As of July 19th, I’ve been working at Portland Media Group for one year! I see this as a pretty great achievement and I’m super stoked to brag about it. One thing I talk about all the time is my job and the cool opportunities that come with it. As a special gift, I was given tickets to see Kane Brown at Fenway Park on July 20th. Since the show was all the way in Boston, we decided to make a day of it. I’m so excited to share it with you!
We left the house around 7:30 am to hop on the bus out of Portsmouth at 9 am. The bus ride wasn’t long, but we were right in the morning traffic once we got into Mass. We were still tired.
Once we got to South Station, we walked to the Quincy Market area. We walked around until the restaurants started opening up. The original plan was to go to Dick’s Last Resort for lunch, but sadly, they closed down. We wound up at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, which turned out to be great!
After lunch, we hopped on the subway and wound up at the Prudential Mall. These stores were quite expensive, but I ended up with a hat from Dick’s Sporting Goods. We ended up taking a rest in the seating area, which had impeccable lighting.
After stalling for a while, we made our way towards Fenway Park, which was farther than we realized. Thank goodness Boston isn’t a very hill-y city. We kept wondering, “Are we there yet? Did we pass it? Is it coming up soon?” We quickly realized that there was no sense in asking those questions. It was very clear when we approached Jersey Street.
We approached Gate A and stalled some more. We wandered the merch tables, sat down for a drink, and waited. Finally, we were able to get in line. That was another hour and a half.
The overall lesson learned about this day was that we are way to early for stuff.
After an already exhausting day, the gates were open and we entered Fenway Park. It was so crowded, it was loud. This part of the experience was very overwhelming. We grabbed some drinks, used the bathroom, then went to find our seats. It was time for the fun to start!
I want to first say, RaeLynn, LOCASH, and Jon Pardi were the opening acts. They were all terrific performers! Their music was great. I apologize for this next part, because I am going to complain. I don’t want it to take away the gratefulness and joy of hearing these groups play music! But parts of it sucked. Now, on to the complaints. Skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to read that part!
It was hot. Nearly 90° and very sunny. Luckily, our seats were under cover, so it did provide lots of shade. However, it was still hot and humid. I can’t imagine what the folks down front were feeling. Also, one can of Twisted Tea was $18! How bonkers is that? I completely understand that there is going to be a markup when you’re attending a show. But that much seems outrageous to me. A can of Twisted Tea at our local gas station is around $4. One slice of pizza was $9. It was insane. That part of the whole experience really irritated me. It was so hot outside, but it was hard to justify a $8 bottle of water. We did it anyway. I ended up with a headache, which happens every time I go to Boston. Tommas mentioned it may be because the air quality is so much different than Cornish. That made sense to me, but I was still bummed about it. We took a walk to try to find a cooler place to be for a few minutes. By a wonderful surprise, we ended up bumping into my friend, Emily. She was also having a bit of a rough time at the start. Luckily, there was a nice temperature drop over by her seats. After venting our frustrations to each other, I think we all felt a bit better. I’m done complaining now. Back to the main story!
Once the sun started setting, it was becoming much more tolerable. We were starting to cool off and we were getting pumped for the main act. This is what everyone was there for, right? KANE BROWN!
The lights turned off and the crowd got so quiet. As the intro to the first song started, everyone screamed. But anytime a new note hit, it would get quiet again. I got goosebumps. Our view wasn’t perfect, but I was staring in awe. I was waiting to see him emerge from back stage, but I was taken by surprise. The rafters started lowering and all of a sudden he starts coming down from the ceiling. I’ve never seen anything like that. At this point, I was no longer hot and sweating. I had the shivers.
Bury Me in Georgia was the first song played and it was absolutely fantastic. I cried. No surprise there, right? I was blown away by the happiness I felt at that moment. I had been so cranky just minutes before. I still had a headache. But suddenly, that all disappeared. When musicians say that music heals, they aren’t exaggerating. That is exactly how I felt in that moment. Everybody got so excited as the song went on. So many people were singing along, myself included. I tried taking videos and pictures, but they came out horrible. I wasn’t focused on my camera. I was enjoying my life in that moment. I kept looking at Tommas and Emily and yelling at them, “Did you see that? Did you hear that? I know this song!” I’m sure they were irritated with my by the end, but I couldn’t help myself. “HE EMERGED FROM THE F&$KING CEILING!”
We had to skedaddle before the entire show was over, sadly. We had to make it back in time for the bus ride home. As we were walking to the Uber stop, we could still hear the music. It was so thrilling. Finally, we made it back to South Station, then eventually back to Portsmouth. I don’t think I’d ever been so tired driving home, but luckily it was only an hour. We arrived back home around 2 am. I let Knox out one last time and went straight to bed. The big downside was Tommas and I both had to work the next day. We finally go to catch up on sleep the following weekend.
There were so many ups and downs to this day, but it went so well. All things considered, there was nothing actually bad. Don’t get me wrong, we had some cranky moments. But it was such a cool experience and I’m so thankful to everyone who made it possible. This was the biggest show I’ve ever been to and it was so cool.
Thank you for reading this super long story. Can’t wait to put out the next recap!
Phoebe Dyer Portfolio 