Since the rest of the family wouldn’t be back from South Haven, MI until Sunday night, I was looking for something to keep me occupied on Saturday evening. Brad Paisley was playing in Moline, Il - a couple hours away. It had been a half dozen years since I went to a Paisley concert. Although I’m not a big fan of his lighter weight songs (like Ticks) I decided to give his “Water Tour” a try. It was a last minute decision but I lucked out and found a reasonable 8th row seat on Ticketmaster’s “Ticket Exchange” (sellers must have started cutting their prices when the concert date neared).
Brad does give fans their money’s worth this tour. Besides watery amusements (like a dunk tank), there is a free pre-show outside the venue in the afternoon. Unfortunately I wonder if many (like me!) did not even realize it was going on. When I arrived. Steel Magnolia was on stage and two acts had already played (Easton Corbin and Josh Thompson. Guess I should have read up on the tour beforehand! You’d think the ticket venders would do a better job of promoting what is available. We later saw these performers in the audience watching the show inside the arena! : )
Once in the I-wireless Center I discovered another unadvertised bonus - Justin Moore was opening the show before Darius Rucker and Brad! Brad’s stage set-up includes THREE catwalks (Right, Center and Left), with the side walkways ending in ramps going down to the audience (sound familiar Keith Urban fans?). There was also a small satellite stage in the rear.
I had just seen Justin Moore perform at Country Concert and again enjoyed his energetic performance and his country twang. But he doesn’t connect as much with the audience as most newer performers do and doesn’t reveal much of his personality. Talk to us a little Justin and make some eye contact!. Here is a bit of his Small Town USA to give you a sense of his style.
Darius Rucker, on the other hand, has a warm sincerity on stage that is very engaging. In addition his songs are feel good and emotion packed. The audience just loved every one of them and, even though Brad was coming up next, we hated for Mr. Rucker’s set to end. I am definitely looking forward to the new album Darius will have out in the fall. Here is “It Won’t Be Like This For Long” and a bit of “Let Her Cry”.
It was nice that both Justin and Darius made use of the catwalks (unlike Kenny Chesney, Brad must be okay with giving his opening acts full use of the walkways).
During the break before Brad’s set an informational video on the importance of clean water and the desperate need for clean water in so many parts of the world was shown on the side screens and the audience was given the opportunity to donate $10 to the clean water cause by texting in a message. When the curtains finally opened for Brad they started with a really cute video clip while playing a guitar version of the threatening sounds from “Jaws” but instead of the shark fin what we saw was a similar silhouette produced by a guitar moving through the water! : ) Eventually it was Brad swimming through the water dragging this guitar. He finally climbed out of the water with his guitar onto a pier just as real Brad (in a similar fashion) climbed up on the elevated portion of his stage. Of course his first song was “Water” and touched back on that theme with water related songs several times during the night. American Saturday night was accompanied by a fun video background and since it WAS Saturday night in Moline they managed to insert a Moline view of the I-wireless Center into the cartoon which elicited quite a response from the crowd. Brad has lots of fans who sing every word of every song, but I am one who most enjoyed his more serious or more romantic songs (as you’ll no doubt see from my video selections).
One bit I wasn’t able to catch on camera was Brad singing a little of Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) before singing his You Do the Math. Sometimes I’m just not quick enough with the camera! I personally would have sung his own ring song (Wrapped Around) at this point but he didn’t do that one until fairly late in the show
I was very close to the left-hand catwalk/ramp and luckily Brad seemed to favor that side and came over and played on that ramp several times. Security allowed folks to line the edge of the catwalk, but I left that edge to the more ardent fans. Mid-show he finally continued all the way down the ramp and around the periphery of the arena to the small stage a la Keith Urban. He played Letter to Me back there. I didn’t have the sense that he was quite as comfortable with that offstage journey as Keith is. Next came a bit of and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Fishing in the Dark and then Mud on the Tires, both of which the audience really loved.
Another fun cartoon, featuring a Brad-like main character, illustrated the song Celebrity. Seeing the music video for Waiting on a Woman on the big screen was nice during that song and they included a bit of out-takes at the end; I’ve always been an Andy Griffith fan. Later in the show there was yet a third cartoon but I didn’t care for this one at all - way too loud and too long. Too much animation Brad!
I got a kick out of Brad's many paisley-patterned guitars! There were several other styles as well, but "paisley" definitely dominated. My favorite songs of the evening: She’s Everything with some lovely guitar work. (I also have a preference for his slower, more melodic guitar playing over his fast-fingered country sound), I Thought I Loved You Then (below), and Whiskey Lullaby, (listen to the audience!) complete with a very realistic Alison Krause image on stage accomplished with video just the right size and position to may everyone wonder if she was actually there.
Alcohol was the encore song and Darius and Justin as well as those who had performed on the outside stage all joined in on this final number of what was a fun American Saturday night.
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