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Diamond Rio Concert Review & Thoughts Date: Location: The Review The guys of Diamond Rio took to the stage following qualifications for the 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard NASCAR event. The show started off with drummer Brian Prout doing a nice drum solo. Following the solo, Brian was joined by the rest of the band: Marty Roe on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Gene Johnson on tenor vocals and mandolin, Dana Williams on baritone vocals and bass guitar, Dan Truman on keyboards, and Jimmy Olander on lead guitar. The guys started the show off with their number one hit and one of many crowd favorites, "How Your Love Makes Me Feel." They wrapped the show up on the account of an insisted encore with "Bubba Hyde." I am not sure how much of the order of songs they did that I can remember, so I am going to list the songs, in no particular order.
"How Your Love Makes Me Feel" Before the guys did the new song, "Redneck Love Gone Bad," Marty was telling us about a girl that he was in love with and dating in college. He told of how the girl broke his heart and how he was devastated at the time. He said that when he heard this song, it reminded him of that whole situation and how her life probably turned out. The song was a very amusing song that had the crowd laughing. At some point in the middle of the show, the guys took a break from performing the hits and did "Bluegrass Express," which is a great instrumental which you can only hear at their concerts. Before they started playing "Bluegrass Express," Dana was telling the crowd that they were going to take a break from the hits to do some bluegrass. He was stumbling around with his words and blamed it on the fact that he could not believe that they were performing in Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That got a big pop from the crowd. During the song, Gene did a nice vocal solo and showcased his fine tenor voice. Before performing the new song, "In God We Still Trust," Marty was telling us that when they found this song, they all knew that it was a song that they wanted to do because it was a song that they truly believed in. Marty said that the song is politically charged and that they have never been into that kind of stuff. He said that they don't get into fights with chick bands and things like that. He said that they hope to release the song as a single, hopefully next month. He said that they have also shot a video for the song and hope that we will be seeing it on television soon. The song received a standing ovation and a huge reaction from those in attendance. Once the song was over, Marty asked the crowd: "Can I get an Amen!?" The crowd gave him what he wanted. The show ended with Bubba Hyde and the crowd really got into it. As the guys left the stage, the crowd cheered in appreciation. The MCs of the concert came back on stage and thanked everyone for attending and the crowd dispersed and headed home. My Thoughts and Other Notes I had an awesome time at this show. I had a great view. They did not have seats for this show, it was just all standing room. I was lucky enough to park my wheelchair in the "front row," right up against the retaining wall/fence. I was to the left side of the stage. I was less than 25 feet away from the guys. Before the show, probably 45 minutes before, Brian came out and tuned up his drums for the show. I had my eyes locked on what he was doing. It was so awesome getting to see him do that. Shortly after Brian had finished tuning his drums and had gone off stage, Jimmy came on to tune his guitars. They had the guitars stored underneath a tent on the stage to keep them protected. I was right in front of the tent. I kid you not, Jimmy O. was less than 10 feet away from me! I was in absolute awe. When the show started, I was so into it and was having the time of my life. A few times during the show I almost started to cry as I thought about the sheer happiness that I was feeling at the fact I was finally seeing Diamond Rio in concert, a dream that was becoming a reality at that very moment in time. I had to keep telling myself not to cry because it might take away from this awesome experience. I could almost swear that Marty and Gene looked right at me a few times during the show. Every time that I thought one of them was looking at me, I made sure they knew that I was having a great time. The show was absolutely awesome and I will never forget this experience. It was truly one of, if not the greatest, days of my life. To see pictures from the show, please click the link below. |
