Eric Church & Company in Moline

Okay, I was wrong. The first time I saw Eric Church perform live - as a special surprise guest at a Keith Urban concert, singing Creepin' I believe - I was unimpressed and bad mouthed his voice as too nasal and his performance as uninspired. But after buying his new album and then attending his concert, I am a convert. I enjoyed his music and his showmanship. Although the old saying is that "Familiarity breeds contempt.", that just isn't the case sometimes concerning hearing new music. Although some songs might grab one right away, more often it is through repeated listening that one starts to relate to the lyrics or internalize the music so it starts playing on the radio in your head. So I recommend his show (but listen to his album first!). Eric, like many performers today - had 2 opening acts: Justin Moore and newcomer Kip Moore (unrelated). Justin I have seen a number of times - I like much of his music and his good ol' boy style, although I could do without his NRA promotion and related songs. Kip Moore I was unfamiliar with. He is a cutie with quite a voice but men (boys?) who wear backwards caps drive me crazy (probably because a lot of my poor performing students were back-row of the classroom backwards cap guys!).

Here are a few of Eric's songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8tNApc4YrM   Springsteen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDEy5no7Xa0    Drink in My Hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrEBqKe6nDM   Creepin'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftm9W8IUAj4   one of Eric's early songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHtxP8F-oF0    a bit of Jack Daniels

Justin Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp5ycXRb7iM  Til My Last Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp5ycXRb7iM  Small Town USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69G5iZfcQJE   covering With A Little Help From My Friends

Kip Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUiG0szkSUI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIsquxBXpc4

Miranda Lambert and Friends at UNI in Iowa

Last week was a big week for Country Music on my campus - 2 country concerts within 3 days at a school where concerts are few and far between. The Band Perry and Thompson Square performed on Thursday night and Miranda Lambert appeared on Saturday!

Miranda's show was scheduled in our basketball arena, seating about 7000. I had purchased a floor seat in a presale and thought I would be sitting in the 11th row. But apparently I did not look at the seating chart properly, or the wrong chart was posted, because I was surprised to see a General Admission area in front of all the rows of seats. So I was actually sitting in what probably would have been about row 21 if the entire floor had been reserved seats. So, a little disappointed, I made my way to my middle of the row seat. I hoped the performers would make good use of the catwalk that was in place so that they would be a little closer to me.  I didn't know then that my seat location was not going to be my main disappointment later in the evening.

Miranda had two openers - Josh Kelley and Justin Moore. I wasn't really familiar with Josh but discovered he had quite a voice and was pretty cute. He sang us a couple song from his new soon-to-be-released album. I especially enjoyed his song about his recently adopted baby daughter Naleigh Moon -  a beautiful and very touching piece. Since I don't keep up with the gossip pages I didn't learn until later that Katherine Heigl was his partner and the mother with babe in arms that he sang sweetly of.

Justin Moore was up next. I had seen Justin play a couple times at last year's CMA Fest and at Country Concert in Ohio, so I was more familiar with his set. Besides his rowdier songs he has a heartfelt song that is a tribute to his grandfather and a great ballad called Outlaws Like Me.

It was a night for mentioning baby daughters. Justin, like Josh, recently became a proud father and shared what a change it had made in his life. To my shock he then appeared on the catwalk with his baby daughter in arms (with her big pink protective headphones on) and sang his entire hit "Small Town USA" holding her, walking from the catwalk to each end of the stage in turn!! I was amazed that she did not freak out in that context but she just gazed at Daddy's face (probably wondering why his lips were moving but she couldn't hear him - lol). Quite a cutie!

Justin includes the end of a rifle barrel as the double "O" in his last name  in his big "Justin Moore" stage backdrop. It also includes, off to one side, "NRA" in big letters. Miranda makes reference to shooting guns both in her songs and as she chats with the audience, and has a microphone stand fashioned out of a rifle. Do you think the NRA provides concert sponsorship just the way that the rum and beer companies do??

Then it was time for Miranda to come on stage! Seats that had been empty during the openers were suddenly filled and there was quite a buzz in the audience. Miranda grabbed the audience right away by starting out with Kerosene. Everyone was on the feet and singing! I sang along loudly but discovered something unfortunate. Now the rows were full and little movement was possible and the couple right in front of me was very tall. I usually don't begrudge the standers who are enjoying the show. But this couple seemed not to pay much attention to the show. They were more interested in standing up and making out. When they did I could not see between them and could not see around them!! So for most of Miranda's set I was stuck just listening, not able to see her, which had me fuming in my seat. Not able to see her or her band, I couldn't really enjoy when they rocked out. There were only a couple songs (when the couple ahead of me took a beer or bathroom break) when I was able to really enjoy Miranda. Happily at least one of these few times was during y favorite The House That Built Me

UNI really sang along sweetly - the stadium rang with our voices. I also saw a bit of Gunpowder and Lead, but overall I "missed" most of her set. : (

Miranda shared a cute picture of she, Blake and their dog during the show and flashed her ring at us while speaking happily about her engagement. She was a little appalled at the cold Iowa weather and said she hoped she'd be back during warm whether when she could enjoy Iowa a little more.

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.

On to Country Concert to See Keith Urban in Ohio

My “tour” of country music festivals continued into Ohio this weekend. Even though some of the same artists play at each of them, every festival has its own personality and its own pros and cons. And there is a learning curve for getting the most out of a fest, although getting some tips from the “ol’ timers” who are there every year helps.

I flew into Indianapolis to get to Ohio because I got a really cheap flight. Then I drove east on Interstate 70 - the same interstate I had traveled in Colorado - to get over towards Fort Loramie (a tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town). Unfortunately this trip was neither pretty nor pleasant, with heavy traffic the entire way, so I was wishing I was back in Colorado! But the 13 mile ride from my hotel to the festival grounds, on winding roads through green farmlands was nicer, which was good, since I would be going back and forth for 3 days.

Thursday  was rainy for those who arrived early, but because of my travels I didn’t arrive until 7:00 pm (missing the Band Perry and Joe Nichols). I only had to wear my rain poncho for about an hour before the weather cleared (but I still looked a bit like a drowned cat). Happily I was in time to see Gary Allan - excellent as usual but he sure doesn’t interact much with the audience. For some reason his show was also the shortest of the entire festival - he played only 51 minutes!! Everyone was sure he left time for an encore, but no - he never came back. To me that seems to say he was just not “into it”. One of the fun highlights was the appearance of his dog wandering around the stage during the last several songs of his set - a distinctive tall white-with-brown-spots type-unknown (to me) pooch, although it did seem to have sort of a “poodle hair cut” around the head. I tried to take a picture but between it’s moves and the heads in the way, I never succeeded. Later I only stayed for 3 of Hank Williams Jr.’s hard rock songs and from what I heard from other concert goers the next day, he stayed away from more country songs and his more familiar songs all night. So I didn’t regret opting for the easy escape from the parking lots before thousands tried to exit.

Friday was partly sunny and a perfect festival day. Now that the sun was out the concert goers were partying like crazy (Country Concert is the first festival I have been to that allowed people to BYOB and small coolers). The day started out with Steel Magnolia who were very personable and fun. They included Homespun Love in their set. Thanks to advice from the regulars I learned about one of the particular benefits of Country Concert that I had not seen at Country Thunder or Country Jam: those who have “Stagefront Tickets” (the fenced in reserved seat section) have access to “Photo Lines”. Many of the artists (except the big headliners) agree to meet  fans and have individual photos taken for 20-30 minutes about an hour before their show! So although headliners Trace Adkins and Keith did not participate, I did get to meet and have my picture taken with Billy Currington, Justin Moore, Randy Houser, and Jo Dee Messina before seeing their performances!

I enjoyed every one of the sets of these gentlemen and lady but I’ll just mention a few highlights. Trace wore his hair loose and flowing and really rumbled those base speakers with his deep voice. He had brought his daughter with him and I thought I could see her and others sitting offstage in some of my videoclips. Justin Moore does Keith one better in one way - he both unbuttons several buttons at the top AND several at the bottom of his shirt, showing skin in both areas! Since he performed fairly early in the day I was able to sit in some empty front row seats so had quite the view! Jerry Flowers was on the side of the stage rocking out throughout Randy Houser’s and later Jo Dee Messina’s sets and was joined occasionally by Brian Nutter. Both of them were in their off-stage casuals of baggy shorts and tees. Jo Dee told us a funny story about how she had been in Dayton the night before, so in the morning she stopped at the BMW dealer there and traded in her car for a new one, then drove it to the Country Concert. When she arrived she had a hard time convincing the people at the gate that she was one of the performers - they wanted $5 for parking and asked to see her concert ticket!! Even when she showed them her driver’s license they were doubting and debated back and forth whether to let her in!  She later performed a song that she and Jerry wrote together and described him as one of the best bassists in the business : ) Brian Nutter has a new little mustache which, right now, looks a little silly to me, but its probably just growing in.

The first 2 days we could see into the fenced in region where the buses were parked and where a backstage dining tent was set up. On Saturday however, when Keith arrived, all the fences were newly covered with tenting fabric, hiding this area from view. Security said that they had been asked to do that to protect the Urban family’s privacy, so I’m guessing that Nicole and perhaps Sunday was there with Keith, although he didn’t mention it during his show.

Another Country Concert oddity - before Keith’s show (as the big star closing the festival) they wanted to make sure that none of the “General Admission” partiers had somehow made it into the reserved seat section. So security emptied the reserved seats section and then had only those with the appropriate tickets re-enter and beefed up the security on the surrounding fences. I actually saw at least a half dozen people being lead away in handcuffs although I don’t know for sure their particular offenses (but I stayed in MY seat after that! : ). 

Keith was in a black short sleeved shirt tonight and he started the evening with loose, silky hair and, I swear, he and Brian have choreographed a dual “flippage” routine (check out the video). But it was still pretty warm and humid even after nightfall, so before too long his hair was wet with sweat. The temperatures did not slow him down though - he was full of energy and used the full extent of the stage and stage side walkways like no other festival performer did. Trace did move to either side of the stage but only Keith went another 20 or 30 feet beyond either side of the stage as far as one could go multiple times during the evening as well as braving a jaunt out into what appeared to be a very drunken general admission area. He also knelt at several different points along the front of the stage to do some of his up-close guitar bits in front of different amazed fans. Gotta love him! I think Keith might have noticed some of the interactions (or arrests) between security and misbehaving revelers because he commented mid-show about “I see some questionable energy in certain parts of the crowd - everybody is here to chill out under the stars, right?” The he continued “Jerry - are you in a good mood tonight? It is a beautiful night in Ohio tonight!”

The “summer setlist” began the same: Kiss a Girl, Days Go By, Stupid Boy, and Sweet Thing. At the end of Sweet Thing Keith did a really sweet improvisation as he wandered down the walkway at stage right (my side!). Very nice! After Stupid Boy he cracked us up by reading one sign in the audience saying “There is a DUDE over there with a sign that says “Remember me in ‘03?? I still think you’re sexy!” “ A Dude!” says Keith, “or dude-ish!?” “ And now he’s holding a sign asking “Will you marry me?”!! “Too late brother!! Sorry. ” said Keith. LMAO

Before Sweet Thing Keith said it was good to be here at Country Concert - that they hadn’t been there in a long, long time. He then dedicated Sweet Thing “to Alex, somewhere out there in the crowd.” (perhaps someone from the meet and greet?)

This was a very sing-along audience so that you could really hear them chime in on many of the songs. I was surrounded by lots of guys and I was surprised to hear them singing all of the lyrics of I’m In and Til Summer Comes Around, as well as many of the tender older songs like Making Memories and Tonight I Wanna Cry. My daughter in Ann Arbor says it is because Keith really gets a LOT of radio airplay in this part of the country, but it was nice to know that guys don’t just attend to the beer-drinking and kick-your-assing type songs. : )

We got some more nice guitar improvisation after Better Half - starting out like the post-Better Half melodies that Keith played in the last tour as he made his way back to the satellite stage in arenas. But then he added a little vocal improv as well, beginning with some “Ooo na na na na’s” and then leading us in one of his echo rounds, singing 

“Oh I like hanging out under the stars

It feels so good hangin’ out underneath the stars,

Yes it does....” and then began plucking out “Twinkle twinkle little star” on the guitar

(something he does for Sunday perhaps?) until he had us all singing Twinkle, twinkle.

The guitar improv then became faster paced and they ended with another hair-flipping contest between he and Brian.

Making Memories of Us was dedicated to “Those who are feeling in love tonight.”

Then Keith added “including you Jerry.” (wonder if there is some significance to these couple unusual references to Jerry...)

Several times during the show audience members screamed out a request for Raining on Sunday, but the requests went unanswered.

During band introductions, after Brian was introduced as playing all his usual instruments as well as “the bagpipes and spoons” lol,  Brian did a little “Livin’ on a Prayer” tonight with great audience participation. Jerry, likewise, had good audience participation during his Ain’t No Sunshine.

During his usual thank yous towards the end of the show, Keith said that they “want to send love and prayers and deepest soulful thanks to all the men and women who put their lives on the line every day and night for us.”

The encore tonight (after a somewhat longer than usual pause for the loud applause and screams and whistles) included Tonight I Wanna Cry (on acoustic guitar with Brian), Take It To the Limit (with Keith, Brian and Jerry all sharing a microphone), and Somebody Like You, which began with a silly extra fast countdown by Keith (“One two three four five six” , included some impressive forwards AND backwards “happy” circles, (and also a “Yabba dabba do” thrown in at the very end). “You have been unbelievable tonight!” shouted Keith - “God bless every one of you!” And the same back to you and the guys Keith!

PS Keith was still a little hoarse and avoided the high notes again tonight so I am glad he has a little time off now to rest that sweet voice.)

PPS Several videoclips (like Brian's solo and Jo Dee singing her and Jerry Flowers' song are on a camera that I cannot download until I get home from South Haven, MI where 25 of our family and friends are staying)