{"id":739,"date":"2012-09-08T19:00:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-08T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=739"},"modified":"2015-10-13T16:15:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T16:15:16","slug":"739","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/08\/739\/","title":{"rendered":"Toby Keith w\/ Thomas Rhett & Brantley Gilbert – Woodlands Pavilion – Spring, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by Dave Clements <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sep 08, 2012 at 07:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Image\"One of Oklahoma\u2019s finest cowboys\u00a0 Toby Keith all but rode into The Woodlands on his horse (or was it a Ford F-250 Truck?), bandana under his straw hat, to serenade the nearly sold out house, Yee Haw \u2026Country Style, Red Cup in hand.<\/p>\n

As the sun set he came up and hit on all the important subjects that C&W has to offer\u2026\u2026winners, losers, smokers, boozers, yuppies, bikers, thirsty hitchhikers, girls next door, movie stars, cowboys, truckers, broken hearted fools, suckers, hustlers, fighters, early birds, all nighters, veterans, short skirts, high-techs, blue collar boys and rednecks, lovers, lookers, dancing girls and hookers\u2026..did we miss anything? Yep, probably\u2026.did I mention momma, prison, and trains and, of course,\u00a0 Ford Tough Trucks?
\nI\u2019ll get back to Toby in a minute.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Thomas Rhett, opened the show and he came out with his A game going, as he had obviously seen what was to follow on stage after him.\u00a0 He knew that if he didn\u2019t want to pale badly by comparison he was going to have to hit it hard.\u00a0 To his credit, at only 22 yrs. old, he came across as very seasoned,\u00a0\u00a0 impressive to me and I think to most of the early crowd in attendance.\u00a0 It probably didn\u2019t hurt that he has a daddy in country music. Rhett Atkins, who had a #1 hit in the 90\u2019s with \u2018Don\u2019t Get Me Started\u2019 and has written #1 hits for country artists Joe Nichols, Josh Turner, and Blake Shelton.\u00a0 Good genes and a good role model never hurt anyone!<\/p>\n

Brantley Gilbert, 27 year old Georgia native, was the next Toby Keith opener\u2026I think, and he absolutely lit \u2018em up!\u00a0 I say I think as it wasn\u2019t obvious to me that anyone held back anything for Toby when Gilbert\u00a0 hit the stage.\u00a0 No doubt that a huge part of the crowd was here to see Brantley, and Toby Keith would just be an added bonus.\u00a0\u00a0 I had not seen Brantley Gilbert before and it didn\u2019t take long to see that he has a lot going for him. I already knew he was an excellent songwriter having written the hits \u2018Dirt Road Anthem\u2019\u00a0 and \u2018My Kinda Party\u2019 for\u00a0 Mr. Jason Aldean.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s impressive in it\u2019s own right.\u00a0\u00a0 Then, on his own resume, he has already charted a couple songs on country radio \u2013 \u2018Country Must Be Country Wide\u2019 and \u2018You Don\u2019t Know Her Like I Do\u2019.\u00a0 Gilbert is a firecracker that keeps exploding, time after time, all set long.<\/p>\n

To best describe him think one part Lynyrd Skynyrd, one part Keith Urban, one part Kidd Rock, one part Red Hot Chili Peppers, one part Hank Jr., one part Hank III, and one part Eminem, and don\u2019t forget to throw in a little country somewhere in the equation\u2026and you\u2019ve got Brantley Gilbert.\u00a0 Shame he ain\u2019t from Texas – should get here as quick as he can!<\/p>\n

Toby Keith, an Oklahoma Sooner Football fan, obviously not from Texas either but certainly Texas has been very kind to him.\u00a0 There are large crowds every time he plays Rodeo Houston, and they were equally as supportive of him Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Toby started the show with a cute video and with it kicked off his portion of the evening with a \u2018let\u2019s drink and party\u2019 mood.<\/p>\n

His stage setting was designed to resemble a saloon, and his mic stand was designed to hold a red cup that was evolved into more than a prop as the evening went on.\u00a0 More on that Red Cup later\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Toby Keith is certainly not new to this game called Country Music, and his talent has produced a fair number of hits that he did perform on stage this night.\u00a0 He sang \u2018Who\u2019s Your Daddy?\u2019, Should\u2019ve Been a Cowboy\u2019, \u2018Whiskey Girl\u2019, \u2018As Good As I Once Was\u2019, \u2018How Do You Like Me Now?\u2019, and on and on.\u00a0 All well done and all classic Toby Keith.<\/p>\n

It was cute how he introduced one song by saying \u2018I\u2019ve talked about Thomas Rhett, wasn\u2019t he good?\u00a0 I\u2019ve talked about Brantley Gilbert, I\u2019ve talked about Texas, I\u2019ve talked about The Woodlands, now \u2026 I WANNA TALK ABOUT ME! ME ME ME\u2019.\u00a0 This song has been good to him and was clearly a crowd favorite, with lots of singing along.
\nHe also sang a song that is new but just more of the old familiar subject that is part of so many of his songs…Beer.\u00a0 \u2018I Like Girls That Drink Beer\u2019 was accompanied by it\u2019s own video and is Keith\u2019s latest effort to go after the party goin\u2019 Country fans.\u00a0 Looked like it was still working pretty well .<\/p>\n

Ole Willie got a lot of play time during the show as well.\u00a0 \u2018I\u2019ll Never Smoke Weed with Willie Again\u2019, although never having had any air time on radio,\u00a0 seemed well known by all the Toby Keith followers in the crowd. Most sang along to this tune.\u00a0 And all sang along to the duet song Toby originally recorded with Willie, \u2018Beer For My Horses\u2019.\u00a0 This was hands down this crowds favorite.\u00a0 Willie, of course, IS from Texas!<\/p>\n

The low point of the evening for me was when Keith was about to start one of his more meaningful songs of late and\u00a0 \u2026Roger \u2018The Rocket\u2019 Clemens came out dragging several buddies with him and presented Toby with a Red Solo Cup.\u00a0 This was obviously an intro to the song Toby was about to play. I\u2019m a big Roger Clemens fan, think he should be voted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame, glad he was found not guilt by Congress, thought that entire investigation was a major waste of tax payer\u2019s dollars, and believe he should have just kept enjoying whatever libation he was drinking and stayed in his seat.\u00a0 I know they\u2019re buddies.\u00a0 Toby went to Roger\u2019s game the night before.\u00a0 But come on guys\u2026you killed it. Enough said.<\/p>\n

Having said that, Toby did redeem himself with his choice of encore songs for the evening.\u00a0 Fan or not, most people are aware that Toby Keith is a long time supporter of the military and has traveled to the Middle East to entertain our troops.\u00a0 First \u2018American Soldier\u2019 and then \u2018Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue\u2019 had this crowd standing proud.\u00a0 Way to go Toby!\u00a0 This partyin\u2019 crowd was reminded beautifully of how and why they have the freedom to do just that.<\/p>\n

Until next time hope you keep it between the navigational beacons.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Dave Clements Sep 08, 2012 at 07:00 PM One of Oklahoma\u2019s finest cowboys\u00a0 Toby Keith all but rode into The Woodlands on his horse (or was it a Ford F-250 Truck?), bandana under his straw hat, to serenade the nearly sold out house, Yee Haw \u2026Country Style, Red Cup in hand. As the… <\/p>\n

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