Needtobreathe all one word

Needtobreathe is my favorite band. I think I discovered them in 2007 and by "discovered" I mean someone probably told me about them because I rarely find cool things on my own. In 2008 Needtobreathe went from being that band that I thought was pretty good to the CD I couldn't get enough of. In 2009 my mom heard These Hard Times and asked if I knew her new favorite tune. My mom is so cool. She said the song was by a band called "need to breathe all one word."

In 2009 the CD I couldn't get enough of turned into my survival anthem. In the fall of 2009 Needtobreathe embarked on their Outsiders Tour and performed two shows in Birmingham, Alabama. Because I was unemployed, living out of a suitcase at my parent's house in Florida, was dangerously close to complete depression, and had nothing else to do, I drove 8 hours to Birmingham to see the concert. At the time, some of my favorite people in the world lived in Birmingham and I somehow convinced them to all get tickets to the show.

The 2009 concert is still the best concert I have ever been to. Needtobreathe blew me away and made me a fan for life. Not only was it a great show, but did I mention that I got to see it with some of my favorite people in the entire world? We had a great table that came with a waitress and immediate access to the full bar. Between the 7 of us at the table I am not exaggerating when I say we knew at least 1/3 of the people at the venue that night. It was a never ending parade of people coming to our table to say hello. In my mind, the only bad part of the night was the Canadian girl who opened for Needtobreathe. I don't care what you think Jared Brown, she was terrible.

In 2011, Needtobreathe released The Reckoning but I delayed purchasing it until January 2012 and listened to it for the first time as I crossed the starting line for the Disney Half Marathon. Thank you Needtobreathe for getting me through at least the first 6 miles of my 13.1 mile endeavor. I know I could have done it without you, but it would not have been nearly as enjoyable.

In March 2012 Needtobreathe was making a stop in Denver as part of The Reckoning Tour and my mom continued to call my favorite band "need to breathe all one word."

A few things about me and concerts before we proceed. First, I am not a "concert person." There are very few people/bands I care about seeing in concert. Second, I dislike concerts not only because of the fact that your ears are ringing for hours after the closing song, but I find them very intimidating. I feel like I always have to prove I am cool and trendy enough to be there and because I know I am not, I spend the entire night wondering if the people around me are tweeting Instagram photos of my obviously Old Navy outfit. Plus, pretending to be cool is downright exhausting. This concert started at 8pm on a Tuesday. Do I need to tell you how tired I was on Wednesday morning? Don't these cool, concert going, people have jobs? Third, I really hate crowds and big events.

Despite all of these truths, I love Needtobreathe so much that it didn't matter in 2009 and it certainly didn't matter in 2012. I convinced my friend Alicia to go with me and thankfully Needtobreathe did not disappoint. The music itself just might have been better than the 2009 concert. The opening acts were certainly better. I don't typically get crushes on band guys (probably because you have to go to their concerts) but for Ben Rector I am willing to make an exception. Ben and his bow tie were downright adorable - and anything was a step up from the trashy, Canadian girl with the mouth of a sailor. Also, I was pleasantly surprised when Needtobreathe played several songs from The Heat, which is my favorite of their albums. In the 2009 concert they strictly played music from their current album so I was happy they mixed it up a bit this time around.

The venue/bar was in a shady part of town, but once we got inside I knew it would be perfect and Alicia and I found a great place to take it all in - after the annoying, high school girls next to us left to make their 10pm curfew.

Still not sure how the typewriter theme set plays into the theme of The Reckoning, but it made for some cool effects.

 The lighting was so good. Props to the lighting guy and also to Chris Kulow for imparting just enough lighting knowledge to me so that I can intelligently comment on the lighting.

One of my favorite things about Needtobreathe is the fact that the lead guys are brothers named Bo and Bear. I want a son named Bear! There is a guaranteed cool factor that comes with a name like Bear. Also, I love that Bo and Bear are truly talented musicians. You lose count of the number of instruments they pull out during a show and they are phenomenal at all of them.

This was probably the one time I went to Denver and hoped I would not run into Tim Tebow. Bands that come to Denver (or wherever Tim is living for that matter) have a habit of inviting him on stage to "sing" if he is in attendance at their show. If you have never heard Tim sing then I recommend you search it on YouTube right this minute. It is as adorable as Ben Rector's bow tie, but you will also quickly realize why I put the word 'sing' in quotes. I love to watch Tim play football, but I do not need him on stage putting a new spin on a song I drove over an hour to see performed. It would be outlandish for John Fox to put Bo and Bear on the line for a 3rd down conversion in the 4th quarter. So why does everyone think it's such a great idea to throw Tim Tebow on a stage to muddle through some country band's latest hit?

One of the concert highlights was when Ben Rector came back out at the end to play a few songs with Needtobreathe. So much talent on that stage and I loved every minute.

I think everyone in attendance would agree the best moment of the show was a blue man type drum line at the very end. 

For your viewing pleasure