Tonight I find myself in Uncasville, CT for a country concert of Keith Urban and Sugarland. Sugarland isn't here which is something that requires further explanation. I really love the crowds you find at country music concerts. It's hard to believe that people like this exist in the Northeast. Cowboy boots and hats, lots of yee haws and good ol' boys. While I've moved higher geographically from the previous concerts in NJ, the crowd's IQ is lower by double that amount. Right now the opening act is singing a song called "Big Green Tractor" and the crowd loves it. Begs the question of where did these people come from. Lest I become too critical I need to remember I paid money to be here as well.
So I drove almost two hours to get here and I'm a bigger Sugarland fan than I am a Keith Urban fan. Don't get me wrong, I love Keith Urban but Sugarland has been living towards the top of my playlist for the past year. Nevertheless as much as I am a Sugarland fan I was somewhat conflicted about the concert. You see Sugarland is a duo: Jennifer Nettles and some bald guy. The fact that they are officially a "duo" means I'm not a fan of some chick band. At least that's the fig leaf of a rationalization I use.
You see I would never want to go to a chick show on my own. I picture all chick concerts like going to see the Spice Girls where everyone jumps and down screaming GIRL POWER!! The little bald dude makes them a non chick band, even if no one knows who the hell he is.
The other manly aspect of the concert is Keith Urban. Do you realize he's sponsored by Kingsford charcoal. C'mon, you've got to be a real dude to be sponsored by a company in the barbecue business. I'd say he's also a stud because he's married to Nicole Kidmann but Tom Cruise was as well. Still I assume she was tired of being Cruise's beard. Keith Urban is also an Aussie. If it sounds like I have a little man crush I wouldn't go that far. He's no Phil Mickelson.
I think the combo of a somewhat chick band and hot male singer explains the crowd here. The women outnumber the men 3 to 1. Older crowd as well. Maybe they should rename the tour Cougarville.
The attire certainly has changed from the other concerts I've seen this spring. We had the Acid wash Jersey girls, the crunchy, unshowered and unshaven Deadhead women. Here it's the classic country look. Tank tops, fake boobs, fake blonds but real tatoos.
So I was about to criticize Keith Urban for numerous things. First he came out with the lame "Rock concert manifesto #3!" Which I've only seen about 70 times :he started out with a "Hello _________ ( fill in the blank)" and in this case he said "Uncasville!" Dude, the only people in the arena from Uncasville are the casino workers. The entire town is an Indian reservation dependent on the casino for employment. I'm sorry to be redundant but every performer needs to study the lessons of Augustus Concertus, aka Springsteen. When I saw him in Bridgeport it was "Hello Connecticut!" He was smart enough to know if 20% of the homes in Fairfield County owned Springsteen albums, .08% of these homes were in Bridgeport.
As for Urban, he strikes all the great guitar player moves. Important to note Urban is considered one of the great pickers in country music. Right up there with Brad Paisley and Vince Gill. I've seen everyone from Eddie Van Halen, Clapton in the 80s, Paul Anka to Pete Townsed. No doubt he certainly has all the moves: the windmill, soloing on his knees, multiple trips to rehab, and throwing picks into the crowd. It is only later into the show that he is breaking the tired formula.
So he broke from formula numerous ways which I'll go through quickly as I'm sure you're not that interested unless you go to as many shows as me. First, he has an Aussie accent which is very unusual. Let's face it in country every performer sounds the same when they speak, lots of "y'alls" and southern twang. Sounds so funny as I wait for a "shrimp on the barbie reference." Second, the dude has set up different microphones all over the arena. If this place is shaped like a box he stood on all four sides and played multiple songs. Hell, he played 2 songs twenty yards from me and I was too cheap to buy good seats. Third, show isn't totally scripted. He saw a couple with a sign about their 25 anniversary and brought them on stage. As typical in country music it was probably there 40th birthday as well.
Last thought as show winds down. I left my seat in row R and went all the way down to row C. Getting closer was part of the reason. The primary reason is - assumed I bought the ticket on Stub Hub from the guy next to me in Row R. I bought seat #1 on Tuesday on Stubhub. Whoever sells one seat on Stubhub two days before a show got stuck with an extra and had to dump it. Considering I bought a $150 face ticket for $90 I wasn't crazy about sitting next to someone who lost $60 in my favor. This may be a casino but I don't think that's what he had in mind.
Should I have offered to buy him a beer or just a standard reach around?
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