neon eyes and the sound of sunshine.

No one loves a good contest more than I do. Whether it be guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar (been there, won that) or standing in Playhouse Square seven different days trying to win Book of Mormon tickets. (have you seen any Book of Mormon posts? no). That's whats fun though! It really is the luck of the draw and 9 times out of 10, the other guy gets picked. NOT TODAY...

...ok techincially it was last Friday.

I won tickets from Uptown Cleveland for Michael Franti & Spearhead and Saints of Valory at the House of Blues! You've heard Michael Franti's "Say Hey (I Love You)." I'll put my two favorite songs by both bands at the end of this post.  The Saints of Valory are awesome.

After work, Chris and I went to the Chocolate Bar for dinner and Happy Hour and then headed over to the House of Blues. The show was so much fun. 

I was in the front row for Saints of Valory. Later that night, I noticed one of the band members from walk past me, and then two more walked by. This left me with no choice, but to shamelessly follow them and introduce myself. I talked to Gavin, the lead singer for a little while and then we got our picture taken with them.

We also happened to run into Chris' brother, his wife and their friends! That made the night even better if that was possible.

Both bands were great live, and I would definitely recommend seeing either next time they come to Cleveland. It was a nice size audience, upbeat and the most crowd interaction I've ever seen at a concert. Michael Franti was on the floor, in the balcony and everywhere in between. He brought fans on stage and took lots of pictures.We even exchanged a few Twitter messages. He seems like a geniunely nice guy.

There are a lot of large concert venues near Cleveland. However, after seeing a show like this you must check out a smaller venue like the House of Blues or the Grog Shop.
If you follow @UptownCle on Twitter, you may win tickets of your own!

Cleveland Rocks.