I Shoulda Been A Cowboy... (Part 2)

So our tickets said for 6:45 and while I thought it was odd that Toby would start that early, I didn't really understand what was going on, so a little (too) early, we went into Reliant Stadium. This is what we saw - a totally empty stadium and a lot of horses riding around! I think they were all warming up, because the opening act for Toby was a rodeo! But before we get to that we have to have the National Anthem.



The lights went out (after a five minute video display showing the evacuation routes for all sections...not joking) and a woman on a horse came running out with the flag and around the stadium. It was really neat, and I was trying to take a picture right as she went past and BAM FIREWORKS. I jumped (also not joking).

At the end "home of the brave" fireworks came right out of the top of the flag - that was really neat too. I didn't know there were such indoor firework displays, but they really enjoyed them as fireworks were a main part of the rest of the night.
I tried to take pictures of the rodeo, but they aren't worth seeing, so... oh well. They had six acts (starting with the calf tie down which I tried to not be appalled at) going through to bull riding. They also had a calf scramble (picture musical chairs...18 calfs and 28 kids....ready go get one) that was pretty funny. The calfs are in WAY better shape than some of those kids. Anyway, then around 9pm (we got inside at 6...yea...we didn't know any better) they rolled out the stage, which revolved around in circles. (Side note: Since we got in there at 6 we went to buy a beer and they carded us, but all we have are these dumb pieces of paper that are like index cards for IDs...the lady wasn't amused).
Toby came out in a Ford truck (more pictures that didn't turn out) and both Andrea and I were wrong on our opening song guess. It just happened to be Military night (I guess they include NASA in military, so a lot of astronauts were there too, that was kinda cool).

Since they didn't sell tickets on the floor, it was kinda watch from afar concert, which wasn't as cool as the other ones I have gone too, but I like Toby's songs. Aside from the few crazies there wasn't much standing, but when Toby sang American Soldier and Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (his last two songs) everyone stood and cheered and that was pretty cool. His Ford then came and picked him up and he drove away.
Here is a picture of the Ferris Wheel as we came out of the stadium. We parked at the very front/back of the lot so we had extra walking but got the car out easily and got back almost 9 hours later! It was quite the adventure all for what we thought was just a concert.