The red solo cups were abundant in the Xfinity Center parking lots on July 22nd as fans from across the region descended on the concert hotspot for the Big Dog Daddy- also known as Toby Keith. The burly country star brought his Interstates & Tailgates Tour to Mansfield which also featured Waterloo Revival, an up-and-coming band signed to Keith’s record label, as well as the iconic David Lee Murphy, who was filling in for Eric Paslay. New England Country Music was given an All-Access pass for the night full of good music, lots of beer, and even more patriotism.
Waterloo Revival kicked off the night on the Xfinity Center stage and brought the energy from the first beat. The Texans took the stage and began their set with ‘Summer Thing’ and ‘I Could Get Used to This,’ two songs off their ‘Front Row’ EP released back in March. Since Prince’s passing in April, we’ve seen many artists perform tributes to the legendary artist and Waterloo Revival followed suit with a soulful rendition of ‘Purple Rain’ which had the crowd singing along. But afterwards, it was time to crank the energy back up in the amphitheater! George told the crowd, “If you don’t know how to do the Nae Nae, don’t worry about it. We’re gonna show you how to do the ‘Backwood Bump!’” And the duo did just that as they swayed around the stage playing their set named after their dance. Next up was a great cover of Maroon 5’s ‘Harder to Breathe’ and another song off the EP, called ‘That Damn I Didn’t Give,’ which they told the crowd is a song about not knowing what you got until it’s gone. With only a few minutes left in their set, Waterloo Revival had just enough time for two more songs. The first of which was their original, ‘Bad For You.’ George told the crowd, “It’s uptown, it’s kind of funny. We’re gonna be shaking it up here if you wanna shake it out there!” The duo finished their night in Mansfield with a cover of Marshall Tucker Band’s ‘Can’t You See’ before waving to the crowd and thanking the fans for coming in early to see them play. Waterloo Revival definitely set the tone for the night with an energy filled set full of great originals and great covers and had the crowd buzzing about their performance.
Eric Paslay has had the middle slot for the majority of the tour but due to schedule conflicts, Eric was unable to make it to Mansfield. In his place, Toby called him his old friend and one of the biggest singer-songwriters in country music- none other than David Lee Murphy. Now, if fans at the show didn’t know him by name, they soon learned it as he gave Mansfield a lesson on not only his original music but several of the hits that he wrote for other artists. The cowboy took the stage with his hat and guitar in tow and first played the crowd one of his originals, ‘Out With A Bang,’ the title track of his debut album back in 1994, and followed that up with another original, titled ‘Loco.’ But after that it was time for David Lee Murphy to really kick in his lesson by playing hit after hit after hit. First was ‘Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,’ which was recorded by Thompson Square. Next was ‘Living in Fast Forward,’ to which he prefaced by saying, “this is one I wrote for a friend of mine named Kenny Chesney,” to which the crowd applauded loudly. Before playing ‘Big Green Tractor,’ (recorded by Jason Aldean), Murphy told the crowd, “I was on my farm this morning in Tennessee and there was a full moon and I just thought to myself, ‘We’re gonna be in Massachusetts tonight.’ It was worth the wait. Thank you.”
And it was time for another hit. How about ‘Only Way I Know,’ a song many fans know because of Jason Aldean, Eric Church, and Luke Bryan, but it was David Lee Murphy that penned the song. While many fans were in awe with the songs that he wrote for other artists, many were looking forward to some more of the icon’s original music. And David obliged with a throwback to his 1995 hit, ‘Party Crowd.’ Now there is only one way for David Lee Murphy to end any show that he plays. Over the past few years, Garth Brooks’ ‘Friends in Low Places,’ is probably the most covered song but not far behind that has to be David Lee Murphy’s ‘Dust On The Bottle.’ As soon as the first chords were strum on the guitars on stage, the rest of the crowd took to their feet and there was a buzz in the amphitheater that wasn’t present before. The fans sang and danced along to every note of the song. While Eric Paslay is a great performer and would have done well at the Xfinity Center, but we were so excited to be able to see a set from the iconic David Lee Murphy and from what we could tell, other fans in the crowd were as well.
As Toby Keith was starting his Meet and Greet backstage, rain began to fall from the sky. And with just minutes before the Big Dog Daddy took the stage, lightning lit up the sky and thunder echoed on the roof of the venue sending fans from the lawn sprinting down to the covered seats. What life experiences or events helped shape this person’s life? After an extended intro video on the screens on stage which prominently featured Ford trucks (Ford was also the sponsor of the tour), fans began hooting and hollering as the man that Forbes previously called Country’s $500 Million Man took the stage. Keith treated fans to a number of his biggest hits including ‘American Ride’ and ‘Made in America’ to start the evening. And the hits kept rolling with ‘Beers Ago,’ ‘I Wanna Talk About Me’ and ‘Whiskey Girl.’
After playing the title track of his most recent album ’35 MPH Town’ and ‘A Few More Cowboys,’ which he released as a single earlier this summer and is a song we can expect on his next album, Toby exclaimed to the crowd, “Drink it up Massachusetts!” Earlier in the night, we got a tribute to Prince and Toby would continue with a tribute of his own, except not to the iconic pop star, but instead to a country icon and one of his good friends who passed away earlier this year- Merle Haggard. The medley included some of Haggard’s biggest hits including ‘Mama Tried,’ ‘I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,’ ‘Silver Wings’ and ‘Okie From Muskogee.’ During the medley, photos of Toby and Merle flashed across the video boards which made the montage even more special as the fans were treated to this montage of Toby’s memories with Haggard. He went on to say, “They give me 6 minutes to do all his shit. I could’ve done it in six hours,” as a testament to Haggard’s long and touted career in the country genre.
It was time to get back to the tunes of the Big Dog Daddy and the crowd was singing along to ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ but it wasn’t as big of a sing-a-long as it was for Keith’s massive 2007 double-Platinum hit, ‘Red Solo Cup.’ Afterwards, Toby told the fans, “I feel the need to do some real country redneck songs right now,” and followed that statement up with ‘As Good As I Once Was’ and ‘I Love This Bar.’ “Gather around, buckaroos,” Keith directed before playing ‘I Should’ve Been A Cowboy.’ To end the night, Toby Keith played ‘How Do You Like Me Now’ and notched up the patriotism with ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.’
The Mansfield stop on the Interstates & Tailgates Tour had it all and then some. From a rising country duo to two incredibly talented singer-songwriters. Fans came with high hopes for a great show and Toby Keith did that with his incredible stage presence and music but also the direction that he has given Waterloo Revival and the presence of David Lee Murphy. For the openers, there was no better experience than to be able to learn this business and learn the live experience than from Toby Keith. And for the two elders of the show, there was no better crowd to play for than the appreciative and high energy fans that were in attendance at the Xfinity Center.
