Funny - after living in Iowa for 35 years I made my first trip to Sioux City three weeks ago to see Darius Rucker perform, and then found myself going there again last Thursday to see Tim McGraw in concert. Different venue this time - Tim would be in the Tyson Arena while Darius had been in a lovely old theatre.
Since school was out my youngest daughter (who just graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Graphic Design) was able to accompany me on this adventure. Annie was coming from Ames and I from Cedar Falls, so we set up a rendez-vous where our routes to Sioux City would converge. Webster City is a small town neither of us had been to but I figured both of us could find the only 'big' store in town (K-Mart). We met up just fine, feeling a bit like secret agents who should have exchanged some code words at our designated meeting place. Before we could leave Webster City we just had to make a stop at a local snack shop for beverages just because of their great name: Whoop-ti-do's and La-ti-da's! : )
A rainstorm at just the wrong moment meant we had to dash to the arena with our tiny umbrellas threatening to turn inside out in the gusting wind and found our seats not long before the start of the show. Tim is touring with 2 opening acts - The Band Perry and Luke Bryan. He has a very extensive catwalk to give as many fans that "front row experience" as possible. The walk goes out about 15 rows, meeting up with a crosswalk which then had further extensions going even deeper into the arena. He also had a platform at the very rear of the floor. I had joined his fan club at a time when he was donating the membership fees to disaster relief and was pleasantly surprised to get 5th row seats in my very first fan club presale. But then I was a little worried once the show began. The Band Perry played almost their entire set out on the mid-arena catwalk, so we mostly saw their backs. I hoped that would not be the case once Tim took the stage. Annie, like myself, enjoyed The Band Perry but voiced the thought that had been running through my mind: "The guys don't do much." It is true that they are really like a solo singer and her back-up band.
Annie really enjoyed Luke Bryan's engaging party-atmosphere performance and thought he was pretty cute. Here is a bit of his "All My Friends" complete with a butt-waggle, and also a bit of Boom-Boom from his upcoming album. Yes, he is a good performer, but much of his "party" music is not my cup of tea. My favorites are his more serious love songs.
Finally it was time for the main act. I thought the musical introduction in the darkened arena (meant, no doubt, to build the anticipation to a frenzy) was a bit much. Then Tim shocked everyone by beginning the show on the platform at the rear of the arena!! I could not even see him from our 5th row seats and there were nothing on the video screens for us front-of-the-arena folks. So we just had to listen to the first 2-3 songs - a bit of a disappointment, although I'm sure the rear arena audience was thrilled. Tim then slowly made his way up the floor and catwalk to the front as he was singing. He is looking thin and very buff (in contrast to the last time I saw him in Milwaukee when he was bulked up and in full beard for a movie role).
The show was a mix of old and new songs and Tim was pretty constantly on the move on the catwalk. He did not spend very much time at all on the stage, which was a bit of a shame for us, considering our seat location. Here are a few of my favorites:
Tim brought The Band Perry out for a duet of Can't Really Be Gone and later, Luke Bryan for . He also sang a cover of Lionel Ritchie's Sail On and told us he had been thrilled to sing that song with Lionel for an upcoming album.
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