I won tickets to see Phantom Planet, Blink182, and No Doubt in concert yesterday. So, by noon, I was heading home and getting myself ready.

I went down to Phoenix with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece. It was to be my niece’s first concert (she’s 5) and No Doubt is her favorite group. We sang songs on the way down. She also gave me a manicure…a few times over…

My brother called his best friend to meet us there since I had the one extra ticket.

It was hot and we had to stand in line. We had grass seats (well, I had reserved seats but I wanted to sit with them and they had grass seats). But we couldn’t bring in any blankets (although we normally can).

We got in towards the end of Phantom Planet’s set. They were pretty good for an up-and-coming band. We found a nice place on the grass. The grass was itchy but soft. People sat in front of us and started smoking cloves and cigarettes. Then another person sat right next to us and started smoking. I had a sore throat within minutes of being there.

But I wasn’t going to let it get to me.

Blink182 was actually good. They were a fun and lively band to watch. Their light show was fantastic. They didn’t get done until about 9 p.m.

The set up for No Doubt took 1/2 hour. Willow was SO excited. We started challenging one another about which song they would open with…I said “Hey Baby”. My niece said “Spiderweb”. My sister-in-law said “Just a Girl.”

I’ve seen No Doubt in concert before. They are a great live band. Their songs are even better in person because they make it personal.

The lights go down…and Queen’s “We Will Rock You” starts playing…and Gwen is singing along to it from behind a curtain.  The crowd of about 20,000 goes wild. It’s madness. People are jumping and cheering and yelling.

All of a sudden, familiar rifts are being played…and she starts singing “Just a girl.”

We all have hoarse voices today. We’re a bit sore from dancing so hard. I’m exhausted because of 2 hours sleep (we got home at 3 and I get up at 5:30…but woke up at 5…for work).

It was definitely worth it, though. Definitely.