October 16, 2005
Brad Paisley in Concert
On Saturday, October 15th, Heidi, Sydney and I attended the Brad Paisley in concert at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. "You took a 3 month old baby to a country music concert?" you ask? Yes. Sydney had a great time, even though her ears were muffled with cotton balls under her hat.
The two opening acts, Sugarland and Sara Evans did a great job of getting the crowd warmed up, with a selection of hits and upcoming releases. Surprisingly, I enjoyed listening to Sugarland more than to Sara Evans, although I think my decision is based on the better musicality and stage presence of Sugarland... Sara's part of the show was very good, but I believe, despite her beautiful voice, her band was not allowed to shine and the song selections included too many songs with too many 5 note choruses... the long-hold-high-notes started to grate on me a bit. Despite my reaction, she's got some fantastic songs. Her performance was simply not as great as I had hoped.
I've purchased a few of Brad Paisley's songs from iTunes and MSN Music, but I must confess that I don't own any of his full albums. Even so, his show was filled with hits from the last few years, including a song Heidi and I consider to be one of "the songs" that hold special significance for us. It's great to hear songs that are familiar, but Brad also played a number of new songs that were great crowd pleasers and very funny, too.
As a musician, Brad is a phenomenal guitarist and singer. His lyrics are 100% country and the music leans heavily on his playing style, combined with great steel guitar and fiddle backup. His band was given a chance to shine through a series of feature performances during the set, showcasing each member of the band's talents.
All things considered it was a fun show and I would definitely see him again in concert if given the chance!
See more information, music, videos at CMT.com and the artists' web sites:
Sugarland
Sara Evans
Brad Paisley Posted by MEK at October 16, 2005 12:02 AM