I have been playing a lot of music from OneRepublic’s new album in my yoga classes. I didn’t even know that I liked them so much until recently. I honestly had no idea that they sing that song Apologize and I’ve liked it for years! I heard on the radio on Thursday evening that they were playing in Charlotte the following night. I thought it sounded fun but the weather was supposed to be cold and rainy and it was an outdoor concert so I didn’t give it a second thought…

…Until late Friday afternoon when the weather cleared up and it ended up being a nicer day than expected. After a check of the hourly weather forecast and a search on Live Nation for tickets, I was purchasing third row center tickets for the show!

I have seen several shows at the Uptown Ampitheatre and it’s a great venue. It’s part of the North Carolina Music Factory which is an entertainment and music complex right on the edge of our downtown with restaurants, bars, comedy and music venues. It features easy parking and navigation. We had the car parked and were sitting down at VBGB to grab dinner for the show in less than 5 minute of arriving at the Music Factory. Dinner was black bean and corn quinoa salad with chips and boneless wings.

I can’t believe I wore jeans and a light sweater to a concert in North Carolina in August. Every other concert I’ve ever attended in August has been hot, sticky and sweat drenched. It was so nice!

We missed the opening bands but got to our seats about 10 minutes before OneRepublic came on stage.

I was so surprised that I knew all but about 2 songs that they played. I really enjoyed the show and the band was high energy and entertaining. I was dancing and singing along the entire time. The lights and visuals were really great too. I always appreciate when bands sound as good live as they do on the radio and that is definitely the case for OneRepublic. They mixed things up a bit by adding a cool Kanye Gravedigger cover and by sampling M83’s Midnight City in the encore. Loved it.

Here’s a little excerpt from Counting Stars. It gives you a good idea of the energy of the show and the lights/visuals.

So what was supposed to be a rainy and gloomy Friday night in Charlotte ended up being beautiful and fun! I’m so happy I decided to buy the tickets and see OneRepublic. I used to see so much live music and rarely do anymore. This reminded me that I need to get back to it! 🙂

What was the last concert you saw?