Davis makes for a Damn Good Time
Leader Bank Pavilion, Boston, September 5, 2024
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz
Instead, Alan Jackson (twice actually with "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow" and "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"), Brooks & Dunn, Trisha Yearwood and Dwight Yoakam provided the springboard to country past as they provided the recorded intro to Davis.
That didn't mean that the three live acts had nothing to offer. It's just that they – especially Tenpenny and Cooke – tended to cater towards the modern, rock side of country. Put another way, the only traditional country instrument you would have heard tonight was a slight bit of banjo from Davis' show.
Cooke set the stage with a taut, half-hour set. A sunny personality with a big smile, Cooke is a very good singer. She's one of a number of younger female artists in country – Ella Langley, Alana Springsteen among them – who are making a mark.
Cooke had no problem filling the venue, which was far bigger than her show headlining Brighton Music Hall last summer where she showed herself to be a musical force to be reckoned with.
Tonight, it was more of a case of Cooke going for a much bigger, much more rocking sound that just wasn't very country. Not when your medley is "Come Clean," "Complicated," "Life Is A Highway" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."
Cooke did far better with "Moving On with Grace," the pensive "it's been a year" and closing out with her number one hit, the break-up song "your place." A good set overall, but Cooke is capable of more.
Tenpenny also was more rock than country although he had far more edge to his guitar than the other two acts. He has a soulful quality to his vocal delivery, which at times had to contend to be heard above the musical fray of his band.
Curiously, Tenpenny never mentioned that his album, "The 3rd," drops in just two weeks, although he did play material from it. "Not Today" sounded particularly good.
Everything seemed bigger with Davis except the rock sound. Yes, there was some of that, but his 87-minute show felt more the chance to get a glimpse of what Davis is about on the inside. When he ended the show with perhaps his best song, "Buy Dirt," he stated – without trying to be preachy, he said – that he was all about faith, family and friends. Davis certainly sang of what he believed.
"Next Thing You Know," prefaced by Davis talking about his three kids, one of whom celebrated his birthday the day before, was a winner as well. Believable, sincere and well sung.
Davis employed a lot of graphics, some colorful, some homespun including photos from his wedding. Some might think it's cheesy, but it made sense in the context of the song.
This was not a night big on originality – for the most part. All three acts asked the packed crowd to whip out their cellphones. Not exactly organic.
Davis did display a stroke of ingenuity with his covers. Interestingly, he found an old mixtape of his, a soundtrack to his late teens.
With that, he and his band played Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Want to Be," The Fray's "Over My Head (Cable Car)," Maroon 5's "This Love" with guitarist Jonathon Jircitano ably handling lead vocals, Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder & Lead" with Cooke back out on lead; and finally Blink-182's "All the Small Things" with Tenpenny taking lead.
The only problem with this and the two song segments right before this (Davis played a three-song medley from his first disc "Home State" and two from last year's "Bluebird Days") was that they were almost all truncated. Hey, if you believe in the songs and they're good enough, why not play the whole thing? After all, Davis said they'd play until they got kicked out (FYI, that didn't happen. Curfew was at 11 p.m., and the show ended 23 minutes before that)
It was a fun part of the show, and Davis deserved credit not only for creativity, but having enough self-confidence to let others take center stage (Davis did help out on backing vocals, but never overstepping the others).
Thankful to the crowd, Davis pointed out that he gets to play bigger and bigger venues in Boston. This may not have been the biggest night on the traditional country side, but the very real Davis did provide a Damn Good Time.
©Country Standard Time • Jeffrey B. Remz, editor & publisher • countrystandardtime@gmail.com
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