Country Thunder- Florence, AZ - a huge summer festival venue surrounded by campgrounds and parking lots. The crowds at the daytime shows tend to be somewhat spotty, with many choosing to party and play games at their campsites since you can hear the performers no matter where you are. But by 5:00 the crowds thicken, the seats fill and it becomes challenging to even walk around the thousands of people. The temperatures cool after dark but the concerts heat up!
Keith was scheduled to perform at 9:00 Friday. Beforehand the video screens on either side of the stage solicited text messages from the audience just like at last year’s arena shows, but the sponsor here is “Cricket” rather than Verizon. There was also the opportunity to text in an entry to a new contest to win a summer BBQ with Keith, courtesy of Kingsford and Masterpiece again. The music during the break was a new assortment, with many of the songs related to the “love” theme of the tour (Love’s Gonna Live Here Again, Love Can Make You Weak, Single Ladies) but John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” signaled the start of the show.
I immediately knew we were going to hear some new song arrangements this tour - both to creatively change up the show and probably also due to the smaller size of the band now. The opening song was Kiss a Girl and it had a neat new pulsating, echoey intro before the more familiar melody began.
Keith looked terrific in a short-sleeved black button-down shirt, unbuttoned to mid-chest and with the short sleeves rolled up a bit to reveal even more of those tattooed guns, and soft gray jeans that positively fit like a glove. His hair was soft and swingy with those great golden highlights (but a tad shorter than in Houston) and he looked to have a bit of a tan. He gave a big “ARIZONA!!” shout out before breaking into song.
A big, undivided video screen is back but it did not appear to be the high definition one used before so the picture is much more pixelated. But it looked like it might be easier to handle in these outdoor venues. I was glad to see that Jerry was back! He, Chris M and Brian were great all night, but the stage still seemed a bit empty without Brad and C-Rod.
The stage at Country Thunder has a long catwalk (slightly taller than Keith’s old catwalk) as well as narrow walkways going off to either side of the stage which were not easily traversed because of poorly placed spotlights. Keith tried to venture out to the far right and far left a few times during the show, but they just didn’t leave much walking room for the performers.
Next up was Days Go By. Keith worked hard to get the audience to sing along throughout the show. Many of us were singing but you know a large mixed audience just isn’t the same as an arena full of his fans, so I fear the audience singing sounded kind of weak by contrast. But Keith kept complimenting and encouraging nevertheless.
His voice sounded just wonderful at the beginning of the evening, but I think the dry, gritty desert air was taking its toll in some of the later songs. He had to drink lots of water (even accepting a bottle from the audience when he was on the end of the catwalk!). (Each evening I’ve had to wash a layer of desert grime off my feet, legs, neckline, and clothes so I know about the grit he’s dealing with!).
Stupid Boy was wonderful as usual, as was the guitar solo (until some cowboy blocked my view!), Afterwards Keith greeted the audience with a “G’evening Arizona! How are you all feeling tonight? Nice to be here playing some music for you tonight!” Then he turned his attention to each part of the outlying audience, asking each side and also the folks way in the back how they were doing, tossing in those lovely deep chuckles and an “Excellent!”
Then out came his Waylon Jenning’s guitar and a great rendition of “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” (but no explanation to the audience this time). Several folks sitting around me commented, however, “He’s playing Waylon!” As you can see in my video, the guitar really caught the lights. Keith went straight into Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me next and it too had a new beginning ( sorry I didn’t catch all the new bits but he kept surprising me!).
Then the treat of seeing the first big show performance of I’m In with the band. Very nice, with some wailing guitar. But I do miss the “Baby come here close to me” ending from the album. But I still think it will be a big hit. Brian played a huge double neck guitar (is there a name for that?) during this song and perhaps one or two others during the night.
Sweet Thing included a “Come on and meet me pretty mama”, a little scatting by Keith, and a great new guitar ending beginning with “We’re gonna break it down. Break it down!” in my clip. He did this great improvisation (?) out at the srages ends, accepting and wearing a cowboy hat for a while when off to my right and then singing some enthusiastic “Du doo, du doo doo doo;’s) when right in front of me. He was so excited and into it - it was quite contagious!
Before Til Summer Comes Around Keith joked with the audience “That does it - we are moving to Arizona! It is beautiful here - just look at this night!” (and it was just perfect)
“And the cows are just huge! (the grounds feature a inflated cow as tall as the main stage : )
After Til Summer Keith did one of his regular guitar changes, but to his dismay the guitar produced no sound. “ I got nothing here” he said to his guitar guy, who rushed out and switched out all of the connecting cords. Still no sound!! So giving up on the broken guitar and calling for another, Keith, like a trouper, did his best to fill the gap with idle conversation that went something like this:
How many of you are camping out? (huge number of cheers)
After the show we were thinking of finding someone’s tent and have a jam session (more screams)
We have to figure out who has the biggest tent....
Or maybe the smallest tent with the best vibe...
Or maybe a little pup tent,,,,
(still no guitar)
We want to thank everyone for emailing and writing to us and getting us to come back to Arizona.
(still no guitar)
Any folks here from Phoenix?? (silly question!)
We used to play at a place called Rockin’ Rodeo - 9-10 years ago - and we had the best time there!
And finally a working guitar arrived! : )
I was a bit surprised that Better Half was next but maybe he was choosing songs that would most encourage singing. This too had new guitar solos at the end, during which Keith moved to both ends of the stage and shouted out to the audience on each side.
To the crowd to my right side he said “Looks like you guys have quite a buzz going on!”
To the audience to my left he said “Well you’re all looking pretty mellow.”
Like last year’s shows when Better Half was followed by a trip out to the small stage, last night Better Half was followed by a 3 song set at the very end of the catwalk -
Once in a Lifetime, Making Memories and Only You Can Love Me. The General
Admission audience loved him for coming out closer to them for those songs. By the way, all evening he was slapping hands along the catwalk and stage edge and even signing a few things. Then back to the mainstage for an exuberant Better Life and an impassioned You’ll Think of Me.
I really thought I could see Keith just itching to jump off stage several times during the night - first at the end of Blacktop, then in Better Half (when he chose to go to each stage side instead), and then finally in You Look Good in My Shirt. He did just a little bit of jamming tongiht before breaking into the intro of YLGIMS. At first the colored lights on his guitar were not on, but they began flashing as he got into the first verse. Then off he went into audience (the camera couldn’t even keep track of him) thrilling the crowds but riling up the half dozen law enforcement officers who tried to follow him (almost all security at this festival was provided by actual sheriffs, state patrol, correctional officers (Florence is a prison town) in their khaki and olive drab uniforms). I made it out to his return aisle so greeted Keith as he finally made it back to stage.
Then he and Brian headed back out on the catwalk. Keith said “They told us we had to get off the stage, but we told them to go to hell!” (resounding cheers) “We wanna play a little bit more for you - is that okay??” (more cheers) Keith introduced Brian and tonight Brian sang a bit of “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” for his solo. Then Keith went into Tonight I Wanna Cry”. Just before the second chorus he managed to squeeze a “and I wanna hear you sing” right into the song. I must say his voice was as sweet as could be on that song despite the long night and dusty atmosphere.
With a yell of “Did you have a good time Phoenix??” Keith must have seen in some Florence faces a this-ain’t-Phoenix look, because he laughed and quickly changed it to Arizona and asked “It’s late! Cut me some slack!” He Thanked each section in turn, making comments like “Thanks to this section over here that just sang their hearts out. Thanks to this section which has been dancing up a storm! And to you in the back - you guys have just been crazy! And thanks to the folks down front on the floot for giving us so much love!
When they returned to stage Keith introduced Jerry and Chris; Jerry sang his “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Keith seemed to be having such a joyful time in Better Life
He lead us in a round of Yeah - yeah -yeahs and really seemed to have the audience in the palm of his hand at that point. But then he inserted another reference to Phoenix, realized he had slighted the Florence crowd again and totally cracked up at his mistake, saying "Oh no - I did it again!"
Somebody Like You closed out a wonderful show on a glorious desert evening. Keith did a lot more handslapping and signing of autographs as he thanked the audience from the catwalk, the stage and both sides of the stage. The crowd obviously did not want him to leave but I’m sure he probably took off for Vegas immediately after the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment