Private Show in San Francisco

I arrived in 'the city by the bay' around three in the afternoon. The band wasn't getting in until later that night so I dropped my luggage in the room and headed out to explore. San Francisco is one of my very favorite cities. My family moved up north to the east bay when I was in middle school. We would take weekend trips into the city, eating our way from Fisherman's Wharf to Chinatown.

We stayed on 3rd and Market, an area I wasn't familiar with, so I asked the concierge what I should see in the area. She handed me an embarrassment of a map with colorful cartoon drawings of the city and fold outs so big I had to hold my arms straight out to the side to see the whole thing. I smiled as she drew walking paths to the closest tourist spots. I stepped out onto the street and tried to read my giant map from the safety of my purse, with no luck I decided to follow my instincts.  I turned the corner and found Union Square.

It was a beautiful day for an afternoon stroll so I picked up some kettle corn from the local farmer's market and snacked while I window shopped and people watched.  The amount of people completely tripping out on drugs all over the streets was ridiculous. One guy was banging his head against the pavement while singing what sounded like "Spice Up your Life." What a sad way to be reminded of such a great song. There were people smoking all sorts of drugs right on the street and I even saw a drug deal go down that involved a white powder in a plastic baggie. You come to your own conclusions.

Daniel Wayne finally arrived. The three weeks apart were miserable but the reunion was so sweet. We ordered in food and went to sleep early. We're boring but it was bliss. 

On the day of the show, we had all morning and early afternoon to do our own thing so we wandered around town, checked out a few shops and stumbled upon my new favorite street named Maiden. I have a history of falling in love with streets all over the world. It's happened in New York, Amsterdam,  Lisbon, even LA. That is how we found our Hollywood apartment, we drove up Beachwood Dr. and I knew we had to find a home on that street. It's difficult to explain why I have such a fondness for certain streets, sometimes it's the way the trees frame the road, other times it's the architecture or the view but I just get a witch vibe about it. Maiden St. has this cute european feeling, it's narrow and closed off to traffic with lights strung between the buildings. We ended up eating at an outdoor cafe on that street called, Bistro 69. We split the salmon burger on Brioche and the lentil soup. SO SO good! You should go, eat there and say hello to my street for me!

The show that night was a private event for a tech company hosted at The Giants baseball field. There were carnival rides and games, large stuffed animal prizes and performances by Imagine Dragons and Train. We got to meet Train in all their glory. They were very kind but it took everything for me not to sing-out, "Meet Virginia, yea-e-yea!" 

Soundcheck

Imagine Dragons performed so well! I love my first concert after a few weeks off, I dance a little dorkier, sing a little louder. I was surprised by how familiar the crowd was with the songs because you never know with those corporate events. They rocked out, sang along, iPhone-filmed and instagramed like teenagers. 

My baby on the jumbo-tron! 

Man next to me at the concert brought a fold-out stool. Now why didn't I think to that?

Fun fact: 

In 2009, Train was one of the headliners at the Bite of Las Vegas but when the lead singer got sick Imagine Dragons' was called to fill in, performing for 20,000 people. They consider this one of their first "breaks." Things come full circle I guess:)