We Fest: Day 2
Posted on August 4th, 2007 – 3:42 AMBy Jon Bream
Yes, it’s a country festival. But Day 2’s music leaned heavily toward rock — and not just Sheryl Crow.
The Wreckers (Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp) played polished pop with the emotional ache of country. Despite their pop bent and background, the best thing they did was a reworking of the Judds’ “Love Is Alive.” And one of Jessica’s tattoos declares her love for country: Johnny & June, it says on her shoulder blade. Btw, Jessica and Michelle next plan to do country solo albums.
Sawyer Brown has always been more of a party band than a country group. But their set had a bunch of rock covers (Life’s Been Good, Rock N Me, All Right Now), not to mention their country remakes (Six Days on the Road, The Race Is On). The sun-bathed set was one of the more exciting and electrifyingafternoon-performances at We Fest in recent memory. Mark Miller is a dynamic and fun-loving and -inducing frontman. It’s too bad that he turned over a five-song segment to American Idol reject Bucky Covington, whose debut disc Miller produced. Three tunes from Bucky would have been enough.
Crow, whose music clearly was familiar to the vast majority of the We Fest-goers,truly rocked the ranch. Even though it was essentially the same set that she played at the Orpheum a few months back, she was more energetic, focused and just plain ol’ rockin.’ She covered the Stones and Zeppelin but the big surprise was bringing Keith Urban onstage to join her for “Take Me to the Limit.” It was unrehearsed butworked wonderfully, especially his sweet guitar fills echoing her vocals.
Crowseemed to be in a great mood. And, minutes after leaving the stage, she was holding her baby and wearing a big smile — and chatting with Branch.
Urban’s closing set didn’t measure up to his terrific, best-of-the-fest performance at We Fest last year. Maybe it was the pacing (too many sit-down songs) or he just wasn’t in a zone like last year. He rocked, too, on guitar and on covers of The Joker and — surprise– All Right Now. Heck, his own stuff sounds like 70s rock anyway.
Need further rock-rules evidence? The hottest late-night party in the VIP campground was at Club Foltz (don’t ask me what it means) where a tentful of mostly 20-somethings danced to ’80s rock (plus Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack, which sounds like a Prince tune from the ’80s). The dancefloor was packed when the DJ had the mandatory shutdown at 2 a.m. after Journey’s Dont StopBelievin.
quote of the day
Sawyer Brown frontman Mark Miller: “This is not the iFest; it’s the We Fest.”
Best line backstage
Keith Urban’s handler to K102’s Mike Mussman, who was about to interview Urban for the We Fest Jumbotron to be broadcast before his set: Don’t ask him anything that will end up in tabloids.
4 Responses to "We Fest: Day 2"
We’re you even there? Although Bucky Covington has not been in the business for the length of time of some of the other acts, this guy can entertain! What a freshness he has about him. I’m guessing he’ll be around for a long time, and what a heart throb!!! Good looks and that southern charm. I’m up for more Bucky Covington.
I was sorry to hear Bucky so dismissed by the critic as an American Idol reject. Obviously, the critic has been in a hole and needs to get out of April 2006 . A heck of a lot has happened to Mr. Covington in the last year and a half. As a music critic one would think he would be more informed. Hope the following article will bring him up on current country music news:
BUCKY COVINGTON 2007′S BEST-SELLING DEBUT COUNTRY ARTIST
Nashville, TN – July 25, 2007 – With more than 220,000 units scanned since the release of his chart-topping debut CD, Bucky Covington takes the lead as this year’s best-selling debut country artist. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Bucky Covington has scanned an average of 16,000 units each week and has remained inside the top 12 on the Top 75 Country Albums Chart since its release in April.
The good news comes as the lead single, “A Different World,” climbs to 7 on the Billboard chart and is quickly charging towards the top 5 and beyond. The song is currently reaching a weekly audience of over 23.5 million listeners.
It’s been a busy year for Bucky, whose touring schedule has kept him on the road for much of the year. Bucky’s upcoming tour dates include Charlotte, Milwaukee and St. Louis, plus additional shows opening for Sawyer Brown in Dekalb, Illinois, Hutchinson, Kansas and at the Detroit Lakes WE Fest.
Bucky Covington’s self-titled CD debuted at 1 on Nielsen SoundScan’s Country Top 75 Chart with not only 2007’s biggest unit debut from a new country artist, but also the best first week sales and highest Top 200 debut for any new male country artist since Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992. In recent months Covington’s national television appearances have included Live with Regis & Kelly, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Good Morning America and Fox & Friends.
One thing is for SURE..Club Foltz was and always is the place to be for a good time!
Bucky Covington was one of the best, his new song “American Friday Night” rocked the Soo Pass Ranch. The best act was on Day 3 Toby Keith lit up the stage and put on a great performance for everyone. No one wanted to sit down!!!
