***UPDATE at end of post***
Houston Chronicle music critic Joey Guerra, at the Chron's HandStamp blog:
Rascal Flatts was a perfect choice to kick off the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, which now boasts a glitzy new stage, multiple video screens and busy laser effects.
Perfect -- because the boy-bland trio relied on those additions to make its underwhelming musical catalog soar beyond its woeful limitations.
...
The crowd, for its part, seemed to enjoy feel-good hits like Stand, Bless the Broken Road and Take Me There. The lyrics were easy to remember, and the sentiments were generic enough to apply to any life situation. Fast-food country for the modern cowboy.
Yep, I'd say he was about right. As always though, some bona-fide hi-larity may be found in the comments from the Flatts fanboys and fangirls:
I probably assume you know nothing of Country music and probably are lookign forward to Jonas brothers concert.
It's just a good thing I hadn't been drinking anything or I'd have spewed it right there. I haven't heard that much of the Jonas Brothers, but from what I've heard their audience isn't that much younger than the one Rascal Flatts caters to, no offense to the older RF fans. If there's anyone who knows nothing of country music it's probably the person who made that comment. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rascal Flatts and their ilk are by and large "country music for people who don't like country music." I know they couldn't get George Strait, but they sure could have picked a better opening-night act. Cross Canadian Ragweed or the Randy Rogers Band, two of the bands mentioned in the comments, would have been a much better choice, although now that I think about it I don't know how well CCR's live show would translate to such a venue. I have no doubt it would be damn good no matter what, though.
Comments like this one, though...
If you don't like the act, don't go, but please don't put down a group that has the courage to get up there and do a job. I can't begin to imagine how hard it is to be a singer and try to give as many concerts as they do, write songs, cut CD's and make videos, as well as all the travel and time away from their families.
...still make no sense to me whatsoever. What does any of that have to do with anything? I'd imagine Guerra went to the show because his editor told him to. Either way, he's a CRITIC. They PAY him to write stuff like that. Hey lady, how big of a pain in the ass do you think it is for the critics to write stuff like Joey Guerra wrote only to have people tell them they're morons and that they don't know what they're talking about? You want courage? I'd say in this medium, putting up with the aforementioned moronic fanboys and fangirls, and the whiners like you to boot, more than qualifies. I really could riff off this all day, but another one of the commenters pretty much nailed it:
"REAL country music is folks like George Jones, Dwight Yoakum, even George Strait." Hell, even the band on right now at Outlaw Country would be a lot closer to it: "Gonna climb a mountain, the highest mountain, Lord...gonna jump off, ain't nobody gonna know..."
UPDATE: KILT deejay Leslie T. Travis:
Remember just because you sell a lot of CDs doesn't mean you're good, it means you have good management and promotion and a lot of very young fans with discretionary income.
ZIIIIING!!!!
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