The other day I started telling you about a trip my wife and I tookwith two of our nieces to Grand Rapids, MI.

If you didn't check it out, you should really go back and read up. It will help you understand the rest of the story that I will be bringing you today.

We had finished up getting ready in our hotel room and it was time to try to get some dinner before we went to the show.

We took the short walk down the street to a place I have been to several times before. It is called Z's Bar & Restaurant and you can see my full write up here if you want more info. It is a really great little place and we had a very nice dinner there. The food and the service were amazing as usual. My wife and the girls had never been there before and they were all very impressed with my selection.

Leaving Z's, we took another short walk to the Van Andel Arena. It is a relatively small arena where a local hockey team plays. Additionally, they host a large variety of concerts there. My wife had never been to a show there and she quickly decided she would never hesitate to come to a show there again.

The size of the arena makes the seating fantastic with most all seats giving you a great view of the stage. The crowds were starting to pick up over in this area of town, so we quickly made our way through the security check and found our seats.

It had been a while since I bought the tickets, so I was not really sure where our seats were going to be. I was pleasantly surprised by how well I had done.

After we found our seats and got all situated to see Midland, Brett Young, and Thomas Rhett, the girls decided that they wanted to go buy a t-shirt. I took them down to the "merch" area to see what kind of stuff they had.

The lines were huge, but the people working the merchandise area were very quick and efficient. As we were standing in line the girls noticed that they were selling small glow sticks for people to use during the show. Here is the deal though... the glow sticks were $5 USD a piece. I told the girls "unless the glow chemical is mixed with Thomas Rhett's sweat, I don't think it is probably worth the five dollars".

They quickly piped in "yeah, I can buy a package of ten of them at the store for five dollars". It was pretty funny watching their reaction as well as the reactions of the people around us.

They soon decided on the style of shirt they wanted so I paid the worker and we were on our way. I love concert t-shirts, but I am not a van of the crazy prices they charge for them at the concert. $35 USD a piece for each of the shirts didn't seem too bad though and the style they picked out was really cool. They also both picked out the same shirt, so that was kind of sweet.

We headed back to our seats and got ready for the show to start. We didn't realize it, but it was 90's night at the arena, so they were playing lots of music from that era to get the audience pumped up and many people were dressed up in their 90's gear. I even saw a guy dressed up as Brittney Spears in a schoolgirl outfit. It was sort of disturbing!

Midland was the first opening act and for me they were the main reason that I wanted to go to this show. As I mentioned in my teaser post last weekend, they have a sort of old school country sound. It takes me back to the likes of Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, and Alan Jackson. Sadly because they were the first opening act, they only sang about five or six songs and then they were gone. I loved what they did though and sang along with pretty much every song!

Somewhere between one of the shows, I caught my niece next to me taking selfies. Not wanting to be left out, I felt like I should follow her lead and do the same. I tried to imitate her pose, but I don't think I pulled it off as well as she did. What do you think?

Next up was Brett Young and my wife was really excited to see him. Probably about as excited as I was to see Midland.

Brett Young is more of a ballad singer, but he has some upbeat songs and I really enjoy most of the ones I have heard. He just released a new album at the beginning of this month, so we weren't sure if we would hear new material or his older hits.

He mixed it up and play a great variety of his older songs as well as his new single that was just released. My wife and I found ourselves singing along to all the ones we knew. Sadly, being the second opening act, his set was very short and he was gone much sooner than we had hoped.

After another intermission, it was soon time for Thomas Rhett to take the stage. I didn't realize it until close to the end, but they actually had a DJ playing the music to hype the crowd. He was doing a fantastic job of playing the throwback 90's jams and the crowd was practically lit by the time Thomas Rhett appeared.

You can just make out the DJ on the platform at the lower part of the picture above.

Here are some final pictures from the show. Thomas Rhett did a fantastic job and played all of the songs that you would expect him to. Everyone was singing along to basically every song the whole show. It was fantastic.

In all, we had a fantastic time. Even though it wasn't my original plan, I am really glad that I got to share this experience with my nieces. They had a blast and it will be a memory they hold for a long time. I look forward to the next show I get to take them to.

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