Big & Rich brought the house down with good music, great entertainment and amazing crowd buzz.

And They Came to

iWircH Grant

PuHoTo Eviror

I don’t know where you were on January 9, 2007, but if you
weren’t at the CN Center, you missed what could possibly
have been the single best, one night show, country music con-
cert of the decade. You should have been trying to find scalped
tickets, forging them, begging the box office for tickets that

_Tead “standing room only”, or attempting to strong arm your
way past the guards.

Why would I promote such behavior one might ask? Be-
cause on January 9, Emerson Drive, Terri Clark, and Big &
Rich featuring Two Foot Fred and Cowboy Troy, “countri-
fied” a packed house at the CN Center that nearly went out of
security’s control more than once during the four and a half
hour show featuring some of the top names in today’s country
music charts.

Emerson Drive opened with two very upbeat sets that didn’t
even give the audience a chance to breathe, covering most
of their more modern hits but still managing to span their

nine year career. However, to be honest they did ignore the
audience’s demands for an encore. After a “brief” interlude,
Terri Clark took the stage, slowing the pace and taking time
to interact with her fans, and in an hour and a half, sent forth
multiple sets spanning hits from her 13 year chart topping ca-
reer. At one point security had to arrive to the front in force
to maintain control as the effects of alcohol, mob mentality,
and the wonderful world of country fandom began to sweep
the crowd. After finishing her part of the show, leaving Big &
Rich with rather large shoes to fill, she returned to the stomp-
ing and screaming of fans to finish out an encore and leave
fans to await the arrival of the main act.

After yet another brief wait, Two Foot Fred opened for Cow-
boy Troy with his comedy act. Cowboy Troy rocked the house
to the point of nearly bringing it down with his loud, upbeat,
hip-hop/rock/metal beats while opening for Big & Rich them-
selves. :

Arriving to the stage via elevator in their token costumes, the
headliners opened with Radio from their new CD and played

Mrrcu Granr, PHoro Eprror

Our City |

through hits ranging their career right until 11:30. This wasn’t
even the half of the “Big & Rich show” however. During the
performance, John Rich shared his Crown with a raving fan,
he sang and gave a happy birthday to a girl who was celebrat-
ing her 18th birthday and had gained access to the beer garden,
confusing the American musicians on our drinking age. Next
they brought four children to the stage where they let them all
leave with custom acoustic guitars. Finally, on closing with
their hit single “Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy” they tossed
money into the crowd.

In short, Wolf FM did it. They managed to put together an
amazing show that packed the CN Center and required secur-
ity intervention to simply control the crowd.

Ultimately I give this show five horse saving cowboy rides
out of five. While I appreciate that nothing is ever perfect, in
accepting that, giving this show top marks shows the caliber
of these top artists to perform live and to put on a show worth
every penny and showing up to work late for the day the tick-
ets went on sale and “sold out” in less then an hour.