After Miranda's Meet & Greet, we headed back to our seats, and after a 20-30 minute break it was time for George's set. The lights went down. The crowd went wild, and the Ace in the Hole band took their places on the stage to the sound of "Deep in the Heart of Texas," then out came George. He wore a yellow shirt with light blue plaid pattern, traditional Wranglers and his black cowboy hat. Hail King George!
I'll never be able to hear "Honk If You Honky Tonk" without remembering his appearance on the CMAs, I believe it was. What a fun song to start the night. One thing you can always expect at any George Strait show is that you're going to recognize nearly every song he sings. With 52 No. 1 hits, there's a ton of material to choose from. "Check Yes or No" was next.
George said "We're gonna sing some old stuff, some new stuff, and some in between stuff. This next song is one we started singing back in honkytonks." That song was "Amarillo by Morning."
George Strait has his show 'in-the-round,' which means the stage is in the middle of the arena and there are chairs on all sides of it. It gives people sitting on the sides a closer view, no matter where they are sitting, over a stage at one end of the venue, which gives about 1/3 of the people good seats, and the rest of the venue sucky seats. I wish more artists would perform this way. George sings three songs, then moves to the next side, and with the large screens in the center of the venue above the stage, everyone can see him, no matter which way he is facing.
Some of the other songs he performed that night were "Run," "I Just Wanna Dance With You," "The Fireman," "Desperately," "She'll Leave You With a Smile," "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind," and a tribute to his Pure Country motion picture, "When Did You Stop Loving Me," and "Heartland." Throw in some covers, like "There Stands the Glass," "Milk Cow Blues," "Folsom Prison," and "Take Me Back to Tulsa," and you have a perfect evening of music.
I would say that the show was 95% or better sold out, and everyone was loving the show. How could you not love George Strait? He played for about an hour and 35 minutes, including his encore. Great show. I was looking forward to Vegas.
Set Lists:
Miranda Lambert:
- New Set of Strings
- What About Georgia
- Up on Cripple Creek
- Bring Me Down
- Me and Charlie Talking
- Hillbilly Highway
- Kerosene
Tracy Lawrence:
- Better Man, Better Off
- Renegades, Rebels and Rogues
- If the World Had a Front Porch
- Alibis
- Used to the Pain
- If I Don't Make It Back
- Workin' Man Blues
- Is That a Tear
- I See It Now
- Just Can't Break It To My Heart
- Time Marches On
- Paint Me a Birmingham
George Strait:
- Honk If You Honky Tonk
- Check Yes or No
- Amarillo By Morning
- Run
- I Just Wanna Dance With You
- The Fireman
- There Stands the Glass
- Blue Clear Sky
- I Can Still Make Cheyenne
- Desperately
- When Did You Stop Loving Me
- Heartland
- You'll Be There
- Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
- She'll Leave You With a Smile
- Take Me Back to Tulsa
- Milk Cow Blues
- Murder on Music Row
- Somewhere Down in Texas
- Seashores of Old Mexico
- She Let Herself Go
- If It Wasn't For Texas
- The Best Day
- Cowboys Like Us
- I Hate Everything
- Unwound
Encore:- Hightone Woman
- Folsom Prison
- The Cowboy Rides Away
We Start in Sacramento ~ It's King George ~ On to Las Vegas