One benefit of being on Ticketmaster's and Live Nation's online mailing lists is that I sometimes find out about small concerts that I never would have been aware of in the past. It was via one of those emails that I learned that Darius Rucker was going to headline in a theatre in Sioux City, Iowa. I had thoroughly enjoyed hearing DR's rich voice live at the CMA Fest last year and then again when he opened for Brad Paisley and was excited to see what he would do with a full show. It was going to be a Wednesday night concert so it would take some planning, but who knew if he would ever headline in Iowa again.
Not being a native Iowan, I had never been Sioux City - due west of my current hometown, but way over on the western border of Iowa. My timing would be tight but I figured I'd hop onto the 4 lane Highway 20 after my last class, set the cruise control, and listen to a book-on-CD during the 215 mile drive. Well, it wasn't quite that easy. I hadn't realized that the 4 lane version of 20 has only made it about 100 miles of that distance so I would have to travel more slowly on 2 lane road passing through several tiny Iowa towns part of the way. I knew Darius had an opening act, so I resigned myself to possibly missing that, but knew I'd be there before it was time for the headliner. But happily I did not get stuck behind any semi-trailers or farm implements so made it to Sioux City before showtime and beat the later rain showers.
The Orpheum Theatre is a beautifully renovated old vaudeville theatre originally built in 1927.
It was part of the large Orpheum Circuit of theatres that stretched across the nation. Only 15 of those theatres are still operating. The Sioux City theatre seats about 2500 and has been faithfully restored - complete with half circle "boxes" along the sides of the mezzanine, hand-carved and hand-painted ceiling with gilded ornamentation and crystal chandeliers.
I was not familiar with the opening act - Drew Davis - and frankly was not expecting him to be my cup of tea from what I turned up on the web. But Drew turned out to be a performer that has a certain amount of charisma and stage presence. He is constantly on the move, expressing his music through both actions and voice (instead of just standing there and strumming) so you can't help but watch him. He had some funny personal stories to introduce his songs and put on an engaging set. Unfortunately his sound system (like that of so many openers) was not up to par, so it did not project his voice properly and his lyrics were often lost. But I did enjoy his set - here is a bit of his fun Rub a Little Dirt On It.
The Sioux City audience obviously loves Darius Rucker. The entire theatre (at least as much as I could see from my 9th row floor seat) stood up when he came out on stage and remained standing for his entire 90 minute performance. He sampled from both his old and new country albums and included at least a couple"Hootie" songs (Alright and Let Her Cry) and a couple covers (You Never Even Called Me By My Name and Family Tradition). The excited audience frequently called out for favorites (apparently before the songs were scheduled in the setlist) until DR got a little piqued and had to tell them to cease and desist "or I might not sing it at all"! Despite my good seat I had a hard time catching many videos of Darius between the many heads in front of me since DR wanders back and forth across the stage more often than he stands still at a microphone.
I only drove half way home in the dark and stayed overnight in tiny Sac City to shorten my early morning drive to get back for my classes the next day. But it was definitely a worthwhile mid-week adventure!
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