thedrifter
10-27-07, 08:41 AM
Posted on Fri, Oct. 26, 2007
CONCERT REVIEW| Rascal Flatts at Sprint Center
By TIMOTHY FINN
The Kansas City Star
As his partners and their backup band performed their first song Thursday at Sprint Center, Gary LeVox, lead vocalist for Rascal Flatts, expressed gratitude for being the first country act to play at the new arena.
His thank-you got a cheer, but he was wrong on at least one count.
Technically, Sprint Center’s first country artist was opening act Jason Aldean. Aldean is a country boy with a rock chip on his shoulder and a knack for spitting out down-home colloquialisms in twangy Southern rock songs.
Aldean has released only two albums, but he has developed a noticeable following. Sprint Center was sufficiently crowded when his set started, and lots of fans sang along to his better-known songs, like “Amarillo Sky” and “Hicktown.”
After a few refrains of “America the Beautiful” from Ray Charles (over the PA), Rascal Flatts appeared on a stage that required some unusual architectural design: It included a “draw” bridge that gave the boys transport to a stage-pod in the middle of the floor.
The local country radio stations were there, but the Flattses are about as “country” as a strip mall in Leawood. Instead, they are a pop band (with a fiddle player) that sings lots of romantic soul and R&B songs — satiny ballads about the loves they surrendered and the ones that got away. On a scale that runs from James Brown (who was covered this evening) to Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts is somewhere between Lionel Richie and Boyz II Men.
Thus the dearth of cowboy hats in the arena, and thus the female-to-male ratio, which was (conservatively) 6-to-4. You get demographics like that when you sing lyrics like: “Every long lost dream / Lead me to where you are / Others who broke my heart / They were like Northern stars / Pointing me on my way into your loving arms …”
They may be soft lyrically, but the Flatts boys have an act that sells hard, both on country radio and in the live-music industry. Their songs are as commercial as fast food, but they’re all about evoking some tunefulness and tenderness of the heart. In concert, they are all about flash and entertainment.
After three gold albums and two headlining tours, the formula has been declared successful. They are currently country music’s most successful act, both in the studio and live. Thus Sprint Center was nearly full Thursday.
The show lasted about an hour and 45 minutes and comprised about 22 songs, and it was loaded with amusing monologues and other diversions, like trips over the bridge to the “acoustic” stage.
The Flatts tossed in a few instrumentals, like a drum solo and several bars of “(Somewhere) Over the Rainbow” from guitarist Joe Don Rooney. He would later (and gratuitously) cheer on the Chiefs and then Mizzou over Kansas, despite his “Rainbow” serenade. At least he knew which state he was in.
They ended with some older favorites, including “He Ain’t the Leaving Kind,” a religious anthem softened with slightly ambiguous lyrics (“They want to kick him out of school and take him off our money”) — “him,” you see, is “Him.”
During that song, six Marines came out on stage (huge cheer), and, for a few bars, the boys in the band sang the chorus to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” At this point it’s probably worth mentioning that the white video screen behind the band looked like the exaggerated shape of a B-2 stealth bomber.
The Marines immediately got the ovation they deserved. So, too, I suppose did the boys in Rascal Flatts, who, apparently, are dedicated to a completely different kind of country.
Rascal Flatts with Jason Aldean
Oct. 25 at Sprint Center
Rascal Flatts’ setlist: Me and My Gang; Fast Cars and Freedom; I Melt; Take Me There; My Wish; These Days; Pieces; To Make Her Love Me; Yes I Do; Winner at a Losing Game; You; (Somewhere) Over the Rainbow (guitar solo); Stand; Feels Like Today; Backwards; Bless the Broken Road; Still Feels Good; What Hurts the Most; He Ain’t the Leavin’ Kind. Encore: Here’s to You; Life Is a Highway.
Ellie
CONCERT REVIEW| Rascal Flatts at Sprint Center
By TIMOTHY FINN
The Kansas City Star
As his partners and their backup band performed their first song Thursday at Sprint Center, Gary LeVox, lead vocalist for Rascal Flatts, expressed gratitude for being the first country act to play at the new arena.
His thank-you got a cheer, but he was wrong on at least one count.
Technically, Sprint Center’s first country artist was opening act Jason Aldean. Aldean is a country boy with a rock chip on his shoulder and a knack for spitting out down-home colloquialisms in twangy Southern rock songs.
Aldean has released only two albums, but he has developed a noticeable following. Sprint Center was sufficiently crowded when his set started, and lots of fans sang along to his better-known songs, like “Amarillo Sky” and “Hicktown.”
After a few refrains of “America the Beautiful” from Ray Charles (over the PA), Rascal Flatts appeared on a stage that required some unusual architectural design: It included a “draw” bridge that gave the boys transport to a stage-pod in the middle of the floor.
The local country radio stations were there, but the Flattses are about as “country” as a strip mall in Leawood. Instead, they are a pop band (with a fiddle player) that sings lots of romantic soul and R&B songs — satiny ballads about the loves they surrendered and the ones that got away. On a scale that runs from James Brown (who was covered this evening) to Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts is somewhere between Lionel Richie and Boyz II Men.
Thus the dearth of cowboy hats in the arena, and thus the female-to-male ratio, which was (conservatively) 6-to-4. You get demographics like that when you sing lyrics like: “Every long lost dream / Lead me to where you are / Others who broke my heart / They were like Northern stars / Pointing me on my way into your loving arms …”
They may be soft lyrically, but the Flatts boys have an act that sells hard, both on country radio and in the live-music industry. Their songs are as commercial as fast food, but they’re all about evoking some tunefulness and tenderness of the heart. In concert, they are all about flash and entertainment.
After three gold albums and two headlining tours, the formula has been declared successful. They are currently country music’s most successful act, both in the studio and live. Thus Sprint Center was nearly full Thursday.
The show lasted about an hour and 45 minutes and comprised about 22 songs, and it was loaded with amusing monologues and other diversions, like trips over the bridge to the “acoustic” stage.
The Flatts tossed in a few instrumentals, like a drum solo and several bars of “(Somewhere) Over the Rainbow” from guitarist Joe Don Rooney. He would later (and gratuitously) cheer on the Chiefs and then Mizzou over Kansas, despite his “Rainbow” serenade. At least he knew which state he was in.
They ended with some older favorites, including “He Ain’t the Leaving Kind,” a religious anthem softened with slightly ambiguous lyrics (“They want to kick him out of school and take him off our money”) — “him,” you see, is “Him.”
During that song, six Marines came out on stage (huge cheer), and, for a few bars, the boys in the band sang the chorus to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” At this point it’s probably worth mentioning that the white video screen behind the band looked like the exaggerated shape of a B-2 stealth bomber.
The Marines immediately got the ovation they deserved. So, too, I suppose did the boys in Rascal Flatts, who, apparently, are dedicated to a completely different kind of country.
Rascal Flatts with Jason Aldean
Oct. 25 at Sprint Center
Rascal Flatts’ setlist: Me and My Gang; Fast Cars and Freedom; I Melt; Take Me There; My Wish; These Days; Pieces; To Make Her Love Me; Yes I Do; Winner at a Losing Game; You; (Somewhere) Over the Rainbow (guitar solo); Stand; Feels Like Today; Backwards; Bless the Broken Road; Still Feels Good; What Hurts the Most; He Ain’t the Leavin’ Kind. Encore: Here’s to You; Life Is a Highway.
Ellie