Will Hoge and Logan Brill Birmingham, AL Workplay 4/12/13

Even though I have seen Will Hoge 8 times, I have never written a blog about any of his shows. Before I talk about the show, I think I should tell a little bit of back-story. I have been listening to Will almost a decade, since his album Blackbird On A Lonely Wire, since I was eight years old. I first saw Will in 2006 at Sloss Furnace in Birmingham. My mom had been following him a few years prior, but since I was so young, it was difficult for me to get into shows. Over the last 10 years, I have seen Will at multiple venues in Alabama and Tennessee such as Sloss Furnace, Big Spring Park, Workplay, 3^rd and Lindsley, and The Grand Ole Opry. Each time I have been completely speechless and sometimes even in tears. Will always comes out after the show to talk to his fans. He and I are on a first name basis. He also takes set list requests from fans and you can even write a song on the setlist once it is on the stage and it has a pretty good chance of getting played. Many times I have heard my favorite songs just by asking a week in advance if he would play it. I got to the show about an hour early and I was first in line (like always) so I could get my spot at the front. It had been over a year since I had seen Will and I was more than ecstatic. The opening act was Knoxville, TN named Logan Brill. She was very soulful. She reminded me a lot of Grace Potter. I really enjoyed her set. Then it was time for Mr. Will Hoge. He walked on the stage like he owned it. He opened with Rock and Roll Star. Cue front row freak out! After that, he went straight into Too Old To Die Young, which he dedicated to his bass player Adam Beard because it was his birthday, Second Hand Heart, and Fool’s Gonna Fly. He then changed guitars and played several acoustic songs. I do not remember the exact order but he played Someone Else’s Baby and a few others that are not coming to me at the moment. He then walked over to the piano, about to play When I Can Afford To Lose, but when he sat down, he played Piano Man by Billy Joel on the harmonica. As soon as he did it, he said, “I have always wanted to do that. That is all I know though,” I laughed for a good while because that was just funny. After he played the piano part, he went off mic and sang the end of the song. Silence filled the room. You could only hear the click of Will’s boot and the sound of his voice. It was pure Rock and Roll and pure beauty. To me, that was true Will Hoge. After that he played a new song that he wrote about his wife, Julia. The song was really sad and it was written about him being on the road all the time and having to leave her with their kids at home. After the run of acoustic songs, he busted out Ms. Williams. Cue another front row freak-out. It is always good to hear the old stuff. Then it was followed by one of my all time favorites, Favorite Waste Of Time. Then Will went into a speech about how they come to Birmingham a lot and they recognize faces and even know some of our names (that would be me!) and then he went into Washed By The Water. After that, he did another acoustic set that included Dirty Little War, Jesus Came To Tennessee, and Even If It Breaks Your Heart. Before JCTT, he said that it was based on a true story and all I could do was laugh because that is also one of my favorite songs. On the setlist after JCTT, Hey Tonight was written. That is the one song I requested a week in advance and I was so happy that I was finally going to get to hear it. Luck would have it that he got off track and completely skipped over it and went straight into EIIBYH. Throughout the rest of the show, I anxiously awaited him to play that song, but it never happened. Before EIIBYH, he told us the story about how was nominated for three prestigious awards in country music: The CMAs, The Grammys, and The ACMs for song of the year. He had just gotten back from The ACMs were a few days before our show and the story he told was that much better. He said that his doppelganger, Will HOG and his co-writer’s doppelganger, Eric PAISLEY, had a great time in Vegas. They pronounced both of their last names wrong on national TV. He was still in high hopes and proceeded to tell us that he won the “Triple Crown Of Losers” award and also said that whoever stated “It’s just an honor to be nominated” was right. During the song, he let the crowd sing the chorus. The first time we sang, he said, “That was terrible. I thought this was Birmingham. Y’all sounded like Huntsville.” I’ve seen Will in Huntsville and he was right. We came back stronger the second time and he was very proud. He then played a new song from the new album that is coming out on October 15^th, called Never Give In. He asked us nicely not to record and keep it as a family moment. After that he told us the story of how he was on tour once and he got a call from one of the guys in Lady Antebellum asking if they could use one of his songs from one of his old records on their next album. He said that he was surprised and he would have been O.K. with it even if they had not asked, but he was still glad that they asked. It will be track five on their new album Golden that comes out on May 5^th. Then he played Just Like Me and Long Gone. One of the coolest parts of the night was when Will played Sex, Lies, and Money. At the end of the song he stopped and divided the crowd into three parts. One part yelled SEX, one part yelled LIES (I was in this group), and the other yelled MONEY. We chanted that while he sang, in perfect harmony, the end of the song. It was definitely a “Workplay Birmingham family moment” and it was beautiful. Then he went straight into All Night Long. That song has the lyric that basically defines the story of my life and is the quote at the top of this page: “She don’t care about books or school. No, she just wants to rock and roll. Baby, she’s no fool. You’re so cool.” Every time he plays that song, when he gets to the lyric “she’s got a fake ID” he says “Thank you. Goodnight!” and walks off stage. It is one of the coolest encores ever because when he comes back out, he picks up his guitar and yells “YOU KNOW THE ONE THAT SAYS MS. JONES IS TURNING 23!!!! OH BABY TAKE A LOOK AND SEE!!!!” I cannot even put into words how awesome it is. You have to go and experience it for yourself. The last song of the night was Pocket Full Of Change. The entire band walked out into the crowd and played the song without microphones, because Will broke it while he was rocking out. It was pure rock and roll and no one can try to convince me otherwise. The end of the song was left up to the crowd to sing and we belted it out loud and proud and it was so awesome. I grabbed the set-list off the stage and I headed for the merch table so I could talk to Mr. Will Hoge. When it was finally my turn, I gave him a huge hug and said “Hey Will!” and he said “Kinsey, Hey!!!” He apologized for not playing my song and I [jokingly] said that it was no excuse! It was written on the set-list!!! And he continued to apologize profusely and I demanded that he play it the next time I see him. Then he laughed and signed my set-list and wrote WTF? by Hey, Tonight. Haha! I think he will hold true to his word. If you have never seen, Will Hoge I do not know what you are waiting for.