It was the time of the year where I had to be mindful of my lovely wife, as she turns another leaf in her yearbook and one step closer to the menopauses.  You never know when it hits, so better be prepared, and I decided to take my lovely gordita out on another date night, celebrating her past year as a mother and awesome wife.

What better way than a romantic dinner and a concert with a band she loves?

I secretively bought tickets some months ago to see ‘The Black Keys‘ at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and judging by their recent album it would be a great night of high hitting notes, rough guitar games and retro piano solos.

Due to the fact that I dislike public transportation, especially as I own a car, we jumped into the family wagon and headed towards Brooklyn.  It was a Wednesday evening, so how busy could it be?

There’s a reason New York is branded the city that never sleeps, because it really doesn’t.  No mater what time you attempt to cross one of the many bridges or tunnels into NYC, from New Jersey, you can be sure to hit some weird gridlock.  Access roads go from 4-5 lanes into 2 narrow tunnel lanes, a delivery truck blocks half the road on Broadway, yellow cabs pick up or drop off passengers in intersections and huge luxury cars change lanes as if they were at the local race track.

Despite leaving 2 hours before the gig started, or rather doors opened, we ended up spending 1hr 45min in the car.  I love spending time with the missus, but not stuck in traffic trying to impress her with a lovely dinner at a little Mexican place in Brooklyn.

We skipped mamasita’s joint and walked towards the amazing Barclays Center, where I invited her on “awesome” chicken fingers ‘n fries, while sharing a diluted coke.  Another romantic dinner on date night – just like when I saw Idina’s butt!

I don’t want to be labelled cheap, but the tickets for the gig were in the upper levels.  We are not young any more, we don’t dance publicly and we like to enjoy music while sitting down, so why not sit on the balcony.  Unfortunately age has introduced my wife with a phobia … fear of heights.

Our seats were by the edge of the balcony, perfect view of the stage, but also perfect view of the 40ft drop.  And, the stairs down to our row made my wife gasp for air, while letting out small peeps – much to the amusement of our fellow music lovers.  As we planted our small butts in the seats, she gripped my arm and neck tightly, and closed her eyes tightly.  She remained in that position for the first 20 minutes of the concert!

She slowly built up her courage and started to open her eyes.  I actually thought she had fallen asleep so got a little fright as she was suddenly sitting up starring at the band, and tapping along to the cool rhythms of ‘The Black Keys‘.

It was an awesome concert and the band filled the arena with their awesome rhythms, all while the audience clapped and sang.

We left as the band finished up, or at least started our ascend of the stairs.  I had to consider that I might had to carry her up the stairs or her moving up one step at a time on her butt – which would take some time.