M'Lady and I flew Frontier out of Indy again. It is so much cheaper than flying out of Fort Wayne. So we drove the 2 hours to the airport, then the flight to Atlanta is 1 hour. Isaac picked us up and we spent Friday through Sunday at their house (they live about 20 minutes from the Atlanta airport). We ate at several neat places and generally just hung around the house most of the weekend. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable time.
Saturday night was the JATS show at the Summer Shade Festival at Grant Park in Atlanta. There were arts & crafts, food vendors, beer tents, and music all weekend long. It is a very cool place, and the main stage was set up sort of on a hill. As the name suggests, there were also plenty of shade trees.
We arrived for the 8:15 start time (for JATS) around 6:30. We got to talk to Jason and Warner both before and after the show, and there were also several people from the old Reckless Country Soup internet group that we were a part of. We got involved in that - exchanging group emails with other JATS fans - sometime in the mid-1990's. We have had a couple meet-ups, and I was surprised to see so many show up still in 2015. Let me see if I can remember who was there (that I talked to): Bobby & Nadine, Ned, Warren, Donald, Burton... and I know I'm leaving some people out. I also talked to Joe Blanton and his wife/gf (Nashville musician), as well as Warner's lovely wife (and JATS manager) Deb. There were obviously some other people we had been to shows with, because there were quite a few people with JATS shirts on, and a whole lot of people singin' along with every song they did. It was so cool.
As for the show, I didn't really pay much attention to details. I suppose they played about 2 hours. They did most of the standards - including Broken Whiskey Glass - but one I was surprised they didn't do was Hot Nights in Georgia (you know, since it was a hot night in Georgia). I also thought they sounded excellent and were in rare form - especially when you consider they only had one rehearsal before the show (according to Jason). While it's true they may not be able to physically do some of the things they used to do, for fans like us we are seeing way more than what's on the stage anyway. Seeing one of our all-time favorite live bands still playing in 2015 is an experience that not only takes us scorching down memory lane, but it gives one more taste of all the youth, energy, and excitement from our own lives, as well as the bands. It was a moving experience and I enjoyed it immensely. There were a few times Jane even had to reel me in and tell me to settle down. :)
I could probably write more, but there's no way to describe it very well. It was a fantastic weekend seeing Isaac & Ricci, Jason, Warner, and the other Scorchers, as well as so many RC Soup friends. A nice time, indeed. It was also supposed to rain all day Saturday and, other than a few sprinkles, it turned out to be a beautiful night.
Here's a link to a nice video shot by someone who must have been right in front of us in the crowd:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9fNBFgVLLs&feature=youtu.be
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| A pic I took on my phone. |