The One Where We Go to Jones Beach & Watch A Concert

This is a pretty late post, but I figure it’s better late than never, yes? Besides, just thinking about this wonderful day makes me so happy, and I’m inclined to share that happiness with the rest of you. And it’s just a post that’s summery and appropriate for this particular season. Ready?

About three weeks ago, on June 29, my sister and I were up pretty early for a Sunday morning. We were about to go on an unexpected adventure. Destination? Jones Beach. Even though we could have asked a friend to drive, Mel and I decided to be big girls and commute our way there instead. This basically involves an hour-long LIRR ride to Freeport, followed by a 15-20 minute bus ride to the beach. 

So, on Sunday, bleary-eyed, armed with Taco Bell and earphones, my sister and I got on that train. We dozed off, woke up at Freeport, got off and waited for the bus, boarded the bus and then finally got off at Jones Beach!

on the LIRR

Getting off that bus was like stepping into an entirely different world. Gone were the skyscrapers and high-rise apartment buildings of the city. In its place, there was sand, sun and miles of ocean! Having grown up in the Philippines, a decidedly tropical country known for its beaches, it almost felt like coming home. We hurried to find a spot among the rest of the crowd before we settled in for a while.

We spent a few hours just laying out and taking turns running into the ocean. Once our stomachs started growling, we made our way to the little extension of Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg that is up there for the summer to grab some food to eat. We enjoyed our lunch under the shade, and just lingered there until we were ready to be under the sun again.

We walked down the boardwalk, and left the area we were in to see how difficult it’d be to get to the Nikon @ Jones Beach Theater. Turns out it was just a short walk away and there was a much quieter/calmer beach right by it! We settled back onto our makeshift beach blanket and proceeded to nap for the next hour or so (which is a wonderful thing to do at the beach, by the way).

By the time we were up, it was almost time for the doors to open! We waited around outside the venue until the doors opened, and then joined the rest of the crowd in finding our seats. It was really interesting to see that there was a bit of an older crowd, and more families than I expected. Our seats were decent though, and we just relaxed and people watched while waiting for the show to start.

The opening act for the tour was American Authors. I actually didn’t know most of their songs… except the last one, The Best Day of My Life, which is probably their most well-known single! That was the one I got up and danced to and sang along with.

The sun had started to set when the Script showed up on stage. I’ve seen these guys in concert three times (including this one) and they are freaking amazing! I love hearing all of my favorites sung live, and sang and danced along with no shame whatsoever. I even got to see Danny up close since he did the thing where he ran through the venue’s aisles! They put on an incredible show, as always, and left us with the exciting announcement of their new album coming soon!

There was a really long break in between, but eventually, as night fell, One Republic finally kicked off their portion of the show. I’ve never seen them live before, but my goodness, is Ryan Tedder amazing. I seriously just cannot get over how well he sings! Plus, their songs are totally catchy, fun and have great lyrics and sentiment behind them too. I was singing, dancing and yelling my heart out and it was seriously the best. I totally freaked out when they sang my two favorite songs (Good Life/I Lived) back to back, and I just felt how special this whole experience had been then! After a two song encore, they ended for the night, also leaving us with news of a new album dropping soon!

Even though the commute back to our apartment took nearly 3 hours, even though it got cooler and we hadn’t exactly prepared for that, even though we both woke up tired the next day, it was so totally worth it. The beach portion of our trip was a much needed mini-getaway from the city. And the concert was definitely a memorable one! I’m so glad we decided (on a whim) to do this last year, and look forward to our next concert adventure.

(PS - All these photos are care of Mel!)