Blake Shelton

Let's get the complaints out of the way first: Wrigley Field, what horrible placement for a venue. It comes to the advantage of the residents of Wrigleyville that they can charge $60 for a parking spot because there is NO PARKING LOT. Gr. That started me off in a bad mood. Anyways. Having been to concerts before - none quite as country hard as Blake - I wasn't sure what to expect. For one, you've got the drinking; EVERYONE is drinking and it starts to feel like a party just because of that. Kimberly from The Band Perry made a beautiful remark about country music's power to bring together people of all kinds and that was evident by the audience. Before the show even started, I had quite a quite a good time just watching all the dancing (some the product of overly giddy drinking). The show was kicked off with the US 99.5 team doing the typical "how ready are you" call and response spiel, followed by their introduction of Neal McCoy as the night's emcee of sorts. He came out throughout the night with some witty comments and jokes, occasionally singing, but mostly he seemed a little... washed up? Dan and Shay came onstage introduced by Neal as the really attractive guy and the short guy - rather fitting comparatively, but not necessarily respectively. They played of few of their songs which a good amount of people knew, culminating with "19 You and Me," their biggest hit. I was touched by their commentary on where they had been a year ago compared to where they are now. I believe most people in the stands, where I was, were still sitting at this point. That changed once The Band Perry came onstage. The Band Perry had an incredibly fun performance, thoroughly accomplishing their goal of getting the audience riled up for Blake. They all have so much energy and passion for their performance, something visible in their music but evident in their show. They only have two albums but they did a really nice job of going through most of them, including my personal favorite of "If I Die Young." With TBP all us country music fans had an example of our capability in changing lives and they made their appreciation known, just as Dan and Shay did. TBP also covered "Timber" (Pitbull) and "Fat Bottomed Girls," bringing in that diversity that makes country music so great. Overall, an excellent lead-in. Neal McCoy came back on for about 15 minutes to sing a mashup of some classics and some new stuff but I think he might have been drunk at this point because I couldn't tell if he was joking or not... His performance mostly gave people the chance to buy food and go to the bathroom. And then: the big guy himself. Blake Shelton came on after the playing of "Bust A Move," a fun but questionable selection. Then the real fun began. There was a real nice job done making sure he played all sorts of his music: starting off kind of country-twang, going into some of his oldies, cooing some love ballads...very complete mix. Having been to some very over-the-top shows, the theatrics were a little underwhelming, but nice in their simplicity. I think the true essence of a country music concert like the Ten Times Crazier tour was the audience reaction and input, truly making it feel like a party, especially towards the end; Blake Shelton's encore performance included his rendition of "Footloose," to which everyone danced to SO enthusiastically and "God Gave Me You" which left everyone in high, loving spirits. The best part of Blake's performance was his effortless ability to see us as country music fans despite our location way up North; he made it easy for us to show off our "Hillbilly Bone." Despite my hesitance on whether or not I would truly be able to enjoy myself, not being that big of a Blake Shelton fan, I had a phenomenal time.