Just wanted to update on my concert from Friday. Maren and Cam were both great live. Maren sang for about 30 minutes, but she crammed a lot of music into that time. She sang Sugar, My Church, I Could Use a Love Song, 80s Mercedes, Drunk Girls Don't Cry, Second Wind (which she said Kelly Clarkson recorded - I didn't remember that), and Once. I think she may have sang Rich too, but can't remember, lol. I thought she sounded just as good or better live than she does on the album, which is always great to discover about an artist. She would even change up a couple little runs and notes here and there. Once was freaking amazing live. It's so funny because her singing voice is quite thick/robust to me, but when she would talk she just had the sweetest speaking voice, lol. She had to play to a fairly light crowd as she went on at 5:30 and being a work day, a lot of people hadn't arrived yet. Maren was definitely the highlight of the evening for me.
Cam was good as well. Her personality is actually a lot more outgoing than Maren's. I think she dropped one or two F-bombs while speaking, which isn't something I usually care for. She also told tales about drinking Fireball and sang a song called Fireball Whiskey which I have never heard of. As I had hoped, she did sing Untamed and Runaway Train (she called it her angry song). She also sang Mayday, Burning House, Half Broke Heart, Want it All, Country Ain't Never Been Pretty, Village and I honestly can't remember if she sang Hungover on Heartache. She definitely didn't sing Cold in California, cause I love that one, and she didn't sing My Mistake, which surprised me since it was technically her first single. She told the sweet story behind Village (her friend's brother passed away in an avalanche, I think it was) and it made me tear up listening to the lyrics in that context. Although her personality may not be my cup of tea - she's maybe a little too bubbly/brash for me - her performance was stellar and I greatly enjoyed it.
Kacey was, well, Kacey, lol. She didn't disappoint and came out in her fringe/bedazzled cowgirl leotard or whatever it is she wears, plus light up cowboy boots. Her band had light-up embellishments on their western style suits and her stage had neon cacti. The only song she sang that I like was Mama's Broken Heart. While she isn't my cup of tea and her whole performance felt pretty one note to me, the crowd seemed to like her and they were singing along to Follow Your Arrow. Maybe touring with Katy gave her more exposure than I give her credit for. We only stayed in the stands to see what she was wearing and listened to maybe a song or two and then we took a funnel cake break and walked around a bit. The field was crowded, but there were lots of seats in the stands so we were actually able to get back in the same spot when we came back to sit down and watch Eric.
And while this thread is about women in country, I will go ahead and review Eric since I'm writing about everyone else. Every now and then, I guess it is good to get out and see a concert for an artist that isn't your favorite. It makes you realize that those artists have their own devoted followings and are actually quite popular. Seeing Eric did that for me. While I was only able to sing along to the choruses of a few of his songs, I was surprised every time he started a song and I was like, oh yeah, I know that one. He has had a lot more singles/hits than I remembered. Also, the crowd loved him and seemed to sing along to every song, even the ones that I didn't know as well. He put on a great show, seemed to have a great stage personality, and it was a fun concert.