I have, of course, seen Yoakam live before. I traveled to Cincinnati last November to see him as a main act and he puts on a hell of a show. Last night was no exception. Yoakam has incredible stage presence and interacts with the crowd very well.
It was good to see that most of the people around me seemed to know Dwight and his music. Given the fact that he doesn't get regular radio airplay anymore, I sincerely expected that there would be a lot of people unfamiliar with his songs and only familiar with more current trends in music.
Dwight did play a new song during the set, a great number called "Secondhand Heart" which he says hasn't even been turned into the label yet. According to his website, Dwight has a new album due out later this year, which will also feature "Who'll Stop the Rain." No additional news as to a release date has been given yet.
Full Dwight Yoakam Setlist:
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke
Please Please Baby
Little Sister
Streets of Bakersfield
It Won't Hurt
This Drinkin' Will Kill Me
Secondhand Heart
Ain't That Lonely Yet
Ring of Fire
Always Late With Your Kisses
Honky Tonk Man
A Thousand Miles From Nowhere
Little Ways
Guitars, Cadillacs
Fast As You
After a few more songs, his friend, who was now seated directly next to me, proceeded to drop his beer cup, spilling them on the poor kid in front of me who was there with his parents. His way of apologizing? He handed the mother forty bucks. You know, instead of slinking out in shame, which is what I would have done in such a situation.
As I kept giving him looks like the douchebag he has, he told me he'd given her money and apologized, he didn't know what else he could do. I kept thinking of all the things I could say if things escalated. I could tell him that I'd just gotten a txt and my parole officer was outside. Or, I could go full-on George Costanza on the guy:
Anyway, onto the show.
I'll say again what I said at the beginning: say what you will about Church's personality, but he puts on a hell of a show and knows his crowd.
Not surprisingly, Church spent much of the evening on his new material off of his Outsiders album, performing 9 of the 12 songs off of the album.
Church was performing at Quicken Loans Arena (The Q) in Downtown Cleveland, and the acoustics of arena are actually very strong and clear. The show was a packed house, and I'm sure there were other incidents like the one I mentioned above, but the show that Eric put on was solid.
He didn't go in for any pyrotechnics or special effects - mainly he stuck to his music. The one real special effect of the evening was during "Devil Devil" when there was a giant inflatable spinning glowing-eyed devil back by the soundboard, which was actually pretty impressive.
Overall, I was impressed with Church's concert. Aside from the one incident I witnessed, from what I saw, most people seemed to be in control of themselves (thought, I was in one small section of thousands of people, so I can't say for sure).
Full Eric Church Setlist:
The Outsiders
Creepin'
Guys Like Me
Jack Daniels
I'm Getting Stoned
Talladega
Pledge Allegiance to the Hag
Drink In My Hand
Chevy Van
Sinners Like Me
Cold One
That's Damn Rock and Roll
Give Me Back My Hometown
Homeboy
Darkside
Devil Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)
Country Music Jesus
Smoke a Little Smoke
Lot of Boot Left to Fill
Wrecking Ball
Roller Coaster
Over When It's Over
These Boots
Springsteen (w/ Born in the USA)