Brad Paisley Tick

Brad Paisley soaked St Louis in hits Friday night

When the concert announcement for 3-time Grammy winner Brad Paisley was announced it was easily anticipated as one of the must-see shows of the summer concert series at St. Louis’ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.  To that end Paisley didn’t disappoint.

In town for his H2O II: Wetter and Wilder World Tour, Paisley brought along a water-theme park events like a dunk tank, giant slip n slide, and others, as well as a side stage where The Jane Dear Girls, Sunny Sweeney, and Edens Edge performed during the late afternoon. Lots of people showed up for the events prior, but obviously most were there for Paisley.

With a setlist filled with hits from his illustrious career, like “Ticks”, “I’m Still a Guy”, and “American Saturday Night”” Paisley filled the fan’s appetite for hits. He also threw in several new songs from his just released CD “This is Country Music”, which is a very strong album in its own right, and he showcased them with strong performances of the title track and “Old Alabama”, which was a crowd favorite.

Another highlight was “Online” which drew roars from the crowd. But that seemed the norm for the night, as hit after hit, song after song elicited special responses. On a large video screen, that was masterfully camouflaged as a starry sky at first,  images of past Country greats like, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, and Elvis appeared as he sang “Waitin’ on a Woman”

Paisley’s use of the video screen was masterful, using emotional images from the World Trade Center and videos of the oversized puppet-head Paisley that is at every show, and was prominently featured on the tour video of " Celebrity " that played behind Paisley, elicited great responses from the crowd.

Equally as masterful and just as stunning was Paisley’s guitar work. At a time when the guitar solo is not the norm for many acts, Paisley does the opposite, intertwining extended virtuoso-style axework beautifully into many of his songs, including playing the entire way off the stage and back onto a satellite stage set up behind the soundboard during “Camouflage” and sang “Letter to Me” while on that stage.

 He has more guitar solos than many hard rock bands.  Included in this was an instrumental which featured a video cartoon , with animation done by Paisley entitled “The Good, the Brad, and the Ugly” where he and his band, The Drama Kings, were cast as westerners, both good and bad in a storyline where Paisley rescues captured Country singers Sugarland, Reba, Kenny Chesney, and Carrie Underwood in a spoof off of the old western gunslinger movies of yore. The animation was definitely entertaining and has been a staple of his live shows for years to showcase an instrumental medley, each with a new animation. I’m glad we got to see this version.

Tickifieds - Cheap Brad Paisley Tickets 2/10 Gwinnett Center

Buy cheap tickets to the Brad Paisley H2O Frozen Over Tour W/ Darius Rucker and Jerrod Niemann live at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Georgia - Thursday, February 10, 2011 7:30PM. These are nice seats in section 208 row D.

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