| Lonestar Concert Review | |
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Lonestar is one of my favorite groups, and when I heard that they were coming back to Kelseyville, I jumped on the chance to go see them.
August of 2001 was the first time I saw Lonestar, and I was hooked. I loved their music before seeing their show, but after the show, I found out what good performers they were. Plus, they have a great time on stage, clowning around and having fun.
While they performed outdoors the previous year, this year their show was in the Konocti Harbor Resort indoor showroom. I had a seat at a table three rows from the stage, so I could get some great pictures.
After about a 40 minute intermission, Lonestar hit the stage. They started with "With Me," and then went into the album cut from their latest CD (I'm Already There) called "Out Go The Lights." I heard this song last year, so I guess they found it to be something that goes over well in concert, even though it's not a single. I would guess it will be one of the upcoming singles, though. It's a great song.
The next song was "You Walked In." Then, in the introduction to the next song, Richie said that the song has taken on a different meaning since September 11th, and then they sang "Not a Day Goes By." Going back to some older music, they sang "Everything's Changed," and then their banjo player came forward and played a medley of music on an electric banjo. One of the parts I recognized was "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."
After "No News," the guys left the stage and everyone stood and yelled and clapped for them to come back, which they did. What was interesting to me was Richie went to the keyboard and Dean strapped on a guitar. I didn't know they played other instruments. The song they sang was a cover of Marc Cohen's called "Walking In Memphis." Next Keech had a drum solo and Michael had a guitar solo, then they played a Pink Floyd cover, "Another Brick in the Wall." The last song was their own, "Good Cowboy" from their latest album.
I know they also sang "Gimme All Your Lovin'" from the ZZ Top Tribute album, but I didn't write it down, so I don't know where it was on the set list.
Another great show from da boys. I'll always hit their shows when they're in town, and suggest anyone that's liked any of their music make a point to catch them live. You'll end up loving them even more. I know I did.
Here is Lonestar's full set list:
Opening for Lonestar was a local group "Love2Love." They are from the Napa Valley, and consist of Milla Love and her husband, Roddy, plus a bass player (who was celebrating his birthday that night), a steel guitarist, and a drummer. They write all their own music and are working on their first album. Milla has a really great voice, and I enjoyed the songs, which were all original, no covers. Plus, they also had another aspiring country singer, Jordan Shelheart (Not sure of the last name) who is 8-years-old, come up and sing a song that Roddy had written. Milla said she wants to be able to help other people like she's been helped. They played for about 50 minutes. All in all a really nice show.
The third song was "What About Now," after which Richie welcomed everyone to the show, and seemed really happy that everyone was so into the show. He said, "This must be a drinkin' crowd." Then, he explained, "Last night, we didn't have a drinkin' crowd." He said that the crowd was real quiet at the last show, and he sat on the steps of the stage and showed what the crowd looked like. You can see by the photo to the right his impression of the crowd. He said they tried everything to get the crowd excited, but nothing worked. He then teased "Dean even took off his clothes and that didn't work."
During the next song, which is Lonestar's current single at the time of review, "Unusually Unusual," Richie borrowed a blinking light from a member of the audience. You stick it on you and it blinks like a Christmas bulb. Well, Richie stuck it on his chin, as you can see in the picture to the left. It's kind of small, so maybe it doesn't show up real well, but he is wearing it in this picture. He did thinkgs like this several times during the show, later borrowing someone's beret, and sunglasses, and then even a ladies jacket. Like I said, these guys love to have a good time on stage.
The stagehand brought out a stool for the next song, and Richie sat down during "I'm Already There." Then, going back again, they sang "You Walked In," then "It Must Be Love" and their smash hit "Amazed."
The next song called for audience participation. They sang most of the song, then stopped and split the audience in half, and Richie took the left side and Dean took the right side. Richie's side sang "No" and Dean's side sang "News." This is a lot of fun for the audience, that tries to out do the other half in volume. Oh, it was during this song that Richie came off the stage and I believe he was sitting in a girl's lap at the front table. And Dean came down too, and this lady went over to him and gave him a shell necklace. She seemed more concerned with being in the spotlight, though and was waving her arms in the air like "Look at me, I'm here up front" and she almost smacked Dean in the face with her hands and she knocked him over back on the stage edge. I couldn't get pictures of this since the people were all standing in front of me, and you couldn't see, but Dean's face was priceless. This is where Richie took the girl's coat, and borrowed the sunglasses, as you can see in the picture to the right.
Encore
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