Erin Ponder

Jack White released his tour schedule this summer.  For the first time ever he was going to be in Omaha, Nebraska. Tickets were only $50, and Omaha isn’t far from where I live. Jack White is one of the greatest musicians, right up there with Bob Dylan. I needed to go to this concert.

I bought the tickets out of impulse, it was final I was going. Convincing my parents would be the hardest part of the journey.

“Erin, you never drive anywhere. How are you going to drive to Omaha?” My mom said in a fierce tone.

“Mom! I can do it! Or I can just have Zach drive.”

“Who is Zach? Why have I never met him? Are the two of you dating?” My mom kept bombarding me with questions. I shouldn’t have even told her that I was going. Staying the night at a friend’s house would have been a much better excuse to tell her why I wouldn’t be home for dinner that night.

“Zach is a friend from work. He thinks we’re going, because we already bought the tickets. So I can’t really get out of it now.”

She had no response.  I was ready to pull out the “I’m 20 mom, I can handle this.” Card. Finally, I convinced my parents that going to Omaha by myself isn’t as dangerous as it sounds.

So Zach and I made our way to Omaha. The air conditioner in my car stopped working a week prior. The entire drive there was sticky hot, Jay Z was on the radio rapping about his love of New York.  I couldn’t stand the heat much longer. As we passed a sign stating “Omaha 10 miles,” I became extremely antsy. I just wanted to get to the hotel, in air conditioning.

“Who this guy that were meeting for dinner?”

“Oh, his name is Sean, I’m really good friends with him. He graduated from Morningside this summer. We’re going to an Indian food restaurant. I hope you like curry.” I informed Zach. That was the longest conversation we had the entire car ride.

We had finally gotten to the hotel, after we took a wrong turn and ended up going through a low-income neighborhood. I called Sean to inform him of our arrival. We met Sean for dinner at an Indian Cuisine place. The Naan bread was to die for. I kept checking my phone for the time. Jack White would be on stage in two hours. I hurried dinner along, and Zach and I left for the venue that was miles away from where we were staying.

The streets were packed with people. Hipsters, teenagers, and middle aged couples.  Parking wasn’t as big of a problem as I thought it was going to be.  Zach and I made our way to the door. Getting inside was more hectic than going through airport security.  Stopping at four different people that needed to see our tickets.  Cops lined the walls,  people were packed into the lobby.  The main floor seating tickets was the greatest purchase I have ever bought.  The lights dimmed, a group of two woman and one man came out on stage. They sang their folk songs that went on what felt like hours.  “Thank you ladies and gentlemen! Jack will be out in a minute!” the man  said as he gathered his guitar and banjo.  I sat down in my seat and observed the people that were around me. To my left, a mother and son. This must have been his first concert.  A group of four teenagers sat a row in front of us. Two girls that were wearing striper heels and very short dresses sat directly in front of me. The smell of Marijuana lingered in the air.  The groups of teenagers were passing a pipe back and forth. They obviously didn’t care about getting caught.

The crowed started an uproar of clapping and screaming, a group of men sat down at their designated instruments.  Jack didn’t come out until a minute later. When he did, my life was complete. He picked up his guitar and did the opening cords to “Hello Operator.” Zach looked at me and just started screaming. I looked on with owe. I still couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing Jack White live. The White Stripes, Raconteur’s, and The Dead Weather’s songs were all played over the course of two hours. Never have I ever seen someone play the guitar quite like Jack did.

The concert came to an end. I didn’t want it to. I wanted to stay and watch Jack preform forever. It felt like I was in a state of Nirvana. Nothing else mattered in the world except for the music that was pouring out of the speakers.  People started leaving their seats. Zach reached for my hand, and pulled along out to the open air.  I didn’t look at him the entire time while we were inside.  I gave him a look of pure happiness. He smiled back, and led me to the car.  Zach managed to find the way back to the hotel with out my navigation.

The entire concert kept replaying in my head. I couldn’t have imagined a better day. Good company, good food , and a wonderful way to end the summer. Seeing Jack White in concert was one of the greatest things I have ever done.