Eric Church, Dwight Yoakam, & Halestorm BJCC Birmingham, AL 12/13/14

A rock band opening for a country band is not something that happens everyday.

Halestorm, Eric Church, and Dwight Yoakam geared up for a tour together and that result was interesting.

Halestorm was the first band and they, of course, rocked.

They only had time for six songs.

I have a small problem with this, because, and no disrespect to Dwight Yoakam, but he got 15 songs. Really?

But I digress.

Halestorm made the best of their six songs and performed like there was no tomorrow.

They played

I Like It Heavy (New Song)

Freak Like Me

I Get Off

I Miss The Misery

Drum Solo

Love Bites (So Do I)

Here's To Us

Following them was Dwight Yoakam.

He is definitely influential and has done so many things like music, acting, etc.

He played

Dim Lights, Thick Smoke

Please, Please Baby

Little Sister (Elvis Cover)

Streets of Bakersfield (Buck Owens Cover)

It Won't Hurt

This Drinkin' Will Kill Me

Second Hand Heart

Ain't That Lonely Yet

Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash Cover)

Nothing's Changed Here

Honky Tonk Man (Johnny Horton Cover)

A Thousand Miles From Nowhere

Little Ways

Guitars, Cadillacs

Fast As You

By the time Eric Church was on, it was almost 9:30. So I was a little tired, but I tried to perceive the performance with an open mind.

He played (mostly in the right order)

The Outsiders

Creepin'

Guys Like Me

What I Almost Was

I'm Gettin' Stoned

Pledge Allegiance to the Hag

Drink in My Hand

How 'Bout You

Jack Daniels

Cold One

That's Damn Rock & Roll (With Lzzy from Halestorm)

Give Me Back My Hometown

Homeboy

Dark Side

Country Music Jesus

Smoke a Little Smoke

These Boots

Can't Take It With You

Livin' Part of Life

Sinners Like Me

Talladega

Lotta Boot Left to Fill (Took boots from people in the crowd and signed them)

Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Springsteen

Overall, the show was great. Halestorm should have gotten more set time but that is just my opinion. I am still the only one in that arena that got to interview her earlier in the day. Roll Tide to that.

Maroon 5, Neon Trees, & Owl City Birmingham, AL 3/26/13

When I found out Maroon 5 was coming to Birmingham, I thought “Hey this would be a great birthday present for my best friend Maddie.” So I bought the tickets and when the day came, she and I were both excited. But, little did we know what our night had in store. We got the venue about two hours early and it was really cold. There were people standing inside and we tried to open the door but it was locked. All of a sudden, a man walks out and asks us if we are trying to get inside and then proceeds to ask us if we want VIP because two people backed out of their group. We went into the VIP line and we had to sign in and all we could do was try not to cry. We were super duper excited. The best part of the VIP experience was the unexpected seat upgrade that we got. When I bought our tickets, I bought the cheapest seat they had, which was at the top. When the ladies in the VIP party handed us new tickets, I cried. We had floor seats: 10 rows away from the stage. I called my mom and freaked out. This was music journalism heaven for me. The first band, or should I say singer, was Owl City. I had listened to him since his Hello Seattle days and I was pretty stoked to see him. He played

Speed Of Love

Dementia

Early Birdie

Fireflies (Adam made the crowd put their cell phones in the air)

Shooting Star

Gold

Good Time (My song!!!)

He was great and he was definitely the best way to open this show.

The next band was Neon Trees. I had heard of them before and they were actually at a festival that I had previously been to in Atlanta, but I only heard them from afar. They are definitely a much better live band than studio. Their drummer has my hairstyle and their singer has stage presence for days. They played

Moving In The Dark

Animal

Lessons In Love (All Day, All Night)

Mad Love

Trust

Don’t You Want Me (The Human League cover song! It was so good!)

Everybody Talks

I am a strong believer in living life without regrets but I totally regret not going to see them in Atlanta in September when I had the opportunity. They were such a great choice for the opener for this show and I really hope they get the opportunity to headline one day.

Then it was time for Maroon freaking 5. I have listened to them since my childhood and I was so freaking ready to scream all of the songs as loud as I could, and being ten rows away from the stage made it so much easier to have fun. When Adam Levine walked onto the stage, there was so much screaming you would have thought Justin Bieber or One Direction walked into the room. They opened with Payphone and all I could think was “Damn, this is going to be a great show!” Afterwards they played

Makes Me Wonder (One of my favorites!)

Lucky Strike

Sunday Morning

If I Never See Your Face Again

Won’t Go Home Without You

Love Somebody

Harder To Breathe (Childhood!)

Wake Up Call (with Rozzi Crane: First musician signed to Adam’s record label)

One More Night (another one of my favorites)

Misery

This Love

Stereo Hearts (encore) (Gym Class Heroes cover) (The catwalk lowered and Adam and James walked out super close to me)

Daylight

She Will Be Loved (acoustic. Great crowd participation)

Moves Like Jagger

During Payphone, for Wiz Khalifa’s part, they had a projection of him singing.

Before Harder To Breathe, Adam talked about how when they were 17 and 18 and were touring they played Birmingham numerous times and before they got big they played at a small, hole in the wall venue, that they weren’t even sure if it was still there, called The Nick. Yes, Adam. The Nick is still there. :)

During Wake Up Call, a girl named Rozzi Crane came on stage and sang with Adam.

The encore song was Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes and the catwalk lowered from the ceiling.

Overall, this show was simply brilliant. From the entertaining opening acts to the flamboyant headliner, and from the stage setup and the computerized pyrotechnics, and from my 10^th row seat to my awesome parking spot, I do not have one ounce of complaints towards anything I experienced that day and I would do it over again in a heartbeat.