It's Just A Concert

I went to the Ted Nugent/Toby Keith concert last night.  This afternoon, I still have ringing in my ears and can't hear anything.  I was practically yelling at the 'rents last night when I got home.  I would have paid good money for a pair of ear plugs like they wear at work in the factory.  Our seats were on the 15th row on the floor, and one of the massive mountains of speakers was blowing a bizillion decibels of sound right in our direction. Just writing this makes me feel old, but I can't help it - it was just too loud.  Don't get me wrong - it was a great concert, even though it was loud.  This as the first time I'd seen Toby Keith in a big concert setting.  The only other time I saw him was back in 1992 at a local country nightclub.  The then unknown Toby Keith was performing along with another unknown country singer named Shania Twain.  I'd say they both done pretty good for themselves; they're only two of the biggest stars in country music today. 

There was a low point during last night's "Big Throwdown" concert.  I knew that Toby Keith is a huge pro-American troops supporter; he's spent weeks in Afghanistan and Iraq with the USO performing for the troops.  I admire him for that.  I also knew that Ted Nugent was a big pro-American troops supporter, and a big NRA supporter.  What I wasn't expecting was Ted Nugent's portion of the concert to turn into a political rally.  Before he came on stage, they played Ray Charle's "America" and it was very cool. Then when Ted came out on stage, he was carrying a big American flag, and he led all 10,000 people in Freedom Hall in the Pledge of Allegiance.  That was very cool, too.  Mid-way through his set, he said something to the affect of 'any place other than America sucks.' Ohhhhkay. Then for his last song titled "Kiss My Ass", he included the names of different people, mainly Democrats and anti-Bush supporters. For instance, he told the Dixie Chicks to kiss his ass, along with Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, the United Nations, Janet Reno, John Kerry, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and a host of others.  Come on, Ted - I paid out the butt for a ticket to this concert; I didn't pay to go to a political rally.  I was already disappointed going in to this concert -- I had 5th row seats for Toby last June, when my country favorite Terri Clark was opening for him, but the theater in Cincinnati got flooded and they cancelled the show.  I think Toby's record label and management needs to rethink his concert strategy.  When Terri Clark opened for him on the first half of "The Big Throwdown" tour, the concert was setting attendance records.  At Freedom Hall Friday night, the arena was about 2/3 full.  I guess they ones that stayed home knew the show would be a political rally.