I have been to A LOT of country music concerts in my time, but I had never seen Brad Paisley live before. I was happily surprised when my husband bought us tickets to see him; the tickets were for our first anniversary, which was such a thoughtful gift!
I was just as excited to check out BayCare Sound as well. This is a venue in Clearwater that we hadn't been to yet, so it was good to see what time space is like. It's an amphitheater with a small lawn, but the whole space can hold 9,000 people. We noticed that there were several people with lawn chairs sitting just outside of the venue where they could still hear the music but didn't have to pay; they were just listening from the nearby park. What a clever idea! And there are a number of bars and restaurants leading up to the venue, so we were able to have a few (cheaper) drinks before heading inside.
Even though the venue is smaller than Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheater in Tampa, or Merriweather Post Pavilion that we were used to in Maryland, there were plenty of concession stands for the whole crowd. There were bar stands everywhere you looked, and several different food trucks offering items like chicken sandwiches, personal pizzas, and funnel cake sundaes. There was certainly something for everyone (although I had a liquid dinner of just drinks!😆)
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| Alexandra Kay came on stage and handed out milkshakes to people in the front during "Fancy Like." |
We missed the first opener, Alexandra Kay, although she did sing the duet "Whiskey Lullaby" with Paisley during the show (but she's no Alison Kraus!). The second opener was Walker Hayes, whom I had also never seen in concert. His song "Fancy Like" came out when Steve and I were first dating, so I joke that it's our song. It's definitely my favorite of his:
Here are a few other songs I like from Hayes:
90's Country (I had never heard this song before, but I love songs that reference other songs! Very meta, like you're in on an inside joke.)
When Paisley came on stage, he looks the same since forever ago! He has great stage presence, and you could tell he was having so much fun. He sounds wonderful live; such a talented singer and guitar player! Here are some of my favorites that he sang:
I'm Gonna Miss Her (such a country song haha)
Mud on the Tires (I thought this was going to be his encore song!)
Alcohol (THIS was the encore!)
River Bank (The music video played in the background; that squirrel was cracking us up!)
And here were a few songs he didn't get to (his set was much shorter than I expected!):
We had such a fun time, and I would definitely come back to this venue again. But I'd be sure to bring one of those personal fans. It was HOT! I know Lee Brice is performing there in September. Maybe I'll try to get tickets to that!
