A Tear in My Beer

This is Miranda Lambert's "logo" and tattoo. Yeee haw!  I did not draw it and I did not take the photo but I had to share it. HAD to. I hope Miranda doesn't come beat the snot out of me.

 Before I talk about Miranda, I have to get this off my chest: we have become a world of weather wimps.  Seriously.  (I rant about this every winter, so I might as well get it out of the way.) All this technology has ruined us.  In the olden days (read: before Doppler Radar, before the Channel of Weather, before weather reports were included on every device we own), we woke up, looked out the window and decided what to wear.  If it was raining, we'd put on a rain coat.  If it was snowing, we'd put on our boots.  If it was windy and snowing, we'd put on our boots AND scarf.  We didn't have a week to worry about what might or might not happen--we had here and now (and maybe tomorrow).  Yesterday's "snow storm" (since when does six inches of snow constitute a snow storm?) was predicted a week ago...giving people seven days to fret about how bad the weather was going to be.  You know what happened when the snow arrived as scheduled? People started canceling things and teacher friends said things like, "I wonder if tomorrow will be a snow day?"  When did regular old, boring, seasonally-appropriate snow become a storm?  We are weather wimps.  Now, I'm not saying we should be out plowing through a foot of snow during a blinding snow storm.  I'm all for common sense.  I just don't know how we (me included) became so wimpy. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

(May I note that having a week's notice did not seem to get snow plow operators ready for action.  The plowing was embarrassingly atrocious. The roads are still ridiculously unacceptable. As they say on ESPN, "c'mon, man!") 

One person who isn't a weather wimp (or a wimp of any kind) is Miranda Lambert.  (Actually, the 7000 people in attendance at Miranda's concert last night weren't weather wimps, either--so, good for us! We embraced winter with all our country western hearts.)  Ms. Lambert showed up (sans Blake) to open her world tour in our town.  Who the hell starts their world tour in Rockford, Illinois?  I have to say: I loved the concert--it was great fun, high energy, musically sound...she really impressed me.  Now, you regular readers know that I am a concert wh*re so me saying I was impressed actually means something.  (I go to a lot of concerts-I stopped counting after 100.  There's nothing like live music!) I've never seen opening night for a tour, so it was kind of exciting to be there. 

So, how was hanging out at the baggage claim? I loved whole thing.  I especially liked how authentic & how genuine Miranda seemed to be.  Not every performer will admit to having the jitters.  Not every performer will own up to his/her mistakes. And, most performers, in my humble opinion, are not authentic enough to have a moment of overwhelming emotion during a performance.  Well, Miranda, that little sassy & angry ball of spitfire, did just that.  While performing one of songs--a great song which has touched many people--it became just too much.  The song, a very personal song, swallowed her up. It wasn't rehearsed.  It wasn't contrived.  It wasn't fake.  It wasn't designed to tug on heartstrings.  The song just swallowed her up.
 

It was one of my favorite concert moments of my life. 

I've seen people in the audience bawl like babies.  I personally have had a tear a time or two.  But, performers? Not so much.  I'm trying to remember a time when any of the performers I've seen in concert have experienced a genuine moment like this.....I can't recall even one.  I'll have to think more about that.....

I don't know if she saw it coming or not, but most of the 7000 in attendance did. One look at the jumbotron told you she wouldn't be able to sing the heartfelt words because they were so heartfelt.  The words were real and meant something to her. It turned out just fine because we all sang it for her.  Heck, it turned out better because we sang it for her.  Lest you think I'm kidding about the crying, I've included her tweet (see image above). 

I imagine it is incredibly hard for a sassy, angry girl to have such a public moment of vulnerability.  Personally, I think it took the concert to a whole 'nother level and thus I thank Miranda for her public tear in her beer.  I'm getting to be a sap in my old age.

As for the rest of the show, it was complete cowgirl sass.  It's hard not to like someone who has a two-pistol with wings tattoo on the forearm and is oozing attitude.  (I daresay Blake has his hands full.)  She's gonna have a great tour--if she can get out of bed today, that is.  Miranda had a whole lot of shaking and jumping and head banging and pink guitar playing going on the entire time she was performing.  Someone get that cowgirl a massage! If any of you have the chance to hang out at the baggage claim with Miranda, do it.  As she says, she's packing it in---come and get it.