Brad Paisley

Saturday July 27^th, I (we) finally got to see Brad Paisley in concert. I say finally because this is the 3rd time we have had tickets to see him, but the first time we have actually seen him. He usually plays at the Fair Park amphitheatre (it changes its sponsored name every 3 days it seems like) when he comes to Dallas, it’s an ok venue but could do with a serious refurbishment. The front half has covered seating & the back half is a grass hill. The first time we tried to see him, we had lawn tickets. It rained all day & all night & we just chose not to go & be miserable. Last year we had seats, but a storm rolled through & the roof failed, it was so wet on stage they cancelled the show for safety purposes.

Saturday there was no rain & pleasantly the temperature was only in the high 80s, unseasonably cool. Traffic was awful, but we still got to the venue at around 7:30, we missed the 2 opening acts, but arrived just in time for Chris Young. The parking lot was interesting, folks had obviously been there for a while & drinking heavily, I was a little worried about what my 7 year old was going to have to witness, but I shouldn’t have feared as everyone behaved themselves well enough.

Chris Young was very good, I was surprised at how many of his songs I know. I’m a part time country fan, by no means an aficionado, but I enjoy the genre in general.

Once they cleared the stage off & got it set up for Mr Paisley he came out to a rapturous greeting. The show was simply outstanding, his singing always on point, his amazingly fluid guitar playing effortless, his band sickeningly talented. The stage, lighting & video set up were excellent. One of the nice things we noticed from Brad & also Chris Young was that they thanked everyone for spending their money to come & see them, a nice touch of gratitude that is too rare in today’s entertainment industry.

A couple of unique features of the show, first after playing the introduction to This is Country Music, he unplugged the guitar, signed it & then gave it to a young boy in the crowd, I’m guess maybe a 6 year old (who’s life could now be forever changed). Then when someone asked him to autograph their phone, he grabbed it & made a video before giving it back, the crowd interaction was greatness. Midway through the show he left the stage & played 3 songs acoustically on a raised area by the sound booth, not far from where we were sitting, it was very cool to get that close in the “cheap seats”. They had some incredibly convincing video to make it look like Carrie Underwood was actually there signing Remind Me with Brad. There was also a hilarious video to accompany the song Celebrity, which features Psy, the screaming goat & a large headed fake Brad Paisley doing crazy celebrity things.

All in all, the show was all I had hoped it would be & more. If you ever have the chance to see Brad Paisley live, take it, I promise you will not regret it.