(It was a busy weekend and I am actually one review behind. Friday night , before heading to see Keith in Chicago, I attended another show, right here in Iowa).
We don’t get too many concerts here in town (Cedar Falls/Waterloo, IA) so I was excited when they announced that Dierks Bentley would be playing the same small McElroy Auditorium where I first saw Keith about 4 years ago. I was ready when the tickets went on sale but was surprised to find that only General Admission tickets were available online. I have been to several shows there and always had reserved seats before. Ah well - I bought a couple for my friend and myself. Later my youngest daughter said she and a friend wanted to go as well, so I went back online to buy another pair. They were having a “Buy 4 for the price of 2” sale so, what the heck, I got 4 with each ticket just $9.50!
I thought my daughter might have additional friends needing tickets but everyone else had bought their own. So I ran a contest among my 320 students this semester to give away the two remaining tickets.
It turned out that they made the concert general admission so that the entire main floor could be standing room only. Apparently some fans had lined up early in the morning to be sure of getting close to the stage. None of us wanted to stand all evening so we headed for the risers.
I was totally unfamiliar with Gloriana (in fact I thought that might be the name of a female soloist!) but was pleasantly surprised by this fun and energetic group, who at some moments reminded me of Lady Antebellum and at others, Little Big Town.
Dierks had endeared himself to our community by spending part of the morning skating, in full gear (although he did tweet that he couldn’t find his protective cup - lol), with our local Black Hawks hockey team. The team was tickled and said Dierks wasn’t bad on the ice. He showed us some photos during the concert and also got good coverage in the newspaper. He began his set in a flannel shirt over a red teeshirt, but by the end of the evening he had shed the flannel. I was glad to see he has some of those curls back in his hair.
I have seen Dierks open for Keith and for Kenny but this was the first time I saw him headline a tour. He did a good job and seemed to have picked up many pointers from Keith’s shows. Dierks was full of energy and almost constantly on the move on the stage, making sure to go to the far right and left stage edges to interact with and serenade those in the risers. He does a lot of jumping (like Keith and the guys jumping towards the end of their show) throughout his set - a regular Energizer bunny! Dierks had a catwalk even in this small auditorium and interacted a lot with the fans along the edges. He sang all of his hits as well as his new music - it was a nicely paced show.
He even played, with 2 members of his band, a short set out at the very end of his catwalk (sound familiar?) which was kind of a fun combination of songs, most of which I have uploaded on YouTube. They started out with “Just a good ol’ boy”, then went on to “Family Tradition”, which really got a big response from the crowd, then “My Dixieland Delight”, throwing in several appreciated references to Waterloo. Dierks finished his end of the catwalk set with “My Last Name.” Nice medley Mr. Bentley!!
Dierks took time to chat a little with the audience about his past visits to Iowa and his skating in the morning. He proposed a little toast to the fans and his band and country music, but had to borrow a beer from one of the guys next to the catwalk to do so. He said “I owe you one” to the guy and then asked “You don’t have swine flu do you?” lol.
Anyway, late in the show he actually did come out with 2 fresh beers for the guy and his buddy!
Like Keith, Dierks also took time to express his gratitude to his fans and also gave his thanks and dedicated a song to the men and women of the armed forces.
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