Post by Sugarmama on Jul 21, 2008 7:45:13 GMT -5
Kid rocks first of four shows at DTE
Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer
Kid Rock gives much love to his hometown, and his hometown gives it right back.
Rock played an electrifying sold-out show Saturday night to more than 15,000 fans at DTE Energy Music Theatre, the first of four shows he's mounting at the Clarkston amphitheater before week's end. And those shows follow two sold-out concerts he performed at Joe Louis Arena in February, in addition to a sold-out club date at Mount Clemens' Emerald Theatre in October. So there's been no shortage of Kid Rock around these parts in the last nine months. Yet fans welcomed him with open arms Saturday, greeting him not like that uncle you see every so often and have to warm up to, but the one you see quite often and still can't get enough of.
Rock's show was a pared-down version of the revue-style extravaganza he performed in February.
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Where that show stretched to a marathon-length three hours, Saturday's concert wrapped in a succinct two hours, including a 15-minute suite during which he performed a handful of Run-D.M.C. favorites with that group's Rev. Run.
Saturday's set list was stacked with staples from Rock's 1998 breakthrough album, "Devil Without a Cause," and included run-throughs of several tracks from last year's "Rock N Roll Jesus."
Rock and his 10-piece Twisted Brown Trucker band kicked things off with the title track to "Rock N Roll Jesus." "Testify, it's a rock revival!" Rock sang, while outfitted in a white suit whose coat he had shed by the second song, the old-school rap revival "Welcome 2 the Party."
It was like that all night, with Rock and his band sloshing through rock, rap, gospel and country. Rock's genre mashing has long been his stylistic trademark, and he's spent the last half-decade freely traversing a multitude of radio formats like the Billboard charts are his own personal playground.
Speaking of the Billboard charts, this current run of DTE dates -- Rock's first concerts at DTE since a three-night-stand in August 2004 -- come just as "Rock N Roll Jesus" has re-entered the Top 5 on Billboard's albums chart.
That chart resurgence is due to the popularity of "All Summer Long," the Warren Zevon- and Lynyrd Skynyrd-sampling summer smash that served as Saturday's penultimate song (and was performed in front of a giant stage-sizeMichigan flag). It came before a rousing closing rendition of "Bawitdaba."
Putting "All Summer Long" in its place, earlier in the evening Rock quipped, "I wasn't the first one to make a summertime song here," before performing a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street."
Some parts of the show could use refining. Rock could afford to drop the bit where he showcases his skills on the turntables, guitars and drums -- we get it, you play a lot of instruments -- and the inclusion of the Pam Anderson kiss-off "Half Your Age" still feels petty.
But other elements hold up quite well no matter how many times you see them, and it's hard to picture a time when "Cowboy" doesn't turn the party out.
Beach balls were bounced freely among the throng of fans Saturday, as the show -- despite the slight rain showers during Uncle Kracker's opening set and the overall muggy temperatures -- felt like one of the summer evenings Rock sings of in his current single. Instead of "Sweet Home Alabama," however, fans will be singing "All Summer Long" all summer long.
Adam Graham / Detroit News Pop Music Writer
Kid Rock gives much love to his hometown, and his hometown gives it right back.
Rock played an electrifying sold-out show Saturday night to more than 15,000 fans at DTE Energy Music Theatre, the first of four shows he's mounting at the Clarkston amphitheater before week's end. And those shows follow two sold-out concerts he performed at Joe Louis Arena in February, in addition to a sold-out club date at Mount Clemens' Emerald Theatre in October. So there's been no shortage of Kid Rock around these parts in the last nine months. Yet fans welcomed him with open arms Saturday, greeting him not like that uncle you see every so often and have to warm up to, but the one you see quite often and still can't get enough of.
Rock's show was a pared-down version of the revue-style extravaganza he performed in February.
Advertisement
Where that show stretched to a marathon-length three hours, Saturday's concert wrapped in a succinct two hours, including a 15-minute suite during which he performed a handful of Run-D.M.C. favorites with that group's Rev. Run.
Saturday's set list was stacked with staples from Rock's 1998 breakthrough album, "Devil Without a Cause," and included run-throughs of several tracks from last year's "Rock N Roll Jesus."
Rock and his 10-piece Twisted Brown Trucker band kicked things off with the title track to "Rock N Roll Jesus." "Testify, it's a rock revival!" Rock sang, while outfitted in a white suit whose coat he had shed by the second song, the old-school rap revival "Welcome 2 the Party."
It was like that all night, with Rock and his band sloshing through rock, rap, gospel and country. Rock's genre mashing has long been his stylistic trademark, and he's spent the last half-decade freely traversing a multitude of radio formats like the Billboard charts are his own personal playground.
Speaking of the Billboard charts, this current run of DTE dates -- Rock's first concerts at DTE since a three-night-stand in August 2004 -- come just as "Rock N Roll Jesus" has re-entered the Top 5 on Billboard's albums chart.
That chart resurgence is due to the popularity of "All Summer Long," the Warren Zevon- and Lynyrd Skynyrd-sampling summer smash that served as Saturday's penultimate song (and was performed in front of a giant stage-sizeMichigan flag). It came before a rousing closing rendition of "Bawitdaba."
Putting "All Summer Long" in its place, earlier in the evening Rock quipped, "I wasn't the first one to make a summertime song here," before performing a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street."
Some parts of the show could use refining. Rock could afford to drop the bit where he showcases his skills on the turntables, guitars and drums -- we get it, you play a lot of instruments -- and the inclusion of the Pam Anderson kiss-off "Half Your Age" still feels petty.
But other elements hold up quite well no matter how many times you see them, and it's hard to picture a time when "Cowboy" doesn't turn the party out.
Beach balls were bounced freely among the throng of fans Saturday, as the show -- despite the slight rain showers during Uncle Kracker's opening set and the overall muggy temperatures -- felt like one of the summer evenings Rock sings of in his current single. Instead of "Sweet Home Alabama," however, fans will be singing "All Summer Long" all summer long.
