Mini Vacation: Mumford and Sons Concert
I used my first paid time off (PTO) hours this week. Before I took the new job I knew I was going to use my PTO this week because my brother and I bought tickets to see Mumford and Sons in Omaha before Thanksgiving. We’ve been “planning” for this trip for months. I mean that we both put in for two days off so we could do some fun stuff in Omaha, but we didn’t book a hotel until the week before the concert. And our only set plan was going to the concert. I guess you could say we planned for a lazy couple of days.
We left home after lunch on Tuesday and drove to Omaha. We rocked out to the Hamilton soundtrack for most of the drive, but switched to Mumford and Sons towards the end. One of my favorite things is singing in the car with Josef.
After we checked into the hotel we went to eat some supper at Wheatfields Eatery and Bakery. I highly recommend it. I’ve been there several times now, but wanted Josef to try it. After we enjoyed our sandwiches we split a piece of peanut butter cheesecake. So good.
Then it was time for the concert. I was worried about parking, but after an accidental turn we found a cheap lot within walking distance. It worked out great. We were cutting it close, though.
I will say that I got mildly annoyed at the Century Link Center. Our seats were in section 215. And our section was not on any of the signage around the facility. We finally decided that it must be up these four flights of stairs. So after a humid climb, we followed the signs to where 215 should have been—where an usher told us to go back downstairs and then around this curved wall to go up another set of stairs. Could we have asked an usher sooner? Probably. Oh well. Once we found our seats, Josef and I agreed that we were not leaving our seats until the concert was over.
We sat down as the opener was finishing up his set. I don’t know who it was, so I wasn’t devastated. And then we had to wait for a long time for Mumford and Sons to actually start. I want to take a second to point out that this was the biggest concert I’ve ever been to, as far as audience size goes.
The concert itself was fantastic. It was a great combination of old and new songs. At one point, Marcus, the lead singer, took off into the crowd as he sang. He sprinted down the side of the stadium and then bolted up into the stands about 3 sections from us. People were reaching out to touch him and be near him as he ran through the seats, all the while he was singing. A security guard followed close behind, but at times quite a gap formed between them—the crowd would part for Marcus but not for the guard. His ability to sing and run and dance all at once was impressive.
All concerts must come to an end—or at least they come to an encore. We clapped and clapped until they showed up on a small stage in the middle of the stadium behind the sound booth with a single microphone. They sang one song huddled around the microphone before they migrated to the main stage again. They probably played five more songs. It was fabulous. They played some of my favorite songs during the encore. The girls next to me left early, and I felt bad that they missed some great music, but I was also glad because it meant we could spread out a little bit.
In short, it was awesome and I would love to see them in concert again.
The next day Josef and I went to a burger joint for lunch and then we went bookstore hopping. I bought too many books—but it’s good for Book Review Tuesday.
We ended the trip with a stop to Jones Bros Cupcakes.
I find myself enjoying the brother-sister time a lot. In a little over a year, Josef and Hope will be married and things will be different. I won’t be able to hijack him for a couple days to go to a concert—I mean, I could probably convince both of them to go on mini adventures with me, but it won’t be the same.
Until then, I fully intend to enjoy the mini road trips and adventures in the next year.
