Surprise Concert: Sting + Paul Simon

The same weekend Bill and I attended the BBC Good Food Show, I got a text from one of my friends. The text said, 'Hi! I have an extra ticket to Monday night's Sting + Paul Simon concert in Manchester. Want to go with me?' I didn't even hesitate before texting back, 'Yes!' 

Duh! Who wouldn't want to go to that show?!

Seventh row seats!!

I booked us dinner at a Cuban-inspired restaurant in Manchester I had found online that ended up being psudo-hispanic tapas. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned, but it worked, and we were within walking distance to the concert arena. We had downed a pitcher of sangria when we realized we had to pay the tab and head out if we didn't want to miss anything. It's a good thing we left the restaurant when we did, because there was no opening act and we almost missed the first song!  

And a seated audience

We followed the signs as best we could and found our seats in section 103 in the bleachers, but someone was already sitting in them! The first song had already started as we realized we were supposed to be on the floor, not up in the bleachers, D'oh! We excused our way back out of the row and found an escort to help poor, tipsy us. We got walked down to the floor, closer and closer and closer, until we found our seats -- in ROW 7!! My friend's husband purchased the tickets but had to go out of town on business at the last minute; she did not realize how awesome the seats were and we were both so excited! 

From the nearby jumbotron

The other thing that was really interesting was that the majority of the audience remained seated for the whole concert; well, all the way up to the final encore of Cecilia and Every Breath You Take. What a great thing for a short girl — a seated audience so I could see! 

Such close seats!

What a blast! Sting was good, but Paul Simon rocked the house! Everyone finally got up and boogied during You Can Call me Al and stayed standing as Sting returned to the stage as they sang the final two songs together. 

                                    

Concerts are always fun, but surprise concerts are the BEST!