Pulling up to the gate of Meadow Event Park in Doswell on Friday night for Aaron Lewis’ performance as part of the After Hours concert series, I felt like I’d jumped off a cliff without looking. The gate was locked, there wasn’t a car in sight, and I felt the all-too-familiar dread that comes with being at the wrong place at the right time. This gate was one of many, and it took driving down the road, a detour into the horse trailer lot and being redirected by event staff before I found the right gate to park in. I wasn’t the only one; event staff had redirected a line of people before me to general parking, and I passed several vehicles more than once trying to find my bearings.
A long walk, two "golden circle" tickets and an ice-cold Mountain Dew later, I was all settled in. While the lawn chairs were scattered around the general admission area, the seats in the golden circle were arranged in pods, each set 6 feet from the ones beside it. The golden circle had its own bathroom and bar; food and merchandise were the only reasons patrons had to leave the fenced-off area. There wasn’t a face mask in sight, except on some of the event staff.
Former Trick Pony member Ira Dean opened with a guitar, stories to tell and grudges to bear. He encouraged the audience to sing along with “There’s One in Every Crowd” and spoke about writing “Pour Me Another Shot of Whiskey,” meeting Johnny and June Carter Cash, and losing a Grammy to the (then) Dixie Chicks in 2003, referring to the band's lead singer, Natalie Maines, with an expletive.
On to the evening's headliner: I knew Aaron Lewis as the guitarist and lead singer of Staind, a rock band I’d listened to while cruising down Route 460 in my dad’s Toyota pickup. This was a different Aaron Lewis, now a country singer and frontman of the Stateliners, and I had no idea what to expect.
With an American flag as their backdrop, Aaron Lewis and the Stateliners painted the Servpro Pavilion stage red, white and blue. With a fist in the air and a hand over his heart, Lewis opened his set with the Pledge of Allegiance and overwhelming crowd participation. The audience cheered as the first notes of “Country Boy” rang through the speakers, followed by other hits such as “Sinner” and “Granddaddy’s Gun.” Later in the set, songs such as “If I Was a Liberal,” and “That Ain’t Country” were met with raucous applause, as well as “Right Here Waiting,” a classic from Lewis’ days with Staind.
Many in the audience didn’t care when Lewis started one song with the second verse and forgot to switch guitars for a song toward the end of the show. He laughed it off, but the mistake had a staged quality about it that felt rehearsed.
After “It’s Been Awhile,” another well-known Staind song, Lewis and the band left the stage. After several minutes of applause and pleas from the crowd, he returned and sparks flew as couples paired off to dance to the slow, romantic melodies of “Someone” and “Again.” These songs in particular showed off Lewis’ impressive vocal range; he didn’t miss a single note. Lewis ended the show with “Am I the Only One,” expressing his frustration with American politics to the audience, who were anything but frustrated with his performance.
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June 08, 2021 at 03:32AM
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Review: Aaron Lewis and the Stateliners - richmondmagazine.com - Richmond magazine
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