Concert Review: Lady Antebellum

Last night Kati and I headed down to ARCO Arena (I refuse to call it Power Balance Pavilion) to see Lady Antebellum. Both of us left our cameras at home, so all we have to document it is the obligatory cell phone picture:

Kati & I At The Show

The first opening act was Thompson Square, a husband and wife duo. They were really good - I absolutely love Shawna Thompson's voice. She is a really talented singer and absolutely everything that came out of her mouth was on key and technically perfect. They played for about half an hour and were fantastic!

The second opening act was Darius Rucker, formerly of Hootie & the Blowfish. His first song or two were a little rough, but once he seemed to warm up, I think he sounded great. He sang a bunch of his country songs and a few of the more popular Hootie & the Blowfish songs. In fact, in true Smithson sister style, we called our parents on "Only Wanna Be With You" and sang at the top of our lungs. I imagine that they thought we were drunk and had both gone tone deaf, but we were having a blast. He ended his set by saying "Now I sing whatever the hell I want" and did a cover of Prince's "Purple Rain". It was awesome since the first time I had seen him was in Las Vegas at Tiger Jam, where Prince was headlining.

After a 45 minute minute (!) intermission, it was finally time for Lady Antebellum. They were pretty spectacular. I think what really makes this band is their incredibly tight harmonies. I could listen to 3 part harmony all day long. I didn't totally love Hillary Scott's voice live - she sounded very tinny and "chipmunky" but that might have been how it was mixed. They sang all of their hits and did a pretty cool cover of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion". One of my favorite parts of the night was when they brought Thompson Square and Darius Rucker back out on stage to sing "Black Water" (yep, the Doobie's song) with them. There was a heck of a lot of harmony going on there. The band was amazing too. Dave Haywood (you know, the guy who isn't Hillary Scott or Charles Kelley) played both guitar and piano - phenomenally. I think he doesn't get enough credit for his musicianship and for being that 3rd harmony.

It was a great show and Kati and I had a really fun time!