What I'm Listening To - "Girl Crush" by Little Big Town

I'm not what I'd consider a country "fan" per se.  I don't listen to country radio all that much, but I do have a few artists I enjoy.  The quartet Little Big Town is one such group.  In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that Little Big Town is my favorite artist currently recording music.  Sure, I may have more of an affinity for Billy Joel when looking at an entire artist's repertoire, but he stopped making new music decades ago.  Little Big Town, however, is still churning out albums and had their biggest success last year with the fantastic old school-styled "Girl Crush," a lovelorn single about a scorned woman pining to be her boyfriend's one and only once again.

The quartet has been touring this summer with Luke Bryan which disappointed me as I'm not a fan whatsoever and wasn't going to cough up the dough just to see them be a ten song opening act.  Fortunately, they took a little break from their summer gig to attend the Delaware State Fair on July 24 as a headliner and I was able to see a fantastic 20+ song setlist from the group who continues to fantastically harmonize onstage as the modern-day version of Fleetwood Mac (albeit with an obviously country tone).

Eschewing songs from their latest experimental album with Pharrell (with the exception of "Willpower" which was greeted less than enthusiastically by the fans), Little Big Town created a setlist that contained many of their hits, but also skewed heavily towards their most recent albums.  For the open air venue at the State Fair, the group went uptempo-heavy which I appreciated immensely, however, I missed some of the more intimate numbers that I've seen them perform at smaller venues in the past.  That being said, that's a minor quibble because the group sounds fantastic singing whatever they decide to do -- which included covers of Dolly Parton's "Jolene," Prince's "When Doves Cry," Alicia Keys' "Fallin'," and Fleetwood Mac's pulsing "The Chain."

There is no doubt in my mind that I'll be back to see them again.  Their live performances have never disappointed in the slightest and this concert that put them front and center was their best show I've seen yet (this was my fourth time seeing the group live).  Even if you think you're not a country fan, give this group a try.  They may just surprise you.

Little Big Town's biggest hit, "Girl Crush," can be found below.

What I'm Listening To - "Fuse" by Keith Urban/"Tornado" by Little Big Town

I don't post much about music and that will certainly be a trend that continues, however, with this blog being the "entertainment diary" that it is, I wanted to post about a concert I attended this past Saturday.

While I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan of country music, I've grown to enjoy some artists over the past five or six years and it's become a genre that won't cause me to cringe when I hear it come on the radio.  Still, when it comes to country music, I really only listen consistently to three or four artists and when I heard that two of them were coming on a "double bill" to the Susquehana Bank Center in Camden, New Jersey, I jumped at the chance to see them for what I considered a bargain price.

So, my brother and I ventured into the lovely city of Camden to check out Keith Urban's Light the Fuse tour with opening act Little Big Town.  Having already seen Little Big Town twice, I was much looking forward to hearing their harmonies blend together beautifully again, but, considering they were Urban's warm-up band, I was expecting maybe a half dozen songs from them.  Much to my surprise and delight, we were treated to a dozen numbers -- many from their year-old album Tornado.  Considering this was the first time I was seeing them in a stadium setting (let alone an outdoor stadium setting), I was a little wary about how they'd sound.  [And when the first opening act Dustin Lynch performed, I couldn't understand a word he was saying...which is why since I don't have anything nice to say about him, I'll just pretend like his gig didn't really exist.]  My worries were unfounded, however, as they proved to me (once again) why if I were pressed to name my favorite current band, Little Big Town would take the crown.  To me, they're a modern day Fleetwood Mac, which is further exemplified by the fact that at every one of their shows they perform a kick-ass cover of that band's "The Chain."  They managed to successfully make their more upbeat songs take on a more pulsing sound filling the arena, while at the same time making their slower numbers feel incredibly intimate.  Despite the fact that they've seemingly grown exponentially over the past year in popularity thanks to their biggest hit yet "Pontoon" (which also happens to be one of my least favorite singles of theirs to date), I'm somewhat selfishly hoping that their concerts still remain rather cheaply priced so I can continue supporting them in the future.

Little Big Town would've been worth the price of admission alone for me, but the addition of Keith Urban was just icing on the cake.  Current American Idol judge Urban always seems like a genuinely nice guy and that persona certainly was present on the stage.  Backed by five gigantic vertical screens (seen above when Urban does a "duet" with the members of Little Big Town), Urban's set had an energy that never died down when he was on the main stage.  However, when the country star hiked out to the back of the stadium to play three of his biggest hits in front of the crowd on the grass lawn, the buzz in the seated section died down considerably.  Perhaps it was just my lack of any view and while I can certainly appreciate the journey out to give the "cheaper seats" a close-up view, it did bring the set down a tiny bit from my seats.

That aside, Urban puts on a great show interacting a little bit with the audience and performing a nice mix of songs from his previous albums and his new album Fuse released just this past Tuesday.  Urban is well known for his guitar-playing prowess and that was on display in full force here.  Complete with a camera mounted on his guitar's neck to give the audience a fantastic view of his technique, Urban and his band really rocked out for a little over two hours straight.  I will say that while I'm a big fan of Urban's softer side, when he played something like his "You'll Think of Me," the intimacy of the album version was missing.  I'm not quite sure you could ever feel the quietness and calmness a song like that requires in a large stadium venue (although Little Big Town succeeded in that department), but Urban was a bit more winning during his upbeat songs.

Undoubtedly, I'd go see both Little Big Town and Keith Urban again should they tour together or individually in the future.  A solid show absolutely worth the price of admission.

Keith Urban Set List

1. Instrumental
2. Long Hot Summer
3. Sweet Thing
4. Cop Car
5. I Told You So
6. Stupid Boy
7. Even the Stars Fall 4 You
8. You Gonna Fly (duet with Little Big Town)
9. Without You
10. Good Thing
11. Kiss a Girl
12. (Lawn) Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who cover)
13. (Lawn) Days Go By
14. (Lawn) Rumor Has It (Adele cover snippet, sung by band member Jerry Flowers)
15. (Lawn) Once in a Lifetime
16. (Lawn) Born to Run (Bruce Springsteen snippet)
17. (Lawn/Main Stage) Better Life
18. Boys 'Round Here (Blake Shelton cover)
19. Some Nights (fun. cover, snippet sung by band member Danny Rader)
20. You'll Think of Me
21. Little Bit of Everything
22. Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me
23. Somebody Like You
24. (Encore) But for the Grace of God
25. (Encore) Keep on Lovin' You (REO Speedwagon cover)
26. (Encore) Tonight I Wanna Cry
27. (Encore) Locked Out of Heaven (Bruno Mars cover snippet, sung by band member Brian Nutter)
28. (Encore) You Look Good in My Shirt

Little Big Town Set List

1. Little White Church
2. On Fire Tonight
3. Bring It on Home
4. Pavement Ends
5. Sober
6. Front Porch Thing
7. Your Side of the Bed
8. The Chain (Fleetwood Mac cover)
9. Can't Go Back
10. Tornado
11. Pontoon
12. Boondocks

What I'm Listening To - "Fine Line" by Little Big Town

A country Fleetwood Mac is the best way to describe the two guy-two girl quartet of Little Big Town.  Definitely country, they also certainly have roots in 70s rock, as evidenced by their concert that I just returned from, where they covered the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" and The Eagles' "Heartache Tonight."

What I love about the group is the great harmonies.  Sure, it's easy to sound good on a cd, but I was very impressed with the group's live vocals this evening, particularly at the end of the touching "Lost," where all four of them put down their microphones and sang a cappella without any amplification whatsoever.   While the crowd at the venue was incredibly subdued (singer Karen Fairchild criticized the seemingly elderly crowd by telling them they weren't in a Baptist church so feel free to stand up -- seriously, my brother and I were definitely on the low end age-wise), the group still put on a great show, singing nearly non-stop for an hour and forty-five minutes.  Admittedly, I felt a little bad for the group as the lower section (we were in the balcony) seemed filled with grandmas and grandpas and they wouldn't even clap for these guys.  About halfway through, the crowd finally started to liven up a little, but they didn't go crazy until their last (and most well-known) song "Boondocks."

Oh, well.  I'd definitely go see this quartet again.  Not that I go to a lot of shows, but I was entertained for 100 minutes and that's all I can really ask for.

Their single "Fine Line" from their latest album is below.  Followed by their most well-known song, "Boondocks."  (I realize no one that reads this blog likes country music, so no hurt feelings when you don't listen to them...)
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