Country to Country 2018
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:06 am
My wife's employer has a box at the O2. When it's not being used for corporate events, they put the seats up for grabs - for a donation to their preferred charities. We were lucky to obtain tickets to last Sunday's C2C event.
Now, "country" is not my favourite musical genre. I don't dislike it, it's just not something I grew up with and, aside from the great and the good who have a global reach, I had no idea who 3 of the 4 acts were. The one I had heard of - and really wanted to see - was Emmylou Harris. What an amazing voice and musician - and I was astonished when she said that she is 70.
The other acts were "Midland" who are, apparently, an up and coming "traditional" country band. I hadn't heard any of their music previously but it was very much like other guitar-oriented country bands I have heard. Very good but, for me, nothing exceptional.
Next up was Margo Price - a great voice and a bit in the style of Dolly Parton / Tammy Wynette but in a bit more of a contemporary style. She was accompanied, on a couple of songs, by Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson's son - who sounds very much like his father). Again, enjoyable but I won't be rushing out to buy the albums.
The "headliners" were a band called Little Big Town (LBT). They were very professional and slick. Their opening song was a rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man" which, aside from the harmonies, flummoxed me insofar as I couldn't see any "country" connection. LBT then moved on to play what I can only call "country pop" which I suspect is a deliberate cross-over aimed at attracting a much younger audience than the traditional country artists serve. The one thing that struck us was the increase in volume. I'm not adverse to loud - I'm into heavy rock and even saw Motorhead several times and never flinched once . However, this was unnecessarily loud for the type of music being played. As we had a distance to travel home (DLR / Tube and bus replacement instead of train out to East Anglia) we stayed for 5/6 songs and then left.
In-between main acts, there was a "spotlight stage" set up and some "new" individual singer-songwriters played a couple of tracks (which allowed the main stage to be prepared for the next act).
If the opportunity is available again next year, I wouldn't mind going. However, I'd do some research beforehand to see if the artists are ones I'm keen to see as, more than any other musical genre, country does seem to me to be quite formulaic.
Now, "country" is not my favourite musical genre. I don't dislike it, it's just not something I grew up with and, aside from the great and the good who have a global reach, I had no idea who 3 of the 4 acts were. The one I had heard of - and really wanted to see - was Emmylou Harris. What an amazing voice and musician - and I was astonished when she said that she is 70.
The other acts were "Midland" who are, apparently, an up and coming "traditional" country band. I hadn't heard any of their music previously but it was very much like other guitar-oriented country bands I have heard. Very good but, for me, nothing exceptional.
Next up was Margo Price - a great voice and a bit in the style of Dolly Parton / Tammy Wynette but in a bit more of a contemporary style. She was accompanied, on a couple of songs, by Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson's son - who sounds very much like his father). Again, enjoyable but I won't be rushing out to buy the albums.
The "headliners" were a band called Little Big Town (LBT). They were very professional and slick. Their opening song was a rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man" which, aside from the harmonies, flummoxed me insofar as I couldn't see any "country" connection. LBT then moved on to play what I can only call "country pop" which I suspect is a deliberate cross-over aimed at attracting a much younger audience than the traditional country artists serve. The one thing that struck us was the increase in volume. I'm not adverse to loud - I'm into heavy rock and even saw Motorhead several times and never flinched once . However, this was unnecessarily loud for the type of music being played. As we had a distance to travel home (DLR / Tube and bus replacement instead of train out to East Anglia) we stayed for 5/6 songs and then left.
In-between main acts, there was a "spotlight stage" set up and some "new" individual singer-songwriters played a couple of tracks (which allowed the main stage to be prepared for the next act).
If the opportunity is available again next year, I wouldn't mind going. However, I'd do some research beforehand to see if the artists are ones I'm keen to see as, more than any other musical genre, country does seem to me to be quite formulaic.