Deuces Run Wild in Denver October 7th, 2005
“Brothers and Sisters
We are here for one reason and one reason alone,
To share our love of Music-ka
I present to you,
Country Music without prejudice, hey
Country boys don’t rock and roll
The record man told me so
You’ll never get it on the radio.
Why they trying to complicate
The simple music that we make
Oh cause if it moves my soul,
I’m gonna keep on rollin, rollin…”
Thus ring out the opening strains of “Rollin (The Ballad of Big and Rich).” I was beyond thrilled when I heard the Big and Rich tour would be making a stop at the Pepsi Center this October. Okay, okay if you want to get technical, it is the “Deuces Wild” tour and the headliners are Brooks and Dunn. Still, anyone who knows me, knows it was the second line “with special guests Big and Rich” that had me chomping at the bit to buy tickets when they went on sale. They are calling it the “Deuces” tour because Brooks and Dunn, Big and Rich, and the Warren brothers, who are opening the show, are all duo acts.
The show was on a Friday which meant having to work before my fun but I made a concert mix CD to listen to at work with a couple favorite Warren Brothers tunes, all of Big and Rich’s tunes and a few Brooks and Dunn songs I had downloaded. I left work early raring to go. After a late lunch of smoked Salmon Fish and chips at Rock Bottom brewery, which I highly recommend, I headed over to the venue. It was about two hours prior to show time. CMT (Country Music Television) had a trailer set up outside the arena advertising the “CMT Experience” inside, with free pictures of all the guys but I couldn’t see anyone outside the trailer greeting people and it was a bit dark inside. I decided to pass.
KYGO, the local country station had a little tent set up with a wheel you could spin for promo prizes. I went over to spin it and landed on the “Hey KYGO: Take Me Backstage” t-shirt. I was thrilled. Now this tee doesn’t guarantee you a meet and greet but it does put you in the running. KYGO is doing a thing at the concerts they promote that instead of giving out backstage passes on the radio, they wait until the night of the concert. Once they are inside the venue, they look for concert goers wearing these tees. They have a KYGO Logo on the front and the “Hey KYGO, Take me Backstage” written on back. Their spotters grab people at random with the tees out of the crowd to go backstage. I put mine on as soon as I got inside to a restroom. Didn’t get spotted but it’s good for any of their sponsored concerts so I’ll save it for the next one.
Since I was there so early, I sat down on a bench by the KYGO tent where Catfish, the afternoon DJ was broadcasting live. He teased me about being a Brooks and Dunn fanatic. I told him, no that I was a Big and Rich fanatic. He was very nice. It was cool just watching him set up the live remotes with the guy running the board back at the station. A few people came up to get his autograph while I was watching too.
The doors finally opened and I got inside. There was a souvenir stand right after you got inside the door. One of the guys working the front door tried to tell me to go up the escalator to the main concourse because there were more stands with shorter lines up there and I would have to go up there to get to my seat anyway. I showed him my floor ticket and asked if he was sure about that. He looked at and quickly said, “Never mind Ma’am. You go right in those doors on your left down here, past the Elite lounge. Forget I said anything.” *giggles* It was pretty funny but I was so not going up the escalator just to climb down all those stairs to get back to floor level. This fat chick is not stupid. Besides there were lots of tempting overpriced snacks of various kinds on the main concourse. It was better I stayed down where I was.
I ended up getting a couple of souvenirs. My most prized one is a sort of pale dusky blue colored tee. It has small writing on the upper right hand side on the front that says “Big and Rich: Country Music without Prejudice.” Then on the back is a picture of the boys with a big moon sliver, saying “Coming to Your City” with a list of tour dates. “Coming to Your City” is the title of their new single and their CD that is coming out November 15th. I wanted a Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy Tee but they were sold out of my size so I’ll have to order that one from their website. I also got a soft brown baseball cap with pink writing that says “Brooks and Dunn Forever” on the front and “Play Somethin’ Country” on the back which is their latest single.
I got inside and onto the floor. I was in the section that was directly in front of the cameras and soundboard set up. There were three sections across the floor with 12 seats each, 30 rows per section. I was in row three of the second middle section, which put me about 33 rows back. Seat three put me dead center for the stage oddly enough as well. I wasn’t complaining. I had the row completely to myself until about a half hour to show time. I was enjoying listening to the music, a mix of country and some older/softer rock, and watching people so I was doing okay.
Security was being really good about only letting people who had floor seats onto the floor. They also had security set up for the front section. You couldn’t get in there unless you had a seat in that section, and they had a third security guard up front making sure only people with tickets in the first five rows or so could get up there. They were pretty strict about keeping the aisles cleared too so there weren’t too many people wandering around in front of me during the show. When I finally did get some company on my row, it was a large group of older friends whose high school and college age students were down front. They were way nice. Whoever had the two seats on the other side of me never showed up so we were able to spread out a bit and be more comfortable. Oh, there were giant screens hanging on either side of the stage which would be used to show video footage as well as live close ups of the guys during the show.
The show started on time at seven pm though there were a lot of empty seats scattered through the floor. Ed Green, a local TV and Radio Weather guy along with Kelly from the morning KYGO show came out to start things off. They introduced Two Foot Fred who hangs out with Big and Rich… now before your mind gets completely lost in the gutter, his name is two foot Fred because he is two feet tall, not for any other reasons that might signal a future in the porn business.
Fred tells us how he’s enjoying his visit and mentions a trip to the park. Said he was sitting outside smoking and someone came up to tell him that smoking would stunt his growth. Fred asked him where he was twenty years ago. Then, he says he’s out there to introduce a duo that none of us had probably ever heard of, The Warren Brothers. I swear I was practically jumping up and down shouting, I’ve heard of them. I had seen them in concert last summer opening for Tim McGraw along with Big and Rich. I had managed to get the Brothers’ autographs and picture at that show so I was excited to see them again.
The Warren Brothers totally rocked. Some of the older people in the crowd looked a tad confused by their act. They are a country act but definitely have much more of a rock sound to their songs than Brooks and Dunn do. There was a pre-teen girl a row behind me that seemed to like them but I was pretty much the only person in my section, dancing and singing along during their set. Most of the rest of the floor crowd was either seated or off getting snacks. Oddly I didn’t care about that though because their music was that good. No alcohol was involved on my part either… Homie don’t play that. I get in enough trouble sober, thank you very much. *giggles*
Among their set, the Warren Brothers did their songs “We
Sell A Lot of Beer,” amidst cracks of it being obvious beer was being sold at
tonight’s venue. They did a great job on “Change,” their current single that is
getting video airplay on VH1-Country as well as CMT. They also performed a song
they co-wrote with the members of Lynard Skynard, “Red, White, and Blue.” The brothers are gifted songwriters. Along
with Lynard Skynard they have written songs for other big names. Tim McGraw’s
last CD featured a beautiful song written by them, “Blank Sheet of Paper.”
It was their bass player, Marty’s, birthday so they brought out in their words,
“hot chicks to feed him cake.” Three young.. ahem ladies came out with a couple
huge slices of cake and fed him a few forks full while we all sang happy
birthday. The boys said they wanted to see if he could play bass while the
girls fed him but he declined and sent them offstage. There wasn’t a lot of
talk onstage other than the occasional joke from the brothers that people
needed to wake up. They made the audience stand up early in their set for a
fast song. Late in the set, when they did “Change” they made everyone get up
and jump. They said it would make us feel better and that Big and Rich wanted
us to. It was too cute. I highly recommend giving the Warren Brothers a listen
if you ever get the chance. They have a show on CMT right now called “Barely
Famous” and their latest CD is a mix called “Hits of the Barely Famous.”
Next up was the main event. Oh I mean the special guests. They were only the main event in my eyes, Big and Rich. Their intro was a video of them and their friends trying to get to a show. Rich yells at Big Kenny that he’s going to be late as he pulls out of the parking lot in his car watching Kenny stand by the road in his rearview mirror. Cowboy Troy drives down the road in a big semi that hauls cars. Gretchen Wilson is driving her own car but it breaks down after a wild move on a deserted road. Luckily Rich comes by and picks her up. They end up in the semi with Troy hauling their cars and Rich yells into his phone “Kenny you are gonna be late” repeatedly. Kenny yells back “No I’m not” as he cruises some dirt roads in his car. Two Foot Fred flies by in his own little airplane as their going down the highway. Rich yells again, “Kenny you are gonna be late!” Kenny yells back “No I’m NOT!” as his car comes flying out of nowhere, pulls a 180 and then reverses up onto the bed of the semi while both vehicles are moving. I’m sure stuntmen did the actual shot but everyone cheered Kenny none the less.
They had a cool set. It was mostly black and white and silver. I think it was supposed to be outer space. The backdrop was black with lots of stars. There was a silver arch in the center with these two rounded doors painted in black and white that slid open as an entrance. They had a huge disco ball hanging from the ceiling and pyrotechnics set up along the back of the stage shooting out fire in 5 major groupings/shots along there at various points of their show. The shape of the flames sort of reminded me of rocket take off flames except up instead of down obviously.
A voice that sounds very much like someone doing the “We’ve invaded Planet Earth” voice-overs for a sci-fi flick booms over the loudspeakers. He introduces your “International Minister of Love, Big Kenny,” who comes out through the sliding doors wearing his trademark “magic hat.” For those of you that don’t know, Kenny has a hat he wears in a lot of the videos that looks like a big black top hat but it’s decorated, most notably with bird feathers sticking up in the back. I would say it’s an eagle feather but I know it’s illegal for anyone except Native Americans to have eagle feathers in their possession. The feather is similar in appearance though. It’s a hat that was made for him by a dear friend of his in Deadwood South Dakota who is Native American and a decorated Vietnam Vet. Kenny comes out amid much cheering and more ‘booms’ from the rockets. Then the voice introduces your captain, ‘the Cowboy Stevie Wonder, John Rich.’ This is a nickname that John has earned in the Nashville community. I’m not sure of the exact source except that John is a very gifted prolific songwriter. Faith Hill’s current single, “Mississippi Girl,” as well as some Gretchen Wilson hits such as “Red-necked Woman” were co-written by him.
They opened their set with their new single, “Coming to Your City,” although they changed the lyrics to ‘we came to your city’ of course. They did a lot of their hits from their first CD, ‘Horse of a Different Color,’ amid a lot of pyrotechnic and lighting effects or as I like to call them booms and sparklies. They announced shortly into their set that they had 35 minutes and 48 (John says) 47 (Kenny says) 45 (John) 43 (Kenny) 35 seconds (John screams) to kick our asses. I didn’t want my ass kicked unless they would be doing something to make it feel better later. *winks* There wasn’t a lot of talking otherwise though they did stop to thank the crowd for making the last eighteen months a “hell of a ride” for them before they sang “Big Time,” which they got the crowd to sing the final chorus of for them… a few times. Kenny thought the crowd had had too much beer and hadn’t hit the sliding note right the first time or two. “And there’s always on stage a beautiful babe to squeeze my limes, in my simple way, guess you could say I’m living in the big time….”
They did get serious when they introduced their hit “Holy Water.” This is a song Kenny wrote for someone very close to him who was a victim of domestic violence. Before he started the song, he announced that the song was dedicated to anyone out there who ever had been or was being abused. He said he wanted everyone to know there was hope if you had love in your heart; that it could end. You didn’t have to stay there and take it. It’s a really good song with tight harmonies that totally counter balances the silly party boy song that they first got national notice for. In the middle of the song, there is a break in the instrumentals where Kenny is supposed to sing “Take me away, then take my farther” solo. He appeared to just be overcome with emotion at that point. John came over and laid a hand on his shoulder as they stood in silence for a minute. Then Kenny managed to pull it together to sing the line, with John coming in on harmony to sing “surround me now, and hold, hold me like holy water.” It was a really touching moment.
They lightened things up when they brought their buddy, Cowboy Troy out to sing his hit, “I Played Chicken with a Train.” If you aren’t familiar with Cowboy Troy he is a Six Foot Five Black Rapping Cowboy from Dallas Texas who appears on a few Big and Rich songs. Big and Rich help out with the chorus on his current single too. Once they had Troy out, they did “Rollin” as he has a rap in the middle of that song. They also performed “Kick My Ass,” and “Love Train” among others. They had a cool video of them riding horses out on the open plains they showed during their song “Wild West Show.” It looked like it might be the same footage they show on their Intergalactic Fan Pack DVD.
Of course they closed their set with the song that made them famous, “Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.” Two Foot Fred came out to help out on this song and it was just a total party. In the middle instrumental Two Foot Fred did a little rap that Kenny had the crowd do last year at the McGraw concert, “Side to Side, Back to Back, Cowgirl Kickin’ in a Cadillac.” They did do the audience participation of getting the men to all shout “Save a Horse” every time Kenny raised his right hand and the ladies to all shout “Ride a Cowboy” when he raised his left. Their set ended with another chorus of the song and many more booms with a few sparklies.
There was a half hour break for them to tear down Big and Rich’s set and get things set up for the group most of the rest of the crowd was waiting for. It was cool to see how quickly and how methodically they took the set apart. As soon as Brooks and Dunn’s crew came out to set up though, they put a black curtain with their logo across the stage so they could work without an audience.
Brooks and Dunn opened with just the faint background music that I didn’t recognize but the 12 year old behind me let me know, “that's our boys’ music, they are coming out.” A backup guitar player came out playing, then another, eventually Brook and Dunn came out. They opened with Red Dirt Road. The third song into their set was my personal favorite “There Ain’t Nothin Bout You.”
They played a lot of hits with not too much talking. They had screens along the back of their stage in addition to the ones on the side. The ones along the back were showing scenery or video appropriate to the song. During My Maria for example they a Spanish looking old adobe church in the western desert with the clouds floating by. During “You’re Gonna Miss When I’m Gone,” they showed still photos of people they admire, everyone from Reagan to Chris Ledoux, to Pope John Paul the Second. For a few songs they showed bits of the videos associated with the songs. One of the other cool video things they did was while they sang “That’s What It’s all About” they showed family photo albums of old shots of them with their wives and children through time along with some old home videos.
Scariest point in the show for me was when they sang “Rock My World Little Country Girl.” They had these huge and I do mean HUGE cowgirl blow up dolls on bucking saddles on either side of the stage bopping around with the help of handlers during the song. They were easily twenty feet high and very frightening to behold in a creepy sort of way.
In the middle of the show, Kix came out and sat down. He was talking about his racing career (Nascar) first then mentioned this race he did in this little cart driving a two foot high donkey. He said that he had a crash at the end of that particular race. He asked if anyone wanted to see it. Of course everyone cheered. He said, “You people aren't right!” He showed it though. He was getting the donkey to go faster. They were in the lead but then they get to the finish line and he couldn’t stop it. The donkey veered off, crashed into a full grown horse with a cart attached. Kix cart turned over, and ended up with his head VERY close to first the horse's hooves then the big cart’s wheel. He asks if anyone wants to see it in slow motion, which gets lots of cheers. Kix says, “You Colorado people are really messed up you know that right?” He shakes his head and shows it in slo-mo. He said he’s not sure what is worse, getting beaten up a two foot jackass or having us all laugh about it.
Kix asked if we enjoyed the Warren brothers and their “Change,” if we liked Big and Rich “Saving a Horse,” Cowboy Troy “Playing Chicken with a Train,” Two Foot Fred… doing whatever it is Two Foot Fred does. Then he says. “I tease but Fred is a good friend. He may be two feet tall but he's a full grown party animal. I'm warning ya now, if he's in your party suite you better keep an eye on him”
They did a lot of other hits, “Boot Scootin Boogie,” “Neon Moon,” “She’s Not the Cheatin Kind,” “Brand New Man,” and “You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl,” among others.
Their last song in the regular set was their current single “Play Something Country.” The place just went wild for that. Then the lights went out and there was much cheering for an encore, which they thankfully did. They came out to sing “Only in America.” Towards the end of the song, they backed off the stage and let three Marines in dress uniform come out and stand at attention for part of the song while people cheered. Then the Marines marched off and the boys finished the song.
There were these huge long red white and blue streamers that were shot out but they only made it into the first section. I thought I was safe as they started a final chorus. All of the sudden red white and blue confetti comes dropping down from the ceiling right above my head so I was covered in confetti by the time they left and the lights came on.
The concert was all in all, awesome. Getting home wasn’t quite as fun. The arena didn’t have anyone manning the Taxi Cab stand so it was a free for all. It was very chaotic, with people running down the street to grab cabs before they got to the cab stand and there was a lot of confusion. After about a half hour of watching this, a fistfight literally broke out near me between two guys fighting over a cab. One of the guy’s girlfriends tried to break it up and ended up getting knocked to the ground for her efforts. About then, I decided being my usual polite self was not as important as being safe and I became one of the ones to run out into the street and grab a cab as it was turning around. I ended up with a nice cabbie who chatted with me about music all the way home. Here ends the excitement. The only other thing I have to say is…
Yes, she blew through the door like TNT,
Put her hand on her hip, pointed a finger at me.
Said: "I'm a whiskey drinkin', cowboy chasin', helluva time.
"I like Kenny, Keith, Allan and Patsy Cline.
"I'm a full grown Queen Bee lookin' for honey.
"Ha-ooh-hoo, aw, play somethin' country."
Yeah, the band took a break,
The DJ played P Diddy.
She said: "I didn't come here to hear,
"Somethin' thumpin' from the city."
Said: "I, I shaved my legs, I paid my money.
"Ha-ooh-hoo, play somethin' country.
"Ha-ooh-hoo, aw, play somethin' country."
Crank up the band, play the steel guitar.
Hank it up a little, let's rock this bar.
Threw back a shot; yelled: "I'm a George Strait junkie.
"Ha-ooh-hoo, play somethin' country.
"Ha-ooh-hoo, aw, play somethin' country."
If you want to read more about Brooks and Dunn there is a
great article about them and their dedication to the business of being a
musical artist in our local paper from an interview done prior to the show. It
can be found at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/music/article/0,1299,DRMN_54_4137547,00.html