Okay, as I've said the last couple of times I've posted, I was lucky enough to attend last week's Sugarland, Julianne Hough, and Danny Gokey show in Nampa, Idaho. First off, I got my tickets at the very last minute (like two days before) so I didn't have too much time to get too hyped up thankfully since there's nothing worse than waiting and waiting and waiting for something exciting like an upcoming concert. Think back to Christmas when you were a kid and your mom bought your Christmas gifts 6 weeks early and you might have an idea of what I'm talking about.
So my mom and I headed down to the Idaho Center and got there just in time. We made it to our seats - which were awesome - right on the floor like five rows back. Totes cool! I decided to head to the restroom just in time to hear the music and chanting heat up. Per normal I missed the opening act's opening song because of a "quick" dash to the bathroom.
So Danny Gokey was first up. Now not to burst the bubbles of the Danny fans in my readership, but I'm not a big Danny Gokey fan. I didn't eat up his CD like many others and I was never a fan when he was on American Idol. That said, he really was much better live than I was expecting. The stage had a huge black backdrop separating Sugarland's stage so the opening acts didn't have a chance to move around too much, but I have a feeling that even if Danny had four times as large a section of stage he still wouldn't have moved around a whole heck of a lot. He seems to be more the singing and getting it over sort of guy. He talked a bit about his deceased wife, American Idol, and also encouraged the audience to text in a donation to help out the Nashville flooding. He sang four songs, moved around a bit, and then was done. Honestly, he has a great voice, much better than I was expecting, but definitely new to the entertainment aspect of things. I'd really love to see him in another couple of years to see how he progresses. And as a side note, the audience just ate him up. He's definitely one popular guy.
Here's a video and some pictures.
After a short intermission Julianne Hough came up. My first impression was that her guitar player apparently shops at Hot Topic in the mall and second was that Julianne wasn't nearly as tiny as I was expecting. I was expecting this teeny tiny little thing but Julianne is one buff little gal in a dancer sort of way. She's just pretty much as cute as a speckled pup, a real golden-haired ball of fire. I got the feeling a lot of people in the audience had no clue who she was...that is until she started to dance. Then it was like the audience shifted and she was a true entertainer. She did the booty shake as my kids would say and did it pretty darn well. I had a strong feeling that the only reason a lot of the guys were in that audience was because their girlfriends or wives said, "hey, Julianne will be there shaking her money maker," and she definitely did that. There was a little stripper pole dancing, swinging (literally), shimmying and shaking, and yes, there was singing. Her voice is cute but didn't always carry through the crowd, and I was in the front row. But one thing about Julianne was that she was definitely mesmerizing. And considering she had a stage to move around on that was smaller than my living room, she did a great job of entertaining in a minimal amount of space. Julianne sang some new stuff and her popular songs, singing maybe five or six songs in total. She had a costume change and a bit of a stage transformation and pretty much made the best of her time on the stage. By far my favorite tune of Julianne's was Wildfire. Can't wait to hear what all she has on her sophomore album.
Well then came the main event, Sugarland. Now before I say anything else I have to apologize to Miss Nettles. Over the last two years of running this blog I've teased her about her habit of canceling concerts for voice problems. In fact, I had always said I would never pay to go to a Sugarland concert for fear of it being canceled because of Jennifer's throat issues. But you know what I learned after watching this pair in concert? I honestly have no idea how Jennifer can do this night after night without losing her voice. It's got to be a scientific curiosity. She honestly puts her absolute all into her show and I'm amazed that the girl can keep on going night after night after night. I promise, from this day forward I will let Jennifer cancel shows and consider her throat problems a badge of honor that she obviously had been putting her all into previous shows.
So, with that said, from the very moment the lights dimmed and we knew that Sugarland was getting ready to hit the stage you knew it was going to be something different. I mean they played Michael Jackson's Black or White as their lead-in song. Yep, this was going to be different. There was a long period of time sitting in near pitch darkness listening to the screaming crowd, cell phones and cameras dotted throughout the crowd, and don't matter if you're black or white blasting through the speakers.
Their junkyard-inspired stage was fascinating to say the least. Confusing was another word for it. But it worked and it definitely felt like it fit Jennifer and Kristian....they are truly a couple of unique individuals and I wouldn't expect any less from their show or their choice of stage. The concert started out high energy and I don't think it slowed down through the entire show, except maybe when Jennifer sang Stay (video here), but that was so emotional, so beautiful, and so powerful that I don't think it could be technically called a rest.
I don't think I can give enough words of praise to let you know how much I enjoyed myself. It was so, so much fun and I highly suggest that if the Incredible Machine is going to be rolling into your neighborhood, go and see this show, you so will not be disappointed.
If you haven't gotten enough of Sugarland, Julianne, and Danny, you can check out all my videos here and all my pictures here.
I saw Sugarland last night in Columbia, MD, with Jake Owen and Danny Gokey. Danny sounded great, but I'm not a fan of his pop sound. Jake Owen was outstanding, and I can really see him being the next big thing in country music. He just needs a little better material to work with. Sugarland was amazing. Their new material sounds interesting. Great show! Finally a show worth the price of admission ($85 per ticket in MD).
Posted by: Adam | May 17, 2010 at 01:29 PM
Was just noticing you said Danny Gokey sang four songs in Nampa for his first evening with Sugarland? That's interesting, as he apparently did five in Salt Lake City, and definitely did five in Colorado Springs.
I wonder why that was different.
Posted by: Stef | May 14, 2010 at 05:17 AM
In Youtube videos, Danny is all over the stage. He is so much fun to watch!
I have tickets to see him in June (a Sugarland concert). I hope he has more than five songs by then. He's been doing 15 at his headlining shows, but none of those shows have been scheduled close to me.
Posted by: fay | May 12, 2010 at 11:13 PM
Thanks for the review; I saw the Colorado Springs show with all three- Great show!
Gokey up first- really liked him- good strong voice. Seemed like he really didn't have any room to move around in; I was struck by how little of an area his band had set up in front of Hough's set. Short, but very good set by Gokey, IMO.
Hough- Eh, not a fan. Ok, her outfits were "interesting" and she's got legs but the singing- not too good. And the pole dancing- distracting. Thought the opener was stronger than her.
Sugarland- Fantastic! They gave it their all and Nettles sounded sublime. Really rocked it out and the set was unique and added to the whole experience.
Definitely a recommended concert.
Posted by: Randy | May 12, 2010 at 10:50 PM
Glad you had a great time. I saw the same line-up of acts two nights later in Colorado Springs, really enjoyed it.
Jennifer was awesome live, was expecting that to be the case but it exceeded my expectations. So glad she doesn't seem to be having the vocal issues that bothered their tour last year.
I wasn't very fond of Julianne's act tbh, maybe it was better up closer to the stage if her appeal is partially visual -- sounds like you had awesome seats.
Danny Gokey sounded really good and the audience in Colorado Springs also seemed to respond very well to him. He may have been more comfortable on that evening, I think Nampa was his first appearance for the Sugarland tour? When I've seen him live before, Danny does actually like to move around a lot on stage. The set-up around Julianne's rather large set may have been a challenge for him, but his next Sugarland dates are with Jake Owen rather than Julianne. I'm kinda doubting that Jake will be singing from a swing or ~pole-dancin' on a big elevated platform taking up room on the stage ;) So hopefully Danny will have a little more maneuvering room to perform.
Posted by: Stef | May 12, 2010 at 10:28 PM