Arizona Version of Country

Ok, so this post almost makes my stomach turn. A little rundown of my life: I grew up in Florida, Texas, and Idaho. There's a lot of rural in my blood. Fields surrounding a town seem par for the course. I am used to cotton fields, rodeos, and even dairy farms. I grew up with Reba, George Strait, and Garth Brooks. I know the early 2000's were terrible for country music, and I all but abandoned it. Then Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, and Brad Paisley stepped on the scene, and country got it's life blood back.
So when Brad heard a couple weeks ago that we could get free Brad Paisley tickets just for test-driving a Chevy, we showed right up and got the last two tickets!! Whoo-hoo!!
I changed my schedule all around so I could go (thank you Cami!), got my homework done, and then got ready.
Pulled on my jeans.
Slipped on my boots.
Dug out my John Deere hat.
And headed out to see Mr. Paisley himself.
Where I found myself confronted with this:

This is apparently Arizona Country Dress Code. I could have taken about a billion pictures just like this. A few hundred girls throw on their shorts, their white tank tops, their boots and hats from Scottsdale Fashion Square, and pretend to know one of the hundred songs that might be played that night. There was no "down home" feel, no broken-in cowboy hats, no electric energy that comes with the pure love of the music you're there to see. Which was further highlighted when I looked to my left and saw this:

Ed HARDY does not belong here. REALLY?!!!
But despite all this and my highly critical attitude, we had a blast. Back on the lawn, we sang along to most Dierks Bentley and loved Brad Paisley and all his redneck true cowboy-ness.
It was Everything We'd Ever Wanted. :-)
It was fabulous.