Celebrating the New Year

As I mentioned on Thursday, the 11th of September marks the Ethiopian New Year. When our plans for an Ethiopian feast went awry because of our broken stove, we didn't make alternate plans...

...until Eric was offered last-minute free tickets to a concert at Wembley Stadium in London.

It was an offer we couldn't refuse. We scrambled to find a sitter for the kids. It was going to be a late night, but our good friend Becky readily agreed. She understood, because, you see, you don't turn down free tickets to see...

Granted, she's blurry, but that's because she doesn't ever stand still, despite her 50 years. Hmmm...a scantily-clad fifty-year-old blond woman...who could it possibly be?

Yeah, that's right. We got free tickets to see...

MADONNA!

And have you noticed how close we were to the stage?

We were given the tickets by the company that provided the automation equipment for the tour. The company is trying to sell some equipment to the RSC. The company's reps spent most of the concert pointing out moving pieces of scenery to Eric. They weren't exactly of the same caliber of Madonna fan as most of the other folks who had tickets in the Golden Circle (you know, those of us who spent three hours in a constant state of excitement and who knew every word to every song). I would have elbowed my way closer to the stage, but it probably would have been weird for me to either drag or abandon a group of people who had given us the tickets, but didn't even know the refrains.

It was, quite possibly, the best concert I have ever attended.

I used up most of my camera's memory on this little video (sorry, it's really shaky - the bass was so intense that it was shaking me, and then it gets really bad in the middle when I handed the camera to Eric so I could jump up and down and sing along):

But, just for you, Kimmy, I got a snippet of this one, too:

And then I took loads of random pictures of Madonna in her various cosumes:

We didn't get home until after 2am, and I spent most of Friday is a zoned-out fog of exhaustion. But I'd do it all over again tomorrow if I could. It was just that good.