OK, I know that Taylor sang after Kellie in Raleigh, but this sounded good for the title of the post.
Jack Ingram
Jack is a classic country rocker. He asks during his performance “Do we have any country music fans here tonight?” Then when every one yells “yeah”, he says, “well that’s good because I am a country singer.” Well, maybe, but he sure sounded like a rocker to me.
I have two of Jack’s songs on my player, and I really like them. When I reviewed his other songs, many didn’t appeal to me, but I am not really into his type of country. But the rockers in the crowd really enjoyed him.
He went on first in Raleigh and the arena was only about 2/3 full when he started. Every one was sitting down when he started in both Raleigh and Charlotte, which you are not supposed to do when there is a rocker on stage. That’s an insult. But Jack is a seasoned performer and before long had the crowd up and cheering. His on stage persona is “I’m gonna sing this song” and not much else. A few wise cracks fell flat but he knows where his strength lies and he didn’t do too much banter with the crowd. He is a guitar strummer and not a picker. He has his guitar with him at all times (no other way for a country rocker).
By the end every one was up and clapping and hooting and hollering and was enjoying themselves. In Raleigh, the venue was almost full and the sun had set by the time he finished his six song set.
He sang “Measure of a Man”, “Love You”, “Lips of an Angel” and “Wherever you Are”. The other two songs I didn’t hear enough words to make them out.
Taylor Swift
Be sure to read my first review post in which I talk about how my admiration of Taylor went up, way up this week end.
Taylor is all smiles. She never stops smiling. She has her guitar with her at all times, and as James has mentioned in another post about her, she uses it as a prop. I would really like to see her, for at least one song, put it down, pick up the microphone and just sing. It is almost like there is the guitar between her and the audience. However, her engaging personality shines through and after a few minutes, I was ignoring the guitar (but wishing it wasn’t there).
She sang “Teardrops”, “Tim McGraw”, “Picture to Burn”, “Should Have Said No”, and “Our Song” (her next single). I for the life of me can’t remember the sixth song. Please someone post it below.
She was wearing some type of print dress for both performances, cut just above the knee, along with her trademark flowery cowboy boots. The big discussion around me in Charlotte was "what is she wearing underneath?" because two teenage girls sitting right next to the ramp kept giggling when she went out onto the ramp and they looked up to see ????. Taylor was flipping that dress around without any self consciousness at all. Hope she’s doesn’t take after Kellie (ok, an off color joke but everyone knows what Kellie said about her undergarments recently, right? Such a hoot!). Back to Taylor…
Had to be spandex….had to be!!
Taylor had the crowd from hello! Even in Charlotte when she led off to a less than filled arena she didn’t falter a bit. She was able to connect with the crowd in subtle ways and you could tell she was picking out young girls in the crowd to sing to. By the end of her first song, the seats were filled (much quicker than for Jack in Raleigh) and the crowd was really into her music. In Raleigh, her voice was garbled and overpowered by the band much of the time, and if I didn’t know the words, I wouldn’t have understood. Bad mixing, IMO. In Charlotte she was much clearer. My position was about the same distance from the speakers but on the opposite side so I really think it was how the sound was mixed.
Taylor commands the stage with confidence. Her banter with the crowd was pleasant, and like most other performers, the same as what I have heard from other reviewers that she said in other venues. They figure out what works and stick to it.
As I said in my other post Taylor’s performance skills have improved dramatically in the past 8-9 months. I’m still not sure she sings on key all the time but as Hazel Smith has said in a recent column, who cares???? The songs are enjoyable and the performance is what counts. The notes can be off a bit but when you are in the venue, looking at the performance, you don’t notice it at all. So, they get the notes right with repeated takes in the studio so the CD is spot on. Live, you could care less.
Taylor’s personality and her song writing are her strengths. This young lady is going far.
Link to Part I
http://www.kelliefans.com/forum/conc...tml#post376087
Link to Part II
http://www.kelliefans.com/forum/conc...tml#post376157
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