Monday, October 21, 2019

Gig Review - Brad Paisley - o2 Arena London



What will get me on a plane flying from Houston to London you ask.

Only a Brad Paisley concert!

So, despite my jet lag here’s my review of the night:


Bang on 9pm Brad and his band appeared on stage accompanied by huge cheers and the lower floor taking to their feet.  The set began with Southern Comfort Zone. 


One of today’s biggest country music stars Brad gave a master class in stage presence; quick wit, humour, high energy, quality vocals and some awesome guitar playing underlying everything. Every new song sees a guitar change - Brad has quite a few - and you can expect to see every colour of the rainbow.


Brad asked who was in love and confessed to being in love with our beautiful city (London), with our beautiful faces and funny little accents. If you haven’t heard Brad’s British accent, you have missed out; its strangely very good.

In this gig, he gave away 2 signed guitars, both to young boys with the request that they exchange numbers. He reckoned that with practice he could be opening for them in a decade’s time and they might be the next Beatles.

We were even treated to a Director’s cut and heard some of the lyrics that didn’t make it on the recording of She’s Everything; I can agree that the lines “she’s passive aggressive” and “she snores like a train” wouldn’t have had the same effect.    


The concert had been opened by Chris Lane, a fellow American from North Carolina who return to the stage to perform A Country Boy Can Survive / I’m Still a Guy with Brad.  This song ended with Brad taking a selfie of the two of them on a fan’s phone, but it wouldn’t be Brad if he didn’t have a quick look through her Instagram account and make a comment!  Be warned.

Brad threw in a couple of covers to demonstrate the range of his talent and to get the audience singing along:

·        Last Time For Everything w/ Purple Rain (Prince)

·        Chattahoochee (Alan Jackson)


Old Alabama saw Brad take to the small stage at the back of the room, in memory of his concert days. 


Brad praised how big country had become in the UK, to the extend that we have started to grow our own talent. This was the introduction to welcome Ward Thomas to the stage to accompany him singing Whiskey Lullaby.

A Kiss Cam and even an On-Stage proposal were included in the set before the biggest surprise of the night – Keith Urban came to Jam to The Mona-Lisa, Workin’ Man Blues and the finale Alcohol accompanied by Ward Thomas and Chris Lane.


The 2 hours flew by, this was a party not to be missed even if those of us higher up couldn’t join in the Mona-Lisa conga.  

I was totally entertained and cannot wait to see the white Stetson wearing showman again.



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