Another year, another fair
I enjoy going to the State Fair every year. I skip the animals, rides and most of the food, but I really enjoy looking at the handcrafted items people enter for contests. The artwork, photography and ugly lamps are fun, too, though I'll never understand submitting antiques for judging. But my favorite part of the fair is the free (for the cost of fair admission) concerts they have every year.
I've been to lots of concerts over the past six years - most of them good: Gary Allan, Brad Paisley, Randy Travis, Josh Turner, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, The Oakridge Boys. Some of them not so much: Kentucky Headhunters, Lorrie Morgan, The Commodores - which was disappointing since I like all of the performers in question. And some so good I've gone multiple times: Trace Adkins (2003, 2004, 2005) and even been willing to pay for: Brooks & Dunn (2003) and Trace in 2008. What can I say? He's my boy, I've been going to his concerts off and on since he came on the scene in 1996, and he gets me up out of my seat every time. *g*
And then there's last night's concert: Billy Currington and Heidi Newfield. Don't get me wrong, I like both acts or I wouldn't have bothered going, and the concert was okay, but who the heck knew Billy's so popular? Surely not me. He's all right, but he doesn't have that many memorable songs, even after being on the scene for six years. But last night? We got there 15 minutes before Heidi came on, and the stadium was packed! I dread to think if we'd gotten there any later, because if all the people milling around had been seated? I don't think there would have been an empty seat to be found.
After we got home, I googled to find out the capacity for the stadium. 19,901. WTF? Twenty thousand people for Billy Currington?! Am I really that out of touch? Okay, yes, it was Saturday night, and the last Saturday of the fair, but I've been to last Saturday concerts before and they've never been this packed. As a matter of fact, the last concert I went to there that was anywhere near this crowded was Randy Travis back in '04, and he only had about 14,000 attendees. What is this world coming to when Billy C packs in more than Randy? And don't get me started on Taylor Swift's sold out performance when Keith Urban still had tickets available.
I guess I'm getting old. *g*
I've been to lots of concerts over the past six years - most of them good: Gary Allan, Brad Paisley, Randy Travis, Josh Turner, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton, The Oakridge Boys. Some of them not so much: Kentucky Headhunters, Lorrie Morgan, The Commodores - which was disappointing since I like all of the performers in question. And some so good I've gone multiple times: Trace Adkins (2003, 2004, 2005) and even been willing to pay for: Brooks & Dunn (2003) and Trace in 2008. What can I say? He's my boy, I've been going to his concerts off and on since he came on the scene in 1996, and he gets me up out of my seat every time. *g*
And then there's last night's concert: Billy Currington and Heidi Newfield. Don't get me wrong, I like both acts or I wouldn't have bothered going, and the concert was okay, but who the heck knew Billy's so popular? Surely not me. He's all right, but he doesn't have that many memorable songs, even after being on the scene for six years. But last night? We got there 15 minutes before Heidi came on, and the stadium was packed! I dread to think if we'd gotten there any later, because if all the people milling around had been seated? I don't think there would have been an empty seat to be found.
After we got home, I googled to find out the capacity for the stadium. 19,901. WTF? Twenty thousand people for Billy Currington?! Am I really that out of touch? Okay, yes, it was Saturday night, and the last Saturday of the fair, but I've been to last Saturday concerts before and they've never been this packed. As a matter of fact, the last concert I went to there that was anywhere near this crowded was Randy Travis back in '04, and he only had about 14,000 attendees. What is this world coming to when Billy C packs in more than Randy? And don't get me started on Taylor Swift's sold out performance when Keith Urban still had tickets available.
I guess I'm getting old. *g*