Spotted at the Brad Paisley Virtual Reality tour show in St. Paul, Minnesota:

• puffy-painted “Camouflage” t-shirts
• Brian Setzer
• Scotty McCreery in a speedo
• not actually Carrie Underwood

15,000 fans packed the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday night for the third show on the sold-out opening weekend of Brad Paisley’s 2012 Virtual Reality World Tour. It’s clear a few kinks are still being worked out with the program, but Brad Paisley is a seasoned professional that knows how to deliver a performance worth every dollar the fans spend to see the show. Not one detail was spared to make the Virtual Reality tour the best possible experience; a healthy mix of classic Brad comedy, high-tech staging and good ol’ fashioned country music. Spanning more than a decade of hits, from “I’m Gonna Miss Her” to “Camouflage,” Brad Paisley has been awarded the CMA’s top prize —Best Entertainer— and has set out to demonstrate just why he’s earned that title. Offering equal parts wit, novelty, incredible skill and raw emotion — Brad’s 2012 tour leaves nothing behind. Supported by two of the newest and most popular acts in mainstream country music, Brad Paisley brought Scotty McCreery and The Band Perry along for the ride.

18-year-old American Idol winner Scotty McCreery is the new kid on the block, but was awarded the opening slot on one of the biggest country tours. Sing a couple songs on TV, get some blue-hairs to vote for you from their rotary telephones and BAM! get a fast-pass to sing in the biggest venues across America. Jackpot! Scotty opened the show to what may have been the loudest cheers I’ve ever heard for a first act. I’ve never understand those fans that pay for a ticket and only show up for the headliner. That wasn’t the case here. It was probably one of the few shows I’ve been to that the majority of the audience was present for the first act, thanks to his enormous Idol following. I wouldn’t doubt there were probably young girls that had bought tickets just to hear Scotty’s 25 minute, seven song set… and they were LOUD! Backed by this week’s platinum certification of his debut album, Clear As Day, he gave a perfectly adequate milquetoast performance of the blandest country songs that country music’s predominantly female demographic loves to lap up. Since I last saw him at K102’s Class of 2011 show [post], he’s taken up playing rhythm acoustic guitar, for which I’m obliged to give him some points. He closed with the upbeat “Walkin’ The Country,” likely his next single, which pains me to hear because I’ve known and loved the Keith Urban (with The Ranch) original for many years. Scotty, hit the road and come back in ten years when you’ve lived some of your life. There are exceptions to this theory, but in general I believe that if you haven’t starved for your music you don’t deserve to be making it.



Described by the night’s headliner as the “Hottest Band in Country Music,” The Band Perry’s set was the longest I’ve personally ever seen them perform, which allowed them the time to cover new unreleased music (“Jason”) and songs from their 2010 debut album, to covers like Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls.” As their video introduction describes, “Daddy rocked us to sleep with the Rolling Stones; Mama woke us up with Loretta Lynn. So we get it honest. We’re The Band Perry, and we play country music.” Every time I’ve seen The Band Perry I am always impressed by their professionalism and polish. Kimberly Perry is a well-spoken, poised, talented singer/songwriter and for the lack of better words, I absolutely adore her! Her voice is sincere and distinct, and although the band’s sound edges to the pop side of country music, it’s easy to listen to and nothing short of heart-felt and honest. Although most of us have met our quota of times hearing their breakout hit “If I Die Young,” there is nothing quite like a sing-a-long moment with thousands of people (video below).

The Virtual Reality tour employs high-tech staging elements like lasers, holograms, special effects, 3D, animations and high definition video walls. As an event organizer, I appreciate the creativity and effort (and money) that goes into productions of this magnitude. Unfortunately, most of the drama is lost on fans that come for the music and not the “experience.” It’s certainly lost on the fans sitting above and/or to the right or left of the stage, as they couldn’t even see the projections. At this show, your experience depended on where your seats were, but thankfully the music made up for any gap in visuals. 

A fourth of Brad Paisley’s 120-minute set was made up of songs from his most recent album, 2011’s This Is Country Music. His singles, along with “Working On A Tan,” from that album took the place of earlier music from Who Needs Pictures and Part II, sadly. Some of my personal favorites that were missing from the set include “That’s Love,” “Love Is Never-ending,” “Wrapped Around,” “Come on Over Tonight” and “When I Get Where I’m Going” but you can’t please everyone. The usual “When I Get Where I’m Going” montage in tribute to those that have passed recently was traded for a photo montage to accompany the iconic artists name-checked in his more recent “This Is Country Music” (Jones, Twitty, Greenwood, Strait, Wynette, Haggard, Denver, Cash, Williams Jr). Unlike most of the other big-name country shows, Brad stuck to his solid catalog; only departing for a very welcomed sample of Waylon Jennings’ “Good Hearted Woman.” It was one of many memorable moments of the night — I loved it!

Opener Scotty McCreery rejoined Brad on stage to perform “Celebrity” — ironically, as Scotty found his fame in the exact way the lyrics indirectly mock Idol-ebrities (“Someday I’m gonna be famous, do I have talent? Well no. These days you don’t really need it, thanks to reality shows”). Brad Paisley took a note out of The Dirt Drifters’ book, and smartly swapped the lyrics of “Online” from MySpace to Facebook. A song about the internet doesn’t stay relevant for long. “Mud on the Tires,” what I consider (strangely enough) one of his most romantic songs, incorporated the Virtual Reality tour’s sponsor, Chevrolet, perfectly.

In one of my favorite moments of the show, The Band Perry came back on stage to join Brad for “Whiskey Lullaby,” with Kimberly Perry beautifully filling the role of Alison Krauss on the duet. It was incredible to get to see her walk to her place on stage before the lights hit her, then hear the crowd roar as she began to sing (video below). Her voice, combined with accompaniment by her brothers and Brad made for a breathtaking performance. I may or may not have teared up!

In an example of great disappointment in my fellow Minnesotans, the crowd erupted into cheers when the hologram of Carrie Underwood lit up during the duet, “Remind Me.” It was a very confusing moment, as not all angles of the audience could even visualize the hologram (myself included, although there’s no real loss here). Many people then, and I predict on many future tour dates, believe it is actually Miss Carrie Underwood, standing there to sing one (1) song with Brad. HA… not likely! What’s even worse is that some are expressing that they were fooled/tricked/’duped’ with the bit, and are upset. I’m embarrassed for them. What do people think VIRTUAL REALITY implies? If all of those people read Independent Sky, they’d have known months ago that Brad is using a hologram. Just sayin’!

Brad closed the show with one of the highlights of the night. Minneapolitan and Rockabilly icon Brian Setzer joined him along with The Band Perry and Scotty McCreery onstage for a good-timing rendition of “Alcohol.” I’ve never actually seen anyone “lampshade-on-the-head” inebriated as the song describes at the Xcel Energy Center because drinks are $9 a pop. It’s never as much fun singing along to a drinking song when you’re not soaked with libations! Instead of singing along, Scotty and Kimberly, Neil and Reid Perry shook hands with fans back and forth across the front of the stage for a strangely unnatural amount of time. Putting on my P.R. hat, I have a feeling this was deliberate, as it would be distasteful for Scotty, whom is underage, to participate. The Political Correctness Police ruin all the fun! Ending with a bit of fun was a good choice, although I could have been spared the image of a Photoshoped Scotty on a Speedo-clad body — the first of many pranks that Brad famously inflicts on his tour openers.

Brad took a few steps to engage fans in the giant venue; from three long runways jutting out from the main stage to a satellite stage mid-way back in the floor section, however his transitions and narrative felt scripted (they always are). In comparison to the last big tour in Minneapolis, Keith Urban, he paled in terms of audience engagement. You would assume Brad’s experience as a host (i.e. CMA Awards) would make this a strong suit, but Keith’s show had more energy. Bigger and flashier is not always better. What is the difference between a show this polished and listening to Brad Paisley’s Hits Alive? I guess there are worse problems to have than sounding perfect.

In whatever ways Brad may have failed at making the large-scale spectacle feel personal (which I don’t think was ever a goal in the first place), he did succeed as usual at displaying terrific skill and showmanship. I didn’t see him pause to take a drink of water, nonetheless stop for a breath. He expertly jammed on his signature Paisley guitars throughout the show, even giving one away to a young fan in the front row at one point. 

Overall, the combination made for a well-balanced, fun country show, and nothing anyone that bought a ticket expecting a great night of live entertainment would be disappointed about. It is what it is — but I like my Brad Paisley with a little more honky-tonk and a little less arena rock and my shows with a little more wood floors a little less ice rink, a little more beer taps a little less up-charged bottles, a lot more dancing and a lot less sitting!

Perry and Paisley fans can catch them both back in our area this June performing on Saturday of Cadott, Wisconsin’s Country Fest; in the outdoors, where dancing and Leinie’s* are mandatory!

Beth

Independent Sky photos [Facebook]
Paisley joins Keillor, then takes his yee-haw to the X [Jon Bream, Star Tribune]
Brad Paisley at Xcel Center: flash, but also plenty of real music [Pioneer Press]
A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor: January 14th, 2012 program featuring Brad Paisley [PBS] (skip to approx. 44 minutes in for Brad’s segment)

Scotty McCreery set list: Water Tower Town / You Make That Look Good / I Love You This Big / Dirty Dishes / Write My Number On Your Hand / The Trouble With Girls / Walk In The Country
 
The Band Perry set list: Jason / Miss You Being Gone / Hip To My Heart / All Your Life / Independence (sample Tom Petty’s “Free Falling”) / Fat Bottomed Girls (Queen) / Postcard From Paris / If I Die Young / You Lie (sample Rihanna/Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie”)

Brad Paisley set list: Camouflage / The World / Welcome to the Future / Ticks / This is Country Music / Waitin’ on a Woman / Celebrity (with Scotty McCreery) / She’s Everything / Online / I’m Still A Guy (sample Waylon’s “Good Hearted Woman”) / Then / Letter to Me / Mud on the Tires / Tan / Whiskey Lullaby (with The Band Perry) / Time Warp instrumental / I’m Gonna Miss Her / Remind Me (with Carrie Underwood HOLOGRAM) / Old Alabama / Water / [encore] American Saturday Night / Alcohol (with The Band Perrty and Scotty McCreery)

*No, we are not sponsored by Leinie’s (nor anyone) but wouldn’t say no to it!

*These are the opinions of a independent reviewers and not necessarily those of this station.*