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Post by 55dodger on May 18, 2005 6:53:15 GMT -5
Got my tickets yesterday for the 2005 Country Stampede held here in Manhattan (Kansas). Unlike last year, we got four day tickets. They got a pretty good lineup this year.
Thursday Night Kick-Off Party – June 23 6:00 The Drew Davis Band 7:30 Sugarland 9:30 Phil Vassar Friday – June 24 12:00 Shevy Smith 1:30 Keni Thomas 3:00 Cross Canadian Ragweed 5:00 Billy Currington 7:15 Montgomery Gentry 9:30 Keith Urban
Saturday – June 25 12:00 Heather Shelley 1:00 Shelly Fairchild 3:00 SHeDAISY 5:00 Dierks Bentley 7:15 Sawyer Brown 9:30 Big & Rich featuring Cowboy Troy
Sunday – June 26 12:30 Lane Turner 2:00 George Canyon 4:00 Chely Wright 6:00 Lonestar 8:00 ZZ Top We will probably catch all the acts on Thursday, Saturday, & Sunday, and the last three on Friday (still have to work). I'll try to give a daily wrap up after each day.
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Post by 55dodger on Jun 27, 2005 12:48:16 GMT -5
Country Stampede 2005 – a Review
Over the past weekend (Thursday – Sunday) we attended the Country Stampede here in Manhattan, KS. Twenty artists performed, we saw 14. It was blazing hot all four days, but unlike other stampedes, there was no rain, hail, mud, or tornadoes, so the dry dusty heat was more of welcome relief. After waiting in traffic for almost 2 hours on Thursday, we got into the concert site just in time for Sugarland. I really enjoyed their performance. They started with a country version of U2’s I’ve Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (played very well), played some country, a little honky tonk, and some southern rock. They put on a very good show. Next up on Thursday was Phil Vassar. Phil was very impressive & he probably, IMO, put on the third best show of the entire weekend. He did a very moving version of America the Beautiful dedicated to all the vets & those still serving. He also let his band rock to songs by AC/DC, Tommy Tutone, & the Ramones. His encore was a classic rock set lasting about 30 minutes including songs from Cheap Trick, Wild Cherry, & BTO. I’ll be checking into some of Phil’s CDs.
Friday night we got in about 4:00, in time to Billy Currington. Never heard of him but he put on a good show as well. I guess he did a song with Shania Twain that’s pretty good. He did it, sans Shania, so it probably wasn’t as good. Anyway, I liked his music. Montgomery Gentry was next, played well. I recognize a couple of their songs and was able to match the song to a group. Might check out some of their CDs as well. Keith Urban closed the show on Friday, although we only stayed for about half of his show. One thing that impressed me about Keith was his guitar playing ability. He is a very, very good guitar player. He did a few of hits and a good version of the Eagles Take it to The Limit. My daughter’s going let me borrow a couple of his CDs. Should be a good listen.
Saturday we got in about 2:30pm. I wanted to get there early to see SheDaisey. Thought they were good. Dierks Bentley played after Shedaisey. Was really impressed with him. He got a Waylon Jennings outlaw kinda of sound that I like, being a big Waylon fan. Going to try to find his CDs as well. Sawyer Brown was one of four artists that I knew songs & good associate that song to the right group. Sawyer Brown just flat out rocked for about an hour & half, kinda like I knew they would. I don’t have any Sawyer Brown CDs, but I may soon. Last up Saturday night was Big & Rich, and I think, entertainment wise, they put on the #1 performance of any of the artists. They rocked us deep into Saturday night with a light & pyro show that was 2nd to none. My daughter is a huge Big & Rich fan and she was on cloud nine after their performance. Can’t say enough about, they were truly awesome. After the shows on Saturday night we were treated to 15-minute firework show commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Stampede.
Sunday dawned sunny and hot but we decided to hit all the acts today. First up was Lane Turner. He hails from West Texas, and his music reflected that. Did a good job and a little honky tonk music wasn’t a bad way to start the day. Because he was from West Texas, I thought he’d play some Buddy Holly, but he didn’t, and that was disappointing. Next up was George Canyon, who was on the first season of Nashville Star, don’t know how well he did, but he might have been a finalist. Maybe someone who knows can let me know. Anyway, like Dierks, I thought George had that Waylon Jennings outlaw sound about him as well. He did a couple of Waylon songs, couple from Johnny Cash, & a couple of Willie Nelson songs. Chely Wright was next and being a local girl, she was well received. For her, this was coming home to do a concert as she grew up here in Kansas. She was another artist who I know songs by. Liked her, especially Sticker on my SUV & The River, moving songs. The heat finally got to us during Lonestar’s part of the concert. We had to leave a go find some shade, so I only heard, but didn’t see much of their concert. They sounded good, but I was more interested in cooling down. Sorry Lonestar. After we were able to cool down & the sun went down, the final group of the festival, ZZ Top came on. ZZ Top came on late, don’t know why, but I think the organizers put them on a clock. They did all their well-known stuff, some blues, & a new song call Buck Naked (good one). They came back for an encore & did Jailhouse Rock, La Grange, & Tush. They had the 2nd best show of the concert. These were they guys I was waiting for all weekend, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. They had us dancing in the dust. All in all in was a great weekend. We saw 14 artists for about $82.00. Both my daughter & I have farmer’s tans on our arms & legs and sandal tans on our feet. We’ve also got raccoon eyes where are sunglasses were on all weekend. We wore Mardi Grais beads, ate the carnival food, & drank a river of water & red Gatorade each. But as hot as it was and as miserable the traffic flow was, we wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was for me, a great 50th birthday weekend.
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Post by SAT-I need more room!! on Jun 27, 2005 13:36:06 GMT -5
Glad you had a good time Woody! It sometimes surprises me that you go to this each year since when I first started mentioning modern Country artists, you seemed not too impressed with them. You're very complimentary of the songs you know by Martina now, but I don't think you were sold on her and others at first. Or I dreamt the whole thing! LOL! (BTW-since your daughter is the big Country fan, is she a Martina fan?)
Unfortunately, not too many artists here that I am a huge fan of. Nobody I hate, just not fan enough to have music by. Actually, we DO have Sugarland, Bekki loved the first single, Baby Girl. That IS a great one. To me, they have a great future. Phil Vassar isn't bad as Country guys go. If you look WAAAAAAYYYYYYYY back on the INSANE list (at 2954), he does a song with Martina, Sara Evans and a few others. He also has 2 other songs on my list.
Yeah, Billy Currington did Party For Two with Shania. Not big on it-typical Shania. Montgomery Gentry is ok, nothing special for me. Keith Urban is good. Talented guitarist and his songs aren't bad. (BTW, someone on Martina's site called Cross Candian Ragweed "CCR" and I was SURE to correct that right away!)
SHeDaisy has some songs I like and some that annoy me. Dierks Bentley I only know a few songs-I'm kinda indifferent to them. Big & Rich I have mixed feelings about. I don't like them trying to mix rap and Country and they try TOO hard to be cool. (If you've seen their videos or on award shows, you'll know what I mean.) Save a Horse is catchy and I've sung it many times, but my conservative side comes out when I hear the lyrics and see the video. And their current single, Big Time, is kinda pedestrian.
Chely is good. Good voice, good songs. I never thought about it-Martina is a Kansas girl too! She'd probably be over huge at these shows! Lonestar is just kinda there. Cool you got to see ZZ!
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Post by beatles4ever on Jun 27, 2005 14:08:44 GMT -5
What an incredible line up!
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Post by djdave on Jun 27, 2005 14:53:22 GMT -5
Awesome! To end your day with Lonestar (I LOVE Amazed) and ZZ Top is just too much! I myself saw ZZ back in '97--just awesome.
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Post by 55dodger on Jun 27, 2005 14:56:10 GMT -5
Glad you had a good time Woody! It sometimes surprises me that you go to this each year since when I first started mentioning modern Country artists, you seemed not too impressed with them. You're very complimentary of the songs you know by Martina now, but I don't think you were sold on her and others at first. Or I dreamt the whole thing! LOL! (BTW-since your daughter is the big Country fan, is she a Martina fan?) Unfortunately, not too many artists here that I am a huge fan of. Nobody I hate, just not fan enough to have music by. Actually, we DO have Sugarland, Bekki loved the first single, Baby Girl. That IS a great one. To me, they have a great future. Phil Vassar isn't bad as Country guys go. If you look WAAAAAAYYYYYYYY back on the INSANE list (at 2954), he does a song with Martina, Sara Evans and a few others. He also has 2 other songs on my list. Yeah, Billy Currington did Party For Two with Shania. Not big on it-typical Shania. Montgomery Gentry is ok, nothing special for me. Keith Urban is good. Talented guitarist and his songs aren't bad. (BTW, someone on Martina's site called Cross Candian Ragweed "CCR" and I was SURE to correct that right away!) SHeDaisy has some songs I like and some that annoy me. Dierks Bentley I only know a few songs-I'm kinda indifferent to them. Big & Rich I have mixed feelings about. I don't like them trying to mix rap and Country and they try TOO hard to be cool. (If you've seen their videos or on award shows, you'll know what I mean.) Save a Horse is catchy and I've sung it many times, but my conservative side comes out when I hear the lyrics and see the video. And their current single, Big Time, is kinda pedestrian. Chely is good. Good voice, good songs. I never thought about it-Martina is a Kansas girl too! She'd probably be over huge at these shows! Lonestar is just kinda there. Cool you got to see ZZ! I'm still not completely sold on modern country, but I'm probably more open to now than I was a couple of years ago. Part of it is the Click, and part of it is I'm just more exposed to it now than I was two years ago. I like Martina, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith among others. When we first started planning for this year's stampede, we were only going to go on Saturday & Sunday. However, they don't sell two day passes, only four & one day. It was cheaper to get two four day passes than to buy two one day passes for both of us. It just worked out that there was a solid lineup of artists. I really want to check up some this year's artists on their studio albums to see if I like them as much studio as I did live. My daughter likes Martina, but she's not the fan you are. She's more of Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Big & Rich fan. She also still a little top 40 than country, although her tastes continue to evolve. Martina was at the Stampede either 2002 or 2003. I didn't know she was a Kansas girl (where in Kansas?), but I'm sure she very well received.
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