View from the "cheap seats"

We went to Shoreline Amphitheater twice in the past couple of weeks and here's a recap of both of the shows. Both of these shows we sat in the 200's section opposed to the 100's sections up front and got great deals on tickets for both of these shows! $10 each for Toby Keith tickets and $20 each for Lady Antebellum tickets that we bought at the Toby Keith show. What a bargain!

The first show was on May 31st with Toby Keith, Colt Ford and Krystal Keith. Dave and I got there a little later and about halfway through Colt Ford's set. We missed Krystal Keith entirely. Colt Ford was pretty entertaining for the short amount of time we saw him but we were mainly there to see Toby.

Toby's show was packed full of his greatest hits like Red Solo Cup, Should've Been A Cowboy, and Beer For My Horses. We had a great time at this concert and very glad we went! 

Last night (June 15th) we saw Lady Antebellum, David Nail and Native Run. We got to the venue early enough to see all the acts. I was pretty impressed with Native Run. They are a duo that has a male and female counterpart and the female counterpart did most of the singing. I really enjoyed their set with original songs like one called "Good On You" and covers like "Waterfalls" by TLC. 

David Nail was up next and I was really excited to see him, it's been a while! He has one of the greatest voices in the country format and really love his music. He played a good mix of songs from his three albums including his hits "Red Light", "Whatever She's Got" and "Let It Rain". 

Here is a small snippet video of "Let It Rain"

Time for Lady Antebellum! They really know how to get the audience going with their uptempo songs like "Compass" and "Downtown". They played a good mix of their hit songs along with ones that were just album cuts. 

They even brought part of the show out to our part of the audience, love when artists do that! 

Lady A brought out special guests Native Run and David Nail back out to do a cover of "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay"! 

We had such a great time at Shoreline for both of these shows and at a great price too! 

Joe and Joe At The Rodeo Club

On June 12th, 2014, country newcomer Joe Bachman and hit maker Joe Nichols played to a sold out audience at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA.

Joe Bachman took the stage first accompanied by a guitarist and keyboard player. I'm always excited to see new artists for the first time to see what they can bring to the country format.

Bachman brought a lot of energy to the audience in attendance at the Rodeo Club. It was refreshing to hear his style of music with piano accompaniment. He does not play the piano but his style of music kind of reminds me of Phil Vassar. 

He told us a story in the middle of the show that I want to share because it was very important to him. He said he was performing for our US troops in Key West, FL when Bin Laden was captured. He was told to make the announcement at this show and he also had troops watching from Cuba via the internet. Months later he was presented a flag from the troops in Cuba as a thank you gift for announcing that news. He then went into a song that he was asked to write for soldiers with PTSD called "Soldier's Memoir". 

Joe then lifted the heavy mood he created with that song by singing a cover of "Chicken Fried" that got the audience in a frenzy. In typical San Jose style the crowd belted every word and shocked Joe with their enthusiasm. He performed his current radio single out now called "Lookatchu" followed by another sing-a-long with "Wagon Wheel". I was very impressed with Joe Bachman and hope to see him again very soon! 

Next up was Joe Nichols! 

It was quite a treat to see Joe Nichols play a small venue like the Rodeo Club since he's played for thousands more in his time. He played many of his hit songs like "Brokenheartsville", "Sunny and 75" and "She Only Smokes When She Drinks". He also played many songs off his recent album "Crickets" that were very enjoyable.

 Joe never ceases to amaze me with his shows. He played a few covers including his countrified version of "Baby Got Back" that I find absolutely hilarious. He did a song called "Footlights" that is on the Merle Haggard tribute album that I also love. Years since his very first hit, Joe's still got it! Hoping his current single "Yeah" makes it to the top of the country charts! 

Nothing but dust...

On May 8th, 2014, the Eli Young Band and Blackjack Billy played a sold out show at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA. Dave and I were very excited for this show because the Eli Young Band is one of our favorite country bands and it was a real treat to see a full headlining show of theirs.

The opening act Blackjack Billy is a newer country rock band that I saw at the Rodeo Club last October. I was very happy to see that they were coming back to open for EYB. They played all of their songs from their "Get Some" EP that is available on iTunes. I was really surprised with the medley of cover songs that they played this time. It started off with "Crazy B*tch" by BuckCherry and somehow ended up going into Blake Shelton's "Boy's Round Here". The guys really brought the energy and it was so great to see them again! 

Eli Young Band was up next and it was so so good to see them again! They played a few songs off their new album "10,000 Towns" including the title track which I got a small video of here:

They played a good mixture of songs ranging from their very first indie album to the current album. I really enjoyed hearing some of the older songs like "Oklahoma Girl", "Level", and "Small Town Kid". The current single they have out right now called "Dust" is one of my favorite songs right now! So good! EYB also covered a little Lynyrd Skynyrd "Gimme Three Steps", a song that they recorded for a tribute album. 

Of course you can't forget their #1 hits! The crowd exploded singing along to "Drunk Last Night", "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" and their first #1 "Crazy Girl". It was so amazing to see these guys again and can't wait to see them again hopefully soon! Here is the link to the instagram video I took of "Crazy Girl"- Crazy Girl Instagram Video

And It Goes Like This....

On April 23rd, 2014, Thomas Rhett played to a sold out crowd at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA. Tickets sold out for this show in 3 hours the day they went on sale so I knew that Thomas was in for a fantastic show. I went to see him last year at the Rodeo Club before he had his hits to radio like "It Goes Like This" and "Get Me Some Of That". It was really amazing to see the difference in the crowd and the evolution of his music.

Before Thomas took the stage, his opening act Chris Cavanaugh fired up the audience. It was great to see what we could of his set since we headed backstage to meet Thomas. Hope we can see Chris again soon!

Thomas took the stage shortly afterwards and got the audience dancing and singing along to his songs. He started off his set with a song called "All American Middle Class White Boy".

Thomas played a lot of his songs off his debut album that came out last year called "It Goes Like This". Of course the crowd went wild when he played the title track off the album. I also really enjoy a song called "Make Me Wanna" and here is a small video of him singing it here:

Thomas also played a few new songs that I have never heard before. I think he is in the process of making his next album and the new songs he played are called "T-Shirt", "Automatic" (he made sure to let us know that it was not like Miranda Lambert's current single Automatic), and a song called "America". I really enjoyed all three of those songs and his song "America" probably got the best response from the audience of them all. I am really looking forward to seeing what he has in store for his next album! 

Overall it was an amazing show and can't wait to see Thomas again! 

Time to get "Redneck Crazy"!

We saw Leah Turner and Tyler Farr last night at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA! It was another amazing sold out show with another two artists that I've never seen. Leah Turner was up first and got the crowd going. I was very excited to see Leah because of her song "Take The Keys". She also has quite a few other good ones like "Beat Up Bronco" and probably her feistiest one called "My Finger". She has an undeniably amazing stage presence along with an amazing tone in her voice. She is definitely one of the newer country artists to watch! Her current radio single is called "Pull Me Back".

Leah singing "Beat Up Bronco" 

"Take The Keys"

Next up was the "Redneck Crazy" man himself, Tyler Farr! At this time I have to mention that my boyfriend Dave and I chose to hang out at the back of the club so I did not get any videos of Tyler but some pictures. I'm pretty short so tall people prevailed! Anyways, Tyler played a good mix of songs from his debut album along with some covers like "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash. Maybe it was because we were in the back of the club but the show really did not take momentum until he sang his two singles to country radio, "Whiskey In My Water" and "Redneck Crazy". The crowd exploded singing along to those two songs and it was amazing. I think Tyler has a great career ahead of him and looking forward to what will come next! 

One "Helluva" Show!

On March 19th, 2014 Frankie Ballard played the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA joined by opening act Joel Crouse. Both of these up and coming country artists were fantastic at entertaining the crowd.

The opening act, Joel Crouse, has had a few singles to country radio. He played his first single "If You Want Some" along with his current single "Why God Made Love Songs". In his short five to six song set, he played most of his original songs along with a cover medley. I was pretty impressed by Joel and hope to see him again sometime soon!

Videos of "Why God Made Love Songs" and "If You Want Some"

We've seen the main act Frankie Ballard a few times within the last year and it was great to see him back in the San Jose area! He performed with a full band and it was interesting for me to see since I've only seen him acoustically before. Frankie just put a new album out so he played a lot of songs off the new album including the title track (which I LOVE) called "Sunshine and Whiskey". 

In about the middle of the show, Frankie had a moment where he got distracted by a female fan in the front row that was exposing some cleavage....I would like to call these kind of moments "Frankie Moments" because it seems like at every show he says or does something totally random that is pretty hilarious. Of course he commented on how nice her cleavage was, then proceeded to try to throw a guitar pick and make it in. He unfortunately missed and it ended up in her purse on the stage. I just thought I would share that because I was doubled over in laughter at this point! Too funny Frankie! 

Frankie just recently topped the country charts this week with his song "Helluva Life". This was the second time in KRTY history that they could personally give back the condiment bottle he signed about four years ago when he played the rodeo club for the first time. Congrats Frankie! 

The Swon Brothers and Mallary Hope

On the night of March 5th, 2014 we saw Mallary Hope and The Swon Brothers both perform at the Rodeo Club in San Jose, CA! It was an amazing night of music and an amazing night to see both of these up and coming artists.

Dave and I mostly bought tickets to this show to see the opening act, Mallary Hope. We have seen Mallary many times but this was a first seeing her at the Rodeo Club. She opened her show singing one of the many songs she's written called Daughter Of The South. She then continued with a song she wrote called Georgia Peaches that was recorded by Lauren Alaina. Mallary then sang a song that was released to radio back in 2009 called Love Lives On. She had not played it in years and played it for us last night because KRTY has been playing it on the radio here. Mallary then got the crowd singing along with her to a bunch of cover songs that she called "Mallary Hope Karaoke". I got a pretty long video of that but she kept going after I stopped taping. You can probably hear me singing in the background and I apologize for how awful I sound! haha! 

Mallary closed her showing singing a Dixie Chicks song called Travelin' Soldier. Her sister and brother-in-law both serve in the US military and this song was a tribute to them and anyone else serving this country. 

Her set seemed way too short still for me and I hope to see her back in California soon! Just on a personal note, I really hope that Mallary gets the recognition she deserves in the years coming. She is currently an unsigned artist that is opening for the likes of Clint Black, Darius Rucker and Charlie Daniels just to name a few. She's played on the Grand Ole Opry numerous times. I'm still scratching my head wondering why she's not all over country radio at this moment. She has an amazing voice and songs that country radio desperately NEEDS. If you need a sampling of her music just to see that I'm not making this stuff up, she has many songs on her Soundcloud account. Go listen here: Mallary Hope's Soundcloud

Next up was The Swon Brothers! I actually watched them a little bit when they were on The Voice and thought they were great! The Swon Brothers did not win The Voice but did just recently sign a recording contract with Arista Records Nashville. They have not been around that long but I could tell that they have been performing in front of live audiences for quite some time. Colton and Zach had this undeniable stage presence that got the audience singing and dancing to many songs. They sang a lot of cover songs and a few from their album coming out sometime this year. They also announced that they were going to play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time on April 12th. 

They were greatly influenced by classic country and classic rock, doing covers of the late George Jones to a cover medley of Eagles songs. They also did a cover of  Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee" that I really enjoyed.

They played a song called "Songs That Said It All" that they wrote with Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood from Lady Antebellum.

The next to last song they played called "Later On" is currently a new single to country radio. Check it out! 

The Swon Brothers closed the show by bringing Mallary Hope back on stage to sing the song that got Blake Shelton to turn his chair around on The Voice. Here they are singing American Girl by Tom Petty:

Here's a picture of my boyfriend Dave and I with The Swon Brothers and Mallary Hope after the show! 

What a great night at the Rodeo Club and hope to see both of these artists back in the San Francisco bay area again soon!