Jay About Kid Rock!!!!

That's right, Kid Rock! I have been out of the game a bit lately, vacation, work, lots of stuff good and bad going down but I have several topics to cover so volume should pick up this week. Jumping right into it... Sunday night my special lady and I joined the K-Dogs for an evening w/ Kid Rock at the Champlain Valley Fair in lovely Essex, VT! Every year the fair draws some of the wackiest washed up acts from the past and it is always fun to guess who will be in the mix. This year it looked as if 70s stalwart Chicago was going to headline, and then BAM! Kid Rock came into the picture. My pal K-Dog is a funny character and loves trashy glam metal even more than I do. Needless to say, when we saw this ticket we were pumped. My wife a little less so. Well, Mrs. K-Dog is also a character and she was on it immediately and had 4 tickets in hand, we were in the mix!!! Heading in Sunday night we new the show would be good but it is difficult to predict what to expect, I don't own a Kid Rock record and certainly had never heard about his live shows. So we meet up for a pre-show beer and then Mrs. K-Dog sets us up w/ sweet parking right next to the fairgrounds. Inside the fair was as expected. More dudes in sleeveless flannel than anywhere else in VT. Weight? In full effect... one fair-goer was sitting 20 stone on their rascal... great shocks on those things. Coyote fleece jackets? Check! For sale and on display by patrons! Fat stripper wanna be's and Dale Earnhart hats (fancy wear for a big night out)? Plenty of those in the "beer garden", aka cattle car w/ cheap beer.

We missed the opening act Uncle Cracker but came just in time for the start of Kid Rock. A huge white sheet hung in front of the stage and then the silhouette of the Kid as the music started... and then BAM!!!!! sheet comes down, explosions go off, fire balls, ripping guitars... it was GO TIME!!! This was easily the most intense concert I have ever been to. 2 straight hours w/ 2 "slow songs" otherwise it was a ripping hard driving show w/ an in shape Kid running, jumping, playing the crowd. The band was rocking out, the back up singers danced and belted out vocals the whole time. Huge American flags unfurled, fireworks went off behind the stage, they shouted out "Vermont" 200 times, they showed videos of the fair, of the crowd, of firefighters, mom, and apple pie. Kid Rock took one song to play every instrument on stage (pretty well in fact), and then hit the turn table taking a shot of Jim Beam and firing up a stogie mid scratch!!! They played every song I knew and had the crowd going wild!! Finally after what seemed like 10 encores they played a raucous Bawitdaba.

2 huge thumbs up, and 1 of the top 3 concerts I have been to... and I still do not own a Kid Rock record!!! If you like rock and want to see the unexpected... go check out Kid Rock.