Keith Urban at the Great Jones County Jones Fair in Iowa

I can’t believe that I have lived in Iowa 37 years and did not know about the Great Jones County Fair just 90 minutes from me!! They really don’t seem to promote it and it took a Keith show to call it to my attention. I swear it is a bigger venue than the Iowa State Fair and it was totally packed last night for Keith’s concert.

I was so happy to have company on this concert adventure!! My daughter Annie came down from Minneapolis to go along, as well as my best buddy Joan and my daughter’s friend Sara. Although the latest weather report predicted no rain, it began to shower as we drove to Monticello so we were briefly concerned. But the shower ended quickly, just dropping the temperature from 88 to a wonderful 75!! So it was a lovely and SO much more comfortable evening than Cincinnati – what a pleasure!! Although the main parking lot (on a golf course!!) was already quite packed, I was able to slip my car into an excellent spot behind another vehicle.

The Great Jones County Fair has a huge permanent stage and grandstand and offers attendees free hillside seating (see 2nd photo) for the concerts  on either side of the reserved seating. Although the “free hills”don’t have a good view of the stage, they did have extra video screens set up for these areas. We were in the 6^th row of the grandstand, which sounded pretty good. But I didn’t realize that this was behind the maybe 12 rows of season ticket holders and behind a HUGE floor area that was jam packed. My knees cannot bear the hours of standing for the Standing Room Only floor section but I had actually bought an extra SRO ticket in case I wanted to head down toward the stage for a briefer period of time. But the floor crowd was so intimidating that I was not tempted to try to battle my way towards the stage. My daughter, however, did use the ticket to go down on the floor later in the evening. She managed to be in the vicinity of the satellite stage at the right time and managed to squeeze Keith’s shoulder as he passed her. A little “Vitamin K” squeeze by proxy is not quite the same for me, but I’m glad she had fun!

Since I did not settle into the Cincinnati venue until after Dustin had begun his set, I did not see any pre-concert video screen announcements there, so tonight I was surprised to see screen messages offering pre-ordering of Keith’s new album “FUSE” at a $2 discount on his KUFuse.com website!! That’s the first I had heard of the album’s title. Once again tonight Keith said the release date would be Sept. 10.

Tonight (not suffering from heat prostration)  I was better able to pay attention to Dustin Lynch’s  set. Even though he is cute and energetic, I’m afraid that most of his music is not my cup of tea. I like his slower Cowboys and Angels and when he sings Dust on the Bottle, but most of his other numbers I could do without, especially one that sounds more like eighties dance club music.  But to each their own…

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Little Big Town, on the other hand, is just spectacular! I’m really enjoying their set and their performance style and staging has come such a long way since they last opened for Keith (how many tours ago was that? Maybe 4?)  I recall seeing them with Keith in Sarnia and Sault Ste Marie among other places back then. Here is Bring It On Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_bjYIdBzq4

The general setlist of regular songs stayed the same tonight as it was in Cincinnati I believe. But I was amazed that almost every one of the little wishes/concerns that I had expressed after the first show had changed in this show, as if Keith was reading my reviews!!  So there were multiple times during the night when I exclaimed with pleasure “Oh they changed that!” Some of these changes may well be venue specific and may continue to vary over the summer.

1)      The center microphone was back!

2)      There was a little pointed triangular “catwalk” (4 foot?) pointing out from centerstage, adorned with lights (red lights when I noticed it, matching strips of red lights on the stage as well)

3)      Keith did go to side microphones too, but distributed his time more evenly between the right and left sides.

4)      There were cameramen located on platforms along the edge of the grandstand roof that were able to spotlight and video Keith’s movements through the crowd when he went off stage : )

5)      Keith ventured far out into the audience on both of his trips – once to the right and once to the left.

6)      Little Big Town (or “the incomparable and crazy talented Little Big Town” as Keith called them tonight) DID return to stage to sing with Keith tonight!! No. they did not do a “special” song, like they did at the awards show. They, like Dustin, came out to collaborate on one of Keith’s regular songs (You Gonna Fly). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tAbDawiypw

7)      I thought there was much more showcasing of Keith’s guitar wonder today – both sweet plucking and torrid shredding with  some major flippage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjwq9KJaVAw

Here is a better view of the surprise banjo introduction than I caught in Cincy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXTVzSPeaIY
What a great way to bring out each of the band members!

After the first 4 songs (LHS, ST, ITYS and  SB ) Keith came out with a big IOWA!!!  greeting, then saying “What a hell of a night! Beautiful!! And greeted each area of the arena. He went on to say this was like the most amazing party in the world, but I didn’t quite catch his additional description that it was like the party of  Shawna Hill and Chandler Taylor(?)  or something like that. (guess I am not in the know)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g279h9SBTz0

Although I had to rely on the big video screens for my close-up views of Keith, being at a distance is a totally different perspective with its own benefits. I had a better view of the entire big screen and could see all areas that Keith traveled out to. Although before the show I had looked all around for signs of the satellite stage, somehow I had not noticed the fairly substantial satellite stage about 20 feet to my left! We had, in fact, noticed them testing sky-facing spotlights at that location early on, but did not realize that they were lighting effects for the satellite stage. So watch for those spotlights before your show!  

Somethings I newly noticed tonight may not have been new to the concert – perhaps I was just too distracted by the man himself in Cincy to pay attention to the video screen. Tonight I noticed that Even the Stars Fall For You was backed by a Disney-flavored video offering the lyrics to the song. I like the idea of seeing the lyrics to a brand new song. But my daughter (a graphic designer and professional letterpress printer) was rather appalled by the hodgepodge of fonts and layout they used and is actually going to write to Keith offering her graphic design services! : ) I too found it a little too sweet and bubbly, like it was prepared for Hannah Montana or some other pre-pubescent girl audience.

Another thing I had not noticed from watching the videoscreen coverage of Keith’s trip out to the lawn area in Cincy: the satellite stage is big enough for both Jerry and Chris, with an extra drum set, to be out there with Keith! I think Danny and Brian only stay back on stage because they have to be playing while while the rest of the guys venture to and from the distant stage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0306viBVveU

Chris gave a longer drum demo after his introduction tonight and two of the guys changed up their song demos! Tonight Danny did the Rolling Stones “Start Me Up”!! : ) (I am a long time Rolling Stone fan) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD8TrQ7blX0 preceded by Keith playing a bit of that’s song distinctive opening. A bit of a surprise at an Iowa family event like the county fair, Brian had switched his song to “Your Sex Takes Me to Paradise”!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zb7kit7PmY

And a treat that I hope will be repeated and varied over the summer – while at the piano Keith gave us a bit of a cover song: REO Speedwagon’s Keep On Loving You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VZiW94xzuI  Keep It Up Keith! Maybe a different song at each show!?

A few other highlights:
Keith leading the audience before the SLY closing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69p2x0Ccsao
Out in the crowd for YLGIMS   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AQlSdyF3qQ

After Keith’s personal’fireworks’ and lighting of our fuses, the Great Jones County Fair set off fireworks over the venue after the guys left the stage providing a beautiful ending to a GREAT night!

At Last: Keith Urban Starts a New Tour in Cincinnati!

FINALLY!! The Light the Fuse Tour begins!  Not quite a “regular” tour since it starts with a long list of summer festivals that aren’t quite as friendly to avid fans and don’t offer such things as catwalks, but still a tour after a long Keith dry spell.

Since I wanted to be at the opening show, my cheapest flight option was to go to Louisville and drive Up to Cincinnati. I squeezed in a bit of the Louisville “Urban Bourbon Trail” and a visit to Lilly’s, a nice bistro, on Wednesday night. Thursday morning I headed to Cincinnati and used Roadfood.com to pick out a local diner offering the Cincy specialty goetta (tasty) but even better was the advise I got on the backroads route to Riverbend, avoiding all the interstate construction mess.

Gosh it was damn hot in Cincy!! 99 when I headed to the show, with a heat index way up in the 100’s. (Keith makes it hot enough without the weather packing such a wallop!). Even though I got a decent parking spot in one of the Riverbend lot, what seemed like a mile-long walk to the Music Center was torture in the sweltering weather. Everyone was just dripping with sweat. I could hardly pay attention to Dustin Lynch’s energetic performance because sweat was dripping into my eyes, rolling down my back and chest! Some desperate fans who had brought signs to hold up, gave up and tore them into fourths to use as fans, and those who had fans flapped them most of the evening. (This does not bode well for the upcoming concerts which are even further south!)

Luckily I got a little more comfortable after sitting still for a bit, so I thoroughly enjoyed Little Big Town’s set. Here is a sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAZCi2MIftc

There was a very short break between Dustin and LBT since not much had to be altered in the stage set up. There was a much longer break before Keith came on since LBT had a fair amount of staging that had to be removed. This break may shorten as the roadcrew gets uses to the breakdown and set up.

The Light the Fuse Tour features a triangular bank of lights above the stage and, initially, a silvery curtain at the back of the stage. As the roadcrew finally finished their preparations, the interim music volume cranked up. I told myself to pay attention to what song signaled the show was actually going to begin, but then didn’t quite follow through. It may have been the song “Pressure”. In any case, without any other fanfare, Keith took the audience by surprise by suddenly walked out on stage by himself!! With his banjo!! And starts plucking out a beautiful melody which quickly turned into quite a banjo rocker. It was such a surprise that I only caught a bit of it:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtUHpl7Z9Wc 

 In about 30 seconds the other guys joined him in rocking the house mightily, with their instrumental lasting almost 2 minutes. Then, with little or no pause they moved into Long Hot Summer (and certainly the Hot was appropriate to the occasion!).

Keith was wearing a dark short sleeved button up shirt which appeared to be of a stretchy teeshirt like material – wonder if that will be the garb du tour? I don’t know if this will be specific to this venueor not , but  there was no center stage microphone! Keith spent most of the night at a microphone in front of the right side (his left) of the audience, with just 2 or 3 trips to the corresponding microphone in front of the left audience. (Unfortunately I was on the left so did not always have a good view around the tall heads in front of me). I did not really get a chance to locate the cameramen for the evening – maybe they had to be to the right for some reason and so he sang there to allow filming. There was no overhead camera team like the last tour – that may be impossible in these summer venues – so there is definitely less “camera coverage” of the performance at this time. 

About 30 seconds into Long Hot Summer the silvery curtains dropped to reveal the big video screen, with 5 tall panels each showing Keith playing  : ). The display changed thoughout the show – sometimes  there was a full screen view rather than panels, sometimes multiple rectangles each showing one of the guys. I probably missed much of what went on on the screen when instead I was watching Keith himself.  In the last chorus of LHS Keith had the audience the “uh-uh-ah, uh-uh-ah-ah-ah-ah” part, which we did to his enjoyment.  Next up was Sweet Thing with Keith shouting out a big “My-oh-my mama!” for emphasis. Then, a surprise in terms of song order, I Told You So, with a return of Keith’s “Space, space, space, space..” echo after the first line which made him giggle at himself. He through in several “You know it Ohio!” and “You want to sing it Cincinnati?”’s to please the crowd, and finished with “I won’t say it baby……. I can’t say it baby………. But I told you so!!” before the big ending.  Here is some of it (sorry about the heads): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiBc5mDouyY   Notice Keith has a bit of a moustache!

There are new intros, outros or transitions to the old songs so sometimes we didn’t know what was coming next – in this case Stupid Boy was next – great as always. But I was a bit surprised that the Stupid Boy guitar solo was really about the only extended guitar solo of the night. There were a few other shorter playful guitar segments, but no other shredding of his guitar. BTW there appear to be several new guitars in use – an interestingly shaped snazzy white guitar caught my attention.

It was only after these first 4 songs that Keith stopped to greet the audience, joking “It’s a little bit chilly tonight!” After calling attention to the fact that they chose Cincinnati for the opening night of the Light the Fuse Tour, he confessed “I’m a little bit nervous, but when we came out and started playing you guys made us feel right at home, so now I’m alright.”  He asked for a round of applause for Dustin and then for Little Big Town  and made a joke about their new song “Sharpnado” (rather than Tornado), saying he heard he’d get 50 buck for including a Samsung Sapphire reference (at the time I had no idea what he was talking about, but looked it up).  He joked that everyone in the crowd had their (singing) “Red Solo Cups” and went on to greet each area of the audience.  While he was talking he leaned over to turn on a stage edge fan to blow on him, then said (as his hair was blowing in its breeze) “I feel like Shakira”  : )  but then caught himself, “Well, I don’t ‘feel’ like Shakira…”   He explained that they were planning to mix it up a little – old songs and a few new songs from the new album coming out Sept 10. (I’m sure he said Sept 10, although I had heard Sept 12 earlier.)

So next we were treated to a brand new song “Even the Stars Fall For You”! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co-Bde3XEQw

Next up was You Gonna Fly. Then Keith brought out a stool and sang a touching Without You, preceded by a lovely guitar introduction.

This tour Chris was the first band member to be introduced, with just a very short drum demo. The last of the band introductions (Brian’s) would not occur until the encore!

Then a big guitar intro to Kiss a Girl, a big “Are you with us?” from Keith and out walks Dustin Lynch to sing along on this song (he took the second verse, changing the tune a bit to avoid the high notes, and sang with Keith on the choruses. And a surprise finish to KAG: red and white streamers burst over the audience!!

Perhaps the streamers were meant, in part, as a distraction – because at this point Keith hopped off the stage and headed up the left hand aisle (unfortunately 10 seats away from me), leaving the roofed area of this venue to a stage set up at the beginning of the lawn area. I only had the videocam view but it appeared to be a somewhat bigger platform than he used last tour. Unfortunately there were no cameras following his walk through the audience to or from that platform. To our surprise Keith went into an oldie but goodie song from the Who , Won’t Get Fooled Again, singing:

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again

I’m always intrigued by his little “extra” song choices!  This excerpt then merged into Days Go By.

I had to catch this satellite stage portion from the black and white videos on the big screen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01f7CvSgi1c

“We’ve only got today”, in turn, turned into Jerry’s introduction. I did not recognize his song excerpt and it had no portion for audience participation like last tour. Maybe it will ring a bell next time.

The second full song performed on the satellite stage was a beautiful, slow, sincere rendition of Making Memories of Us and then the final song out there was Better Life. He then signed and gave away his guitar before making his way back to stage. We couldn’t see him, but he must have kept his microphone because he sang a little ditty of “everybody sing along” and a bunch of “yeah-yeah-yeahs” during his return. Once up on stage he led a “Yeah-yeah-yeah” echo round before completing a bit of a guitar solo and a big finish ending to Better Life.  The lights dimmed during our applause and when they came back on Keith was seated in a chair above Chris and his drums to sing a sometimes melancholy, sometimes angry and powerful You’ll Think of Me, with a plaintive “on with life (but no upraised fist)”. It was a chill giving performance!!

Then the single from the new album, Little Bit of Everything, complete with fun background images, disco ball and a sparkling sun at appropriate points in the song. Perfect concert song!

Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me, as usual, spurred great audience participation and included “singing a Little Big Town song to me” this year. It was also the vehicle for introducing Danny Rader, who sang a chorus of this song (instead of American Girl), sounding ever so much like Tom Petty.

Somebody Like You was also a big crowd pleaser. In the middle Keith joked that “It’s cooling down now – the temperature has plummeted down to the nineties!” and led a couple echo rounds – first some “hey hey” – “whoa hos”, then  some complex scat-like do-do-do’s in different patterns, then he began the A-B-C’s but broke up laughing. Somebody Like You also had a big finish – with white confetti strips shooting out over the audience.  Keith and the guys left the stage and the applause, whistles and screams went on and on (longer than usual, probably so the guys could wipe off the sweat for a bit).

When Keith finally returned to stage he was seated behind a piano  (Yay!!) with a tall candelabra type light on it. He thanked us for our applause and said “You guys are still here!!” He sang a slow, beautiful Tonight I Want to Cry with very expressive piano accompaniment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOvoavMfb0M

Then the final band member introduction (during the encore!) – Brian sang the same AC/DC Long Way to the Top segment as last tour. He looks so cute with his very clean cut hair cut – very short with just a bit of a James Dean forehead curl at the front.

Unfortunately Little Big Town did never reappeared to sing with Keith but maybe this will happen in later shows.

Keith said “It may be a Thursday night, but it sure feels like a Friday night to me.” And went into the final song of the night: You Look Good in My Shirt. The guys really screamed “Shirt” tonight, at the appropriate time and then Keith headed off stage once more, jumping down into the left side pit area. With no camera coverage there we could not see what was going on but I wonder if he was more or less held captive there (because he did not move from that spot) and if he lost his mike in the crowd, because we could no longer hear singing from him and Brian seemed to be watching that spot with concern the whole time.  The guys jumped in to sing. When Keith made it back up on stage I thought he appeared slightly flustered, but then led different parts of the audience (lawn, guys only, girls only) in the singing of the chorus and told us he was “just groovin’ cause I don’t want to go home yet.” He spurred the guys to perform with “Fellas –now is the time. If you would like more than just a ride home, now is the time to sing.”

Keith didn’t do his usual end-of-show thank-yous – probably just a first night goof because later, when music was playing he shouted out, kind of like an afterthought, “thank you roadcrew”. He signed a few autographs, slapped some hands, took a photo with a little girl about Sunday’s size,   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD9SkOJKePU and about one hour and forty minutes after he came out, our first show was over. A hot one in more ways than one!!

The next morning when I left my hotel outside of Cincy (I stayed on the Kentucky side of the river), I was surprised to see 3 unlabeled  tour buses in the back of the hotel lot, with a little security tape cordoning them off. I didn’t think they could be Keith’s unless he decided to go low key (unlabeled) this year, but thought they might be LBT’s and Dustin’s. Nine hours (and 2 flights) later I saw two of these same tour buses heading north on a Iowa 4 lane as I drove home from the Cedar Rapids airport. They were towing a motorcycle trailer I had not noticed in the morning. On the way to Monticello no doubt! I should have hitched a ride with them!

A Special Treat: Merle Haggard in Cedar Rapids

It is not too often that you get to see one of the grand-daddies of country music, so I jumped at the chance to catch Merle Haggard's concert at a small theatre in Cedar Rapids. Every seat was filled by an avid Merle fan and the crowd was very vocal in their support throughout the show. Merle was in fine form and played the entire show without a break or even a sit-down for a few songs. Amazing that he has such stamina at the age of 76 - he, like Willie Nelson, must be a tough old bird! I guess his love of music and performing must keep him going. Another incentive to stay on the road may be that he has 3 of his kids (2 sons and a daughter) playing and/or singing along with him on tour. Here are a couple short clips I captured before the usher shut me down:  Thanks for a great night Merle!

Just Stay Here and Drink

Are the Good Times Really Over

Kenny Chesney in Des Moines

I was happy when my daughter Annie decided she could come down from Minneapolis and accompany me to Kenny Chesney's concert in Des Moines. We planned a rendezvous beforehand in Ankeny and caught an early dinner at my favorite seafood restaurant there. We left Annie's car at our Ankeny hotel and headed down to the Wells Fargo Arena, borrowing a spot in the nearby empty medical offices parking lot rather than paying the arena parking lot fees. An added benefit was that we would totally avoid the after-the-show traffic jam : )

I enjoyed the female opening act that Kenny had selected: Kasey Musgraves. I was not familiar with her gentle acoustic country music, but was especially happy when she covered Weezer's Island in the Sun.

Kenny, as always, put on a good show with a nice mix of old favorites and selections from his newest album. Here are just a few bits of his performance:

You & Tequila
Somewhere With You 
There Goes My Life 

After spending the night in Ankeny, Annie and I brunched in the morning and then each of use headed back home. Thanks for joining me kiddo!

Jon Bon Jovi in Des Moines

There are some performers whose music I have not consistently followed but who are on my "bucket list"  of those whom I would like to see perform live sometime in my life. Two summers ago I was able to get to a U2 concert, last fall my daughter and I went to see Bruce Springsteen, and this spring I finally made it to a Bon Jovi concert. I enjoy seeing the differences in the audience each band draws, the staging they select for their shows, and their live performance "persona" of each.

Somehow Jon Bon Jovi has stayed pretty much on the periphery of my personal music world for the most part - I don't know why. I had hear his hits, certainly, on the radio or being sung by others in karaoke bars. He caught my attention more when he started to cross over into country music and because his good looks resemble, a bit, my favorite Keith Urban. When I saw Jon would be performing in Des Moines, I figured it was time to take in a show. It was a last minute decision so I didn't have a great seat, but nevertheless I had a good time.

One of the first things to catch my attention was the stage set up. Although it qualified as the familiar "end stage", there was essentially no sides or backdrop to the stage. Seats had been sold all the way around the arena floor including BEHIND the stage! There was a low wall (9 feet?) immediately behind the drums, but fans filled the seats in the rows above that. I was surprised there were no big video screens at the back or the sides of the stage. I guessed I wouldn't be seeing any close-ups of Bon Jovi.

While "no close-ups" turned out to be pretty true, "no blackdrop" to the stage was not. I was rather amazed and fascinated by the backgrounds that seemed to materialize out of nowhere and I still don't know how exactly they did it. But at certain points in the show, there WAS background (walls, Roman columns, and various other "scenes". But were they real, pillars that rose magically from beneath the stage on command, or was it some sort of holographic trickery?? (see photos above)If they were real, then for significant portions of the concert the audience to the rear of the stage must have had their view totally blocked. Is that possible??  At least some portion of this disappearing and re-appearing background was real, because during 1 or 2 numbers Jon walked up a staircase of columns to be close to that rear audience. So interesting and baffling (at least from my distance) staging to say the least!.

Jon sounded good and was an energetic performer. But I'm afraid his onstage persona, like that of a few other 'stars" I have seen, fell into the "immodest" category that I do not care for. More than once he ASKED for the screams of adoration or the applause of the audience. He seemed to be quite full of himself, while I prefer modest, self-effacing artists. He sometimes also had, for me, a rather peculiar body language and dance style. I'm sure it is 'normal' and loved by his ardent fans, but it kind of amused me.
See for example You Give Love a Bad Name http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX0ewX9WQBE

There was a small satellite stage mid-arena. I thought Jon might head out through the crowd to get there, but in fact, a bridge materialized to give him safe passage to that stage. For a while I had a little bit better view : ) Here are two songs from the small stage:

Bed of Roses  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcXNBrcKP7I

Amen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a8Dd29UubE

 Then back to the main stage....

A bit of Who Says You Can't Go Home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvVi09j_DK0

Old Time Rock and Roll  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-9oTILdDu0

Dead or Alive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlBmXitD7PY

Our Hunter Hayes Adventure

The insurance company Country Financial has been a sponsor at several country concerts I've attended over the years. They have hosted special photo booths at some shows (the Houston Rodeo and a Little Big Town concert are 2 I have souvenirs from), so at some point I must have given them my email address. As a result I periodically get emails from them about country events that they are involved with. Early this year I received one of their "Road Trips and Guitar Picks" announcements of their upcoming live streaming concerts and free ticket contests to promote Hunter Hayes. Two of the shows were to take place in Chicago and in Minneapolis where my daughters Sara and Annie (respectively) live. So I entered those contests daily until the deadline. Happily, a few days later I received the email that I had won 4 tickets to the private Hunter Hayes show at a small club in Minneapolis!! YAY!!

Country Financial, as is their right, seemed quite intent on not having these free tickets end up being brokered. They immediately requested the names and addresses of those who would be attending and stressed that each person had to have a photo ID that would be matched up with this list of attendees to enter the show. Annie invited two of her best buddies to accompany us and I sent in our list of names and addresses.

I was very excited at the idea of an intimate Hunter Hayes show. I had seen Hunter perform at Keith Urban's Las Vegas concert last tour, and was familiar with his couple hit singles, but did not know much else about his music. I kept an eye out for his CD at my local stores, but didn't find it. Finally, on the morning of the show, I decided to downoad Hunter's album off of Itunes so that Annie's best friend Katie and I could listen to it during our 3 hour drive up to Minneapolis. I did so, burned myself and CD and Katie and I headed up north.
Since Annie would be working until 5:00 , Katie and I planned on being in the Twin Cities about an hour before the 5:30 venue arrival  that Country Financial had requested.

About halfway to Minneapolis, we stopped for gas. I grabbed my purse to get out a credit card only to discover NO WALLET!! Here I am, driving to another state for an overnight visit and a show requiring ID, and I have no driver's license, no photo ID, no credit cards!!! How could this be?? I called home and was informed that my wallet was there, next to the computer where I had used a credit card to pay for my Itunes download : (  It was too late to return home and still make the show. I had enough cash to pay for my gas and asked that a copy of my driver's license be faxed to our Minneapolis hotel. Hopefully with that, the hotel would let me check in and perhaps the FAX would satisfy those checking us in at the concert. But I was still totally stressed, thinking I may be traveling all the way to Minneapolis for nothing, and was feeling naked without my wallet and its contents. I would have to rely on my daughter's credit card to get us through our visit.

We arrived safely, parked 2 blocks from the venue and found an odd little bar nearby to wait for Annie to get off from work. At 5:30 we headed over to the Fine Line Music Cafe, where several dozen people were already lined up, waiting for the doors to open. When a guy came down the line, checking IDs, I kept my fingers crossed that my FAX would do. Well, he was just checking that we were of legal drinking age, so was unconcerned that I only had a fax. As we entered the club, they checked off our names on their list,gave us our souvenir lanyards with our Hunter passes, but did not ask for photo IDs, so I was greatly relieved. The Fine Line is a cute little club with just a few tables close to the bar and an open floor area right in front of the small stage. We staked out a spot at the right side of the stage, then enjoyed the free drink tickets Country Financial had provided until they annnounced it was time for us to line up for our Meet and Greet and photos with Hunter! : ) Annie's friend Ping was not an ardent country fan, so wasn't interested in the M & G, so she held our spot while Annie, Katie and I joined the line that wove its way up the stairs to the second level, where Hunter and the photographer were located. Hunter was very cordial greeting each of us. I mentioned I had seen him in 2011 at that Vegas concert with Keith and knew then that he would be a big hit. He thanked me and thanked us for coming and we had our photo taken.

We re-claimed our spots upfront and were surprised to find a half dozen others who had come up from Cedar Falls, Iowa standing right next to us! It was such a treat to be perched  on the edge of the stage for a great hour long show with Hunter and his band. He was so personable, telling us stories and cracking jokes between songs. His vocals were great,  he is quite the guitarist and his bandmates are almost as cute as he is.  He sang all of my favorites from his excellent album and ended with his hit singles. Here are a few samples:

Love Makes Me
Love Starts Slippin'
Light Me Up
Rainy Season
Storm Warning
Wanted

A highlight, which unfortunately I did not catch on camera, was when Hunter incorporated in his great song If You Told Me To a bit of Somebody Like You, commenting afterwards that he had to include a bit from one of his idols Keith Urban! Luckily, someone else did catch this medley at another of Hunter's small shows:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqwhAbgbXtA

 The four of us had a great time at this wonderful show and I hope to attend more Hunter Hayes concerts in the future. Thank you so much Country Financial and Hunter Hayes!!

We left the warmth of the Fine Line Music Cafe to walk a couple blocks in the bitterly cold Minnesota wind to a pub for a late supper before heading to our hotel. Annie and Katie decided to have a couple drinks together but mom was ready for some sweet dreams before heading home to Iowa.

Maroon 5 in Moline

  Last year I became a fan of The Voice and enjoyed watching Adam Levine in his role as judge and coach. This year I am watching again and decided it was time to try to see him and Maroon 5 in concert again. I did seem them perform many years ago, when they were opening for the Counting Crows rather than
headlining.  When I saw they were coming to Moline, IL I bought a ticket during the arena presale. I hadn't kept up with Maroon 5's music in the intervening years (I rarely listen to pop radio), so I splurged on their most recent album when I saw it on sale so I could "study up" and prepare for the show. I played the Youtubes of  some of my old favorites of theirs like Misery and She Will Be Loved to my classes on the Friday of the concert, then after class headed to to Quad Cities. Hubby was out of town, so I also booked a room in the hotel right night to the I-Wireless, which was really nice given the cold weather and icy pavements that day. I don't know why I never stayed in that hotel any of the times that Keith Urban played Moline!
      It was obvious how far Maroon 5 had come since I last saw them perform. Instead of being the opening band without even a banner behind their drummer, they now had a very impressive, shiny,  glitzy Las-Vegas worthy stage set-up, complete with a satellite stage mid-arena. The high gloss stage and catwalks formed a huge M V (5) and the back of the stage was a huge nearly 180 degree semi-circle of the best high def video screens that I have ever seen - just gorgeous!! The changing visual displays projected on that screen during M5's set were really beautiful and engaging - I have never been so impressed by the background displays at a a concert. Since I was sitting in the lower risers closest to the stage I felt almost immersed in the scenes portrayed on those screens during the show. Kudos to their staging designer!!
     There were 2 opening bands, both of which I had heard of but really didn't know. But again, I did my homework beforehand, listening to their Youtube videos. Owl City seemed to be a fairly lightweight very pop sounding group - pleasant songs that did have the audience singing along. Here is their song Fireflies

     Neon Trees were a bit edgier indy-pop-rock with a slinky lead singers whose moves just captivated so that you could not look away. Again, they did seem to have a following in the audience, so I guess I am just woefully out of touch with the genre. I did enjoy both the openers, which is not always the case, so I was happy. Here is Neon Tree's Trust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU8mmoGXa4in Moline.

     Maroon 5 came out strong with their hit Payphone and then had a good mix of old songs and new album songs throughout. I enjoyed watching Adam, dressed in all white, moving constantly from centerstage to left catwalk to right catwalk. With the exception of one or two guitar solos from their lead guitarist, the rest of Maroon 5 definitely stayed in the background. Adam chatted with the audience on and off throughout the show, but I noticed that most of the time he kept his distance from the edges of the stage or catwalk and did not physically interact with fans until the very end of the concert. Towards the end of the show a long arched bridge like one might see over a stream was lowered from the arena rafters to allow Adam to get to the mid-arena satellite stage (tricky!) Here is She Will Be Loved  out in mid-arena.

I Won't Go Home Without You
Wakeup Call