Maroon 5 in Moline

  Last year I became a fan of The Voice and enjoyed watching Adam Levine in his role as judge and coach. This year I am watching again and decided it was time to try to see him and Maroon 5 in concert again. I did seem them perform many years ago, when they were opening for the Counting Crows rather than
headlining.  When I saw they were coming to Moline, IL I bought a ticket during the arena presale. I hadn't kept up with Maroon 5's music in the intervening years (I rarely listen to pop radio), so I splurged on their most recent album when I saw it on sale so I could "study up" and prepare for the show. I played the Youtubes of  some of my old favorites of theirs like Misery and She Will Be Loved to my classes on the Friday of the concert, then after class headed to to Quad Cities. Hubby was out of town, so I also booked a room in the hotel right night to the I-Wireless, which was really nice given the cold weather and icy pavements that day. I don't know why I never stayed in that hotel any of the times that Keith Urban played Moline!
      It was obvious how far Maroon 5 had come since I last saw them perform. Instead of being the opening band without even a banner behind their drummer, they now had a very impressive, shiny,  glitzy Las-Vegas worthy stage set-up, complete with a satellite stage mid-arena. The high gloss stage and catwalks formed a huge M V (5) and the back of the stage was a huge nearly 180 degree semi-circle of the best high def video screens that I have ever seen - just gorgeous!! The changing visual displays projected on that screen during M5's set were really beautiful and engaging - I have never been so impressed by the background displays at a a concert. Since I was sitting in the lower risers closest to the stage I felt almost immersed in the scenes portrayed on those screens during the show. Kudos to their staging designer!!
     There were 2 opening bands, both of which I had heard of but really didn't know. But again, I did my homework beforehand, listening to their Youtube videos. Owl City seemed to be a fairly lightweight very pop sounding group - pleasant songs that did have the audience singing along. Here is their song Fireflies

     Neon Trees were a bit edgier indy-pop-rock with a slinky lead singers whose moves just captivated so that you could not look away. Again, they did seem to have a following in the audience, so I guess I am just woefully out of touch with the genre. I did enjoy both the openers, which is not always the case, so I was happy. Here is Neon Tree's Trust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMU8mmoGXa4in Moline.

     Maroon 5 came out strong with their hit Payphone and then had a good mix of old songs and new album songs throughout. I enjoyed watching Adam, dressed in all white, moving constantly from centerstage to left catwalk to right catwalk. With the exception of one or two guitar solos from their lead guitarist, the rest of Maroon 5 definitely stayed in the background. Adam chatted with the audience on and off throughout the show, but I noticed that most of the time he kept his distance from the edges of the stage or catwalk and did not physically interact with fans until the very end of the concert. Towards the end of the show a long arched bridge like one might see over a stream was lowered from the arena rafters to allow Adam to get to the mid-arena satellite stage (tricky!) Here is She Will Be Loved  out in mid-arena.

I Won't Go Home Without You
Wakeup Call

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

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!

Reba and Her Entourage in Moline, IL

Another belated post from late fall! I have only seem Reba perform live at CMA Fest a couple summers ago and thought it might be fun to see her show when she came to eastern Iowa for a middle of the week concert. It was a few hours drive but my audiobooks would keep me entertained on the ride and I'd get to eat at one of my favorite Thai restaurants, so what the heck!

What I didn't know was that Reba travels with quite a crew of openers kind of like Kenny Chesney or Brad Paisley. First up was the Christian music group Edens Edge - fresh faced young people with fine voices. Then Meghan Linsey, the female half of Steel Magnolia, came out. From my seat up in the stands I did not initially recognize her without her partner even though I have seen Steel Magnolia open a few shows in the past. My favorite of her songs,however, was when she was joined by deep-voiced cutie James Otto, whom I also last saw at CMA fest. They sang a great rendition of James' Just Got Started Lovin' You that you can help but respond to.

The final opener was The Band Perry. I enjoy their music but between my seat and the arena lighting I wasn't very pleased with my videos.

Reba certainly had a following in Moline so many gals around me seemed to know every world of her songs and participated thoughout. I only know bits and pieces of her radio hits. She was good but having been spoiled by my personal "entertainer of the year" who sings, chats, shreds a guitar, moves around the entire arena, and has a great deal of fun interacting with the audience, somehow just singing into the microphone just seemed a bit lacking. Spoiled rotten aren't I???

Eden's Edge singing Amen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feLvoRWDI40

James Otto and Meghan Linsey (Steel Magnolia) collaborating on James' great sexy song Just Got Started Loving You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc4j16aYEcM

Band Perry -

Miss You Bein' Gone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrI2gRn8SCk

Hip to my Heart http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZrqCWVJYOY

A bit of Free Fallin' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp0BNJJmZB4

Reba

Because of You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfCu8b5YslY

Strange http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeYualpaR4

Paul Simon in Moline

This blog has been abandoned for too long - resulting from a combination of factors. First and foremost, of course, was Urban-deprivation since the final show of the Get Closer tour. But work has played a role too since the impact of the financial crunch in the world of education is, in part, being dumped on faculty. About a month before the new school year began I was informed that my teaching load would be increased by one-third over what it has been for the last three decades. Since, in a typical semester, I already teach about 315 students in 5-6 different courses and individualized experiences, while also working on 8-10 academic committees, there are not enough hours in a day to do much more. I have been struggling to keep my head above water with this extra load and unfortunately can no longer give my students the same degree of attention and quality education as I could in the past. Sadly this has sucked some of the joy out of the job that I have loved for so many years and depleted my energy for many other activities.

But now I have a brief reprieve over the holiday break, so perhaps can squeeze in a couple entries before the start of a new semester!

Perhaps a year ago we made plans with our best friends to take a road trip to see Simon and Garfunkel who had once again come together to do a revival tour of sorts. The tickets were very expensive but their music had been such a big part of our youths we were willing to pay the price and travel to Minneapolis to once again hear this duo. Unfortunately the show was canceled "for health reasons" and was never rescheduled. So when I discovered that Paul Simon was touring this year I decided to try again even though I knew he would probably not perform many songs from his S & G days. Since I am a 'regular' at the arena in Moline, I was able to score a good seat in the risers next to the stage during the arena presale. My seat was in the 2nd row but when it became clear that the first row of the risers was vacant, I moved down there for the show.

I had seen Paul perform before- years ago when he toured with Bob Dylan - but it was from a greater distance than this time. From only 20 feet away he seemed even shorter, especially in contrast to some of his tall band members. I suppose, like many of us older folks, he has probably lost an inch or two of his height. But "good things come in small packages" and that certainly holds true for the great music this man generates!

A group of very talented musicians, the Punch Brothers, opened for Simon. At first I thought they were an odd choice because they began with a bluegrass-like number that seemed not to fit with Simon's music. But their later songs were diverse and did a good job of featuring their mix of instruments and voices and I could see their musical kinship. This first clip in not mine but I think it has a "Simon" feel to it: This is the Song. Here they are in Moline singing The Band's Ophelia.

Paul's show was wonderful, with a nice mix of songs from several of his albums but too few from the Simon & Garfunkel days to ease my hunger there. Here is one however: a great Sounds of Silence . Paul's band is extremely talented - just as thrilling as Paul himself! Here is Paul's cover of Here Comes the Sun and a song I relate to personally Still Crazy After All These Years!

Memorable Moline

I took my time checking out of my St. Louis hotel and that was almost a mistake. The interstate to Moline was rife with summer roadwork and I ended up sitting at almost a standstill for nearly 90 minutes about 15 miles out of St. Louis, with no exits or turnarounds or other escapes to be had. I barely made it to Moline in time to meet up with my daughter and sister for dinner before the show. Moline was oppressively hot and I hoped the iWireless Center would have the air conditioning cranked way up.

Since we were having a little gathering in Moline I had promised to bring cocktail makings in case we wanted to have a before-show drink at the hotel (the few bars near iWireless are usually packed). But the weather was SO hot that when I went to take the bag of supplies out of my trunk the bottles of vodka and rum were the temperature of hot coffee and the heavy plaster shopping bag they were in had nearly melted and stretched out and broke when I tried to lift it. Guess we’ll be counting on the restaurant for cocktails!

Daughter Annie and her friend Lucy (an Urban virgin) arrived minutes after me and we visited while we waited for my sister Judi. When nearly an hour had passed I tried calling her to see if she was caught in roadwork jams as well. Sadly not. Although we had emailed back and forth earlier in the week, I guess day of the week was never mentioned and somehow she had it marked down the concert on the wrong date on her calendar and was still at home in northern Illinois : ( (It is a constant fear of mine that I will screw up concert dates or flight dates somewhere along the line).

Annie, Lucy and I had a fun dinner in a cool and classy bar/restaurant about 3 blocks from the arena, indulging in interesting summer cocktails to help us cool off. I tried a tasty cold avocado soup and a watermelon, feta and spring greens salad that was great and my grapefruit martini was a perfect refresher. Afterwards I gave Annie an Lucy the pair of floor seats I had purchased, while I took the pair of Row 3 riser seats I had gotten in the Jake Owen presale. When I settled down in the third row of center arena seats I had a good view of all the stages. Pretty soon, however, an usher chased me out of my seat - it turns out that in Moline “Row 3” in the risers is actually the FIRST row for concerts! Better yet!!

The iWireless Center is a smaller arena, so tonight the small stage was positioned at rows 16-18. It looked to be close to being sold out.

I am liking that Jake Owen has been telling us a little bit about his day in town each time. I kind of miss Keith’s mentions of being out on the bikes or going out to a ball game that he sometimes used to share at concerts. Of course today was so darned hot they may well have hunkered down someplace air-conditioned. Tonight Jake added another new song to his setlist, as well as a different mode of presentation. He brought out a stool to sit on for a slow sweet singing of what I think must be a song from the album coming out in August, beginning " There's a place with a name called heaven..".

After Put You in A Song and I Told You So, keith strolled out slowly strumming his guitar and sang out “Feels good out here tonight Moline. Are you in a singing mood tonight Illinois? Well do it then...” and went into Only You Can Love Me This Way and later added “ And I’d have never had this feeling that I feel playing for you on a Thursday night in Moline.” There was a bit of a special ending, with Keith adding an extra “ Only you, only you, only you can love me this way!” Better Half, added to last night’s setlist right before OYCLMTW, was gone from the setlist today. Perhaps it had been a special request from someone in the meet and greet yesterday.

A live performance of a hit song is not exactly the same as that on the album or single, and that is one of the things we love about concerts. But the little extras or changes in pacing sometimes probably pose difficulties for the guys controlling the accompaniments (lights, videos, etc). I noticed today during Keith’s performance of Without You that, although he started out in synch with the video images, the shots of Sunday Rose appeared before he got to the “along comes a baby girl” line in his singing. But the crew was right on it and after an almost imperceptible pause in the video (while I expect they pressed rewind briefly), those images replayed a second time when Keith did sing that line. Someone was quick on the draw!!

When Keith paused to chat with the audience he commented that there were a lot of signs out there tonight. One in particular caught his eye: “ Is that a bedsheet you cut up? You have to bring that up - that is one of the most original signs I’ve seen.” It was a sheet with 5 holes for faces (for 4 gals, 2 on either side of the center face hole for Keith) cut into it, saying “Without you we can’t get closer.” So he brought them all up on stage and they stretched out the sheet and put their faces in place. Keith joined them in the sign and had them each introduce themselves.The crowd loved this interaction.

As Keith made his way back to the small stage virtually everyone on the floor climbed up on their chairs to watch him and remained on their chairs for the full three songs. It was quite a sight from my riser perch. In Blue Jeans tonight Keith sang the “You don’t need a thing except your negligee” variation. Here is You'll Think of Me.

I suppose every concert has been this way, but tonight in particular I noticed that the show was just a rocket ride - one great song following right on the tail of the previous one, transitions almost instantaneous, everything so carefully timed. And the guitar solos seemed particularly seering, matching the oh-so-hot weather that day. Here is Long Hot Summer. During band introductions I have noticed that the guys have been having fun singing a little back up during Danny Rader's American Girl.

Keith was probably pleased that tonight’s singing competition actually involved Illinois locals (and a little boy who didn’t know where he was from : ) ). The adult male really belted out the song (monotonically : ) and Keith yelled “Dude - you knocked it out of the park!” But naturally the darling liitle boy was the winner and was so cute singing with Keith.

Tonight the right risers were graced with Keith’s visit during You Look Good in My Shirt.

When I was leaving the arena later that night I saw Keith’s security leading the gal who won the guitar out some special doors - maybe to pack up the guitar? Or to allow her to leave the arena by a less crowded route?

When Keith came out on the catwalk with his acoustic guitar for the encore he treated us to a little “ Moline, Moline, Moline, Moline” to the tune of Jolene (too quick for me to catch on camera). During the final Better Life Keith played so vigorously that he broke a string on his guitar and had to fight with the wayward string end to be able to strum the ending on the remaining strings. When the last notes had been played and the final waves given for this excellent evening, I took advantage of my first row riser position and swung my legs over the railing and dropped to the floor (Moline has floor level exits) rather than climbing the stairs with the rest of the riser crowd. I met up with Annie and Lucy and we mosied through the park to our hotel, sharing some of the highlights of a great evening.

Here is a shot of nearly the entire floor audience standing on their chairs when Keith went back to the small stage.

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.

Mighty Martina McBride in Moline

This Friday I was on the road to Quad Cities to see Martina McBride on her Shine tour at the iWireless Center in Moline, IL. I had decided to attend the show rather late, but luckily found 2 good singles on Ticketmaster not too far apart (row 6 and row 8 on the floor!). My daughter Sara drove down from Chicago to join me and requested that I bring her beau Sam with me from Iowa, so that he could spend his Thanksgiving break with her. I was happy to do so and we all hoped to all have dinner together before the concert. But rush hour traffic out of the Windy City is terrible, especially on a Friday, and poor Sara missed not only dinner but the first of the opening acts even though she left work at 3:00! So Sam and I had dinner together at a popular bar near the arena. Then he went to wait for Sara’s arrival and I headed to the iWireless.

The opening band was the Lost Trailers. I wasn’t familiar with their music. They had a lot of energy but a little too much old country twang for my taste. Not surprisingly my favorite song in their set was Mellencamp’s Hurt So Good, which they rocked.   

Somehow I had gotten confused by some early tour promotion materials and totally expected Trace Adkins to be accompanying Martina. I don’t know exactly where I got that idea into my head, but was I rather surprised when Blake Shelton walked out instead - lol! But Blake was great and the crowd loved him. He is quite personable and I enjoyed every one of his songs. But gosh darn it, my memory for details is not very good for artisits other than Keith!

This was the opening show of Martina’s new tour and she has definitely stepped up the production features of her performance since I last saw her live. The first thing I noticed was the big curtain hiding the set-up details during the break after Blake left the stage. Very similar to Keith’s big curtain, but white rather than black. However Martina’s curtain doesn’t do the same “disappearing act” that Keith’s draperies did. Unbeknownst to me, her curtain would continue to be a major feature of the set throughout the show.

Like the last time I saw her, Martina included some Keith music during the break, which I appreciate. When it was finally time for the show to begin, the lights and the curtains provided a dramatic build-up to Martina’s entrance. Through the curtains we saw a bright spinning, growing image of the world  and then Martina’s silhouette appeared in front of it and began to move towards us. The curtains were drawn back as she emerged to the front of the stage. She had 2 gradually sloped ramps to either edge of the stage, which she used throughout the evening (although a bit more slowly in her high heeled boots than Keith’s usual pace across the stage). She was in fine voice and thrilled us with a mix of songs from her new album as well as old favorites. She chatted with the audience several times, saying she had picked Moline to be first on her tour because she felt safe here.

My daughter and I found Martina's clothing choices a little odd. I guess the layered look is in but she had some rather strange looking overshirts and leggings in rather subdued or even drab colors that I did not think were terribly flattering. The only bright spot in her couple costume changes was a sparkly vest, until the encore, where she came out in a bright green John Deere teeshirt that fit her well and pleased this John Deere community.

The curtains re-appeared and were used to good effect several times during the show. At one point Martina and 2 of her band members played a few songs sitting on stools in front of the closed draperies, creating a sense of greater intimacy and closeness. Meanwhile the particular lights they used caused an ever-changing silvery iridescence behind them - very nice. At another point the curtains served as a screen on which a townscape was projected while the moon shining above slowly traced its path across the night sky. I believe this immediately preceded Martina (who had been absent during this dierama) re-appearing at stage edge, singing from a seat in a huge baby blue crescent moon. The moon proceeded to lift her high up above the audience and then all the way over those seated on the floor to a satellite stage at the rear of the arena. There the moon slowly lowered until she could dismount onto the stage. Martina joked that now we could all honestly say that we had been mooned by Martina McBride - lol! She performed about 3 songs from this stage, which slowly rotated as she sang. She did not ride the moon back to stage but instead returned along the arena perimeter, shaking hands and greeting fans as she did so.

Martina really put her all into her final big songs - Anyway, and, during the encore, Independence Day. What a big voice from such a tiny gal!! The crowd went crazy with applause and gave her a standing ovation. She said that the rest of her tour stops would have a hard time matching what she got from her friends in Moline.

Sadly I had forgotten to charge my camera battery so only caught a few shots before it went dead.

Blake Shelton - Goodbye Time

Mr.Wonderful in Moline

>Moline, Moline, Moline, Moline!

(can you hear Dolly singing that?)

My friend Joan and I drove home from Des Moines Sunday morning. After I dropped her off I stopped briefly at our empty house (the rest of the brood is off visiting hubby’s family), pulled the dirty clothes out of my suitcase, put some clean clothes in, and then off to Moline to meet my sister Judi. I’m feeling the effects of a 3 day KURT, but loving it. How in the heck does Keith do it??

Judi and I met at a Moline mall, bargain shopped a little, then split two entrees at a Mexican restaurant before heading to the arena. The weather was gorgeous so we decided to take the riverwalk from our hotel to iWireless – really pretty but very breezy yesterday. Another plus of this arena (a nice smaller venue) – it is one of the few I have been to where we could walk to our floor level seats from the ground floor (my old knees hate those long arena stairways) and they also have restrooms on that level. Thanks Monkeyville for the dead center seats about 12 rows in front of Keith’s catwalk microphone!! Unfortunately, being dead center I didn’t feel like I should try to slip past all the others in my row during Taylor’s performance (I know how those continually going out of the row for beer bug me). That was a mistake!! For some reason the crowds in the halls and lines at the restrooms during the break were the worst that I have ever seen at the I Wireless or any other arena for that matter. I waited the entire break and, in fact, missed most of Hit the Ground!!!

Keith was in burgundy plaid with the sparkly metallic thread running through it and looked positively jubilant tonight. He was showing quite a bit of chest J (even before the fans had a chance to try to rip off his shirt while he strolled the aisles like they almost did last evening!). He seemed especially happy and energetic (grinning so much you just couldn’t help but grin right back) and his voice was in fine form even though it was the third concert in three days. He was playful too, using one of his deep ‘silly voices’ during Blacktop (see first videoclip) and including little jokes throughout the night (see below).

Oh that beautiful face during Better Half (love when he wrinkles his nose in the second clip below)!! He had us wrapped around his little finger all night.

Tonight on the small stage Keith had a new ending to Once in a Lifetime, omitting the “Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo’s” and instead adding a deeper, slower extra “We’ve got a once in a lifetime lo-oo-ove!”, so maybe he is protecting his voice a bit. As he settled down on his stool to sing Making Memories of Us he said “A lot of songs are written about getting revenge on your ex-lovers, so it will give them hell the next time you see them. This is NOT one of those songs!” (giggle) (is that a little bit of a dig?) During the lovely Only You Can Love Me This Way he really loudly shouted “You know its true baby girl!” making me wonder whether Nicole might be there somewhere this evening.

When Keith strolled out, strumming his guitar for the start of Raining on Sunday, he totally cracked up the audience by instead singing, straight-faced, Taylor’s opening line from Love Story “We were both young when I first saw you”!! (see third clip below)

Til Summer Comes Around was magnificent as usual! Keith gives so much of himself in that gut-wrenching guitar solo and last night and tonight he punctuated the ending with four very longing, mournful, emotional “I miss you babe”!’s Wonder if missing his own babes helps to fuel the passion in that song?

Keith has brought back his “Space, space space” echo at the start of I Told You So and again added a few bars of a melodic deep “Whoa ah –oh – ah – oh –ah – oh” before the final “Should a known better than to leave me darlin’” (see videoclip below). He hasn’t always done that, has he?

For the first time this evening either I was in just the right spot, or the lighting guy was right on target, or both, because I finally saw the effect that Keith hoped to achieve with his broken mirror front guitar. The light struck all those little mirror pieces and fractured into a hundred different beams shooting out in all directions towards the audience. Very neat! I guess I just wasn’t in the right spot to see that prismatic reflection before.

Keith delighted us with lots of guitar “play” before You Look Good in My Shirt on his ‘light up guitar’ (see clip below). We saw not only its rainbow of colors but also its flashing or blinking mode. He again had a great time in the risers during this song, again successfully leading the audience in song from his perch (listen to them join in in videoclip below) (and admire that booty!). He is having a much easier time now that they have a tiny stage or table for him to stand on while he is up in the audience. I guess one reason the guitar giveaway happens off stage before the show this tour is that he plays one of his special guitars during this number.

I get a kick out of Brad and Brian taking a running leap and sliding down one of the stage ramps (I think its at the end of Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me)! Really tickles those lining the runway too!

Just under two hours into Keith’s performance a particularly soulful Tonight I Wanna Cry during the encore had the whole audience still singing along (listen to the clip below). And they were all with him during the final Better Life too!! He later thanked the audience and said he loved us for staying to the very end (in Milwaukee some started exiting early). We’ll stick around all night long Keith!! Thank you for another wonderful evening!! Enjoy your eight days off – we’ll be missing you!!

(videoclips added shortly)