It rained in Detroit Lakes. But We Fest didn’t turn into We Stock. Festgoers braved the downpour during Sugarland and a brief pelting during Kenny Chesney’s closing set.

Sorry, I didn’t arrive in time to see Tracy Byrd, who filled in for LeAnn Rimes who cancelled We Fest for at least a second time in her career. (Sorry - boy, I’m full of apologies - for reporting earlier that Trace Adkins was replacing LeAnn; that’s what We Fest staffers told me. They apparently don’t know Trace from Tracy.) But I digress.

I was late because I was stuck at my hotel (never had breakfast or lunch; it’s a real glamorous job, huh?) talking to Toby Keith on the phone (I said glamorous) and then writing a trend story about country music that my editors needed on Friday afternoon.

So here are some impressions of what I saw and heard on Day 2:

Little Big Town. This quartet is the best harmony group to arrive in country music in a long time. To be sure, they sang a lot of pop/rock tunes, including “Go Your Own Way,” “Stop Dragging My Heart Around” and “Heartache Tonight.” But the vocal blend sure sounded terrific.

Sugarland. They rocked the house. Even though the duo was on a mammoth stage, they treated it like a club gig. No stage frills, just performing like they were in a packed bar, not in front of 48,000 people. Jennifer Nettles looked barroom casual but she sang hard, worked that stage and sweated plenty to prove it. The performance was straightforward, raw and real. Kristian Bush took lead vocals on the crowd-thrilling encore of “Life in a Northern Town” with Little Big Town joining on the chorus. The quartet stuck around for “Pour Some Sugar on Me” as the fans rocked out in the rain. It was worth getting wet. (Yes, I got wet despite my 99-cent Coleman poncho.)

Kenny Chesney. He didn’t have the same kind of big arena-dazzle production that Rascal Flatts brought on Thursday. He and his band played it pretty straight. To be honest, Kenny seemed to be cruising through his hits. Then Tracy Byrd came out (sans his cowboy hat so I didn’t recognize him at first) to duet on a slice of old-school twang (was it “That’s My Name”?) that sparked Chesney.

He had more verve on the ensuing “Livin’ Fast Forward” and became looser and more animated on “Young” and for the rest of the night. Nettles and Bush even came onstage for one number but they didn’t sing, they merely waved their arms back and forth like they were doing “Purple Rain” in overdrive.

We Fest wraps up on Saturday with Brad Paisley, Wynonna, Dierks Bentley and Hannah Montana’s dad. I might even get over there early enough to ride the Bronco Bounce, a mechanical bull in an inflatable corral.

Read (about) my bull tomorrow.  

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 2:15 am and is filed under Concerts, Main, We Fest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.