Oh my goodness so tonight is the night to see Leon Bridges and it feels as though I’ve had these tickets forever (I have had them for a long time though). The ticket for this show was a little more than usual but still within my budget plus it came with a copy of his Good Things CD (latest album). This is the 1st show that I’m actually attending at The Anthem and in looking around it’s quite big in here. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry about parking as I have an aunt that lives around the corner so I just parked there and walked over. In line outside (thankfully there wasn’t one) I ran into an old co-worker and a promo buddy. I chatted in line with them as to what’s been going on lately work wise and we left off promising to network opportunities amongst each other.

    Going through security was a breeze and since it was my 1st time actually attending a show I wanted to look around a bit. I went up to the 2nd floor (there are 3 floors) and walked around then opted to go ahead downstairs and find a spot on the floor (it wasn’t crowded yet). So I take my position center left on the floor right next to a tall man (I just can’t win) hoping he won’t get in my way throughout the night. Looking around it reminds me a lot of how the MGM’s venue is for shows. It’s not as big but it fairs pretty close. Now that I know that upstairs is seating I will keep that in mind when buying tickets here (although the general admission ticket was already pricey for this).

    Hearing that this is a sold out show I know it’s going to get packed on this floor and the girl in front of me has already stepped on my foot twice due to people moving in and out and going back in forth. We’ll see how this goes…I just hope they start on time because I hate standing for a long time (especially squished in the same spot). Thank goodness the show began on time and the opening band was Khruangbin a trio from Houston, TX that mostly performed instrumental songs. They were ok although their music was a bit weird but they did play some songs that the crowd seemed to recognize at one point that got is more into the groove of things. They performed about a total time of 45 minutes. I’m guessing Leon will go on at about 9:15 ish.

   Suddenly this couple comes out of nowhere trying to rush to get closer to the stage. There was clearly no room for them and things like this irritate me so much at shows because I’m not trying to be all up on someone and I was here first. Thankfully the two women in front of me weren’t having it and when the couple realized that they stopped beside me. The woman asked if I wanted to move in front of them (she had no idea I wasn’t about to let them stand in front of me and block my view so I popped up right in front of the guy but beside the woman. She kept wanting to inch forward more but her boyfriend told her to chill that they had already done enough. She insisted yet ending up staying put and not long after that I see her nudge forward forcefully. The woman behind did in fact aggressively bump into her and she turned around and pretty much told her, “Excuse me, you just aggressively bumped into me.”

  The girl behind her basically looked at her like so what and said, “Excuse you did you bump into me…Are you ok…Had a little too much to drink?” Ugh I’m sitting there rolling my eyes like, “You have to be kidding at a Leon Bridges show y’all tryna fight?” To be quite honest part of me just wanted to move out of the way in case drinks and hands went flying right beside me and they went back and forth so much I wanted to move just to let them duke it out if they wanted to, Luckily for the most part the boyfriends didn’t get too involved except for trying to calm each of their girlfriends down to keep from fighting. I’m happy to announce that no fight happened and by now Leon Bridges was coming out to perform. I loved his stage set-up for it had that old school dance vibe with the backgrounds showing “LB” with art on the screen behind it and even a photo outline of Leon.

    By now everyone was dancing and swinging to the music and the energy that Leon was giving. He sang every song as far as I can remember on his latest album except “Bet Isn’t Worth The Hand” (although he could’ve sang it and I just didn’t catch it). He sang more songs than I thought to where if he stopped earlier on I would’ve been alright. The frustrating thing was getting pictures for two reasons: 1) Leon constantly moved around the stage and hardly ever stayed still making it hard to focus and 2) The girl’s friend in front of me had big hair and wanted to record and capture everything it seemed like and so did all the tall men in front and beside me making it difficult a far as timing to get pics. Nevertheless I managed.

    Leon’s energy was electric and he had us doing new dances to songs and he even got us doing some crowd participation with singing. His band was amazing and talented and he sounds amazing live. Performing for well over an hour there was no point in which I was bored but around the third to last song I was ready to go. I began to get hot, tired and was beginning to feel a little sick. Thankfully though I made it to the last song but made it towards the back as the band took their final bows. It was a good show and well worth going to. If you get a chance to see a show on his Good Thing tour please go.

The next upcoming show will be Maxwell and Marsha Ambrosius this coming Saturday.