The Most Gullible Woman In The World

Last night we carried out a top secret operation and Natalie's ignorance as to what was going on was not only a surprise but very aMUSEing to me. Over the last few years Natalie has gone with me to see Static-X, Rammstein, In Flames, and Opeth. My wife is not a metal head like I am but she insist on going along with me. So a few months ago I started looking for tickets to Muse for her. Nothing was available at the time so I thought I'd just check in every once in a while.

So after returning to Arizona from Thanksgiving break I was working at home one Sunday and Natalie was listening to Muse. I decided to look again and found out they were in Arizona that weekend. Of course Natalie was flying out to Orlando the day before so that wasn't going to work. So I e-mailed my sister Cassandra and asked her if she wants to watch my kids for a night and in return she can spend an extra week over Christmas break with her BFF. Well watching my kids turned into me invited her to come along as well. I told her this was top secret so the words Muse and concert will not be used. Instead all references to Muse or the concert will be hockey game. So I talked to my boss, got the approval to work the week from home, and booked tickets. The original concert was for Friday night but they sold out so they made a second show for Saturday. By the time we booked that Monday afternoon we got some of the last tickets.

So that night when I got home I told Natalie we are going to go to California a week early because my sister wants us to go to a hockey game with them. She asked what game I told her I don't know hockey. No further questions. Last week I got an e-mail saying that I got a free Muse hard copy and digital copy with my concert tickets. I told Natalie I got an e-mail for a free cd and asked her if she wants it or if she wants me to give it to my sister. Again, still hadn't raised any suspensions. So this last Friday we made our drive out to California.

Yesterday my brother in law comes in the room and is wearing a Muse shirt. Natalie starts talking about how much she would love to see them in concert. So then last night we leave the kids with my niece and take off for LA. As we were getting ready Natalie is trying to dress up all fancy in a nice shirt I bought her for her birthday. I told her to take off what she is wearing and throw on some jeans and a t-shirt. She kept on insisting on her shirt and I told her don't bother. She got annoyed and eventually changed her shirt. So our first stop was In N Out for a quick dinner since traffic sucked. While we are waiting to order I tell everyone how a guy we grew up with went to a Muse concert last week in Oakland and returned to a smashed window on his car, nothing missing, but an In N Out bag on the seat. My sister gets this weird look like I'm going to blow the surprise. Yeah right. So then we get into a stupid little argument about a candy wrapper in the car, Natalie tried talking tough and I decided to mess with her. I told her to stop talking trash because I'll have her shirt off before we even get home. I decided to take bets on who thought I was right and no one would take that bet because they knew what was in the trunk.
We continue our journey to LA and Natalie puts on some Muse and Jeff and Cassandra are talking about how much they love Muse and want to see them live. I actually tried to change the conversation because Natalie knew they were in California and I thought maybe, just maybe, she might actually catch on. The whole time I'm hoping she doesn't Google Staples Center because it will tell you on the results page what is going on that day.

So we get to Staples Center and park and I told everyone to hold on because I need to get something. I go to the trunk and get a small wrapped up gift. I give it to Natalie and told her "I told you I'd get your shirt off before we get home". She starts to open it but Cassandra wants her to wait so she can record it with her phone which Natalie didn't think was odd at all. So she opens it and it's a Muse shirt. Now at first you would think she knew what was going on by now. She screams, says she loves me and it's awesome, and changes her shirt. I looked at her and thought she's way too excited over a shirt but I really don't think she gets it. So I opened the door and said "Lets go watch some hockey". My sister then opens the door and whispers "I don't think she gets it". Uh duh. So I decided we should see how long this plays out. Can we make it to our seats before she figures it out?

As my sister is getting out of the car she reminds me to get the In N Out garbage out of the car so we don't return to smashed in windows and nothing on the seat but an In N Out bag. Still no suspicion. I think we actually could have made it to the door but then Cassandra takes off her sweater and now everyone but me is in a Muse t-shirt. Finally Natalie is looking at us with a weird face and says "What's going on guys". Then it finally registers and there is a bunch of screaming. I think we definitely could have pushed this one a lot more.

So coming from a guy who loves metal concerts of all sorts I would have to say even though this wasn't metal it was a pretty damn good concert, definitely on my top 5. I've seen all kinds of bands over the years. Some of them are bands I like before the concert and lose respect for them after seeing them live (Sevendust and Dope). Others are bands I already liked and liked even more afterwards or some I have never heard of until the concert but they become my favorite bands afterwards (SoIL and Opeth). I don't know what this band is classified as, some type of mainstream rock, but they performed well. Muse has only two guitarist and the singer was on rhythm guitar and piano. He's a good vocalist with a crazy big range. Everything was balanced out well, the light show was good, they had drones flying around, and it's actually the first concert I left without hearing loss and ringing in my ears.


Thanks to Cassandra and Jeff for coming along and giving Natalie a good night and of course my niece and my dad for watching the crazy kids. Cassandra, you're a square. 34 and first concert. Square......