Paul Jenkin
Friend of Leo's
My wife and I were lucky enough to get tickets to see the final day (Sunday 11 March) of the Country to Country show at the O2 Arena in London. Neither of us have ever been to a country music gig before and neither of us know much about the genre.
Bob Harris ("whistling Bob" as he's known affectionately in the UK) was the main compere. He hosts a BBC Radio 2 country music show on a Thursday evening and was the highest profile presenter on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The main artists we saw were:
"Midland": quite high energy and certainly got the crowd going
"Margo Price": a really powerful singer who was joined for a few songs by Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson's son - and whose voice sounds very reminiscent of his father's).
"Emmylou Harris": for me, the best act of all. Awesome voice and a great range of musicians in the band
"Little Big Town" (the headline act): Now these guys are good, IMO. Very tight musically and well produced. However, they started off with a rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man" (no apparent "country" connection) and then a few other songs which, compared to the previous acts seemed more like pop, with some twangy guitars. they were also a hell of a lot louder than the others, or they needed to be.
We really enjoyed the evening but I think I'm starting to see the difference between the more traditional country artists (Emmylou Harris - and she's probably "new" compared to he predecessors) and the likes of Little Big Town - who wouldn't have looked out of place on a much more mainstream pop-oriented bill.
I might see if I can get tickets to next year's event....
Bob Harris ("whistling Bob" as he's known affectionately in the UK) was the main compere. He hosts a BBC Radio 2 country music show on a Thursday evening and was the highest profile presenter on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
The main artists we saw were:
"Midland": quite high energy and certainly got the crowd going
"Margo Price": a really powerful singer who was joined for a few songs by Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson's son - and whose voice sounds very reminiscent of his father's).
"Emmylou Harris": for me, the best act of all. Awesome voice and a great range of musicians in the band
"Little Big Town" (the headline act): Now these guys are good, IMO. Very tight musically and well produced. However, they started off with a rendition of Elton John's "Rocket Man" (no apparent "country" connection) and then a few other songs which, compared to the previous acts seemed more like pop, with some twangy guitars. they were also a hell of a lot louder than the others, or they needed to be.
We really enjoyed the evening but I think I'm starting to see the difference between the more traditional country artists (Emmylou Harris - and she's probably "new" compared to he predecessors) and the likes of Little Big Town - who wouldn't have looked out of place on a much more mainstream pop-oriented bill.
I might see if I can get tickets to next year's event....
Peter
