In all of our 16 years together—we’ve been a couple since junior high, see—my husband and I have never attended a non-school related concert together. Can you believe that? We’ve spent much of our lives working; we both got jobs as soon as we were 16 and between that and school, then college, and caring for our families, and participating in dozens of service organizations, we just never had the time for traditional dates, and now we both really regret it. Not that we wouldn’t have done the things we did, of course; we just wish that we’d maybe gone to a bar, shot a little pool, and attended a concert or two.

But if there was ever a time for us to remedy the situation, it would definitely be this very summer. Many of our favorite musical talents are coming to the Verizon Amphitheater and the Family Arena. We have some great people coming to the Fox, too—which I have been to, twice, with my sister (to see the amazing Stop and Rent musicals).

Here are the tour dates coming up in St. Louis:

June 15: Robert Plant and the Band of Joy at the Fox Theater

June 18: Earth, Wind, and Fire at the Fox Theater

June 22: Motley Crue with Poison at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

June 24: Lynard Skynard at the Family Arena

July 27: Journey, Foreigner, and Night Ranger at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (I would definitely eat slugs or do some other stupid stunt to attend this one)

July 16: Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

July 24: Styx and Robert Yes, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Agust 10: Def Leppard and Heart at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater (another I’d be happy to embarrass myself for tickets to)

Bon Jovi and U2 are also coming to St. Louis, though they are sold out already, thoroughly breaking my heart in the process.