On Saturday night, my family, Schnickelfritzs traveled to the Hershey Stadium to see Joan Jett & the Black Hearts and The Avett Brothers featuring Mike Patton perform as part of the Commonwealth Concert Series to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. This concert was part of the America250 PA celebration.
We secured our tickets the day that they became available, which was April 17th at noon. Our tickets were free and were available for free for all Pennsylvania residents. Thank you to Josh Shapiro and Marketing to Attract Marquis Events (MTAME) program for this great concert series.
On Saturday, before the concert we stopped at Sheetz in Hershey before entering the parking area and picked up some food to eat. We tailgated with the boys in the parking lot so that they could enjoy an authentic concert experience. There were other families tailgating and it was a communial experience.
Three of my sisters and one of my brother-in-laws also came to the concert. We all met up and sat together. My family did not make it into the stadium in time to see Chloe Flower, the opening act for the evening, perform.
When the America250PA Commonwealth Concert Series was announced in March, my we could not have been more delighted because we are Avett Brothers fans. Mr. Katie and I and my sister Liz went to see the Avett Brothers perform last summer as part of Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA.
This was my boys’ first concert. Mr. Katie and I have been preparing them by listening to Avett Brothers songs YouTube and some borrowed library CDs. They already knew some of their songs because we have heard them on the radio or we played them for the boys before we even knew about this concert, but I think the prep beforehand was useful.
I knew some of the Joan Jett & the Blackhearts songs before the show, but I feel like I got to know Joan Jett’s music better by attending the show. She played “Crimson and Clover”, “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll”, “Bad Reputation”, and “I Hate Myself for Loving You” among other songs.
Here is a clip of “Bad Reputation”. At 67 years old, Joan Jett still rocks hard and her voice sounds clear and unchanged by time. She was great on stage.
We were warned by my sisters who saw a previous concert that was part of the Commonwealth Concert series that some parts of the show could be a little loud. We brought headphones for Nugget who is noise sensitive, and foam earplugs for the rest of us. This proved to be a wise move as the Joan Jett part of the concert really had the audio turned up.
There was an intermission after Joan Jett & the Blackhearts played and we had some time to walk around Hershey Stadium and look at the merchandise that was for sale. Hershey’s candy company represented inside the stadium and gave out free bags of Jolly Rancher Gummies and Twizzlers. The staff working at the stadium could not have been nicer and it was a beautiful evening if a bit little hot. As the sun started to set, the air became more comfortable, and you could feel everyone relaxing.
I was not familiar with Mike Patton before I did some pre-concert research, but I learned he was the lead singer of the band Faith No More. Currently, the Avett Brothers are touring with Mike Patton because last fall the band released a critically acclaimed collaborative album called AVTT/ PTTN. I thought the band sounded great outside of the one Faith No More song that they played on Saturday evening,.
Here is a link to the Avett Brothers featuring Mike Patton setlist from Saturday night. The setlist highlights for me were “Head Full for Doubt/ Road Full of Promise”, “Laundry Room”, and a cover of the Commodores song of “Easy” with Mike Patton singing the lead vocals. I also always love hearing “Murder in the City” and “No Hard Feelings”.
Here is a clip of “No Hard Feelings” played by The Avett Brothers and Mike Patton.
We all had a great night. The boys started to get over stimualated and did some runnning around about a third of the way through the set. Luckily, there was open space in folded seating area and they could do some moving around. Nugget smuggled into my lap for the second half of the concert and stayed there. The boys were very tired by the time the concert was over. Our car was parked far away from Hershey stadium on the other side of the Giant Center, and we were able to ride the Hershey park tram for about half of the walk back to our car which was a nice treat.
My sisters got hotel rooms for the evening, but we chose to drive the 80 miles back home. We arrived home just after midnight, happy to be home but glad that we made the trip.
Picture taken during the intermission between bands.
The concert at sunset.
