A country legend

Right around the time my wife and I got married, she started mentioning to me that she has always loved country music legend Steve Wariner.  Honestly, I had never heard of the guy, but she had a very deep and very long-standing love of his music.  Turns out, I knew a few of his songs, but only by proxy.  I can't stand country music, so that didn't surprise me.

Well, through the magic of the internet, we found out that good ol' boy Steve was playing at the Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK.  We bought our tickets, and went last night.

That dude is GOOD.

Sure, his songs are super sappy.  Imagine all of the bad poems you tried to write when you were a kid....cheesy rhymes, drippy love notes, all of that...but somehow, he takes those cheesy-ass lyrics and turns them into a great, great song.  Plus, he can play the hell out of a guitar.  He had a very simple setup:  him, a bass player (who played a gorgeous 5-string Fender), a drummer and a piano/keyboardist.  It is hard to enjoy a concert when you only know 3-4 of the songs, but he definitely made it very fun. He told a lot of stories, which really made it interesting.

One story he told I thought was great.  He recalled writing and recording a song in 1977 on his very first album, and it didn't do anything.  In 2006, he pitched the same song to the guys at Capitol records, and they said, "Hey!  You should record that!". So he didn't say anything, re-recorded the song, and it was a big hit.  I love stuff like that.

Overall, we had a wonderful time and we definitely got to cross a major item off of my wife's bucket list.  She jumped up, screaming and clapping for every single song.  I really don't recall seeing her enjoy herself as much as she did. The best part was that the tickets were only $25 and we got to sit 5th row.  Watching a concert from that close is great no matter who you are seeing, so I know that she had the time of her life.

On a side note, I have a few "sarcastic bastard" observations that I would like to share:

• Why in God's name would you go to a concert, and spend the ENTIRE show watching it through your iPhone's screen?  Put the effing camera down and enjoy the performance.  Your crappy pictures aren't going to be worth anything anyway. (The pictures above were the only two that I took the whole show, smartass).
• I sat next to a gaggle of drunk hens.  They were not fun.  They would sing the chorus of the song (I have no problem with that), but after singing, they would immediately start talking to one another, loudly.  They also smelled like whiskey.  Pretty sure that had something to do with the talking.  They weren't rude, but they WOULDN'T SHUT UP!
• If you are going to take pictures at a concert with your normal camera, here is a tip.  Your flash doesn't do you any good unless you are less than 10-15 feet from the subject.  Most flashes in regular cameras aren't going to do anything but illuminate the heads in front of you, so turn it off.  Especially that stupid red-eye reduction.  If you don't know how to turn off your flash, learn.  It will make your concert pictures much better, and the people in the audience will thank you because you don't have to see a million flashes every time you want a picture. Same thing goes for sporting events.  Your flash isn't going to illuminate Tony Romo from 800 feet.  It is just simple physics.
• Choctaw's concert hall is very small, very intimate.  There were probably only 600-700 people there, which made it even more fun.  If you have a chance to see a concert there, you won't regret it because the worst seat in the house is better than the best seat anywhere else.
• Steve Wariner looks like Wade Phillips, if he lost about 75 pounds.