Anyone got any sleep in a bottle?

I'm beat. Last night was concert time. Back in the fall when harassing morning radio hosts I won some concert tickets for a show so far in the future it seemed that it may never arrive. This turned out to be false as it arrived yesterday, towed by three transport trucks. The concert was Dierks Bentley with Doc Walker and Eric Church opening for him. What a night!

If you aren't a country person you'll likely to be less than impressed but to be honest the show was about half "new country" and mostly southern rock for the first half. I think there would have been a little something for almost everyone!

Eric Church hopped onto stage in his uber-redneck getup of flannel and a trucker hat and belted out some power tunes while his guitarists chewed through some classic rock and souther rock riffs. He put on a pretty good show. Before the concert I had no idea who he was, but after hearing some of his songs I realize I've heard him on the radio.

Once Eric was done it was time for Doc Walker to take the stage and they did a great job. Weaving a song that was remarkably like the Eagles they won the attention of the mob and the hearts of most of the women there with their ballads and the like. The audience ate it up and begged for more. It may have been because they were the only Canadian act of the three and we love to help our own, but it was more becuase they are just flat out awesome.

Doc Walker's chance to wow us was not wasted but was over too soon (aren't they always though). The stage was rearranged again and out came Dierks Bentley.

He faltered a bit at the beginning of the first song and things didn't look like they were shaping up well, but that was all over as he got his feet under him and tore up the stage. A very animated performer, he ran all over the stage and at one point even into the audience. He works the crowd like a seasoned veteran and the crowd loves him for it. I got a little chuckle out of the whole thing though as his earlier songs were about being a bit of a badass. That and his curly hair pretty much paved the road for his trip into the hearts of the ladies. Having cut his hair for his last video, he sang newer soft songs while clad in tight jeans and a tailored looking shirt. He seemed less like the bad boy and more like a trained hunk doing what he loves to do. One lady was even pulled up on stage for a dance and I think not only will those jeans need washing, they will likely never see the laundry again. They are likely en route to a display case as we speak. As a nice little surprise Deric Ruttan was brought out on stage to help Dierks through a pair of tunes.

As the band wrapped up and the crowd thundered for the clichéd encore we were treated to a nice surprise. They did come back on (shocking I know) but called out everybody for a firecracker of an ending. What began as a Johnny Cash tune became a musical romp that had all four acts out all over the stage in in the crowd. I would have honestly paid just for the encore!

A great night indeed and hopefully we see these guys again. Sure I'll probably have to pay, but I wouldn't have a problem with that at all. After all, I can't win all my concert tickets right?

You can check out the rest of my pics from the show in my photo stream if you want.

---

Okay fine then Sam Cook ....Country 95.3 was the station that is unfortunate enough to have the likes of me listening to it. Just remember you bugged!