Never Say Goodbye

Last night, I got to see one of my adolescent idols -- Bon Jovi -- in concert. I had the band's "Slippery When Wet" poster on my wall when I was 10, and thought they were the coolest thing since parachute pants and jelly shoes. Time has definitely treated them well, and they performed an amazing show. They played for 2.5 hours, and I was impressed. I kept thinking about how long they have been together -- more than 20 years -- and wondered how many others could last that long and still look like they're having fun! I was also impressed by Jon's voice and how great it sounds. And Jon ain't too bad on the eyes, either. He just gets better with age. (Hi Brian, Brian's mom and Brian's aunts.) They have performed more than 2,500 shows since the '80s and seemed as fresh as ever. (Bon Jovi, not Brian's mom and aunts. Although they're as fresh as ever, too.)

Daughtry (from American Idol) was the opener. He had a great voice and my favorite part of his performance (at least, the part of his performance we got to see ... see below for reasons of our tardiness) was when he joined Bon Jovi onstage for 'Dead or Alive'. That song pretty much rocks.

It was a comical night from start to finish. Four of us planned to meet downtown near the arena for dinner and drinks before the show. We decided to meet two hours beforehand, because this is Des Moines, and we would have plenty of time to walk over to the arena. Oh, contraire! (You mean when there is a sold-out concert, a lot of those people eat near the arena? That is weird.) Most establishments within walking distance had a two-hour wait. And we checked about 8 of them after getting caught in construction, going the wrong way down a few alleys, illegally parking and other mishaps along the way.

Then we jumped into Kate's car and finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel: Zimm's! We settled in about 6:15 or so. (A disclaimer on the menu should have been our first hint: "One must wait for good food." Or something to that effect.) A few sandwiches and drinks surely wouldn't take too long. Mwa ha ha ha! After being told we wouldn't have time for dinner, we ordered appetizers to ensure we could leave by 7 p.m. A mere FORTY MINUTES LATER, our appetizers arrived. Oh, and I delivered them to our table. (Our waitress was pretty busy.) These little things may not sound comical on a blog, but everything just kept getting funnier as the night went on. I don't think it had anything to do with the pitchers that Kate, Kim and Deborah downed while waiting on our scrumptous appetizers. Needless to say, we scarfed down four appetizers in 5 minutes and ran out the door.

But we had a great night full of good friends, good laughs and good music! What else could we ask for? Besides dinner, I mean. :-)

You can read Kate's version of last night at: http://www.itsmekate.blogspot.com/.

Thanks, girls, for a fun night!! Oh, and thanks to Bon Jovi, too.