Concert #3: Oregon Zoo (Portland)

I know you're all tired of me talking about Brandi Carlile, but I'm not. I'm not tired of seeing her shows or talking about her...so either get excited or stop reading because here we go again. 

Tonight was the Portland show and it was fan-freaking-tastic! Seriously. So. Good. Totally worth taking off work, driving down to Portland, riding the school bus shuttle, waiting in line for an hour and then another two hours in our seats before the show started, enduring the annoying girls next to us and waiting in line forever afterward to catch the school bus shuttle back to the car. Worth all the time and every penny spent.

Lindsay and I worked out a game plan - when they started letting us in she would be the runner/seat scoper-outer and I would carry all of our crap and find her when I made it in. Linds wins the gold star for claiming some AWESOME seats. We were on the second row of grass. The only thing between us and the stage was a section where people could stand. Brilliant!
The standard self-portrait.

We set up camp and were surprisingly entertained for the two hours we waited. Let's just say there is a lot of good people-watching at Brandi's shows. (Do you like my new giant purse? We may have stopped at Target on the way down.)
We were way closer to the stage than last weekend at Marymoor Park. It makes a huge difference! That whole section where the people are standing got packed.
The audience was so much more into the show than in Seattle and you could tell Brandi was feeding off of the energy in the crowd. During the encore she sang That Year, which is a fairly serious song, and the entire crowd was absolutely silent - all 3,700 people. It gave me chills.
Brandi always starts the show with quite a few guitar picks stuck in her microphone stand and periodically she'll throw the one she was using out into the crowd. I almost got one last October at the show in Boise, but tonight I really got one! And not just any guitar pick, but the last one she threw out after the last song of the show (pre-encore). The pick she used for Turpentine (my favorite song!) and The Story.
I saw her throw it but it was too dark to keep track of where they were ending up. Plus, I never thought it would make it over the huge crowd of people standing between the stage and the grass. And then I felt something hit my foot. I reached down and felt a guitar pick on my blanket.
Can you see the "jam marks" (as I like to call them) on the bottom left side?! Brandi played the final songs of the show with that exact pick! Now I just have to make sure Max doesn't eat it.

Thanks, Brandi (and boys), for another great night!