Zoo Concert Fun

This past Friday the kids and I went to our first Zootunes concert at Woodland Park zoo.  I am a bit (well maybe WAY more than a bit) of a Brandi Carlile fan, the forecast was good, scored a couple tickets to the second day of her sold out show.  I had never been to a zootunes concert so I did a Google search on the low down to this.  Thought I'd share what I learned as well because the tips I found online were very helpful.
First off this venue is wonderful.  The outside gate to the zoo opens at 5, but what I learned was if you paid admission to the zoo you could line up early in one of the two inside lines.  For us this was a great excuse to go to the zoo, something both my kids (ages 16 and 11) enjoy.  You can take in chairs (low back), blankets, coolers.  I assumed in order to keep our place in line my son or I would have to stay in line while the other took Lo through the zoo, then we'd switch off.  This was NOT the case, they are SUPER chill.  I planned to get there around 2 (again this was a sold out concert) got there around 2:30, found the shorter of the two lines (pretty easy to see, chairs are set out), set our chairs up like everyone else and took in the zoo all together.  Went back to our line at 4:30, they gate the lines off from the zoo around 4:40 checked our tickets then and stamped our hands, at 5 they open the gates and its a free for all.  I had been listening to people in line and had my blanket ready to throw out and secure an area, that's just what I did,  got a great spot!  I brought in a messenger bag with snacks and water (didn't want to have to carry a cooler around, but from the looks of it it'd be ok to just leave one in line).  They have several food vendors set up, the kids each got a cheeseburger made with 100% organic beef and Tillamook cheese $9.75, so not bad.   Only thing I didn't quite figure out was the parking, my only tip there is remember the entrance you came in!
As for Brandi,  she was fabulous!  Everything, if not better than I hoped and yes she played my all time favorite The Story.  My kids are good sports and  went in support of me, however both did enjoy it.  Not only did I Google search the how to for the GA protocol, but I YouTubed  her concerts in the zoo and found this one from two years ago....so maybe I was kind of hoping Dave Mathews would surprise us.   Granted I don't actually listen to a lot of Dave but my ex and I did see him play  in 2008 (after seeing the Dalai Lama speak, epic) and were seriously impressed with his live performance, so to perform acoustic with Brandi, that'd be pretty great.  I think I will continue to go each year to see her!
Highlights from our trip over.