hursday
night with their Soul2Soul2 Tour and clearly brought the thunder with them.
While a summer storm rained down outside the arena, about 20,000 fans inside the
TD Banknorth Garden were hanging on every note of the famous country couple.Tim McGraw and Faith Hill rolled
into Boston, MA. On Thursday
night with their Soul2Soul2 Tour and clearly brought the thunder with them.
While a summer storm rained down outside the arena, about 20,000 fans inside the
TD Banknorth Garden were hanging on every note of the famous country couple.
With a repertoire of old hits
and new songs, solos and duets, Hill and McGraw kept things popping and moving,
spending little to no time chatting between songs. The two rose dramatically
from opposite ends of the stage floor with the opening “Chasing Cars” (Snow
Patrol) and then McGraw left the stage to Hill. She sang many of her hits,
including “This Kiss,” “The Way You Love Me,” “Sunshine and Summertime,” and
“Cry.” She included her newest single “Lost” and tore the stage up and had the
audience
standing and cheering to her rocking version of the Janis Joplin classic, “Piece
of My Heart.” She ended the set with “Mississippi Girl.”
Things quieted as McGraw returned to the stage for two more serious duets, “Angr All the Time” and “Like We Never Loved at All,” before starting his own solo set. His set began with Steve Miller’s ”The Joker” and continued through a mix of his best hits —“Everywhere,” “The Cowboy in Me,” and “For a Little While,” and new songs, “Suspicion” and “Between the River and Me.” McGraw had everyone on their feet for “Live Like You Were Dying,” playing up to the crowd to keep applauding which they generously did and he responded that this was why he loves what he does. McGraw ended the set with a rocking, loud version of “Indian Outlaw” that saw him running along all four catwalks (the “X” shaped stage is mid arena) and then wading down on to the floor to slap hands with the front rows and anyone with a long reach.
Encores were a must for this concert and McGraw/Hill didn’t disappoint. McGraw came on with his newest hit, “If You’re Reading This” and the audience stayed quiet for the song, only rising at the end for a standing ovation. Hill joined him for several more songs before the lights finally came up and the last thunderous applause rocked the place.
Lori McKenna, Stoughton, MA., singer and the songwriter Faith Hill used for her Fireflies album, opened the concert and received a warm welcome from the hometown crowd.
While McGraw and Hill are terrific showmen and give their all in performance, I did find that the staging leaves something to be desired. The most expensive seats in the house were on the floor. The round stage in the middle and two side catwalks are raised quite high making it easy to see the singer, however there are two lower walkways that make it impossible to see the performer when they are on the other side (the screen embedded in the side of the stage is too low to view except by the first few rows.) For a good half of the show you were sitting or standing staring at an empty space and only listening to the music. While the set was probably designed for maximum viewing from the side seats and balconies in these large arenas – it maybe time to come up with a new set up.