| Concert Review of Kid Rock at Smirnoff Music Centre on Sat Jul 24, 2004 |
| Event Date |
| Sat Jul 24, 2004 |
| Source |
| Dallas Morning News |
| Concert Review Preview |
| Review: Kid Rock and Hank Jr. loud and proud at Smirnoff 10:21 AM CDT on Sunday, July 25, 2004 By MARIO TARRADELL / The Dallas Morning News The similarities abound: Hank Williams Jr. and Kid Rock are nearly identical in their stage personas and musical prowess. Both flaunt loud-and-proud attitudes, boastful qualities that dangle between confident and obnoxious. They shine as fearless multi-instrumentalists. And both revere American roots music. But on a double bill Saturday night at Smirnoff Music Centre, the differences between country's famed Bocephus and rock-rap's Kid seemed evident. The crowd of 14,255 probably never noticed any of it. They were too busy partying to catch the nuances. Hank Jr. took the stage first, letting his good friend Kid Rock be the headliner. Backed by a top-notch seven-piece band, he performed songs from his long career with rabid energy. At 55, he shows no sign of slowing down onstage. All his raucous staples – "All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight," "Born to Boogie," "Family Tradition" – exploded with the same country-rocking power. Ditto for "Kah-Liga," one of several salutes to his influential daddy. In fact, the stage was decorated with vintage posters of Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and John Lee Hooker. The T-shirt Hank Jr. wore featured a photo of Mr. Hooker. In rapid-fire style, he picked up a slew of instruments to crank out riffs – the electric guitar, the upright bass, the acoustic guitar and the fiddle. He stayed with the acoustic guitar for a long solo performance, where he squeezed in everything from "Texas Woman" and "Honky Tonkin" to "Young Country" and "There's a Tear in My Beer." That dragged the show down, but it sure was Hank Jr. up close and personal. These days, Hank Jr.'s gigs are refreshingly devoid of the over-the-top padding that used to sink his stints back in the '80s. Age has tempered his ego, so we just get his great musicianship. Kid Rock hasn't learned that valuable lesson yet. The guy is hell-bent on cluttering his songwriting and musical talents with clichés. He had barely dressed go-go girls dancing by vertical poles, too much pyrotechnics, a Confederate flag, a U.S. flag and so much self-aggrandizing posturing it was like a caricature. . |
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