Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lamber and Kenny Chesney - I knew from the moment it was announced that it would be a show not to be missed! And apparently many others agreed . . . 
Lady antebellum took the stage first. Every time I hear their song, "Love Don't Live Hear Anymore," I am taken back to a hot, sunny day at Riverfront Park in Nashville during the 2007 CMA Music Fest when a group of unknowns rocked the stage in front of a moderately interested crowd. I loved the song from that moment, and was thrilled that they have grown into a well known group. Last night, they rocked the stage in front of a roaring crowd at Scotiabank Place. They have a ways to go before they are the in the league of Kenny Chesney or other big names, but they have come a long way in two years! And what better way to learn than to tour with Kenny!
On the outside, Miranda Lambert's blond hair, blue eyes and silver tank top give people the impression of a sweet girl next door type. Then, you look a little closer and see the crisscrossed handguns on her stage backdrops and the mic stand, designed to look like a shot gun (or maybe a rifle, guns aren't my thing!) and you raise an eyebrow and wonder what's up with this girl. But when she rips into songs like Kerosene, Crazy Ex-girlfriend, and Gun Powder & Lead, the women in the audience are on their feet, clapping, cheering and singing along while the men in the crowd are peeing their pants in dear. Fortunately, she also shows us her humorous side when she let's us know how it feels to be stuck in a "Dry Town" and to be "Famous in a Small Town." Miranda is a force to be reckoned with in the country music game. And God help Blake Shelton if he ever pisses her off!
And finally, the moment that everyone had been waiting for. The curtains around the stage are raised for the one and only Kenny Chesney. All eyes are on the stage, waiting for the first look at the super star - all that is except the diehard Kenny fans. Our eyes are on the back of the floor area because we know that he will come in on a chair suspended over the crowd, sining "Live Those Songs Again."
Critics have complained about this, saying that it's been done before - but here, we don't care if he's done it every tour for 16 years, because, well, that's how long we've been waiting for Kenny to come to Ottawa. Yes, that's right, Kenny Chesney has been touring for 16 years and this was his first trip to Ottawa. When he mentioned this during the show, the crowd went wild. Kenny laughed and said, "I can tell that we waited 16 years too long to come to this town. We will be back!"
Kenny puts on an incredibly high energy show. By the time he a few songs in, you can already see that parts of his shirt are a few shades darker as he is dripping in sweat! But he never stops smiling. And even when he stops singing to have a drink of water, he never stops moving. My only complaint, is that it is hard to get good pictures, cause he is moving so much!
Everything about this show is larger than life! The band, the stage, the lights, the screens, the 20 trucks that bring it all from place to place are all as impressive as the show itself! Kenny does a perfect mix of fast ("Living In Fast Forward", "When The Sun Goes Down") and slow ("Me & You", "There Goes My Life"); old ("I Go Back", "How Forever Feels") and new ("Out Last Night"). And of course, as us die hard fans knew, the ever popular encore, "She Thinks My Tractors Sexy."
To top it all off, after Tractor, he spent probably 15 minutes singing autographs for fans in the Sandbar and around the rest of the stage. I thought that was a pretty decent thing for him to . . . just wish I had been down there!
All in all - best concert that I've ever been to! Let's hope that he doesn't wait another 16 years to come back!
Oh I wanted to go to this so badly!! Thanks for posting the pictures!
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