CMAfest Coliseum Show Review - Thursday Night

The first night of the CMAfest Coliseum shows started off with Jamie O'Neill singing the national anthem with the Marine Corps Recruiting Station of Nashville Color Guard presenting the colors.

Jamie was flawless with her crystal clear voice and looking stunning with a long sleeved print blouse with pink underlay. He voice never wavered on the high notes. She gave a excellent performance.

Trick Pony was given the job of getting the CMAfest concert goers warmed up and ready for a full night of high class entertainment. They did not fall short of their job. Heidi looked beautiful wearing a paisley type blue/lavender sleeveless shirt tied at the waist. They gave the crowd what they were after. Great entertainment and plenty of hits including their newest release "It's a Heartache".

If you have never seen Phil Vassar, this is real entertainment. He is all over the stage and gives a high energy show, even when he is at the keyboards. Among his offerings were "American Child", "In a Real World" and the newest sultry hit "Take that for a Yes", also known as the "hot tub" song.

The entertainment just kept getting better and better.

Joining Phil on stage was American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood. Carrie looked very cool in a black t-shirt with rhinestones. She did a duet with Phil, "April Fools" The crowd roared their approval.
I do believe that Carrie has arrived in Nashville. At least according to the reaction of the fans. I am sure she made many, many new fans tonight.

Julie Roberts is a cute blond gal with a big voice. Looking good in a black t-shirt with a silver belt.
She came on strong with her offerings of her 2 hits "Wake Up Older", and "Break Down Here". She also did a cover of the old Linda Ronstadt song "When Will I Be Loved".

Dierks Bently was like a steamroller belting out hit after hit. He started out with a different rendition of the Waylon Jennings tune "Ain't Living Long Like This". He continued on with "A Lot of Leaving Left to do", "How Am I Doing", and "Come a little Closer".
He did a surprise finish by singing the old David Allen Coe classic "You Never Even Call Me By My Name". He closed the set amongst thunderous applause with "What Was I Thinking".

Sugarland came on just as sweet as their name implies. They opened with their big hit "Baby Girl", which they had just been given a gold plaque for 100,000 downloads of that song off of the internet.
They did three new original tunes and finished with their current hit "There's got to be something more".

If the crowd wasn't going crazy yet, the next musical offering was bound to have everyone on their feet stomping and clapping.
The Grascals are a newer bluegrass band made up of excellent musicians and singers. They are total ENTERTAINMENT in capitol letters.

Performing an original "Memphis Bound" and continuing with "Orange Blossom Special", they had everyone in a frenzied.

Dolly Parton came out wearing a yellow tailored suit type dress trimmed in red and thanked the crowd for buying her albums saying "it takes a lot of money to look this cheap". She got a lot of laughs at that comment. She did a duet with the Grascals of "Viva Las Vegas". The Grascals then closed their portion of the show with "Rocky Top".

Lee Ann Womack showed the audience just why she has been named female vocalist of the year so many times. She started with one of her first big hits "Ashes by now". She looked lovely in a red flowered print shirt of Japanese influence. She kept belting out hit after hit receiving an explosion of applause for "I'll Think of a Reason Later".
She did a wonderful new self penned tune "Two Husbands Ago" which laments of what she was before her 2 marriages. It can really hit home with the ladies.

Nothing else can be said about Keith Urban that hasn't already been said. He looked just as hot as ever with his usual black t-shirt performing "Days Go By". He did all of his hits and the crowd showed their approval and satisfaction after all of them.
I swear that all Keith has to do is stand still for the gals to look at him and they would still go wild.

This night was a wonderful way to close a long, tiring, but very happy first day at CMAfest.

Article Written & Submitted by Lisa Young