A week ago tonight

I sat in awe at the Wichita showing of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  It was an amazing show of vocals, instruments, lights and video!  I had heard great things from my brother when he had gone last year, so when my sister in law asked if Matt and I were interested in going with them we jumped at the chance. 

Our evening started with dinner at Genghis Grill.  Matt was the only one that had been before.  I’ll start by saying the food ended up very good, but I had major concerns.  If you’ve never been to Genghis and you’re not a good…or shall we say speedy decision maker than either don’t go or research before you do go! :)  You go through what is similar to a buffet, but the food is raw.  Start with picking the meat you want (crab, shrimp, chicken, steak, etc), season it (offered like 8 different seasonings), choose veggies (tons of options from classic stir fry, potatoes, etc) and your sauce (seemed like a kazillion options).  Once you’ve made your selections and feel like you’ve held up the entire line, the cook takes your bowl of food and sauce throws in rice (or noodles, pick your starch…yet another choice) and cooks on a VERY large open grill.  Once your food is complete they bring it to your table.  The whole time waiting on our food I questioned if I’d like what I just created…I mean I chose the ingredients, so there was no “sending it back to the kitchen” if it was gross! :)  I ended up liking it.  Next time no potatoes, try different sauces and noodles are for sure the way to go!!

After, um shall we say a brief detour thanks to Matt we neared the coliseum.  Wow was traffic a nightmare!! Guess I had really only been to a hockey game there and didn’t anticipate the traffic to back up so far down the highway!  They didn’t hold the show for us, but we only missed a little at the beginning.  Here’s my shots from the night…

Thought this turned out cool…

Good shot of the backup singers and musicians.

Fire, lots of fire! I was a bit worried about all the long haired musicians catching some flames as they swayed around in their 80’s rocker hairstyle.

 

Quite the show for the folks on the far end of the main stage! Awesome!  Our seats in the middle were perfect to see all the action!

Here’s a perfect example of the 80’s power ballad guitar stance used most of the evening!

Ending shot of the TSO group…

  

A shot of us…

While the concert was one of the most amazing I had been to (with my concert résumé consisting of U2, George Strait, Garth Brooks…think that’s about it…), I must admit I was equally if not more excited to hang out with this awesome couple for the evening.  We used to spend tons of time with Mandy (Matt’s sister) & Chris (Matt’s high school friend turned brother in law) BK (before kids).  With the addition of each child and busy work schedules we’ve slipped in to letting the business of life keep us apart.  That means it had been about 5 years since the 4 of us had been out “alone”!  It was soooo fun!  We have the best times together and manage to laugh until we hurt!  All three of them have the ability to speak complete conversations in movie lines…none of which I know as I’m missing that part of my brain.  I love them and their Libby dearly and hope that we don’t let another 5 years go by!