Early this month we went to see George Strait in concert at the MGM Grand Arena. The venue is disappointing in the terrible entrance and exit. The shortcomings of the venue aside it was a great concert.
Taylor SwiftTeenage, country-newcomer, Taylor Swift was first up. Her inexperience and youth definitely show up, especially when paired with the experience of legends like Strait and Ronnie Milsap. Swift's prolific song-writing is impressive to say the least. One can only wonder what she will become as her voice and stage presence matures. Her on-stage jokes about getting back at past boyfriends and those who treated her poorly were funny the first time. They lost their appeal on the second and third repetition.
Ronnie MilsapMy favorite Ronnie Milsap number was the title track of his current album My Life. It is difficult to know exactly where to begin with the kudos for Milsap's performance. Watching his performance it is easy to get the idea that 63-year-old Milsap is just getting hitting his stride. That observation would, however, discount the 40 #1 hits Milsap has amassed in the 30-plus years he's been performing.
One of the things which makes Milsap standout is his training as a classical pianist. Sitting on stage at the piano Milsap's keyboarding skills match with his smooth voice. A combination that demonstrates why Milsap's career has been so successful.
George StraitThere are plenty of artists who couldn't follow an opening act like Ronnie Milsap. One of the few is the purest of country artists. George Strait is the blue-collar, every-man's country artist. In his traditional Wrangler jeans and white shirt Strait put on an impressive show. Sometimes cover songs are not well done, even when they are covered by impressive artists like Strait. However, when Strait did Folsom Prison Blues as a part of his "encore" set it was quite impressive. One can only hope he records it sometime soon as it will go down as a classic next to the Man in Black's original recording.
The only disappointment of his concert was the drunk tennie-bopper in the row behind us. She was quite certain that most of Strait's songs were meant to be in F-flat and insisted in singing at top volume. This annoyance included, it was still a fantastic show. We're busy March 3, when the trio plays Denver or it would be tempting to fly up for that concert as well.