Quests- Paso Robles,CA/Lindsey Stirling

I have decided to start a new series on the blog called Quests, and its basically a way for me to share my little road trips or adventures with you while keeping with my WoWish theme. For my first Quest, my husband and I went to see Lindsey Stirling at the Vina Robles Amphitheater in Paso Robles, CA on August 6th, 2015.

It was a very last minute decision to get tickets, but my mom was wanting to take the kids for that weekend anyway, so we just asked her if she'd take them for an extra night. Luckily, she agreed and we got to see one of the best concerts we've ever been to. On the Ticketmaster site, the time for the concert was listed as 7pm. We made it there about 7:15pm because of some traffic issues. Lindsey's first opening act, Olivia Somerlyn was almost done with her set when we arrived. Since my husband and I were super hungry, we ate the overpriced vineyard food (which was delicious) and sat behind the walls around the amphitheater seating (so the vineyard club members can't see into the amphitheater and get a free show lol). so we didn't get to see any of her performance. She sounded good though, and had a bit of a Taylor Swift vibe- very happy and grateful and loving of all of her fans.

The next act I was pretty excited to see, and that was Robert DeLong. They play Long Way Down on one of the local radio stations (the same one that has the creeper DJ that lusts after Meg Myers), which is a huge (and welcomed) departure from what they usually play. My husband had no idea who he was, but loved his show and was a fan by the end! Robert DeLong is the epitome of a one man band, but not in the cheesy, cymbals on the knees, monkey on the back kind. His show was visually stunning, and it was done in a video game type way. It felt very Ready Player One (for all of my fellow book lovers), and it was great. If you get a chance to see him perform, do it!

Robert DeLong 

And then....it was Lindsey's turn. I am a huge fan (one of my first Mixtape Monday's was dedicated to her), so I was very excited to see her! Her show was so amazing! It really made me regret not keeping up with my violin playing. Not that I was super spectacular when I did play, but seeing her play did make me miss it a whole bunch. The show was very visually stunning, which you'd sort of expect, since she's playing the violin and not singing. But everything was great, her dancing was terrific, and I loved her costumes. She even did a medley of video game songs for all the gamers out in the crowd. What was almost as interesting as her show were the people in the audience. There was such a mix of people, it was really incredible. Lots of kids, quite a few older people, and a lot of people in various stages of cosplay. 

My phone died pretty much right after her set started, so I don't have a lot of pictures, but that's okay. The experience was enough. Before one of her songs (Transcendence), she shared that she wrote it because she had gone through a period of time a couple years ago where she was really depressed. She said that she didn't like who she was at that time, almost didn't recognize herself. She shared that she had gone through all these things to make herself a happy person. She tried therapy and happiness exercises...basically had to train her brain to not be depressed anymore. And its not like she was minimizing anyone's struggle with depression, she said that she still has rituals that she does to keep herself in her current state, so that she doesn't slip back into that depressed person. Its not been a secret around here that I suffer from depression, and while I have yet to find a pill mix that works for me, or to see a therapist (because the one I was referred to seems to never have the time), hearing that she found a way out of her depression gives me a tiny sliver of hope that I can eventually find a way out of mine. And I wasn't expecting that from her concert at all. 

After the concert was over, we got some food from the slowest Taco Bell ever (and I never eat from there, but it was like the only thing still open) and then drove home. That was an experience in itself, because when we were close to town we almost hit this lady that ran into the street for no reason! My husband swerved to miss her, and she ran at the car again, and he swerved again, and then she disappeared back into the trees by the side of the road. I checked the news the next day, to see if she'd tried that with anyone else and they weren't so quick to miss her, but there was nothing in the papers, so I hope she got to wherever she was going okay.