We had an oddly shifted weekend that began on Thursday with a trip down to Richmond for the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert! For our second date we made a fire pit on my patio. Thomas built the fire; I made a s’mores tray and a playlist. We talked for hours that night, enjoying the summer weather, sharing life stories and getting to know one another. When they came on my playlist, I told him that a few of the Tim + Faith duets were the most romantic songs in country music. He probably didn’t realize it, but this was a test to see if he liked country music! While he’s not the biggest fan of country like I am, he’ll tune it in on our radio from time to time, and he was up for going to the show.
We drove down to Richmond late Thursday afternoon and checked into The Commonwealth Hotel. I found the hotel searching around, and it was walking distance to the concert and had a really cool modern vibe!
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Some of the more standard hotels were asking $230-260 a night, and we got this epic two-room suite for only $175 (plus taxes and parking).
Nice right?!
We changed for the concert and headed out for dinner, walking through the Virginia Capital’s park on our way there.
Doesn’t the photo look like I’m photoshopped in? It was real! (Skort Athleta (not maternity) and sandals Toms!)
We went to Julep’s for dinner and sat on the patio.
For the sake of time and because they all sounded so good, we shared a bunch of appetizers for dinner.
Asparagus soup, crabcake, pork belly, burrata with pesto salad, and fried green tomatoes with pimento cheese.
We walked to the Richmond Coliseum to the show and made it there with 30 minutes to spare before Tim + Faith came on.
I have a 10-minute recap that I have given a few friends of my thoughts on the show. Overall, it was good but it didn’t totally wow me for a few reasons. They played four sets: one together, one of Faith solo, one of Tim solo, and the last together. I loved all of their duets. Between them they have over 25 number-one hits, and it wasn’t until the morning when I was doing some post-show googling that I started to realize how many of their songs they didn’t sing! Obviously they don’t have time to play everything, but there were definitely some lulls in the show with less well-known songs (and a few random covers) that I thought could have been replaced with some of their smash hits. They didn’t play Indian Outlaw, Where The Green Grass Grows, Just To See You Smile, Let’s Make Love, or My Best Friend. The last two are the heart of Soul to Soul! Just my opinion!
I loved seeing this hunk of a cowboy in person though!
And they played some powerful numbers, including Speak To A Girl, Angry All The Time, Humble and Kind, and Live Like You Were Dying.
Their duet of It’s Your Love was wonderful, and they encored with I Need You, which was great too. Overall, I’m really glad we went!
We stayed up way too late (the NBA finals were wrapping up when we got back to our room! That’s my sports-loving husband!), so we did our best to sleep in a bit. We eventually headed to a nearby cafe called Urban Farmhouse for a light breakfast. T had a great sandwich and I had a yogurt parfait (which was on the very small side…) and a capp.
Midday we left Richmond for Short Pump to pay a visit to the ACAC rooftop! It was a beautiful, hot, and sunny summer day and we just had to get in a little pool time. First we did a workout – the bare minimum to break a good sweat on the Stairmasters – and then headed to the pool. It was SO HOT we had to get in the water just to read our Kindles on the edge.
For lunch we both had the caprese panini, which was so good! Plus about 4 seltzers and chips.
We got home to take Mazen to swim team and have some more pool time as a family, enjoying the summer experience. Tell you more about the rest of our weekend soon!
Sounds like you had a great time at the concert, Kath. It’s so sweet of Thomas to accompany you even though he’s not much of a country music fan! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
I’m a big country fan and love Tim McGraw. I’ve thought this over the last few years though: Indian Outlaw is a pretty racist song. It definitely perpetuates a lot of stereotypes. It’s an older song, and I think (and hope!) thoughts about Indigenous communities have changed since that song was on the charts. Maybe that’s why they did t play it? Just a wondering I have.
You are probably exactly right. I haven’t heard the song in years but I’m singing the lyrics in my head and you’re right.
I had the same thought about Indian Outlaw, and why he didn’t sing it. The rest of the playlist sounds great, though! I would have loved to hear them do Angry All the Time and I Need You.
Did The Commonwealth Hotel also have tea time, like many British do?! 🙂
I got to see their concert back in September, and really enjoyed it! They have such wonderful stage presence.
Can you believe most of those classic songs are 20+ years old now?!?! It blows my mind! I wonder if some of those songs are just a bit too old now to appeal to some of their younger fans and that’s why they didn’t play them. I imagine they have several generations represented in their fan base now and some were just tiny when those songs were hits!! I would have been disappointed too, though. Lots of summer memories belting out Where The Green Grass Grows in my car right after I got my drivers license!! 🙂
Yes good point!
Tm has spoken publically about not singing that song anymore – for the reasons stated in the above comments. 🙂
Glad we solved the mystery : )
I saw the S2S tour last year in Phoenix and it was awful. Tim was absolutely wasted (he’s struggled with alcoholism but has supposedly been sober). I’m talking, he sat down on the stage to rest while singing. Faith was visibly pissed. She walked offstage and left him to do Angry All The Time solo (it’s supposed to be a duet). This is the second time I’ve seen Tim sloppy-drunk at a show (the first was in Austin 10+ years ago). I decided I won’t see them again. I paid way too much (and had to travel there, which means hotel & food expenses, etc) for an unpredictable show experience. I left disappointed.
oh my gosh – that’s awful!
This is the show I went to as well and was incredibly disappointed with the performance. I love them both, but was shocked at how poorly it was all run.