Blue Thursday

FOOTBALL FANATICS:  Yesterday was an epic adventure. It marked the opening day of the National Football League season, and since Seattle won the Super Bowl last season, the Emerald City got to play host to an amazing array of events to kick off the new season.

Several blocks downtown were transformed into the 2014 Game Day Village, and the kids and I rode the bus  down Thursday morning to check out the action.  

There were dozens of vendor booths, many of them giving out freebies and offering football-related activities.  One of our first stops was the Tostitos booth. There, we scored a few bags of their brand new Fajita Tostitos, which won rave reviews from CJ.  

The booth had a photo opp where you could pose with some Seahawks-themed props, and if you uploaded the pic to social media, you got a free dishtowel. We did that, but we also came back to the booth about an hour later, because THE Walter Jones was going to be there for photo opps. Not every day do you get to meet the Seahawks' best offensive lineman ever and a National Football League Hall of Fame member!

Mr. Jones is a very large man. :) And he was a very friendly man to the kids, too. I love this photo of him making room for Annabelle and her wings on the couch. 

And here's the smile-for-the-camera shot.

At the Bridgestone  booth we each got a pair of free sunglasses (hooray!), and the kids participated in a catch-a-pass activity, where you could really go for the ball without worry, as you were landing in a pit of foam,  

CJ was proud he got his mitts on the pigskin.

We stood and watched as one Seattle Police Department member gave it a go. Love how he really laid out for the ball.

The kids made a 'team pride' video in an NFL Network booth, and we saw Laywer Milloy, former UW Husky great and NFL player, on stage for a couple of minutes. 

There was an entire block dedicated to kids' activities.  CJ and Annabelle each designed their own penalty flag.

They also designed Under Armour shirts. As a reward, they got a free headbands. They completed a Play 60 obstacle course (pictured on the blog lead), and got Under Armour shirts for doing so! (We donated one of them to Rick's class as spiffs.)  

We visited the Topps sportscards booth, and each of us got two packs of Topps. (We also gave those to Rick to use as rewards for his classroom.) And they played a game where they threw footballs at a screen, trying to hit a receiver. 

At a little after noon, we made our way to CenturyLink stadium to meet Christian.

A week or so ago, I saw a link to request priority "seating" right next to the stage for a special Soundgarden and Pharrell Williams pre-game concert via 1iota.  We had to check in at 12:30 at the stadium's south entrance, and then the wait was on. They held us in a concrete pen until about 2, at which point, oddly, they marched us back outside the stadium all the way to the north  parking lot. No idea why they didn't just have us check in there to begin with ...

So we got to our 'seating' area, and it was just asphalt. No bathrooms, and the only luxury was $3 a pop bottled water. I shooed the kids and Christian to the far side of the stage, and there, we found refuge - a two foot slice of shade along the front rail. That would be our home for the next 2.5 hours. 

A veteran of festival 'seating' concerts, I showed the kids how to stand to protect your space (arms and legs spread, braced against the front barricade). 

Soundgarden came on a little after 3. They rocked HARD. The bass was so heavy, our clothes were shaking even when we were standing still! 

 Lead singer Chris Cornell has no trouble hitting the crazy notes live.

After Soundgarden, Pharrell Williams was up with a fun set.

Here are the kids' reviews of the concert.

CJ's review: 

On September 4th, I went to see a concert near CenturyLink Field that featured Soundgarden and Pharrel Williams. At about 12:30, we entered the stadium and took a long walk, which probably shouldn't even be called a walk because a lot of it was just standing around, impatiently waiting for the concert. At one point, we *finally* got to the outside, hoping to see the stage...... Only to have to walk even more (thankfully, quickly to the stage).

One we finally got to the stage, we waited shortly to see a nice little documentary about the Seahawks' last season, all which led up to Super Bowl XLVIII, which was in my opinion the Seahawks' greatest victory in their forty-year history.

Now, finally on to the big show, the concert opened with Soundgarden, more specifically, their song "Flower". Their performance was very entertaining, and I am happy to say that Soundgarden's performance was my first Grunge concert.  The rest of Soundgarden's setlist includes their songs Been Away Too Long, My Wave, Spoonman, Outshined, and Rusty Cage. Following Soundgarden's gig, we got to see Pharrel Williams perform, including some songs he was involved in, like Blurred Lines, Get Lucky, and his most famous song, Happy. [1]

In the end, I was very satisfied with the concert.

[1] Notice: Sadly, I couldn't find the full version of Pharrel Williams' setlist online.

Annabelle's review: 

On September 4, 2014, I went to see Sound Garden and Pharrell Williams perform in front of CenturyLink Field for the Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers football season opener. I am "Happy" to say the game ended in a Seahawks win. Here is my review of the concert:

First off, there was Sound Garden. Their music was very good, and my hearing was a bit funny after Sound Garden played, because it was very loud. My favorite song was Spoonman, named after Artis the Spoonman, a street performer in Seattle originally from California.

Next there was Pharrell Williams, who played all the songs that you would expect him to: "Hot in Here", "Beautiful", "Drop Like It's Hot", "Blurred Lines", "Get Lucky", and of course, a Pharrell Williams concert wouldn't be complete without his smash hit from Despicible Me 2, "Happy"! 

The concerts were great, and definitely worth the wait. The bands were amazing, and i got a free t-shirt! I also forgot to mention, the most epic part of the concert would have to be the very end of the song "Happy", being the last song in the concert. At the end, tons of Seahawks colored confetti shot out onto the crowd, all at the same time! My brother, CJ and I took huge piles of confetti home. The concert was truly awesome. 

The concerts ended at about 4:45, and the game started at 5:30. It was kind of weird to be walking away from stadium as others streamed in, but oh well, we had a fun day without having to see the game in person, Instead, we headed to West Seattle for a viewing party at Rick's house, which was big fun!

We headed home during the third quarter. It was a beautiful drive, and fun driving past the stadium, listening to the game on the radio and feeling the energy emanating from the CLink!  That, and the view to the west was amazing!