I’d forgotten how many of our most worn-out metaphors—okay, I’ll just say it, they’re clichés—are borrowed from the circus. Those of us who hold down jobs and raise children refer to ourselves as “jugglers.” When the pressure gets really intense, we say that we’re performing a “high-wire act.” Or that we feel we’ve been “shot out of a cannon.” And at those moments when life truly feels out of control—whether in an enjoyably madcap or a borderline psychotic way—we just come right out and call it a “three-ring circus.” I could go on. I’ll try not to.

I was reminded of all of this as I sat marveling at this morning’s performance of “Zing, Zang, Zoom,” the latest from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey (and my first experience ever, I might add, of “the Greatest Show on Earth®”). The first miraculous wonder? To this jaded New Yorker, it was how easily and quickly my sister, my husband and I and our two daughters, ages 6 and 4, were able to get from our parked car to our seats in the arena. The prospect of negotiating the crowds at Madison Square Garden for the same show in New York makes me queasier than the sight of the two acrobats jumping rope atop two enormous, rapidly revolving hamster wheels about two stories off the ground. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My daughters were quite unaware of the circus metaphors swirling around in their mother’s head. Their eyes grew steadily bigger as they watched lithe ladies dressed like butterflies swinging, flipping, and spinning from long white bed sheets (or so they appeared) suspended from the ceiling. They saw an elephant—one of the elephants they had watched eating a “brunch” of entire bunches of bananas and smashed watermelons only the day before—disappear before their eyes. They watched poodles and terriers “jump through hoops” (oops, there’s another one) and even saw a lucky group of volunteer kids from the audience levitate their parents. My husband claims he knows how this last trick was done. I’m all ears.

I think my favorite metaphor of the day was the appearance and ongoing mischief of Gravity—the clown who brings everyone down. I’m sure the poignancy of it escaped my kids’ notice. They just saw him as “the mean guy,” no different from Ursula the sea witch in “The Little Mermaid” or Maleficent in “Sleeping Beauty.” But I loved the idea of Gravity, with his team of Heavies, causing trouble at the circus—always present, lurking in the wings. When the scamp first appears, “Zingmaster” Alex (aided by the lovely Levitytia) tells him “there’s no place for Gravity at the circus!” And he’s right, to a point—the circus is all about defying rules and logic. Who in their right mind would go into a ring with a dozen Bengal tigers and yell at them until they dance on their hind legs and beg with no more dignity than the aforementioned poodles? But by the end, Alex realizes that Gravity does have a place at the circus. Without him and those pesky Heavies, where would be the wonder in all that high flying? The beauty of rules is, they’re breakable. Sometimes. (Don’t tell the kids.)

Speaking of defying rules, we broke our own at intermission. We told the girls before we went in that we weren’t going to be buying anything—no treats, no toys. The circus itself was treat enough. By intermission my sister had bought the girls two coloring books, my husband was happily shelling peanuts, and I was the proud possessor of a $9 lemonade (although, in my own defense, the flip-top bottle came with a two-year warranty). As old P.T. Barnum said, there’s a sucker born every minute.

Blogged by: Shannon Barr
Photos Courtesy of Feld Entertainment

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the American Idol Season 9 tour. Would all the performers be up on the stage at the same time singing like they were entertaining a crowd in a variety show in Gatlinburg, or would it be like watching a few acts at a festival? You’re fans of a few of them but the rest of them you don’t know much about. Turns out… it was kind of a mixture of both.

Heading into the concert, I thought it was really neat how they set up a mock American Idol audition. My guest and I had a lot of fun watching the good and the bad (make that really bad) concert goers audition in front of the crowd…this could have been something that would have been interesting to see during the intermission on the actually stage.

The show opened with five cheesy Ford commercials….that I think they could have done with out. Then it broke down each constant/performer on the big screens. One by one each performer came out…starting with Didi Benami. Although her voice was beautiful, she seemed a bit nervous on stage. She basically stood in the same spot during her performance and had minimum interaction with the crowd. She was one of my favorites on the show…I would’ve like to have seen more out of her. Her performance definitely set the mood for the crowd for pretty much the duration of the whole concert. No one wanted to stand up, until they were prompted to by one of the performers. Had they show started with a bigger bang, the crowd may have acted like they were into the performers and not sitting down like they were watching someone at a county fair.

I will have to say when little Katie Stevens hit the stage in her stelletos and mini skirt…she brought the party! I was really impressed with her stage performance and I felt like I was at real concert with her as the headlining act. Her huge voice filled up the whole arena when she was singing “Fighter”. …which brought everyone to their feet.

The mood changed from “up in the club” to a Tim Burton movie when Siobhan Magnus showed up. She stared out singing “Paint it Black”…which is one of the classic songs that she sung on the show. Of course she ended the song with her classic screaming as well. But it was her last song that I think really showcased Siobhan in her “true colors”…and I think it may have scared a few people. “Stockholm Syndrome” by Muse…which probably was not the best song to pick for the soccer Moms and the teeny-boppers in the crowd…but nevertheless, Siobhan was for sure in her element. The music got louder and louder…the screams higher and higher…and then she ended with head banging with her guitarist. Which left everyone in an awkward daze. It will be interesting to see if she comes out with a record…as I think that she has the most unique sound out of all the performers.

For me the rest of concert was for the most part…how should I say this? Forgettable. Really nothing more than what we saw out the performers on the show. Even the beloved Crystal Bowersox came out with her earthy-soul songs…”Piece of My Heart”, “What’s Up”, “Up to the Mountain”. So I suppose, even though she was my favorite on the show, I wanted her to perform something different; something that we may see on a new record. I wanted her to blow the place up, not just with her voice but with her song choice as well. Speaking of song choice, even though I am not a big Lee DeWyze fan, I really enjoyed his remake of “Rocket Man”. I don’t remember him singing that on the show and I thought it was wonderful.

The finale was pretty predictable. It ended with of the contestant singing “It’s My Life and “My Life Would Suck without You”. Which again was not that spectacular. I hope that Season 10 will bring in some bigger acts, because I’m pretty sure that’s what this tour lacked.

Blogged by: Jessica DiCentes
Photography by: Paul Hooper

This past weekend marked not only a celebration of America, but another Red, White and Boom! festival in our back parking lot. This year the talent was amazing, the rain was non-existent, and the entry was FREE! Between sets, we managed to catch up with Lexington’s own Laura Bell Bundy, one of the artists performing this year. Check out our interview with her below:

Rupp Arena Blog: What’s your favorite part about coming back to Kentucky. Obviously, you’re from here…

Laura Bell Bundy: Seeing my family and friends, and picking up my dog. Kentucky is the most beautiful place, and home to me. There is a sense of serenity that comes over me, that makes me just happy as soon as I arrive. Being able to come home and play my own music, is a crazy different, amazing experience. This is the first time I have played anything off this record here, and really any of my own music for that matter. I’ve done a Christmas concert at the Lexington Opera House, but that wasn’t really my own music. So this is all just super exciting for me!

RAB: How long have you been performing? As many probably know, you did broadway before this.

LBB: I came out of the womb and started dancing around! [laughs…] I started doing dance competitions when I was a little. I was four when I did my first Nutcracker with the Lexington Ballet at the Lexington Opera House. As for New York City, I did the Radio City Christmas Spectacular when I was nine.

RAB: What’s your favorite song to play live?

LBB: Today it was “Bourbon and Boys Give Me the Blues,” because it was the first time I have ever done it live. I really like “If You Want My Love,” and love performing “I’m No Good (For Ya Baby)” and “Proud Mary.” Actually, it’s safe to say I like them all.

RAB: What would you say has been the biggest moment of your career so far?

LBB: Probably singing at the ACM Awards. That, and being nominated for a Tony Award for Legally Blonde.

RAB: What dream artist(s) would you like to collaborate with?

LBB: I have so many artists I would love to work with, like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. I would love to do a duet with Miranda [Lambert], since we are friends, and maybe Blake [Shelton]. I’m talking to Jake Owen about doing a duet with me.

RAB: Are there any outside of country music? Like Snoop Dogg, or Lady Gaga…

LBB: Beyonce would be a dream! Lady Gaga and Beyonce! [laughs…]

Our thanks goes out to Laura Bell Bundy for the interview, as well as everyone else for making Red, White and Boom! such an amazing day! We hope everyone enjoyed the music and fireworks! If you missed the show, or are interested in hearing more of Laura’s music, you can listen to the songs off her “Achin’ and Shakin’” album on her website, and purchase them through iTunes. Also, you can see Laura on October 1st at the Courthouse Plaza stage downtown for Spotlight Lexington.

With close to a million people coming through the doors of Rupp Arena each year, you can imagine that we sell quite a bit of food at our concession stands. Since another arena season has come to an end (June 2009 – June 2010), we decided to tally up all those hot dogs, ice cream cones, and other food and drink to give you some statistics, courtesy of our concessions manager. Enjoy!

During the 2009/2010 season at Rupp Arena events:

• 6,564,100 ounces of Coca Cola soft drinks were served, which is 51,282 gallons.
• 3,175 gallons of Flavorich soft serve ice cream were served.
• 655 kegs or 10,152 gallons of draft beer were consumed. The average 4 ft. deep, 12 foot wide above ground pool contains approximately 3,400 gallons.
• 1,010 gallons of Nacho Cheese were consumed.
• 2.8 tons of Nacho Chips were consumed.
• 4.8 tons of popcorn were consumed.
• 108.6 miles of Ball Park Franks and Hillshire Farms Polish Sausage served. That’s three round trips from Lexington to Georgetown.

Although Kentucky is losing an amazing player, the NBA is getting one of the best prospects in a while. ESPN The Magazine is featuring an article about the upcoming NBA Draft and who better to have on the cover than John Wall, the projected first pick of the draft. Below is a behind-the-scenes video of Wall’s photoshoot with ESPN. Hit the jump to check out the cover of the magazine.

My husband and I had the privilege to attend the concert in Taylor Swift’s 2010 Fearless Tour on April 29th. It was nice to get away from all the hecticness of college classes and get to have a night out with my husband and enjoy some music that I love.

The night started with Gloriana opening. I had never listened to much of their music, but seeing them tonight has made me interested in listening to more of their music. They were energetic and fun to watch. Following them, was Kellie Pickler, another artist I hadn’t heard much from, but I also found myself enjoying as well.

Soon after, Taylor Swift came out, and she came out with a bang! She put on an amazing performance! This concert was the best concert I have EVER been too! I absolutely adore Taylor and I expected her to have a good concert, but this was much better than anything I had expected. The sound was great, the lights were awesome, and I loved all of the graphics that were projected on the screens behind her. They really made the concert amazing! Her costumes and clothing were awesome and the way her dancers were in costumes to portray the song was awesome as well!

I was thrilled that Taylor actually came out in the audience and gave hugs while she sang. It was nice to see her interacting with her fans. I also found the videos in between the songs to be pretty interesting to watch. The videos showed that funny, humorous side of Taylor and I really enjoyed seeing that. She also put some humor into her performance tonight. It’s always fun to be able to laugh and enjoy yourself. The rain at the end was a perfect way of ending the concert. My husband and I were just in awe of how cool that was showing the words in the falling water and Taylor standing under it. Taylor is such an inspiration; so young, but yet, she is so famous and known in the world. It was touching to watch her as she just stood and listened to all of her fans screaming for her.

This concert was an all-around AWESOME show and I am so glad that I was able to attend it!

Blogged by: Brittany Shockley
Photography by: Paul Hooper (unless stated otherwise)

Joe Bonamassa will be at the Lexington Opera House on April 30 (8:00pm Sharp!) and we have an awesome prize package you could win! We always do our best to bring you exciting and fun giveaways with great prizes and we can truly say this is the best prize package we have ever offered. The winner will receive all the following:

2 Tickets to the Joe Bonamassa Concert
Access to the Meet & Greet Before the Show
Brand New Guitar Signed by Joe Bonamassa

• Click here and “Like” the Lexington Opera House on Facebook (if you haven’t already).
• Then suggest all your friends like the page as well (located underneath the profile picture on the facebook page).
• After doing the above, comment on THIS post (on the Rupp Arena Blog) with what artists you would like to see come to the Lexington Opera House in the future. Be sure to use the email/account you would like for us to use to contact you, should you be chosen as the winner. NOTE: COMMENTING ON FACEBOOK WILL NOT ENTER YOU INTO THE GIVEAWAY. YOU NEED TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST.

For those who haven’t heard of Joe Bonamassa before, enjoy this video below of his performance of “Stop” at the Royal Albert Hall. For those who have heard of him, check it out anyways. You won’t be disappointed…

Avenue Q is coming to the Lexington Opera House this weekend as part of the Broadway Live series. We’re doing something fun for this show; choosing a select number of fans who will get a pair of tickets to opening night (Friday at 8:00pm). We’re calling these “Social Seats,” as the winners will be asked to tweet and/or post Facebook updates from their phones throughout the show. It’s a fun way for people to share their experience and to let everyone know how hilarious it is (and it WILL be hilarious). If you’re interested in going to the show and sitting in our Social Seats, read below for the details on how to enter.

• If you skipped over the details, go back and read them before entering (Yeah, I saw your eyes drift down the page).
• Leave a comment on this post using the email address you would like for us to use to contact you.
• In your comment, include your twitter handle and/or a link to your facebook profile.

We will choose and contact the lucky fans this Wednesday (April 7) at 4:00pm. Keep an eye on your inboxes…

On March 25th, Disney on Ice came to town and we could not pass up the chance to see the show. So I surprised my daughter and son with tickets and off we went to Rupp Arena. Let me start by saying I have not been to Disney World in 7 years so I was curious to see what the show had in store for us. Boy was I impressed!! We had such a great time! From the minute we entered Rupp, the lobby was decked out in all that is Disney… from adorable snow cones to light-up princess wands. They even set up 2 small photo areas with Disney characters. Everyone was very polite and helped us to our seats.

The show was wonderful for kids especially because they skated to the climax of every well known princess story. Even Mickey, Minnie, & Goofy made an appearance. It kept the kids attention and the skaters interacted with the audience when possible. I personally loved the creative skating and the wonderful costumes!! It was a lot of fun! I can also report there were no falls on the ice. The only complaint I have is that it was not a longer show. I could have watched it 10 more times. As a matter of fact, we are planning our trip to Disney this summer… the kids won’t stop talking about it!

Blogged by: Ana Crane-Simpson
Photography by: Paul Hooper (unless stated otherwise)