That Brad Paisley could have been a rock star, judging from the sounds he laid down Friday night at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. Paisley, however, chose to pursue country stardom, and he has that firmly in his grasp, along with a decent voice, those guitar skills that rival an Eric Clapton or anyone else and a gentle wit that animates many of his songs.
He picked up one of those big-time awards, the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year, a couple of weeks ago, and it’s easy to see how he won after seeing the show he put together for his H20 Frozen Over Tour, which attracted 9,688 fans to Verizon.
Paisley not only plays guitar and sings clever hits, but he also knows how to assemble a fun show using cutting-edge animation, video montages and lots of other techniques seldom seen in any concerts, let alone country ones. The stage was set up so that Paisley and his band members could prance out into the audience at times, and Paisley even ventured out onto the floor to play to the “cheap seats” in back, as he put it.
He performed his high-energy show for 90 minutes, including his hits “Water,” “American Saturday Night,” “Waitin’ on a Woman” (with a video bit that featured Andy Griffith), “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song),” “Mud on the Tires,” “She’s Everything,” “Letter to Me,” “Ticks,” “Whiskey Lullaby” (with a video contribution from Alison Krauss) and “Alcohol.”
Opening act Darius Rucker, bounded onto stage for his 49 minutes of music that owed more to rock than to country, and certainly rocked more than his previous gig as the singer in Hootie & the Blowfish. To prove it, Rucker did powerful versions of three Hootie hits — “Only Wanna Be With You,” “Let Her Cry” and “Hold My Hand” — along with his own takes on Hank Williams, Jr.’s “Family Tradition” and Prince’s “Purple Rain,” as well as his own current hit, “Come Back Song,” which, along with “It Won’t Be Like This for Long,” were the picks of the litter.
Justin Moore, the show’s first opening act, noted that he has moved back to his hometown of Poyen (Grant County), where he said he could get up at 6 a.m. and go to the deer stand until 11 a.m., then head to the arena to do a show. In his half-hour set, he performed material from his self-titled debut album, including a No. 1 hit, “Small Town USA,” “That’s How I Got To Be This Way” and “Hank It,” his tribute to Hank Williams.