Today's Country

BILLY CURRINGTON 
W/ LOVE & THEFT 
Saturday, June 20, 2009
@ Joe's Bar in Chicago, IL 

Chicago, the Windy City, seems to be one of the most unlikely places to find country music.  But there is no shortage thanks to US99 (WUSN), Ed Warm and the good folks at Joe’s Bar on Weed Street.  Just one look at the artists that they are bringing into Chicago and one can understand why they won the ACM Award for Nightclub of the Year honors.  The list of who’s who in country music continues to grow each week.  From Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Little Big Town, Randy Houser, Pat Green, Chuck Wicks, Rodney Atkins, Eric Church and more - it seems that everyone wants to play at Joe’s.  Tonight was no exception as Billy Currington and Love & Theft rolled into town.  Be sure to stop by the Joe’s Bar website to see all the exciting upcoming shows at http://www.joesbar.com/.

Love & Theft – It has been a whirlwind for the trio of guys from Love & Theft.  They spent 2008 as the opening act for Taylor Swift’s tour, their single “Runaway” has been climbing the country charts and their debut album is due out in August 2009.  Lyric Street/Carolwood Records have found themselves three very talented singer/songwriters (Eric Gunderson, Stephen Barker Liles, and Brian Bandas) that are bound to find themselves in the hearts of country music fans across the country.  From the opening note until the last chord we were amazed at how well the trio was in complete harmonization.  They are totally in the zone with each other through their set and the fans enjoy their high energy show.

The PA house speakers played “Devil Went Down To Georgia,” as the band followed by the members of Love & Theft took the stage.  “How we doing tonight, Chicago,” they asked.  The enthusiastic sold out crowd shouted back in excitement.  The set began with “It’s Up To You,” a tune written by Gunderson about friendship and its ups and downs.  As the song ended Stephen asked, “Are you ready to have a good time tonight?”  By the response of the crowd, there was no doubt that they were going to have a good time.  They quickly dove back into the set with “Freedom” and then a sweet cover of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s, “Fishing In The Dark.”

With the crowd dancing and singing along with the band throughout the set thus far, Brian added, “It looks like you guys are having a good time.”  They slowed things down just a bit with “Dancin’ In Circles.”  The harmonies are even more apparent when they slow things down and it had the crowd swaying back and forth with the music.  “We are from Nashville by the way,” Stephen said, “and Chicago is a badass city.”  The crowd went wild screaming and hollering.  Eric added, “our debut album is due out August 25^th.  We wrote this next song and when it all came together it was like holy crap.”  They audience chuckled at him as the band rolled into, “Drowning.”  They captivated the crowd once again with the harmonies in, “Can’t Go Back.”   The band is so tight that every note draws you into their allure.

Brian then asked, “Are there any Johnny Cash fans in the house?”  The crowd cheered in approval.  “If you know this one you need to sing with us.  So raise your glasses to Johnny Cash” added Stephen.  They wowed the crowd as they played their version of, “Ring Of Fire” that would have made the man in black proud.  As they rolled out of the song Eric asked, “Anyone here watch CMT or GAC?”  As the crowd cheered he continued, “we have our first video out which is us just acting like idiots.”  As the crowd laughed the group drove back into their set with their powerful vocals in “Don’t Wake Me.”

The trio then took time to thank US99 in Chicago for having them out and for spinning their music.  “Joe’s Bar are you ready for Billy Currington?” asked Stephen.  The excited crowd cheered as they anticipated one more song from the band.  “We have merchandise in the back if you’d like to check it out,” they added.  They rolled into their current radio hit, “Runaway” which had the entire packed house dancing and singing along with the band.  “Thank you so much, Rock on,” said Brian as the band left the stage.  This group has a beautiful blend of Country, Rock and Folk.  With tight harmonies to form a sound never heard before each song is filled with stints of traded lead vocals and flawless swells of harmony paired with some great instrumentation. The band is incredibly talented and is a great addition to the Lyric Street/Carolwood Records Label.

FULL SET LIST

1.  Intro – Devil Went Down To Georgia
2.  Up To You
3.  Fishing In The Dark
4.  Dancing In Circles
5.  Drowning
6.  Can’t Go Back
7.  Ring Of Fire
8.  Don’t Wake Me
9.   Runaway

Billy Currington - Between sets the crowd got restless as they prepared themselves for tonight’s headliner Billy Currington.  His video for “Must Be Doin’ Something Right” helped launch his status as a sex symbol to many female country music fans and rivals Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” as one of the all time sexiest videos.  Billy has had his share of success with singles including 6 top ten hits, 2 of which have gone to #1 on the charts.  All of this explains why it really doesn’t take too much for Billy Currington to get his crowd revved up and excited to see him. 

The speakers began to play snippets of familiar favorites from Currington’s catalog like “Don’t,” “Why Why Why,” “Must Be Doin’ Something Right,” etc… getting the crowd revved up and ready to go as Currington entered the building from the side door and approached the microphone as the band rolled into set opener “Everything.”  The crowd which was mostly female tonight was sent into a frenzy.  “What’s up Chicago,” asked Billy as the women began to scream.  They continued to roll right into their set with “I’ve Got A Feeling.”  With a quick shout to the crowd of “Where all my Chicago hillbillies at” Currington and company dove back into the music with “I Wanna Be a Hillbilly.”

“Howdy, Howdy, Howdy,” said Currington as the music ended.  “Good to see you and I am glad to be back in Chicago,” he added. “This is one of my favorite places to play.  We are playing music from all three albums tonight so I need to follow the set list,” said Billy while laughing.  He jumped right back into the set with “It Could be You” followed quickly by “Why Why Why,” which had everyone on their feet dancing and singing along with him.  Billy addressed the packed venue, “our new album is in stores.  I’d like to play my favorite songs from it for you.”  As they slowed things down and rolled out, “Walk On.”

“Is there anybody that likes old songs out there tonight?” he asked the crowd. “I am a huge fan of that kind of music. My friends were listening to AC/DC and I was playing Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross, and this one is one of my favorite songs like that,” he finished as he played the Eric Clapton/Babyface collaboration “Change The World,” as the crowd sang the lyric back to him throughout the song.

“This next song is one that we just put out to radio from the last record,” stated Billy, “it’s about an old guy and a young guy in a bar and is one of my favorite story songs,” he finished as he played the current single “People Are Crazy” and made sure to put an emphasis on the chorus as he sang “God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy.”  Every time he sang “beer is good, everyone raised their bottle in the air like it was planned.

Billy and the band ran though the remainder of the set with “A Little Bit Lonely,” to his first number 1 hit single “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” which had the women screaming and everyone singing along.  They also touched on what could become a summertime hit, “Swimming In Sunshine” before closing out his set with a fan favorite “Don’t.”  With a quick “thank you very much, Chicago” from Billy, he and the band exited the stage.

The crowd cheered wanting Currington and crew to return for more.  It didn’t take long before the band re-emerged to the stage to a huge ovation as they began their encore set with a cover of the Tracy Chapman hit “Give Me One Reason,” showing off Currington’s wide range of influences.  “Do we have any country boys in here tonight?” asked Billy as they rolled into “Modern Day Country Boy,” an up-tempo rocker that they have been playing in their shows for quiet some time that didn’t make it to the album.

He kept the crowd moving and dancing around when he covered Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”  Billy asked the excited crowd, “Where are my rednecks at?”  The fans screamed and shouted to let him know that they were all rednecks tonight.  They quickly rolled into “Good Directions,” which everyone sang right along as Billy held the microphone out over the crowd.  “Thank you US99, see you next time,” said Currington as the band played him off the stage.  He stopped to sign some autographs and high fives to the crowd as he headed off the stage.   Billy Currington is a class act and his enthusiasm and energy on stage makes this a must see show.

FULL SET LIST

 1.  Everything
2.  I Got A Feeling
3.  I Wanna Be A Hillbilly
4.  It Could Be You
5.  Why, Why, Why
6.  Walk On
7.  Change The World
8.  People Are Crazy
9.  A Little Bit Lonely
10. Must Be Doin’ Something Right
11. Swimming In Sunshine
12. Don’t
13. Give Me A Reason
14. Modern Day Country Boy
15. Superstition
16. Good Directions