Posted on Sun, Oct. 10, 2004 By TIMOTHY FINN The Kansas City Star Martina McBride, born in Sharon, Kan., opened this show, and she induged her fans accordingly: One of her opening tunes was a melodramatic cover of “Over the Rainbow,” a song that would set the tone for a set all about bluebirds, angels, butterflies and other things with wings. She deserves credit for getting her audience ready and riled up for the opener, even though it took a cover of Pat Benatar's “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” to wash away the melancholy of the rest of her set: the tragic “Concrete Angels” and the sentimental “In My Daughters' Eyes.” Before Alan Jackson came out with his eight-piece Strayhorn Band, a few images on the video screens validated his position in country music: He's had 31 No. 1 hits in country music; he's won a few pickup-truck loads of music awards; and he's been on a lot of TV shows. But Jackson doesn't need that kind of spin and hype to sell a show. All he needs to do is show up, unleash his brilliant band and batter his fans with a barrage of good songs. His set list this evening barely acknowledged his latest record, “What I Do.” Instead gave Jackson gave his audience a feast of his long and highly decorated catalog. He opened with “Gone Country,” a neo-traditional anthem that plays to Jackson's base but also sounds like the kind of rock/country mix that helped artists like Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam draw young fans toward country music. Jackson is like the Jackson Browne of country music: He writes songs for women, but he conveys the kind of persona that their boyfriends/husbands can appreciate or at least tolerate. Saturday's show included a few male-bonding anthems, like “Pop a Top” and “Don't Rock the Jukebox” but it also included the kind of weepy ballads that appeal to girls tormented by romance or women dealing with the complexities of marriage and motherhood. Some of those songs are sappy but true, like “Remember When”; others are more universal, like “Drive (For Daddy Gene),” a tribute to his father and a valentine to his daughters. Others played right to the audience's weak spots, like “Where I Come From,” which included footage of places and icons in Kansas City. None drew louder responses than logos of the Chiefs, the Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers. So given the weak reaction to images of our art galleries, it's evident we live in a sports town, not an arts and entertainment town. Like George Strait, Jackson straddles a very thin and waivering line: He never veers far from the kind of music that appeals to older, more traditional country fans, yet he has figured out how to step out of bounds and attract younger fans who listen to rock music. So songs like “It's Five O'Clock Somewhere” — essentially about leaving work at lunch to toss back some liquor — are acceptable because they are the exceptions to a career built on songs like “When Somebody Loves You” or “Mercury Blues.” Jackson also knows that being a country star is a lot like being a politician: Sometimes you've got to shake a lot of strangers' hands or hold and kiss their strange babies. Saturday night, he spent more than 15 minutes autographing stuff handed to him by fans in the first several rows: ticket stubs, baseball caps, leather purses, concert T-shirts and scraps of paper. Jackson might have been going through his nightly routine of motions,
but the ladies and gents in front who were waving their belongings in
his face looked like they weren't in Kansas or Missouri anymore. Alan Jackson and the Strayhorn Band with Martina McBride REVIEW Reviewed: Oct. 9 at Kemper Arena Audience: 12,000 (approx.)
THE SETLIST Gone Country, I Don't Even Know Your Name, Livin' On Love, When Somebody
Loves You, Little Bitty, Too Much of a Good Thing, Hey Good Lookin',
Remember When, Don't Rock the Jukebox, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere, Who's
Cheatin' Who, The Blues Man, Pop a Top, Drive (For Daddy Gene), Where
Were You (When the World Stopped Turning), Chattahoochie, Where I Come
From. Encore: Mercury Blues © 2004 Kansas City Star and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. |