat for him and he freestyled for like 5 minutes about the girls in the front row, green chili, the underage drunk guys in the cheap seats, and Miller Lite.  There weren't many people at the concert yet, which actually made it fun because Kelley was interacting with the crowd and came down and talked to everyone in the front row after his set. 

Jen and Kelley James, the opening act and our new favorite free stylin' white boy.

He even told us all his Twitter handle (YourBoyKJ) and asked us to tweet a picture at him, so I tweeted the pic of Jen with Kelley in the background.  He retweeted us the next day and accepted our Friend requests on Facebook.

I look like a tool in this but Jen looks great, so I figure I can share it with the world :)

I wasn't kidding when I said we were close, this is the lead singer and the sax player of Soja, the 2nd band to play.  They had a reggae feel that was pretty cool, but their lyrics were hard to understand.

After the second band played, the place started to really fill up and there was a buzz in the crowd (not to mention the smell of "smoke") while we waited for O.A.R. to take the stage.  We held out front row spots despite having to run to the concession stand multiple times for beer refills and bathroom breaks and were ready to go when the band finally took the stage.

They came out and played "Nightshift" first, which was great because the entire crowd sang along.  Throughout the show they mixed in some old favorites and some newer songs and even played a couple off their upcoming album that comes out in August.  My favorite songs were "City on Down," "Nightshift", "Hey Girl" and of course their finale, "Crazy Game of Poker."  They put on an awesome show and I absolutely loved the jam band feel.  In the middle of songs they would stop playing the song and just go off into musical interludes, solos, and duets that rocked the house.  Near the end, the saxophone player left the stage and showed up in the crowd and played from the 2nd deck balcony. 

It was dark, so I couldn't get very many good pictures of O.A.R. but to be honest I didn't try much, I was too busy singing and loving the show.  I'm already looking forward to next years' show!