Before going to the concert, Ben and I first went to dinner at Bess Bistro on West 6th. The restaurant itself is pretty cool -- it is owned by Sandra Bullock and is below ground, but unfortunately, the food wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, so we probably won't be going back.
The good news though is that I was able to save some room for cotton candy. I'm pretty sure that I was the only adult in the Erwin Center with a bag of cotton candy, and I'm still trying to figure out who in their right mind would want a beer when they could have a bag of nothing but pure sugar instead. Crazy!
A quick picture of us in our seats and of the view from our seats before the show started.
I didn't even think to look up who was opening for Carrie that night but was pleasantly surprised when we got there. Although I had never heard of Sons of Silvia before, I was VERY excited about seeing Craig Morgan.Sons of Silvia came on stage first, but unfortunately, I wasn't very impressed.
Other than the little bit of bluegrass that they played, nothing else was that great. Part of it might have had a little to do with the fact that I couldn't quite get over how the lead singer looked. He was wearing some pretty heavy makeup, had his hair spiked up ALL over the place, and was sporting a really tight pair of black skinny jeans. It definitely was not the most attractive look that I've ever seen.
Craig Morgan, on the other hand, was an awesome performer. He had TONS of energy and was a lot of fun to watch. 
Although he was performing for an audience of over 7200 people, you would have thought that he was performing at a small bar with the way that he interacted with the audience. He looked as though he was having a blast up on stage and even did a fair amount of cracking jokes between songs. When introducing his newest song, he said, "If you like this song, please call your local radio station tomorrow and request it. And if you don't like this song, ... {pause} ... please call your local radio station tomorrow and request it. For those of you who don't know, I have 4 kids to raise, so I need all the help I can get. "
My favorite part though was when he jumped off the stage and ran right up the aisle that we were sitting on. He paused for a few seconds just on the other side of Ben. The whole time that he stood there, Ben kept saying, "take a picture," but I didn't even hear him. Apparently, I was somewhat starstruck and just sat there in awe. Haha. It wasn't until he ran off that I realized that I didn't get a picture. I did, however, reach over Ben to high-five him before he ran back down. Sigh... 
Another one of my favorite parts was when he mentioned that they liked to do a little something different when singing That's What I Love About Sunday live and started the song off with a little bit of Amazing Grace. It was so beautiful. 
And then, as if the night couldn't get any better, it was Carrie's turn to perform. Everything about her performance was amazing -- she has such a beautiful voice, she is absolutely gorgeous, and she is so full of energy. 
All of her outfits were beautiful. I counted 9 wardrobe changes total -- sometimes she just took off a longer skirt to reveal a shorter once, etc., but her accessories changed each time the lights came back on. While some people might find this a little on the excessive side, I loved it! From her monogrammed guitar straps to her gold and silver microphones (she used whichever one best matched her jewelry), everything about her was so "glitter and glam", and it was awesome.
All of the various props were pretty phenomenal, too. So many things came up out of the stage floor -- including Carrie herself, and she had 4 large screens behind her depicting whatever sort of extravagant scene went best with the song that she was singing.The concert started out with her coming up out of the stage floor and sitting on a bright red chaise lounge.
Later on, a tree branch lowered from the ceiling, and Carrie sat on a swing while singing her heart out.
At one point in the show, a silver piano rose from the ground, and she played it while singing Mama's Song -- a song written for her mother about how her fiance "is good, so good. And he treats your little girl like a real man should." A slide show with pictures of Carrie and her mom played on the screens in the background, and at the end of the song, a big picture of Carrie and her fiance Mike Fisher filled all 4 screens. Everybody went crazy.
Later on, Carrie came up through the stage floor in very dim light. She was wearing a really big dress, and there were stars twinkling in the screens behind her. As soon as she started to sing, her dress started twinkling, too. I'm assuming it was a LED screen that she was leaning against, but either way, it was so beautiful.
The next song was a little bit more lively. A light show started on the screens behind her, and the same light patterns swirled throughout her dress. It was so cool.
The best prop though was when the lights came on, and Carrie was in the back of a suspended pickup truck.
The truck proceeded to "drive" over all of our heads and throughout the Erwin Center.
The back of the truck said "CARRIE" (instead of "Chevy") in big white sparkly letters, and when she got to the back of the auditorium, the truck stopped, and she said "How are y'all doin' back here?" It was so cute.
Another one of my favorite parts was when she talked about how much she misses the Grand Ole Opry while on tour and said that she decided to bring the Grand Ole Opry to us. 
She started singing I Told You So, and before we knew it, Randy Travis showed up on the huge screens next to her, and they sang it "together" as a duet. It was awesome.
Towards the end of her performance, she talked about how much her first single Jesus, Take the Wheel still means to her, and immediately after she finished singing it, she started into How Great Thou Art. It was so awesome that it gave me goosebumps. It was definitely the most beautiful version that I've ever heard.
At the end of the night, Carrie thanked all of us for coming out and waved goodbye.
I thought that was the "end", but then again, what's a proper ending without a bunch of streamers and glitter falling from the ceiling?
I told you -- it was awesome! Thank you, Daddy, for such a wonderful birthday present. We had a blast! 
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