On the road again!!! Heading to Pittsburgh, Heinz stadium, to see Kenny!!! The drive was pretty uneventful so that was good. Both of us drove because when we leave the hotel in the morning we go in different directions to go home. We made good time and were at the hotel a little after noon.
By 12:45 we were checked in, the car rearranged and we were on our way! We were all pretty excited about being able to tailgate because we almost didn't get a parking pass - that's another story. Tailgating is such a big part of going to Kenny! The sky was pretty overcast but there was only a small chance of scattered thunder showers so we weren't concerned.
We hit major traffic about 5 miles outside of the city. From there it took us another hour to actually park. The closer we got to the stadium the darker the sky got. We were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the interstate overlooking the packed parking lot with all the tailgating going on. Oh. My. God. It wasn't just that the cars are crammed into the lot with no room to tailgate (Bob had warned us about that), it was really the amount of people that blew us away. Sardines much? As we're staring in disbelief, the sky opened up and poured a deluge upon them. It didn't phase them.
Thankfully, by the time we made our way around to where we would eventually park (on a corner - thank you God) it had stopped. Of course it started raining again before we could even unpack anything. So we did the unthinkable …. We broke out the chips and guacamole and ate in Bob's car!! Oh noooo!! We were starving. It was about 3:00 by then and we had a shake for breakfast. So we killed the guac and waited it out. It didn't take long.
Other than the food, the best part of tailgating this time was people watching. We saw things you just don't see anywhere else. At least we haven't. Some highlights were the redneck shirtless guys strutting their stuff, usually with shorts and work boots on. That was the “in” thing here, work boots. And Americana stuff. There were flag shirts all over the place, flag hats, flag everything. The most memorable get up I saw were two different guys wearing wife beaters (sleeves torn out of their shirt) or t-shirts, shorts and cowboy boots. I kid you not. Oh and the other one was a guy walking past us with jeans tucked inside of his cowboy boots, like all the girls wear during the winter. Fro. It was an experience I'll tell you. Little did we know it was just beginning …
It showered some more and the whole tailgating thing wasn't the norm, so between that and the rain, we ended up going in a little earlier than we thought we would. Good thing too. (We really had someone looking out for us.) What we had to wade through just to get to the stadium was disgusting. We had been reading about how nasty these people are when tailgating - leaving tons of trash in the parking lots. The problem here is that there are three colleges within 30 minutes of the stadium. So these college kids use the event as a party opportunity. There were people all over the place walking around with coolers, going to meet someone who had a parking pass. The amount of people tailgating verses the number of cars was staggering. And they were all college kids. Bob and I felt out of place standing in line for the porta potties. So walking through all these “frat parties” just to get to the stadium was enlightening.
We all made it through security …. except Matt. He forgot about the pocket knife in his pocket. Oh and apparently you weren't allowed to bring a pen in either. It's a weapon. Didn't you know that? Seriously, he had to walk all the way back to the car to take it back. While we waiting for him we did some more people watching as they came through security. LOL. So entertaining.
As soon as we made it through the gate we bought shirts, really cool shirts, some bottle koozies and Bob got a hat. Poor Cari hadn't peed since we left the hotel so she really had to go. All the lines were really long so we kept walking, making our way toward our section. Finally we saw a line that was shorter than the rest so we bolted. Little did we know …
That was the slowest moving line EVER!! We couldn't understand what in the world was taking so long. But figured we had stood there so long we may as well wait it out. By the time we discovered exactly what was going on we had so much time invested we figured we may as well stay. It was a men's room they had converted to women's for the event. Riiiiiight. There were a couple of ladies on the floor by the urinal trough - one was obviously sick/drunk, the other comforting her. We waited … And waited … And waited …
As we got closer I saw the problem. There were only three stalls. And there was a line forming on the exit side. There ya go. Problem solved. At this point we're still in for a long wait but it really was too late to go start over at another restroom. So we continued to wait. And wait. And wait some more. It was hot in there. No air moving at all. In a bathroom. Full of women. And loud. Oh dear Lord it was loud. It took us a little while to figure out why. Well, other than the obvious reason of all the whooping and hollering. It was the reason for all the whooping and hollering that makes this even more interesting.
I've told you about the urinal trough we saw upon immediately entering the men's room that was “converted” into a women's room (uh huh, by changing the sign outside of it). Well there were two urinal troughs on either side of the room with three stalls in between them, sinks opposite the stalls. These college kid chicks were not only dropping their pants and peeing in the trough in full view of the rest of the world … as if that wasn't enough. But nooooo, they were taking selfies at the same time!!! Fro. No shit. You really can't make this up. AND others still standing in line were taking photos of them peeing and taking selfies. That's what all the whooping and hollering was about. Thankfully, Cari and I were blessed to be in line on the opposite side and had a half wall between us and them. So we were just subjected to the audio, not the visuals.
About that time the handicap stall became available and the three girls at the front of our side of the line all went in together. LOLOL. I guess they figured they'd all get to go quicker that way. THEN, this other chick comes up and starts puking in one of the trash cans in the middle of the room. Can you imagine the looks Cari and I are giving each other. We can't get out of there fast enough.
By the time we made it out of there alive, I think we had been in there at least 45 minutes. They guys thought we had been kidnapped. Oh and there was this poster on the wall about Steelers players and fans. Hang on, let me see if I can finding online…..
Yup. Found it. Taken directly from their website:
P.R.I.D.E.: PRIDE in Yourself, PRIDE in the Game. P.R.I.D.E. stands for
Positive Heinz Field Experience
Respect Each Other
Integrity
Dignified Behavior
Excellence On and Off the Field
There are no words - even though I seem to have a plethora of them.
By the time we made it to our seats, Brantley Gilbert was at the end of his set. I used to like him but his music lately is just not my style. He leans much closer to the Rock and Roll side than the country side in my opinion. Eric Church was up next and he came on around 7:30. The crowd was stoked. Eric is a blue collar guy and these patrons are definitely blue collar. They loved him. Which brings me to the next part. The people.
First of all, the crowd inside the stadium was not the same crowd outside the stadium. Bob and I didn't feel out of place at all, at least age wise. With that said, there were still plenty of sights to be seen. Apparently, shirts are not required at blue collar venues. And believe me, these guys could not be bothered with covering their tats or bellies. There were a few that deserved to strut their stuff, although a beach venue would've been more appropriate in my opinion. The rest of the guts strutting around were not so pleasing to the eye.
Then there was “red dress” chick. I'm thinking she was a concert virgin. She just had no clue what she was walking into. I'm giving her the benefit of doubt. See how nice I am? The shoulders were missing. But there were parts of sleeves above her elbows. The neckline allowed for much lovely cleavage. And the rest of the spandex barely covered her curvy ass. Oh and you know she had the hair and makeup to go with the dress and heels. Yup. Sure did. She let everyone know she was proud of her stuff. All I could do was stare and shake my head.
All the while we're people watching we also have an Eric side show right in front of us. This guy LOVES Eric Church. No, I mean REALLY LOVES Eric Church. He was dancing and singing with so much passion and enthusiasm it was unmistakable. And it was every single song Eric played. He punched the air, stomped his feet, closed his eyes and got into it! He wasn't drinking or trashed. He was just enjoying the moment. He made us smile.
Eric is always good and fans always love him. I like a lot of his music but there's a lot I don't like. I think he played every one I don't like. Oh well.
Finally it's time for Kenny to take the stage. It was a little after 9 and he played non-stop for two hours. One song after another. There isn't anyone who delivers a show with more energy or enthusiasm. He's like an energizer bunny. It was nice to see him with a different crowd and doing different songs. Although any Kenny anytime is awesome. But he really shook it up this year doing different stuff. He did a number of old songs we haven't heard in a while and quite a few new ones as well. My favorite is always “Anyone But Mine” and it seemed to be a fan favorite since the stadium was lit up with phone lights as soon as he started it. It was beautiful. And hearing everyone sing it back to him just gives me chills every time. His voice at the end of that song? Oh my. Like silk. Just love it.
The rain started up again and at times it was coming down rather hard. Some left, for the rest it didn't phase us. Of course he always finishes at stadiums with “Boys of Fall” and picks someone to give a helmet to. Tonight he also gave away a signed guitar and he brought out Ben Rothlisberger to sign it as well. That was pretty cool. Kenny has a great relationship with the Steelers coach and team. An article was posted on his facebook page about him working out and hanging out with them yesterday. I'm sure that's part of why he loves playing Heinz Field.
And the final song is always “She Thinks MyTractor's Sexy.” A Kenny show is not complete without Tractor. He brought Chase Rice out to sing it with him. Umm, no. No one, and I repeat no one, should ever sing Tractor but Kenny. Period. When he toured with Tim, Tim butchered it big time.
As we were filing out of the stadium we figured it would be smart to potty again before the 45 min drive home and who knew how long it would take to get out of the parking lot. So as we went to walk into a restroom that said "women's", a guy walks out ... ??? Quickly on his heels is another man coming out with woman hot on his heels telling him it's a women's restroom. She showed him the sign - it said women's. Poor guy was so confused, LOL. Cari and I just went to another one. We'd had enough of that stuff.
Now it's time to walk back through the parking lot to get to our car. We sure hope the trash isn't as bad as it was two years ago. Well, I guess it wasn't but it sure ain't good either. There was crap all over the place. Damn partying college kids with no respect for anything or no one else. Surprisingly, we got out of the parking lot quickly and easily and had very little traffic back to the hotel. Of course it was still 2am before I turned out the light. It was a wonderful weekend spent with the Yewts doing something we do so enjoy. We're all very thankful for these times when we can be together like this. Road trip home tomorrow. 😪
