So day 4 was JakeCarrieStormGate 2013. Day 3 was the Lenny Kravitz fiasco. Day 2? Well, there was some sort of technical difficulty and a huge failure to communicate just what was going on. A situation that they chose to handle by not handling it. The artist involved? Little Big Town. But like the other couple of days, I'll get to that later.
Let's start with the beginning of the night show at LP Field.
Gloriana came out to do the anthem Friday night and did a good job with it. I said this about Brett Eldredge and I'll say this about them: it's too bad that they didn't get to do a full set at LP Field. I'm pretty sure they did do one at the Riverfront which I unfortunately missed.
The first full set of the evening belonged to none other than Mr. Randy Travis. This was my third time seeing him and you're pretty much guaranteed a good show with him. He just has so many songs! Great set by Randy that night. He does have some weird mannerisms that can be a little distracting, but still, it's always nice seeing him. He debuted a new song in honor of George Jones called "Tonight I'm Playing Possum". Lovely tribute to one of country music's greats. The song is available on iTunes and features Joe Nichols. I'd say it's well worth the download.
Next up: Kip Moore. He was another one making their debut at LP Field and he did a great job! Very solid set and the crowd really seemed to enjoy him. I was a little frustrated though because he did "Hey Pretty Girl", but thanks to the insanely loud people behind us I could barely hear it. Which is a shame because that was the song I was most looking forward to hearing. But still, I think it's safe to say that his LP Field debut was a big success.
So Kip finishes his set and CMT's Katie Cook comes out to say that Little Big Town would be up next. Now those who know me know that Little Big Town is a favorite of mine. I haven't seen any other act anywhere close to the amount of times I've seen them and so, I was really excited about their set. Only the break between acts felt a little longer than usual and the set they were setting up did not belong to Little Big Town. It belonged to Hunter Hayes. That was odd. What was odder? Katie Cook comes back out to introduce Hunter and doesn't say a word about Little Big Town. My first thought was that the stage crew had messed up and set up Hunter by mistake and they just decided to go with it and switch their positions. That's not what happened.
But first, how did Hunter do? I'm going to start off by saying that I like Hunter. I think he's very talented and that it's going to fun to watch how his career progresses. That said, he has some things to work on. There were a lot of solos that went on for way longer than they should've and that was bordering on annoying. Not to say that I didn't enjoy his set; I did for the most part.
Hunter surprised the crowd by bringing out Jason Mraz for "Everybody's Got Somebody But Me" and that was probably my favorite part of the night. I thought they sounded really good together.
Let's start with the beginning of the night show at LP Field.
Gloriana came out to do the anthem Friday night and did a good job with it. I said this about Brett Eldredge and I'll say this about them: it's too bad that they didn't get to do a full set at LP Field. I'm pretty sure they did do one at the Riverfront which I unfortunately missed.
The first full set of the evening belonged to none other than Mr. Randy Travis. This was my third time seeing him and you're pretty much guaranteed a good show with him. He just has so many songs! Great set by Randy that night. He does have some weird mannerisms that can be a little distracting, but still, it's always nice seeing him. He debuted a new song in honor of George Jones called "Tonight I'm Playing Possum". Lovely tribute to one of country music's greats. The song is available on iTunes and features Joe Nichols. I'd say it's well worth the download.
Next up: Kip Moore. He was another one making their debut at LP Field and he did a great job! Very solid set and the crowd really seemed to enjoy him. I was a little frustrated though because he did "Hey Pretty Girl", but thanks to the insanely loud people behind us I could barely hear it. Which is a shame because that was the song I was most looking forward to hearing. But still, I think it's safe to say that his LP Field debut was a big success.
So Kip finishes his set and CMT's Katie Cook comes out to say that Little Big Town would be up next. Now those who know me know that Little Big Town is a favorite of mine. I haven't seen any other act anywhere close to the amount of times I've seen them and so, I was really excited about their set. Only the break between acts felt a little longer than usual and the set they were setting up did not belong to Little Big Town. It belonged to Hunter Hayes. That was odd. What was odder? Katie Cook comes back out to introduce Hunter and doesn't say a word about Little Big Town. My first thought was that the stage crew had messed up and set up Hunter by mistake and they just decided to go with it and switch their positions. That's not what happened.
But first, how did Hunter do? I'm going to start off by saying that I like Hunter. I think he's very talented and that it's going to fun to watch how his career progresses. That said, he has some things to work on. There were a lot of solos that went on for way longer than they should've and that was bordering on annoying. Not to say that I didn't enjoy his set; I did for the most part.
Hunter wrapped up his set, which surprisingly didn't include "Storm Warning" and again, I expected that Little Big Town would be next. Instead it was announced that Lady Antebellum would be and then Blake Shelton would be on later. No mention of Little Big Town at all. We stayed for Lady Antebellum's first two songs, though I didn't get any pictures of them. We listened to them from the back of the stadium where the sound was terrible. So I can't really comment on their set.
So what became of Little Big Town? Well, they'd sent a tweet out saying they'd have some technical difficulties and would see the crowd soon. Not that I was able to see that tweet until after we'd gotten home. Again, the cell phone service at LP Field was horrible. They apparently came on after Lady Antebellum and before Blake. If I'd know they were still going to perform, I would've stayed. Honestly, the whole thing was extremely frustrating. They should have had one of the hosts come out before Hunter and explain that Little Big Town was having some sort of technical problem and would be on later. Instead they chose not to say anything about them at all. And then not to bring them up after Hunter was inexcusable. Sometimes I felt like there was some sort of weird rule that forbid anyone from explaining anything. Not just at the night shows either. This seemed to be a problem all over the place. Very badly organized CMA Fest as far as I'm concerned.
All in all, the music was good, but this was weakest night to me. I think part of it was that the acts were generally more low key than acts on the other nights. Which isn't a bad thing. It's just that when I think back on each of the night shows, the acts that stood out the most were the more energetic ones. Again: this was still a solid night of music.
One more day left to go! The first day was my personal favorite. The strongest lineup as far as I'm concerned. I'm planning on getting that up tomorrow. After that, I'll do a recap of the Grand Ole Opry show I attended that Tuesday, the 4th, and the Jerrod Niemann/Lee Brice fan club party which was on the 3rd. I'll also be doing a post on what could and should be improved upon and then a list of my personal favorite moments/shows from the week. So be on the lookout for all that!
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