Lady A in Moline

Although I haven't kept up with all of their new music, I enjoyed seeing Lady Antebellum when they opened for Keith Urban and, a bit later, for Tim McGraw. So when they began their own tour I kept an eye out for a show I could make it to. When I saw that they would be coming to Moline, IL I decided that was the show for me, even though it was on a not-so-convenient Thursday night.

I bought a ticket early in the year and waited for the April date to arrive.

It was a happy coincidence when, without talking to me, my oldest daughter Jen scheduled a visit home from Rhode Island for Easter and booked the cheapest flight to Iowa that she could find - landing in Moline that very Thursday night!! When she sent me the flight info, she asked if she should rent a car for the 2.5 hours drive to Cedar Falls (since she'd arrive when Mom and Dad would be working). "No way!" I responded. "I can not only pick you up, but I'll take you to a concert before we head home if you like!" She liked and in fact invited one of her best buddies in the Quad City area who has gone to other concerts with us. I checked Ticketmaster and told Jen that it looked like only upper level seats were available at this late date, but we didn't worry too much because the Moline arena isn't that big.

And then another fortuitous bit of luck. When we firmed up our plans and I returned to Ticketmaster to purchase more tickets, suddenly Ticketmaster gave me seats in the 8th row of the lower risers mid-arena! How could this be, just days before the show?? I immediately tried to complete the purchase. But- gosh darn it - got an error message : (.

Tried again, got the same 3 seats, tried to complete the sale and Error! again!! I repeated the process a third time with the same result. Finally I decided to try to change my parameters - switching from "Ticketfast" to Will Call and (to appease the ticketmaster "gods"), added the optional $15 to join the fan club. And YES!! this time it worked, for whatever reason, so we got our 8th row seats!! Since I paid the fan club fee I decided to check the fan club site for a possible meet and greet sign up although I was pretty sure that, since the show was just a couple days away, the meet and greet sign-up had probably already taken place. The fan club site still allowed me to click on the Moline date, so I went ahead and signed up = what the heck.

Well my good luck charm was still working. About a day later I got an email saying I had won a meet and greet with Lady A!!

I couldn't head out to pick up Jen from the Moline airport until I finished teaching that day, so told Jen she would probably be stuck there for a while. She said no problem - she had her computer and was working diligently on a grant application so I could take my time. As it happens, her friend Sarah was available first, so Sarah collected Jen and they had time to catch up for a while before I got to town. Since I no longer had to rush to the airport I made a brief detour on my way to Moline to have a nice lunch with my youngest daughter Annie in Iowa City (which is right on the way). Tried to talk her into joining us in Moline but she was a stressed out grad student and felt she had to decline.

I met up with Jen and Sarah and we had a beer together at the Bent River Brewery, but then I had to head to the arena early for the meet and greet. There was a bit of complication because the box office had no meet and greet envelope for me. But I had brought along my email from the fan club and Lady A's staff member came up from the bowels of the arena to hand deliver the missing M & G wristband. I stood in line with many others for quite a while and then they finally took us back to the meet and greet room. There was no attempt to create a special atmosphere like Keith does at his backstage sessions. Instead there were just 3 stools in front of a GAC backdrop and several rows of chairs forming a semicircle (with a center aisle) in front of the stools. There were about 80 of us in attendance and I scored a seat in the second row.

A Lady A staff member told us the rules (no camera, no autographs) and briefed us on what would happen during the M & G. She then kind of preemptively answered the most frequent 'routine' questions asked at M & Gs to encourage us to come up with more unique questions.

Well that might have discouraged the fans from asking questions - when Lady A came out and opened it up for questions, initially there was silence and no hands were raised. So I raised my hand and asked if they would share a funny story from touring. (No, much as I would have liked to, I did not ask them for a "touring with Keith Urban" story!) Hillary talked about a time that they used a lift to carry them from beneath the stage up to stage level to make their grand entrance at the start of the show and the lift got stuck so that only her head was above stage level and Charles had to drag her out from the lift pit. Funnier than that, however, was the song they performed for us at the meet and greet. At the start of the M & G Lady A had told the couple little kids in the audience that they could come up front and sit on the floor if they wanted to. At least one was a very excited, perhaps 4 year old fan. When it came time for their song Hillary asked that little guy which song he wanted and he chose "Just a Kiss". But then he asked if he could come up and sit with them during the song (they said yes and got him an extra stool!). And he sang along with them and was just as cute as could be!

After the song each of us in the audience got to meet and have our photo taken alone with Lady A!! I was pretty pleased! But lordy I had never thought of myself as being particularly short (5' 7" most of my life, maybe 5' 6" now that I am older) until I met that group up close. Gosh it felt like Charles was 7 feet tall and even Hillary towered over me. In my photo it looks like I must be standing in a hole!!

By the time I got out to the arena I had missed a bit of Thompson Square's opening act, but I was there for all of Darius Rucker's set and thoroughly enjoyed all the hits I was familiar with. I must admit that some of his new songs that I did not know all sounded very much the same to me, but Darius does have an engaging stage presence.

BTW I was happy to see that Lady A's stage set up included a catwalk that extended to mid-arena (right in front of our seats). The stage itself was a bit odd - kind of donut shaped with the rear half of the donut consisting of right and left curved stairways for the artists to descend dramatically, while the front half of the donut was the curved front of the stage. The "hole" in the center of this donut stage was a VIP fan area called The Inner Circle. This Circle probably allowed an up close view when the performers were actually on the stage, but probably had a rather poor view anytime the performers went out on the length of the catwalk.

Usually it seems that the headlining group has the best quality sound at shows, but I was not impressed with the sound Lady A's sound techs created. While the group sounded great on their big songs like Run to You and Need You Now, on more rocking songs where the band has a bigger presence, Hillary's voice did not project well and the lyrics got totally lost. In fact when they opened the show with the lead track of their new album, I didn't even recognize it for several moments (even though that is one of the tracks I play over and over in my car). Here is American Honey and Run to You (sorry about the noisy women sitting behind me who should have stayed out in the concourse since they paid no attention to the performers).

I was happy that Thompson Square and Darius got to come out for a group song towards the end of the show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az1mGpGbLsQ

Jen, Sarah and I spentt the night in Moline at the quaint Stoney Creek Inn, had a quick breakfast in the morning, then Sarah went off to her newspaper job and Jen and I headed home to Cedar Falls so I could get to my Friday classes. It was great to have some concert buddies to share a fun evening with and to start off a welcome weekend visit from Jen, who lives way to far away!

More Than 'Alright' - A Great Night With Darius Rucker in Sioux City

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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Brad Paisley and Gang Spend an American Saturday Night in Moline

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.