Alan Jackson Concert Review
Written and photos by Ray Williams
Where do I start? 13 studio albums, 3 Greatest Hits albums, 2 Holiday albums, 1 Gospel album and several compilations, over 50 of his singles appeared on Billboard top 30 country songs, 35 were #1 and 50 where top 10. 2 Grammys, 16 CMA, 17 ACM and nominee of multiple other awards. Jackson is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry inducted in 1991. Alan Jackson is a living legend!
In Jackson’s early life, he really wasn’t a fan of music; it wasn’t until a friend introduced him to Gene Watson, John Anderson and Hank Williams Jr. He started a band after high school, up until then he only sang in church with his family. Alan’s first job was at the age of 12 in a shoe repair store, then in his 20’s he was a Car and Furniture Salesman, Carpenter, Home-builder, Garage Worker, Fork-lift Driver at K-Mart and Mailroom worker at TNN.
Alan Jackson’s representative’s where out in the audience before the show asking if people wanted to upgrade their seats from way at the back of the arena to front row! Heather Jackson (left) Ainslea Schneider (right) were two of the lucky ones that evening. All throughout the stadium there were fans dressed in White/ black Alan T-shirts Cowboy boots and jeans with of course the Cowboy hat. I met up with two other A.J fans Alicia Hagan & Melissa Tran.
A twenty five min. countdown finally expired and Alan Jackson emerged to a frenzied audience screaming, “We want A.J.” The Show started with videos of Alan Jackson’s number one hit’s throughout the years. Jackson ran through as many hits as possible including “Good Times,” Living on love,” and the classic party song “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere.” Although Jimmy Buffet was not physically in the building’ his presence was felt. There’s not much to say about Jackson, other than, this is what country music should sound like live!
This was my third time seeing Alan Jackson in concert, and he did not disappoint; what made this show stand out from all the others was that Alan was more interactive with the fans, tossing guitar picks and a few t-shirts into the crowd, also signing autographs and giving high fives. I spotted Jason McCoy in the audience as he was sitting 5 seats over from me, enjoying the show, being a fan! Jackson’s show is very simple, as always, he lets his music speak for him and tries to keep the show moving. He told the audience that he wanted everyone to have a goodtime and to stand up and dance if they wanted! Most of the audience was standing up dancing and belting out their favorite A.J songs. His eight piece band consisted of Monty Allen – acoustic guitar, harmony vocals, Scott Coney – acoustic guitar, tic tac bass, banjo, Robbie Flint – steel guitar, Danny Groah – lead guitar, Mark McClurg – fiddle, harmony vocals, Bruce Rutherford – drums, Joey Schmidt – keyboards and Roger Wills – bass guitar behind him sounded great, and Jackson closed out his show, as he always does, with an extended
version of “Where I came from” Showing Hamilton’s land marks like Hess village, The Honest Lawyer restaurant, McMaster University and The Hamilton Bulldogs!
As the concert ended, and people were going home, fans were still yelling “Alan Jackson.”
