I touched Marcus Mumford.

Here's the deal with my Charleston posts - I don't have the pictures on my ridiculously slow laptop yet. They're on Wheat's computer, but he's currently gallivanting around the country with the Pacers, so those posts will have to wait. Instead, you get a post about some of the fun things I've done lately because, as I mentioned in my last post, this blog is a mostly narcissistic venture.

On St. Patrick's Day weekend, Jenn came to visit and we spent most of our time talking, laughing, eating, and seeing My Favorite Murder live for the second time. The show, which was held at the Murat, was even better than the last one we attended, partly because I was already vaguely familiar with one of the stories. They discussed the Richmond Hill explosion (which happened shortly after I moved to Indianapolis in 2012) and the 1977 murder of eccentric millionaire Marjorie Jackson. Though our seats were in the stratosphere this time, we loved spending a couple hours with Karen, Georgia, and a couple thousand of our fellow murderinos.

After I complained about not having plans last weekend (crybaby much?), Wheat made a spontaneous decision to buy us tickets to see my queen, Kelly Clarkson, on Friday. Brynn Cartelli, the season 14 winner of The Voice who was on Kelly's team, opened followed by Kelsea Ballerini. I don't know many of her songs, but she was an enjoyable opener before the main event.

As always, Kelly was stunning. Her voice is unbelievable and she's had such a long, successful career that her concerts are just a journey through her biggest hits. She's also very funny and relatable, so I can't wait to check out her talk show that's coming out this fall. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but I even found myself crying during her performance of "Piece by Piece." Here was her awesome setlist:

A Moment Like This
Meaning of Life
Walk Away
Love So Soft
Whole Lotta Woman
Behind These Hazel Eyes
Breakaway
Piece by Piece
A Minute and a Glass of Wine
Rise Up - Andra Day cover
Run Run Run (with D.R. King, another season 14 member of Team Kelly on The Voice)
My Life Would Suck Without You
Heat
Heartbeat Song
Miss Independent (with Brynn Cartelli and Kelsea Ballerini, who was wearing a Kelly Clarkson t-shirt!)

It's Quiet Uptown - Lin-Manuel Miranda cover (from Hamilton)
Never Enough - Loren Allred cover (from The Greatest Showman)
Stronger
Since U Been Gone

Already completely reeling in concert heaven, Wheat and I also had tickets to see Mumford and Sons, one of our absolute favorite bands, on Monday. Guys, words are not sufficient to describe the show. For me, Mumford is almost a spiritual experience, one where I get completely caught up in the music and lose track of time and place. We splurged for good seats this time around and it was honestly the best decision we've made in a while. Cat Power opened the show nicely, but nothing could have properly prepared us for Mumford's phenomenal set. The stage was placed in the center of the arena, which allowed the band members to move around and give us different vantage points. Just like last time, Marcus Mumford's voice melted me into a puddle on the floor and I was amazed by his ability to seamlessly switch between guitar and drums throughout the show.

Earlier that day, Mumford played a small, private event at a record store in Broad Ripple and though I tried desperately to win tickets, it wasn't meant to be. However, during "Ditmas" at our show, Marcus jumped into the crowd and ran up the aisle in the section next to us. He continued up the stairs to the concourse and actually chose to GO BACK DOWN OUR AISLE. Side note: Luck would have it that we had the aisle seats. Not only did he decide to use our aisle on the way back down to the stage, but he actually stopped RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME to sing for a bit. I'm still not entirely sure if I survived the event. This could be my ghost writing now. Like a total creep, I reached out and touched his back and then promptly blacked out for the next two songs. Oops.

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When Marcus Mumford makes your life and gives you a heart attack. Yes, I touched him. 😍

A post shared by Brittany Hotchkiss (@blettany) on Mar 25, 2019 at 6:45pm PDT

The show had everything you'd ever want - pyrotechnics, an over-zealous upright bass player, foot-stomping anthems, and confetti rain during the final song. Our poor child probably has whiplash from all the bouncing around I did. Here was the setlist:

Guiding Light
Little Lion Man
Holland Road
The Cave
Beloved
Tompkins Square Park
Ditmas
Lover of the Light
Believe
Picture You
Darkness Visible
The Wolf

Timshel (performed around a single microphone in the club level)
Forever (performed around a single microphone in the club level)
Hurt - Nine Inch Nails cover
If I Say
Slip Away
Awake My Soul
I Will Wait
Delta

Just ridiculous and I'm still recovering. The last couple weeks have also involved me battling a cold, Jordan Peele's Us, a losing trip to the local casino, an overdue pedicure, and lots of sleep. Lots of exciting things coming up, so I'm just trying to hold on for dear life.