Jeff's Combined Reviews --- Ohio double header (Columbus and cincy)

Combined reviews. Warning: SUPER LONG

Great Great Show! If you love carrie and you love good country music, this is the ticket you must absolutely get!!! I was really happy when it was announced that brad paisley had invited carrie to tour with him, since he is prob my fav male country artist. I also thought all along that personality-wise they would fit in nicely since brad has this really dry and dorky sense of humor. This is definitely the best ticket out there right now.

Columbus Ohio Sep 29

Jake owen opened the show. I think he actually started like 15 minutes early and played about 25 minutes. He was pretty good.

Carrie’s set
Now as you all know, carrie has this new stage set up with the steps, and the intro to Y&B is longer and really sets the scene for a rocking show. Actually kinds of reminds me how dierks Bentley starts out his show when he starts with lots of leavin left to do…

So carrie came out on the top of the steps, the crowd went wild. There were pretty huge sections of the crowd that stood up immediately (mostly the side sections, btw I was row 15 DEAD center )

Now, onto the group that was seated next to me. There was a guy with his gf and also I assume his gf’s parents. Guess what, the guy kept shouting “yeah carrie! Woohoo!” lol he was really enthusiastic for carrie! On my other side was this guy and his mom. Throughout her set, I could hear the 2 guys next to me go “ooh and aaah!” each time she hit those notes. They really were jamming to her set!

Carrie received GREAT applause for each of her songs, and especially for DFTRM, SCOM, BHC and JTTW. EVERYONE was on their feet for SCOM and BHC. (she did BHC after SCOM) I actually recorded the crowd reaction after SCOM and I can assure you, none of what you hear is coming from me! You really can hear the guy with the gf, he really enjoyed the rocker chick lol (http://download.yousendit.com/675CF14A1BFC87B9)

So after carrie goes off stage, the guy next to me (the one with the gf and her parents) started shouting “WE want MORE!!! WE want MORE!!!” the gf’s dad was like hey we have brad coming up, and the guy says to him “NO! I WANT more HER!!!” lol it was hilarious, esp the look on the gf’s face

Lyss and perry found me during the intermission. I was checking the pics in my cam when I heard my name. always nice meeting members of the board!

Brad’s set (with carrie and WL)
Now onto mr brad paisley. This is my second time seeing him. He really is great fun. Great guitar player, and plays just awesome music. He has his guitar picks on the mic stands and he throws the picks to the crowd. When a mic stand runs out of picks, he has someone bring the stand backstage to put more picks on it lol. He went nuts throwing the picks to the crowd! He has some really cool and funny computer animations that he made which get played on the screen as he performs.

He talked about the ohio state buckeyes being the #1 ranked team in the nation. He was like “buckeyes huh?” and the crowd went nuts. Being a Michigan wolverine, I had to control myself lol. Then brad goes “I’m from W-w-west Virginia…” (west Virginia is the 4th ranked team) and the crowd isn’t sure whether to boo him or not lol. Then brad goes “maybe we’ll meet in the championship game!”

Brad had carrie sing whiskey lullaby with him. you can tell carrie was really nervous. 1) maybe she was concerned about not forgetting the words, 2) it really is one of the greatest duets, 3) I recall her saying she thinks brad paisley is a cutie, some time back when she just won AI right? I understand that, I think carrie is a cutie and I get all nervous around her all the time lol. The crowd went nuts when she appeared on the top of the steps singing the first few lines of her part. This song was sung acoustically and she sounded beautiful, despite the nerves. You can see her fidgeting a little, touching her hair and scratching her nose etc. I was surprised that they managed to work this out this early in the tour.

i thought what was really cool was that brad seemed to sense carrie's nerves. so when she walked over to him during the song, you can see brad looking her in the eye and giving her a nod and look of encouragement, like a big brother to his little sister, y'know. i have a younger sister and that couple of moments when he was encouraging carrie, kinda reminded of me and my sister... lol. ok back to carrie. so at the end, brad pats her on the shoulder and smiles to convey "good job", carrie gives a kinda sheepish smile, but the crowd goes nuts. brad then gives a shout out "carrie underwood ya all!" as carrie runs off the stage. gosh, even running off the stage she looks cute lol.

What a show… now on to Cincinnati…

Cincinnati 30 sep

My tickets for this show were ordered through the brad paisley fanclub, so I picked them up at will call. Now, I knew this venue had like 5 rows in the pit and I was expecting my seat to be in rows 2-6 FROM the pit, but lo and behold, I was IN the pit! Wow brad really looks after his fans. When carrie sets up her fanclub, I hope she takes a cue from mr paisley since he really does look after his fans. Till this day, I have yet to hear a brad paisley fan complain about their seats from the fan club.

The local radio station was having some kind of karaoke contest, with people singing songs by jake, carrie or brad. When the girl started to “belt out” JTTW, I ran to my seat for cover...

Got to my seat. Pretty neat. 5th row in the pit slightly off center. Met perry again as she and her friend were seated in front of me. I think I tortured them later when I was singing with brad paisley lol. a while later, I saw someone familiar walk right across me as she made her way to her seat. I stuck out my hand and probably surprised/shocked Hil

Jake started the show again. Some of the ladies loved him, and there was this guy who kept shouting “jake I love you!!!” there were pockets of the crowd on their feet for him.

So during the intermission, hil came over to chat a little, and what do you get when 2 moderators of cf meet up? Yea, they discuss the days pressing issues, ie is carrie’s band too loud. We both agreed that from our seats it was a little difficult to follow most of jake’s songs, but hil mentioned she went to the back of the venue during part of jake’s set and she could hear him pretty good from there. Interesting…

Carrie’s Set
Now onto carrie’s set. I thought the Columbus crowd was great, well that was NOTHING compared to what Cincinnati had in store for miss carrie. The entire crowd was on their feet throughout her set (ok I noticed a small section sitting during one song but that was it I think). This is only the 2nd time I have ever been on my feet the entire duration of a carrie set. Unbelievable energy. Even better energy than more than half of the carrie solo concerts for sure

The crowd was rocking, and you could hear them sing along to DFTRM, SCOM, BHC and JTTW. Being in Cincinnati, the crowd went nuts during JTTW “She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati”

Brad’s set (with carrie and WL)
Brad talked about football again. “bengals huh?” and the crowd went nuts. He then admitted that he grew up as a browns fan and the crowd heartily booed him! Lol I couldn’t believe it. Ahhh ohio politics!

I really enjoyed his set again. He truly is great. Everyone needs to see him live just as I say everyone needs to see carrie live.

Now, I knew carrie had a show in Massachusetts the next day so I was wondering if she would stay behind to sing WL with brad. This time I had my cam recording the start of WL. And when it came to allison’s part, carrie came out onto the steps again! And the crowd just went berserk! She was much more confident this time, its just amazing what a difference a night makes. She stayed on the steps longer this time and they really sounded beautiful together. Carrie really did justice to allison’s part of the song. It was just hauntingly beautiful. They really need to record a duet one for one of their albums. They both took turns to get the crowd to applaud each other at the end, and you could see carrie was really happy as she clapped her hands and smiled really brightly (which looks cute as usual). The crowd gave a rousing ovation and brad gave carrie her kudos “carrie underwood ya all!!!”. And they cheered heartily as she bounced off the stage. It really is just so awesome, for me personally, to see 2 of my favorites respect and care for one another.

Now, onto my video capture. As I mentioned the crowd gave her so much love, but unfortunately, the one hater in the crowd was standing next to me! She wasn’t around during carrie’s set and when carrie appeared she was screaming “why does she have to ruin everything???!!!” and unfortunately that was caught on my recording. I want to make it clear that the crowd really loved her and it was just my luck to have the lone hater next to me. Its really sad for her since she was so biased she already had her opinion formed even before carrie opened her mouth. Its her loss for not being able appreciate the beautiful harmony of brad’s and carrie’s voices.

General comments (similar things for both shows)
She didn’t talk as much as she does when she is the headliner. She did thank brad for having her tour with him. She also dedicated DFTRM to the moms and daughters in the crowd, and thanked the audience for putting where she is today before singing JTTW.

Seriously, I have never seen this much love for an opening act before. The thing about carrie, is, most of her songs that she performs have not been released to radio, and for the crowd to enjoy every one of them is just phenomenal.

Brad performed his new single, She’s Everything. It’s the first time ive seen him perform it and it was awesome. Probably would be another #1 hit for him. I also really liked and was touched with When I Get Where I’m Going. He paid tribute to some great people who have passed away: dale earnhardt, Ronald Reagan, JFK, elvis, steve Irwin, buck owens etc

Interestingly, brad also thanked the crowd for giving him this wonderful job, and then went on to perform Easy Money.

My only complaint is that since brad has recorded so many great songs, some of his great hits were never performed, like We Danced and He Didn’t Have to Be.

i was surprised that brad actually got carrie to sing allison krause's part. when whiskey lullaby was recorded, i recall brad saying he invited allison since he thought she was the greatest living female vocalist. its pretty awesome he thinks this highly of carrie. i thought that carrie did sound a little like allison during the duet. its also interesting to note that during carrie's My Music Mix on GAC showing all her favorite videos, the video for this song was in that list as well

final thoughts
what an amazing weekend, seeing carrie open for one of my other favs. Again, I have to pimp for this show. There really is nothing stopping you from getting this ticket.

About the band, I think the chemistry is working out great.

Sometimes, we get newspaper reviews that don’t put carrie in a very positive light. All I have to say is this. That review is the opinion of one person, while its blindingly obvious almost all of the brad paisley crowd loved her. I think the opinion of 8,000 (or however big each of the venues are) brad paisley fans speak louder than one newspaper reporter.

What was more incredible, to me, was seeing how brad wants to help carrie, like any big brother would for his little sister. The way he encouraged her when she was obviously nervous performing with him really touched me. And that obviously settled her nerves the next evening. Its just wonderful seeing 2 great, genuine, humble talented country artists tour together and it is also amazing to witness the admiration and respect they have for each other.

Columbus pics

Cincinnati pics