Blake Shelton @ The Big E

Blake Shelton @ The Big E, a set on Flickr.

It was a "windy and cold as crap" night at The Big E Saturday, October 1st... at least according to Blake Shelton.  He wasn't really a fan of our colder evening temps, but it didn't stop him from putting his heart and soul into his performance.  My friend and I had seen him back in July at the Comcast Center where he opened for Brad Paisley.  We both felt he was good enough to see again when he made this appearance at the largest fair in all of New England...

We arrived about an hour before showtime... ate some grub and then got in a line for the sold out show.  He came right out at 7:30pm and sang "All About Tonight."  He sang with a bit more passion last night than he did back in July.  You could see how cold he was as he would cringe when the wind would hit him, but it didn't effect his voice, his attitude nor his full on performance.  He brought it and got the crowd on their feet right away.

His set list included many of his hits... but by far the best night of the show, is when he explains why he's a "train wreck" and he covers songs by other artists.  He starts with Wild Cherry's Play That Funky Music... the song that his parents blast while their bedroom door is locked.  Then we go into his brother's song by J Geils Band, Centerfold.  He wraps this up with the song he hates the most... his sister's favorite tune from her youth, My Prerogative by Boston boy Bobby Brown.  Though the introductions to each song and the delivery hadn't changed much at all from show we saw previously, it was just as well-received by the crowd and we were still dancing and singing along as if it was our first time seeing this performance. He closed this section with one of his most loved songs Kiss My Country Ass.  The crowd sang along and threw fists in the air as they got pumped up and some were dancing in the aisles - despite requests of security to go back to their seats.

He only sang a few slow songs through the night, which I know I appreciate, which included Home, God Gave Me You, Who Are You When I'm Not Looking and Austin (his first #1 single).

He took a few sips out of his Black "red" cup and encouraged the crowd to drink with him as he sang The More I Drink.  Though Blake gets a lot of heat for posting "drunk" tweets and he claimed to be drunk earlier in the night... he didn't seem drunk at all and put on a solid show.  He tried to close the night out with Hillbilly Bone and the crowd was again singing along and dancing in the aisles... but that wasn't enough.  He was brought back to the stage and he sang Jerry Reed's Eastbound and Down.  It was a more passionate performance and I can't wait til 2012 when he headlines his own tour.  He is definitely going to be a great tour to catch.