Rascal Flatts `feeling good'
Posted online: February 15, 2008 10:50 PM - Print publication date: 02/16/2008 - By Laura Anderson,
landerson@radishmagazine.com
MOLINE -- The crowd at the i wireless Center Friday night sure "felt good," as Rascal Flatts performed once again for a sold-out house.
The show opened with Kellie Pickler, whose vocals were just as sweet as she was. Interacting with the crowd, she strutted back and forth across the stage.
As she sang "One of the Guys," and "Things that Never Cross a Man's Mind," the crowd was laughing, dancing and singing along. Then she brought the crowd home with her by singing the first song she ever wrote, "Small Town Girl."
Pickler was very personable, with the knack of making the audience feel like it was actually having a conversation with her. She explained that she likes country music because it's about life, and everyone can relate to it.
After she signed a red high-heel and bid the crowd good-bye, Rascal Flatts took the stage.
Were they at the front of the auditorium? No. After a few seconds of drums, a bass line and some guitar notes of "Me and My Gang," the crowd on the floor figured out the group was on a stage at the rear of the arena. Soon, a suspended bridge lowered over the audience, and Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney made their way to the front.
Enormous screens and lights filled the span of the stage, changing their scenes as the songs changed.
At one point, LeVox was joined on stage by a red-headed toddler who walked hand-in-hand with him as he sang.
After "Take Me There" closed, LeVox said he knew there was a party going on. Now it was the Flatts' turn to interact with the crowd.
"Do ya'll feel good?" DeMarcus yelled at different sections of the crowd. Soon he broke into his version of James Brown's "I Feel Good," as the crowd laughed and went wild. He then shouted that he loved coming up North, particularly to the Midwest, because "you can always find double-fisted beer drinkers and biscuits and gravy."
My deadline prevented me from seeing the entire show, but I'm sure what I missed was just as great, if not better, than what I saw.
Whether you're from the Q-C, the North or the South, it was certainly a night that would make you "feel good," no matter where you hang your hat.
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