Those are some of the words that were being thrown out at me and my partner in crime, Dayna, for driving all the way from Canada and Ohio for her 30th and my 47th Jason Aldean show. We may be all of those things, but one thing is for certain: Aldean’s show keeps getting better and better each and every time I see him, and he’s the ONLY artist I would travel that far for.
We started our day by heading over to the venue, the lovely Gwinnett Center, at around 12 in the afternoon, where the waiting began. We had pit seats, which was completely general admission, so we wanted to make sure that we got a good spot. During our 6 ½ hour wait in line, we met some new friends and met up with a few awesome girls we have already had the pleasure of meeting at previous shows. Including Dayna and myself, there were girls from Canada, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Kentucky and New Mexico all there to see Jason! Oddly enough, we didn’t meet anybody from Georgia! Ha!
The Gwinnett Center staff was extremely helpful the entire night by telling us where to go to stand in line, how to get to the pit, and how the paperless ticketing worked. I have been to many venues to see Jason, and this was one of the most helpful staff I have ever encountered!
Once inside, the final show of Jason’s “Wide Open Tour” began! Thompson Square kicked things off with a five-song set, including their current top-40 single, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not?” I felt as though they did an excellent job getting the crowd ready for Luke and Jason, even throwing in the name of one of Jason’s songs into their song, “One of Those Days.”
Next up was Luke Bryan! He is quite the performer! Not only does he have an amazing voice and great songs, but he keeps the audience entertained throughout his entire set. He loves to crack jokes, and his booty shaking keeps the ladies’ attention easily. On this particular night, Luke even threw in a brand new song that will be on his new album, out in a couple of months. It was a song by the name of “You Don’t Know Jack” and it brought the audience to tears. The acoustic element of it really added some additional emphasis as well. He ended his set with his first single, “All My Friends Say,” which had a little bit of Metallica thrown in there as well. The whole audience was head banging and really enjoying themselves.
Finally, it was time for the main act! Jason entered the stage behind a white curtain, which showed only his shadow when the lights hit it. The crowd immediately erupted into screams when the curtain dropped and his Top 5 single, “Crazy Town” began rocking the entire venue. From there on out, it was non-stop energy and excitement. Jason played a 17-song set, including hits such as “Amarillo Sky,” “Hicktown,” and a crowd favorite, “She’s Country.” Luke even joined Jason on stage to sing Jason’s current single, “My Kinda Party,” and Jason’s favorite Luke song, “We Rode in Trucks.” Also in the set-list was two songs off of the new album called “Tattoos on This Town” and “Dirt Road Anthem.” The crowd responded incredibly well to the both of them.
As I have said earlier, I have seen Jason numerous times and his energy level at this particular show was off of the radar! He gave the crowd their money’s worth and then some. I think this show just proved what an excellent entertainer Jason is.
I am so sad to see the Wide Open Tour come to an end, but there was no place I would have rather seen it wrap up than in Jason’s home state of Georgia! I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us fans on his 2011 “My Kinda Party Tour!”
