April 14th – April 21st
On Monday, April 15th, I finally saw my favorite artist Olivia O’Brien in concert at Mercy Lounge in Nashville. My best friend bought me tickets way back in December, and I’d been counting down the days until the show since.
My sister and I left early in the morning and drove the three hours to Nashville, listening to songs and ranting about how crazy our house is (and the people in it) the whole way. We arrived in downtown Nashville a little after noon, where we spent 10 minutes looking for a parking spot until we finally decided to just spend $40 for 24 hour parking in a parking garage. We realized immediately that we should have explored places farther in the city before we parked because once we did, we couldn’t leave without paying the fee again when we came back. So after realizing this, we had to alter our plans and find things to do within a mile radius to keep us busy before the concert at 8:00. (Mercy Lounge was only 0.3 miles from where we parked).
The first thing we did in Nashville was grab lunch at this place called the Italian Kitchen. The food was so good and the inside was surprisingly fancy for it being such an inexpensive restaurant. After lunch, we walked around aimlessly for a little while until we stopped at City Hall, taking a few pictures outside next to the fountains and trees. The day was so beautiful out, so we simply sat at a table, wasted time, and took in our surroundings.
We walked back to the car and stayed there for about 30 minutes so I could let my phone charge and find a place to go that was close by. We decided on walking a mile to a few murals where we could take some more pictures. The mural we went to was on 11th Ave, called the ‘What Lifts You’ mural. It’s a black wall featuring a huge set of white decorative wings. Unfortunately, there was a very long line for taking pictures in front of it, so all of the pictures we took came out horrible because we were rushing. However, there was another mural across the street that we took pictures in front of instead. After stopping at the second mural, we walked back to the parking garage on 2nd Ave, passing the main strip they called ‘Broadway’. Bars were practically on top of each other they were so close together down this street. I heard different country singers performing in every window I walked past, and I wanted to go in to at least four of them and listen, but most of the bars were 21 and over. While walking back to the car, me and my sister also stopped by this amazing ice cream shop called Mike’s Ice Cream Coffee Bar. Best. Ice cream. Ever.
We still had a lot of time to waste before we left for the concert, so we stayed in the car and looked through all of our pictures and videos for close to an hour and a half. Then, we finally started walking to Mercy Lounge around 5:15. The doors opened at 7, but we wanted to be one of the first ones there (plus the walk was about 25 minutes). Surprisingly, the venue was tucked into a very sketchy looking back street downtown. We got there around 5:45 and saw that we were one of the first groups in the general admission line. Here, me and my sister talked even more since both of us were saving our phone battery for the concert. The entire time, I was terrified they wouldn’t let us in because we only had screenshots of the receipts since my friend had bought the tickets, not us. There was another name on the ticket and we didn’t have the confirmation email, which led me to get super anxious leading up to 7:00. Thankfully, all they did was scan the bar code when we went up to the desk and we were through!
Once we were in the venue, we waited another hour for the show to start, and then another hour for Olivia to come on stage. From 8 to 9, her opening act was performing a ton of his songs but I honestly can’t even remember his name. Everyone was just waiting for Olivia to start performing. Once 9:00 hit, our wishes were fulfilled and she came running on stage. Thankfully, my sister and I were pretty close to the front because we got in line so early.
The concert was absolutely amazing. Olivia’s songs have helped me through so much in the past 6 months. I discovered her music after a really bad breakup in October and I can honestly say that they helped me so much. All of her songs are about her own life experiences, her own breakups, so listening to them gave me a sense of comfort. Hearing these songs live and actually seeing the girl who I relate to so much was incredible.
I’m so grateful I was able to experience this with my sister! This was the first time we’ve really went out and did something alone together (besides going to the gym every night) and it was so much fun.
Lexi's Travel Blog 