On Friday May 29th, Gary Allan brought his ‘Songs About Rain’ to the Maine State Pier in Portland. The weather was warm even as the fog rolled in and it sprinkled most of the night and not a single person seemed to care as we were entertained by opening acts The Kelly Parker Band and North of Nashville. Then for a solid hour and a half, Gary entertained the crowd with hit after hit, from his first radio single to his latest and each one in between.
The Kelly Parker Band opened the show with a four song set that included covers of Little Big Town’s ‘Girl Crush’ and Sugarland’s ‘It Happens.’ It was the band’s first show after a two year hiatus.
The two man band, North of Nashville, took the stage next. The band is made up of Jay Basiner and Andrew Martelle, who between the two of them play many instruments including guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin, and drums. Their set included several of their original songs including ‘Great State of Maine,’ and ‘Leave the Light On.’ They also played a cover of Jamey Johnson’s ‘In Color.’ They did a great job getting the crowd fired up before Gary Allan took the stage.
Gary came on stage at 8:30 dressed to the nines in a blue suit, singing his hit ‘Watching Airplanes.’ He kept on going and performed ‘Smoke Rings in the Dark,’ and ‘Nothin’ On But The Radio.’ Gary performed song after song pausing only long enough to change guitars or take a sip from his solo cup. There was little need for small talk as he let the music do the talking.
He told us that he had recently attended a Stevie Wonder concert that was about three hours long and he didn’t recognize a single song that Stevie sang. He said “it bummed me out so bad I decided I didn’t ever want to do that to anybody,” and that he was going to play the songs we all knew with just a couple of new ones mixed in. He definitely didn’t disappoint playing songs like his first single from 1995 ‘Her Man’ along with his biggest hits like ‘Tough,’ ‘Today,’ ‘Beautiful Every Time,’ ‘It Would Be You,’ and ‘Best I Ever Had.’
One of the new songs that Gary did play for us was ‘Mess Me Up’ which is off his upcoming album ‘Hangover Tonight.’ He told the crowd that it is one of his favorite songs off the new album and as he was playing it, he broke a string on his guitar and without missing a beat he tore the string off and kept on playing. As the song ended he asked the crowd “Is it a keeper?” The crowd cheered, and judging by the grin on his face that was the reaction he was looking for. He also played his latest single ‘Hangover Tonight’ for us, and told us that he had just filmed the video for the single and said he can’t wait for us to see it.
After singing ‘Right Where I Need To Be,’ he waved to the crowd and left the stage. Not a single person moved from where they were and after a few minutes the lights came back on and the band came back. Then Gary ran back out on stage without his suit jacket and his sleeves rolled up singing ‘He Can’t Quit Her.’
Gary then told us that he wasn’t planning to sing ‘Felt Like You’ until someone in the meet and greet line asked him if he would. He ended the show with a song he told us is his “favorite whiskey drinking song,” ‘Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey,’ which was appropriate as Gary and his band were actually drinking whiskey during the night as they had a bottle of Jack Daniels up on stage with them.
Gary Allan is a true musician and entertainer. He was engaged with the crowd the entire night. People in the crowd were remarking how he great he sounds live, and many didn’t realize he had that many songs that they would know. Overall it was a great night and we can’t wait to see Gary back in New England in the future!