About ten years ago, my best friend Brittany and I attended our first concert together. It was the 92.5 WXTU 21st Anniversary Show in Camden, NJ. The concert was free, but you had to win tickets. Luckily her parents won a set of lawn seats and a set of reserved seats. At the concert that year, the three main acts were Phil Vassar, Jo Dee Messina and Montgomery Gentry (music genre country).
Since then we have gone to so many concerts that I have lost count of them. There was one summer when we went to at least a hand full of concerts all in Camden. I have also been to two concert venues in Arizona and some others here in Pennsylvania. My favorite concerts were at West Shore Hardware Bare and Bloomsburg Hardwar Bar, but a big part of that was probably that my favorite band was there. Anyway, one of the other concert venues that Brittany and I have been to is Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe.
The first time I was there we saw Gary Allan which was quite the highlight. Even better was that we absolutely fell in love with the venue. Not only is the drive much easier than going to Camden as we are going the opposite way of all of that traffic, but the venue has an amazing view and is so well designed inside that it makes for the perfect concert atmosphere.
To kick off 2014, Brittany and I saw Phil Vassar at Penn’s Peak this past Saturday. It was not until we were sitting in our seats waiting for the showing that we did the math and brought up about our first concert together. It was very fitting. From the moment that Phil Vassar took the stage to the very last note of the encore, it was a fantastic concert, not that we expected anything less.
The only real downside to the night was that when we were driving up there and waiting for the show to start, it was so foggy that the fantastic view from the deck was impossible to see. That did not stop us from going out on the deck to take a picture though.
It was great to be able to see such a wonderful performer and to reminiscence about our friendship.
With the history involved it was fitting that Phil Vassar performed a song that he wrote (originally recorded by Jo Dee Messina) that starts: ‘Well it’s been a long time glad to see your face, I knew we’d meet again another time another place, can’t believe it’s been so many years.’
Shea Singley is the editor of The Hamburg Area Item. She can be reached at ssingley@berksmontnews.com.
