RASCAL FLATTS FEELING GOOD IN T.O.
By JASON MacNEIL - Special to Sun Media
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They might be rascals on stage, but their concerts can be a little flat at times.
Nashville country pop act Rascal Flatts hit Toronto's Air Canada Centre Thursday night with a two-hour show that immediately started off with as much eye candy and stage gadgetry imaginable. From the walkway lowered from the rafters which connected the main stage (featuring a series of walkways into the crowd and resembling an anchor from overhead) to a smaller circular, rotating one at the opposite end of the floor or the fireworks which came out to close Me And My Gang, the band pulled out all the stops.
But the Still Feels Good tour, named after the 2007 album, still has some rough spots. Following the country seasoned Take Me There, the trio of singer Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney opted to have DeMarcus do a poor man's James Brown rendition of I Feel Good. It seemed hokey at best and quite worthy of Simon Cowell sarcasm.
"The more you drink the better we sound," LeVox quipped early on to cheers. Fortunately the group sounded better during the safe, radio-friendly ballad My Wish and the minimal arrangement of These Days. Soon afterwards DeMarcus took a romantic route for the dim-the-lights vibe of To Make Her Love Me which was decent.
The band is deemed country but a lot of the material easily crosses over into pop and other areas. This was particularly true with the sleeper hit of the night Yes I Do, a sweet reggae ditty that perked up the near-capacity crowd. Rascal Flatts also came off less than country during the mellow '70s feel behind Winner At A Losing Game.
With LeVox and DeMarcus away from the spotlight, Rooney showed some of his guitar chops with a medley of The Guess Who's American Woman, AC/DC's Black In Black and Lynyrd Skynyrd's signature Sweet Home Alabama. This was good but paled significantly to fiddle player John Jeansonne who offered up most of O Canada as an instrumental to a loud ovation.
Rascal Flatts have won several awards over the years including a People's Choice Award this year for Stand which sounded like a distant cousin of Marc Cohn's Walking In Memphis. LeVox was quick to point out they won an award for the song and he would be right. However, DeMarcus mentioned how the venue was sold out, which was true except for unsold empty seats in some areas of the upper bowl.
Nonethless, Rascal Flatts hit paydirt with the rowdy, rollicking toe-tapper Backwards and the equally pleasing He Ain't The Leavin' Kind which had most on their feet. After more glad-handing and posing for some photos, the band returned to close the show with Life Is A Highway, the Tom Cochrane cover featured on the Cars soundtrack.
Opening for Rascal Flatts was American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler who seemed quite comfortable and impressive for 45 minutes. While nailing songs such as Red High Heels, Small Town Girl, One Of The Guys and a cover of Dolly Parton's Nine To Five, the highlight might have been Pickler professing her love for and soon receiving bags of ketchup-flavored potato chips from fans. "You have a bag, no sh-t!" she exclaimed before eagerly munching on a few and continuing the set.
SUN RATING: 3 out of 5
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canada is good to Kellie! (TorontoSun.com)
ahhhh Kellie.... ( ha !)
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