Although technically not summer, the show that kicked off my Summer Concert Series was on April 13, at the ShowBox Sodo in Seattle. This was show number one that I drove 275 miles (each way) to attend. And for the band that night, I would do again in a heartbeat. The band, Counting Crows. I went to this show with my sister Linda, and we had an amazing time. We got to the club early, so we could be sure to get a good spot in front of the stage. I get really bad concert anxiety, and hate being late to a show. Lucky for us, we were some of the first through the door, and made it right up to the stage, just off to the right, in front of David Immerglück and Dave Bryson. While waiting for the show to start, the Crows' drummer, Jim Bogios, came out on the stage and was chatting with some people next to us. We also started chatting with him, about their new record, Underwater Sunshine. He also signed our ticket stubs for us.
The opening band that night was a band called Mean Creek. They were pretty good. They will be on tour again this Fall with Counting Crows. After a brief set change over, the tell-tale sign of the show starting, Lean on Me played over the speakers and the Crows took the stage. The band was amazing, but they always are. One really cool part of the night was when my sister turned to me and said "Immy just looked right at your tattoo and smiled" (I have a tattoo on my left wrist that is the shooting star from the cover of the Crows's album Recovering the Satellites) and a couple other times during the night, I made eye contact with him and he smiled at me. So that was pretty cool. The whole night was beyond fantastic, standing two feet away from some of my favorite people all night, getting so sucked into the music that I didn't even notice the hundreds of other fans behind me (I also really don't like large groups of people in small spaces, but for Counting Crows, I'll deal with it.) The high from that night kept me going for weeks. 
The next show I saw wasn't until May 27. Luckily, that show was here in Spokane so I didn't have to go to far for it. That band, Brown Bird. Brown Bird is an amazing folk duo from Rhode Island. I won't go too much into that show, as you can read all about it here.
There was a lull between the Brown Bird show and the next show I went to, which was July 5, in Seattle. The going to this show wasn't planned, it was very spur of the moment, I decided just a couple days before hand that I would go. The band this time, Kasey Anderson & The Honkies. I had known that they were playing the show in Seattle on the 5th, but wasn't sure if I could/would go, but then a couple days before the show, my ipod seemed to only want to play Kasey Anderson & the Honkies. I posted about this on twitter, asking if it were a sign that I should drive out to the show. Kasey Anderson replied, saying "I AGREE WITH THIS" so of course I had to go. Luckily, I just happened to have the 5th and 6th off so I could drive over for the show. I went with my sister Linda (she's my go-to concert buddy) and her boyfriend. While we were sitting at the bar waiting for the show, we saw Kasey walk by a couple times, bringing in his equipment and such. Linda kept urging me to go introduce myself, but I didn't want to bother him while he was busy with band stuff, however, I didn't have to introduce myself, one of the times as he walked by, he looked over at us, and said to me "You made it!" So that was neat, didn't have to introduce myself, he knew who I was. After the show I got a picture with him and thanked them for the awesome show.
The rest of July was uneventful. My next show was Heartless Bastards on August 2. Again, this show I won't go too much into, as you can read about it here. This show was here in Spokane, and I went with my cousin Heidi. We had a great time. We got to meet the band, get pictures and autographs, and listen to some amazing rock and roll.
Probably the greatest, most amazing show of my entire summer was the Outlaw Roadshow in Sandpoint, Idaho on August 10. The show was four bands: Kasey Anderson & The Honkies, Field Report, Tender Mercies and Counting Crows. Here is the full review of that show, and all the wonders that it entailed. In short: I got to meet Adam Duritz and Dan Vickrey of Counting Crows, Chris Porterfield of Field Report, again being like 4 feet away from my all time favorite band. Tender Mercies were brilliant, Field Report phenomenal (I can't wait for the record to be released) and the Honkies great as always. The whole night was fairly magical, OK more than fairly.
A couple weeks later it was back to Seattle for Brown Bird again. This band really is brilliant. It's truly amazing the music they can produce with just two people, with MorganEve Swain playing the upright Bass, cello or fiddle, and Dave Lamb on guitar or banjo and doing the percussion with foot pedals. Fantastic stuff. The show was at the Tractor Tavern in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle. When we got there we hit up the merch booth and got an uber cool tour poster, said "Hi" to Dave Lamb and their tour manager guy (I can't remember his name,) who remembered me from the Spokane show. I was impressed by the size of the crowd at the show, it was great to see so many people there to support Brown Bird. Everyone was very into the music. When Brown Bird thanked the crowd for coming out, Dave mentioned that someone came all the way from Spokane to see them. That's me. Totally got a shout out from the band. 
The show that ended my Summer Concert Series was a band that I'd already seen twice this summer, but a band whom I very much enjoy: Kasey Anderson & The Honkies. The show was on September 2. I was surprised that I was able to go to this show, that I was able to get the weekend off, being that it was Labor Day weekend. But alas, I found myself on the 275 mile drive from Spokane to Seattle for some rock and roll. My trusty concert buddy, Linda, and I ventured out to the Tractor Tavern for the show. The Honkies played second, first up was Star Anna, accompanied by Kasey Anderson and Ty Bailie. The Honkies' set was on FIRE (not literally, of course.) Although this was the third time this summer that I had seen Kasey Anderson & The Honkies, I have yet to hear them perform my favorite song of theirs: Don't Look Back. But there'll be more shows, more time for that. One thing that I noticed, or really my sister noticed, about the crowd at that show, as while it was abundant, most of the people were well out of our age demographic. Pretty sure we were some of the youngest people there, and we aren't really that young. Still, the show was great. We didn't stay for the final band that night, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, we had to get home to my sister's kids. 
So all in all I had one amazing summer. Pretty sure I put at least 2500 miles on my car this summer, just driving back and forth to Seattle and Idaho for shows (this is not including the two other times I drove over for family events) Sadly with Fall coming up I won't be able to travel as much for shows, as I'll be starting school at Eastern Washington University to finish up my B.S. in Geology. This is extra sad because I won't be able to catch Counting Crows on their fall tour, which would require more than a road trip, but an air trip, coz they aren't playing anywhere here in Washington. But I know they'll be back, someday. I hope next summer can live up the memories of this one. It really was quite epic for me.
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