I'm not personally against country music (if I'm being honest I really generally like ALL music), but I haven't had the opportunity to go to a lot of country concerts so I was not quite sure what to expect. This particular show was a birthday present for my best girl (my mom!) who is a huge Alan Jackson fan. As a result, I'm a pretty big Alan Jackson fan via lifetime exposure, since I have been listening to his music for a really long time. Hopefully Mr. Jackson will take that as a compliment rather than a commentary on how long he's been in the business.
Which is how it should be, because despite being his 25th anniversary tour, I found his show to be hugely entertaining and not just because I got a sequinned, LED cowgirl hat by going.
Opening act was Kelsea Ballerini, who I had not recognized by name but recognized when I heard her singing "Love Me Like you Mean it" which has been on the radio a lot lately. Ms. Ballerini, at 21, is still very young in the business and you can sort of tell. Primarily in that she doesn't quite have the easy confidence that she'll have after a few more tours. To be fair though, she did sound sick when she was talking with the audience. This is one of the major reasons I was quite impressed with her. Despite decidedly sounding 'under the weather' when speaking she did a very fine job of keeping herself in tune and in sync with her bandmates. I would be interested to hear her live when she is at the top of her game.
She also has a decidedly more modern pop/country fair that Alan Jackson which made it an interesting pairing. There were some older listeners seated around me who complained rather heavily about how 'country isn't country anymore.' Since I'm decidedly into fusion music this doesn't bother me much. In addition, her songs are decidedly more 'youthful' in their scope, for example, one song is about how much freer life felt when she was 'underage.' It makes me laugh just a little to think that I'm part of the old crowd now. Being underage is so far back in my past I can barely remember it any more! In the end I'm glad she was there and walked home with a new CD that I've been listening to and fro from work.
And then on to the main event.
I think Alan Jackson's portion of the evening can be summarized in just one phrase: damn, can this guy sing. Some things really do get better with age and experience. I can without a doubt say that he's a great live singer. If I didn't know better I would almost think he was being dubbed over (one or two little wobbles and mic spikes let me know it's all real). Spot on clean and clear sounding voice, just like on the records.
But singing doesn't save the show. A great act needs humor and entertainment too. Well, that won't be a problem either as he did a great job engaging with the crowd with jokes and stories spanning his entire career.
My only two complaints of the evening are as follows:
1.) There were a few technical issues, mostly mic spikes. Not unexpected at a live show, but they happened.
2.) The lawn crowd was terrible. I'm used to mosh pits so I knew it was going to be a bit of a different listening situation but really I have never seen anything like it before. I don't know if this was because the Ravinia crowd is just more restrained than I am used to or it was an odd group. I did see Christian Kane a few years back at Joe's Bar in Chicago and that show at the level of cheering and hooliganism I expected so I don't know what was wrong here. The people who could afford seating in the main 'shell' theater seemed to be having a loud riotous time too, so again, I am confused by the lack of enthusiasm in the lawn crowd. While there was an adorable couple in front of us who would randomly get up and dance otherwise there was barely even any clapping. My greatest disappointment of the night however was the rather unpleasant old couple behind me who complained so bitterly about my glowing LED cowgirl hat that I turned it off. Now I would have been a little less annoyed about it if Ravinia had said no hats, but they were the ones selling them! So I bought my super cheesy hat and didn't even get to wear it for the majority of the concert. On the flip side there was a funny pair of pair of guys next to us who shouted, not too subtly, that it was 'a terrible thing that SOME PEOPLE had to ruin the fun for the rest of them,' which did make the evil part of me chuckle a bit. I think Mr. Jackson would have found it amusing too in my defense.
My parting words are this: Please come back to Ravinia soon! My mom and I would love to listen and I would love an excuse to wear my hat again!