CONCERT BLAST!

2014 CMA Music Festival – Sunday (Podcast 264)

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Concert Blast California Friends - 2014 CMA Music Festival

Posted on 9/11/2014

It was Sunday, the last day/night of the 2014 CMA Music Festival and Concert Blast was there to cover the fun.  The acts on this last night consisted of Charlie Daniels Band, Thomas Rhett, Lady Antebellum, Hunter Hayes, Zac Brown Band, and Brad Paisley.  Also included in this podcast are two quick conversations with Concert Blast fans.  Enjoy the podcast with Mike Arnold, Tom Thompson, and Will Perry.

Charlie Daniels - 2014 CMA Music Festival

Written by Mike Arnold
CHARLIE DANIELS BAND
The night started in a CMA Music Fest style with one of rock and country music’s favorites, The Charlie Daniels Band. Charlie began the night with a favorite, “Southern Boy” and continued with “Drinkin’ My Baby Away“.  The next tune was one of the Bob Dylan songs from his tribute album (and one of my personal Bob Dylan favorites), “Tangled Up In Blue“.  Charlie performed another tune I didn’t recognize before thrilling the large sold-out crowd with “Devil Went Down To Georgia“.  The set was very short and we felt his set list was weak by leaving off “South’s Gonna Do It Again” (which he should have started with) and “In America“.

Thomas Rhett - 2014 CMA Music Festival

THOMAS RHETT
Next up was a newcomer… to us anyway… Thomas Rhett.  I heard only one song from him and I thought it was a clever written song (“Beer With Jesus“).  Thomas took the stage with some strange intro music that led into his opener, “All American Middle Class White Boy“.  He continued with another good tune, “It Goes Like This“.  Before continuing with the tunes Thomas told the CMA Music Fest crowd how he and his buddies sat in the nose-bleed seats every year since he was 17 and all through college attending the CMA Music Festival.   He continued to say that it was a huge honor to be performing here before introducing his hit (and second song he ever released), “Beer With Jesus“.   Next came a song that sounded as if it was written for Luke Bryan, “Make Me Wanna” before continuing with “Get Me Some Of That“.  Thomas led the crowd into clapping along with the drum beat as he closed his set with a rocking upbeat number called, “Something To Do With My Hands“.  We agreed that he was one of the better new artists around and we believe he will continue to grow in his music career.  However, he needs to use the entire stage instead of only the middle section.

Lady Antebellum - 2014 CMA Music Festival

LADY ANTEBELLUM
One of our favorites was next… The three time “CMA Vocal Group of the Year“, Lady Antebellum!   Lady A didn’t waste any time at all to get the crowd into the music clapping along to the bass kick drum and the banjo picking of “Compass“.  The trio continued without stopping with one of my personal favorites, “American Honey“.  ”Bartender” was next on the list as Lady Antebellum continues to pump out the drinking tunes.  ”Need You Now” brought the cheers and the enthusiastic crowd singing along. Charles Kelley yelled, “We’re in Downtown Nashville!” which brought the screams of approval from the sold-out crowd as Lady A continued with “Downtown“.  Charles Kelley got the crowd to sing, “Oh Ohhhh Oh” during the closing number, “We Own The Night“.  Excellent Set List, High Energy, Lots of Sing-Along Fun!

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Hunter Hayes - 2014 CMA Music Festival

HUNTER HAYES
Up next is another somewhat of a newcomer, Hunter Hayes.  We first saw Hunter a few years ago and I thought he would be a studio/touring musician for someone else by now, but he proved me wrong.  His popularity continues to grow from the teens to the adults.  Hunter took the stage and startedhis set with the energetic tune, “Storyline“.  Hunter paused as he switched to the piano and thanked the CMA Fest crowd for having him to play for the third year in a row before beginning, “Wanted“.  Hunter Hayes continued thanking the crowd for his success and encouraged the crowd to go crazy during the next number as he introduced the latest single, “Tattoo“.  Hunter once again thanked the crowd and told us that he grew up as an outcast because of his obsessive love for music, but hard work made his dreams come true (especially performing in a stadium).  He continued with “Invisible“.  Hunter thanked the crowd again, told us that it was an honor to play and said “Let’s get crazy, what da ya say?” as he closed the set with “Crazy“.  There’s no doubt that Hunter Hayes is very talented.  He can hang with the best of them when it comes to playing instruments, but he talks waaaay too much in between songs.  I understand that he is grateful and humble, but when he continues talking to the crowd, he looses the momentum of the show.

Zac Brown - 2014 CMA Music Festival

ZAC BROWN BAND
I will go on record to say that the Zac Brown Band is the most talented group performing in all genres of music ever!  Well, it’s close to Queen, Yes, Rush, and other progressive rock groups.  Zac Brown and his band mates started the set with the upbeat tune, “The Wind“. Zac Brown always throw surprises to us at the CMA Music Fest and he didn’t wait very long on this night as the second song of the night was one of the best country music sing-alongs ever, David Allen Coe’s “You Never Even Call Me By My Name“.  Zac then went back to his original material with, “Sweet Annie“.  The surprises continued, but this time along with a different song came a special guest.  Zac introduced a friend formally with the band Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora!  When we saw Richie take the stage with his double neck guitar, we had a feeling what song was coming and we were correct, Bon Jovi‘s “Wanted Dead or Alive“.  Richie and Zac swapped vocals on each verse.  This was the highlight of the evening and probably of the entire festival.   Nearly every person was singing along to the classic hit… yes, including us!  Zac Brown Band continued with “Colder Weather” (another crowd favorite) and “All Alright“.  The best dancing and sing-along tune of the night came next as they cranked out the set closer, “Chicken Fried“.  Another excellent job by the ZBB, but the slower tunes broke the momentum of the set.  The emotions were up and down too much.

Brad Paisley - 2014 CMA Music Festival

BRAD PAISLEY
The super fast guitar slinger, Brad Paisley, closed out the CMA Music Fest with a lively set.  Brad started his set with the hit, “Water” and continued the fun with another one, “Old Alabama“.  Brad paused to say, “I don’t know what we did to be living right, but we don’t have any rain this evening and we got to play on the best night and the best fans in the world to play for.” as he continued with “Ticks” followed by “Beat This Summer“.  Brad addressed the crowd by saying, “I’m from West Virginia and I grew up on the banks of the Ohio River.  When I was a little boy my favorite thing to do was on that body of water…”  Brad introduced his latest single, “Riverbank“.  Brad’s set ended with him on the lower stage playing guitar, singing, and taking his photo with as many fans as possible as he closed with two favorites, “Mud on the Tires” and the sing-along, “Alcohol“.  Brad ended the night with extra guitar licks, and told everyone to come see him.  What a guitarist and what an entertainer!

2014 CMA Music Festival with Brad Paisley

SUNDAY NIGHT RECAP
Sunday night had a full stadium.  In the past we’ve noticed that the stadium was about two-thirds full, but on this night it was packed as the first night.  My guess is because of Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown Band, Hunter Hayes and Brad Paisley performing on the same night.  Our favorites of the night… Tom Thompson: 1) Brad Paisley, 2) Zac Brown Band, 3) Lady Antebellum.  Will Perry: 1) Brad Paisley, 2) Lady Antebellum, 3) (tie) Hunter Hayes and Thomas Rhett.  Mike Arnold: 1) Lady Antebellum, 2) Zac Brown Band, 3) Brad Paisley.  We all agreed that Brad Paisley stole the show with his energy and interaction with the crowd.  It was great to see all of out Concert Blast listeners/readers from Kentucky, Arizona, California, New York, Indiana, Virginia, Australia, The Netherlands, and the ones I forgot to mention along with the Nashville, TN locals.  Until next year…
Written by Mike Arnold

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Tags: 2014 CMA Music Festival, blog, Brad Paisley, Charlie Daniels Band, concert blast, concertblast, Hunter Hayes, Lady Antebellum, Mike Arnold, podcast, reviews, Sunday, Thomas Rhett, Tom Thompson, Will Perry, Zac Brown Band