Concert Katie

the same song over and over again

March 2025

Banana Ball

Savannah Bananas vs Party Animals in Savannah

Katie No Comments

Last year after my birthday game got rained out, I opted to get a credit for a game for the next season.  I thought I would be able to use it for any game, but was told I could only use it for another game in Savannah so I ended up choosing March and then went wild and got myself tickets to all of the games that weekend.  I was hoping I’d be able to make it a weekend with friends, but unfortunately that didn’t end up working out so I rented a car and went solo, but I still think I made the most of it.  There was only 1 item on my list that I  wanted to do and didn’t get to make happen this time.

I left Thursday bright and early and was absolutely shocked to see how packed the airport was compared to my last time there. The valet parking was beyond packed and there was by far the longest pre-check line I had ever seen since they moved it to its new location!  I made it to Baltimore and on to Savannah without any issues and was not really surprised to see they were getting ready for St Patrick’s day.  I went to pick up my rental car and then waited in the lot for it to hit 11am because I needed to grab tickets for Hanson Day weekend.  Once those tickets were secured, I made my way to Grayson Stadium to take some photos and hit up the banana stand.  I got a bananas and party animals foam finger and some others bananas merch, then I went to the green truck pub to get something to eat as it came highly recommended.   Then I made it to the Savannah History Museum to see the bench from Forest Gump as well as some Girl Scouts and other items from Savannah’s history and then it was time to head back to the hotel to try and stay up as late as I could, despite being exhausted.  I made it to about 9pm.

Friday I had scheduled an electric car tour with Savannah Cruzers, whom I highly recommend.  I did a combo tour of historic Savannah as well as Bonaventure Cemetery. They were happy to pick me up right at the hotel door and I ended up being the only one on the tour along with Miss Nancy, a ride along.  The tour was about two and a half hours and I got to see so much more than I would have if I tried to go around by myself.  The car is interesting looking, I kept saying it was the Pope mobile, and we got a lot of laughs and weird looks and waves as we were touring around.  It was also recommended that I read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, so I have just started that, as there were several locations pointed out to me during the tour.

Then it was time for my first game of the weekend! This would be my only time seeing the bananas play the party animals all season and my first time seeing the party animals at Grayson.  I had VIB so I checked in around 4:15 and at 4:45ish they let us in.  I ended up getting photos with Andy Cosgrove, Tanner and his whole table which included Fisher, Baber, Swan and Andy, and then with RAC, and KJ.  They didn’t have any Party Animals posters yet, so I had everyone just sign the bananas poster – which led to party animals drawing faces on KJ 🙁    Although it was pretty cold, the game was a lot of fun, Andy Cosgrove hit a home run and so did Dan Oberst and the Party Animals won.  After the game I hit up the merch tent and got myself a Pharty plush – AND he farts.  Then I ordered a delivery potato from spudnik to the hotel.

Saturday I had wanted to hit up the Juliette Gordon Lowe house, but the cost of an uber there and back was so high, I decided it wasn’t worth it and took it easy. I went to Walmart and got some Party Animals merch and then took a drive out to Tybee Island.  I had regular grandstand tickets for this game and after claiming my seat went to check out the (free) food options.  It was a beautiful night for baseball and I didn’t need to be wearing my hoodie so I was able to use it to save my spot.   My Birthday Buddy Reece led off the game with a Home Run, Bloomer also had a home run in the same inning, Baber had one in the following inning and the Party Animals won again!

Sunday when I woke up it was raining and the weather seemed to look like it was going to rain all day.  I got to the field early, put a poncho on and got ready for VIB Round 2. This time I brought my Party Animals pennant to solve the problem of them not having a poster.  Due to the rain, the meeting was on the concourse, so I had to go back and forth to get up the ramp, but it kind of forced you to meet all the players who were up there, so I got tonnnns of signatures.  I ended up getting photos with Bronny, Tanner, Reese and KJ.  (Funny enough, the 3 bananas I got photos with all hit HRs the following weekend at Raymond James Stadium – the NFL stadium – coincidence?)  Andy Archer didn’t like that I had my Party Animals hat on but I let him know that I switched my jersey from the past 2 games so that should hopefully help the bananas win – and sure enough – I was right.  No Home Runs for the Party Animals but there was one for RAC!  After the game I loaded up my luggage with my last minute merch purchases (All-Star baseball cards) and made my way to the airport.  Somehow the weather cooperated for the game.

I returned the car and made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare – 2 planes took off before mine – got some dinner and was beyond ready for my own bed.  When we landed in Baltimore we landed in some weird area of the airport and they weren’t sure how to work the jetbridge.  Finally it worked, but they had no wheelchair pusher.  I was stranded but was assured someone had been called.  Finally someone came and got me to the gate for Hartford and all was well.

Despite being alone I had a lot of fun at the games and am looking forward to going to many more this summer! Even if August is my next bananas game and as KJ said, is “sooo far away!” (But I’m sure will be here before I know it!)

Other Event

&Juliet with Joey Fatone

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After getting snowed out our first attempt to see Joey Fatone in &Juliet, our second attempt ended up being one of the coldest days of the year – but we made it! After brunch at Serendipity in Times Square we made it to the theater and settled into our seats, happy to see that Lance would indeed be played by Joey Fatone for the matinee.  For just a few months since we had seen the sing a long wit JC, it seemed like a lot of the cast had changed – In addition to a new Lance, we also got a different Juliet, Anne, Shakespeare (although I thought he was the same *shrugs*) and Lady Capulet. Some of my favorites – May, Angelique, Romeo and Francois were the same actors.  As we had decided during the first viewing – Joey was indeed perfect for the role of Lance and did a fantastic job and since we still have tickets and he recently extended his run through spring/summer, we just may have to see him again when it gets warmer.

After the show we waited at the stage door and got a whole bunch of signatures from the cast, but unfortunately, Joey never came out. If you follow him on socials – this was the chicken gate day!  Better luck next time!

Concert

Matt Nathanson King of (Un)simple Tour

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When Matt announced this tour, I was bummed there wasn’t a CT date, but then I realized that Port Chester was about 3 minutes over the CT border, so I got myself a ticket, a pre-show hang and Premium Parking.  I also was pretty excited to see Lisa Loeb open as well.  I typically don’t like to go to new venues by myself, but figured I’d risk it.  Then 9:45pm the night before the show I got an email that because I had the pre-show hang and the doors for that were before the doors for the premium parking lot, I was going to be refunded for parking and would need to find somewhere else to park.  A huge part of why I had decided to go to this show was because of the guaranteed parking!  It seemed that the Metro North lot across the street was listed as a place to park, but once I arrived it said that it was for customers only, but I took another risk – $4.90 for the evening as compared to $55 for the premium lot.

We were told to show up between 4:30 and 5 for the preshow hang, I got there just about 4:30 and a line had already formed.  I checked in and got my lanyard, and then they handed out our posters and merch item (a pennant!) in case we wanted to bring it back to our cars as we wouldn’t be able to leave the venue once we were inside. The hang was about an hour, included Matt singing 3 songs that weren’t going to be in the set – he said the setlist could be up to 20 songs and the wheel could be 25 songs so the options for the hang were slim.  It also included questions from the audience which got pretty deep and then a group photo.

Lost Myself in Search of You
All We Are
Impossible People

After the hang we were sent to the lobby and had to wait for 6:30 for doors to open.  I then went to my seat, only to then get an email from the venue that the show wouldn’t start until 8pm. not 7pm like I had expected and that Rachel Yamagata would be opening, not Lisa Loeb. (Turns out Lisa had an emergency and I guess it was announced on socials around 2:30, but I was getting ready to leave for the show then and missed it)  With the free time I ended up finishing my book for the podmeetsworld book club – I had one chapter left when Rachel took the stage and finished that last chapter seconds before Matt took the stage. Couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.

Rachel was joined by Michael Chaves, who I thought I recognized and Matt later mentioned that he worked with him and knew him from Mayer’s circle.  She said her songs were more dark and down and great if you were going through a divorce and also said she was now getting into songs about aliens.  Rachel was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed her set, though I do hope I will get to see Lisa at some point in the future.

At 9pm it was time for Matt to take the stage.  He started by telling us he had his “boat tote” with him and that he was not supposed to talk for the first 3 songs, his set list said to not talk for the first 3 songs and all he wanted to do was talk. He made it through Map at the Mall, Giants, and Faster and then introduced us to the Wheel of Song.  The wheel has various topics, albums and some straight up just song titles. He went through all of the panels on the wheel and explained them all to us and then gave the wheel its first spin and it landed on the song Different Beds.  The second spin ended up being Kiss Quick, but since he had just done another slower song he decided to spin again and try and get something more upbeat and then do Kiss Quick after. He ended up getting “Stop Thief!” which was either songs he stole from others or songs other stole from him.  He ended up doing his song Princess (which was also on the Wheel and he was mildly concerned he may end up having to play it twice because you can’t defy the wheel because in NJ he tried to and the power went off on the whole block – the only thing still lit up was the wheel because it is battery powered!) and mixed in Jesse’s Girl by Rick Springfield which he claims he stole from instead of having to play the song that was stolen from him.  Which I am glad he didn’t have to play because I definitely didn’t want to hear it. (Google Matt Nathanson followed by a T if you don’t know who it is).  He brought out Rachel to sing backup vocals on his song Vampires and the final wheel spin landed on Show Me Your Fangs – at first he freaked out because he thought it was the song and then realized it was the album.  The crowd started going wild screaming for Bill Murray but he said that they’d do 2 songs from the album, since  they just were practicing Adrenaline in soundcheck (also a song on the wheel) and then did Bill Murray to satisfy the crowd requests.  The show concluded with a Suspended sing a long, Used to Me, Move to the Moon with a nice speech about being kind to everyone and treating others the way you want to be treated especially with the political climate and finally with a Come on Get Higher sing a long.

Upon making it back to my car it was still there and no ticket, so lucky me for saving myself $50 on the evening, but I am not sure I would go to this venue again alone. (There also were a few steps to get to the orchestra which I needed help navigating which fortunately I was able to find an usher or other fans to help me out)

Matt Nathanson Setlist Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, USA 2025, King of (Un)Simple Tour

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