It was a Wicked Awesome Halloween Monstah Bash at the House of Blues on Thursday October 30th, complete with ghosts, goblins, and ghouls, as WKLB hosted yet another fantastic event bringing Brett Eldredge and the Brothers Osborne to entertain us for the fall holiday. Great music, great fun, great prizes and great costumes abound! But we were in for a shocking surprise, costume wise, when the acts came on stage.
The Brothers Osborne took the stage around 8:00pm. Well at least we thought it was the Brothers Osborne. The lights came up and there on stage dressed as Little Big Town, were TJ Osborne as Karen, and John Osborne as Kimberly, outfitted with wigs and clothes to match. Jimi and Philip were also represented by other members of the band. John rocked that blue dress and TJ looked awesome in that black wig even though he really could have used a hair tie commenting on how hot he has been since he grew his hair out saying this while he was sipping a beer.
The Brothers opened their thirteen song set with the rocking sound of ‘Shoot From the Hip,’ the first track on their self-titled EP. They then sang, ‘Let’s Go There,’ a fun bouncy song before going into ‘Arms of Fire,’ which complimented their harmonies very well. The instrumentals for all of their songs were very impressive especially the guitar solo John played after they sang ‘I’m Gonna Be the Last One.’ Other songs in their set were the soulful bluesy song ‘Love the Lonely,’ and the ballad that showed their softer sides in ‘Stay a Little Longer.’ The Brothers also sang the Hank Williams Sr. song ‘Hey Good Lookin,’ and of course their fun upbeat and current single on country radio, ‘Rum.’ Throughout their set fans from the audience kept yelling “RUM,” to which John responded, “We will get to it. Be patient we aren’t going to play our hit right away.” The Brothers ended their time on stage with the song ‘Shake My Head.’
After the Brothers Osborne exited the stage, the WKLB crew came on with the finalists for the best costumes of the night. The best costumes on stage were chosen by audience cheers with the most and loudest cheers going to the first place costume, The Three Blind Mice. God’s Gift to Woman took second and tied for third were Flower Child and Poison Ivy and of course there were prizes from cash to gift cards to concert tickets. While all of this was going on, the stage was being readied behind them for the man everyone was waiting for.
All of those in costume exited the stage about 9:30 pm, the lights went down and ‘Hillbilly Deluxe,’ by Brooks and Dunn, blasted from the speakers. From out of the dark came the CMA New Artist of the Year nominee, Brett Eldredge, running onto the stage dressed as Bam Bam and carrying a club. With one shoulder and his feet bare, Eldredge opened his sixteen plus song set with ‘I Ain’t Gotta Be Love.’ With the first line of the chorus being, “It’s time to get a little weekend crazy,” a quite appropriate song to start off an electrifying energy filled next hour and a half. Before his next song ‘On and On,’ from his 2013 debut album ‘Bring You Back.’ Eldredge asked his fans if they were ready to get sexy on a Thursday night for Halloween before exclaiming, “I’ve never worn a cave man costume on stage before. ” The crowd went crazy screaming so loud it was hard to hear what Eldredge was saying.
Before singing his second number one hit, ‘Beat of the Music,’ Eldredge introduced the song asking, “Are you ready to fall in love to the beat of the music?” ‘Bring You Back’ was sung before Eldredge slowed things down for his soulful ballad ‘One Mississippi.’ He sang the song with only a keyboard accompaniment by his band member, James. Eldredge sang the song with so much emotion, you could see it on his face and hear it in the passion of the words. It captivated the audience and they quieted down a bit to hear his strong baritone sing the lyrics.
Keeping to the quiet tone of the previous song Eldredge went right into his current single. ‘Mean to Me.’ A definite favorite for the female fans in the crowd, especially after he raised his glass in a cheer saying “there are a lot of pretty girls out here tonight.” After trying out a Boston accent telling the crowd how much he loves playing in the city and that we keep him rocking saying “tell me where to pahk,” he sang ‘Signs.’ Eldredge explained that the song is about how you can tell what a town is all about by riding through it and reading all the signs. Eldredge treated us to a new song he is working on for his second album titled, ‘Just a Taste.’
The show continued on as he sang the cover song ‘Night Moves’ by Bob Seger and ended his set with his first number one hit ‘Don’t Ya.’ While he was singing jumping around on stage saying, “I can’t stop moving I’m having too much fun!” After a brief break, Eldredge and his band returned to the stage for an encore in which he sang a medley of cover songs that included, among others, ‘Georgia on My Mind,’ ‘Your Body is a Wonderland,’ and ‘Roxanne.’ He was also joined on stage by the Brothers Osborne.
Brett Eldredge brought not only energy and talent but humor and a sense of pride to the city of Boston, thanking WKLB several times for supporting his music, playing his songs and having him last year at their first WKLB Street Party. Before exiting the stage for the night he thanked everyone for dressing up and saying “I love you all so much, thank you for coming out tonight.”
Thank you, Brett, for an absolutely amazing show filled with an unending supply of energy and excitement and of course great country music; and please come back soon because Boston loves you too.
Written by Lorraine Frigoletto, contributing writer for NECM follow me on Twitter.