When I first realized Blake Shelton was coming to Charlottesville I had to get the best tickets possible. There was no way I would be sitting in the nosebleed seats for my future husband’s show. Reality quickly set in when I remembered I am a college student on a budget.
September 13th 2013 would forever be known as the day that Nina started believing in miracles. Anthropologie, where my roommate works, hosted a fashion show and silent auction to raise money for the New City Arts Initiative. She decided to put her last $10 into a raffle for concert tickets, and the next morning I am being sprung out of bed with the news that she had won two floor seat tickets to the Blake Shelton concert on September 28th, prompting me sing “God Gave Me You” to my friend for the next two weeks.
There is no doubt in my mind as to why Blake Shelton was named Entertainer of the Year at the 2012 CMAs. As far as I’m concerned, Blake deserves to be Entertainer of all time in country music. One thing that I absolutely adore about country concerts is that they do not feel the need to have an absurdly large set on stage and Blake was no exception. They do not have dancers, 40 backup singers, 20 costume changes and dancing monkeys running around stage. It was just a man, his guitar and his glass of whiskey.
Everything about Blake’s show was amazing and it began with the opening act. Though we missed Jana Kramer due to the fact that we refused to believe the concert would start at 7:30 pm, it did. Easton Corbin was amazing and entertaining, singing some of his hits such as “Little More Country Than That” and “All Over the Road”. Although he was amazing, I was greatly anticipating the start of Blake’s show. The fact Corbin wore tight jeans and cowboy boots certainly did make the wait for Blake to come on stage just a little bit easier.
Finally after years of waiting to be in the same room as Blake Shelton he appeared on stage like a 6’5” Oklahoman country God. Dressed in a button down, blue jeans and cowboy boots rocking his barbwire and deer tracks tattoo. For someone who is rarely starstuck I must admit a few tears were shed in the beginning, maybe even the middle, okay throughout most of the concert. My cheeks were burning with pain from smiling so hard and singing along at the top of my lungs. He started out the night with “All About Tonight”.
Throughout the night he continued to play all of the fan favorites. I suppose I didn’t realize how big of a fan I really was until I was standing approximately 75 feet away from his screaming his lyrics at him at full force just praying that he would make eye contact with me. One big reason as to why I, along with millions of other people love Blake so much is that he is real. Several times during the concert Blake stopped the music to share a story with the audience. The moment that tugged at my heartstrings the most was when he grabbed a guitar and a chair, sat down at the front of the stage and explained how hard it always is for him to sing the next song. He was about to sing “Over You” that him and Miranda (his wife) wrote about the death of his brother. You could hear the pain and passion in his voice throughout the song.
After “Over You” Blake stayed on the chair with his guitar and asked the audience how many of us have been with him from the beginning. Though many may say I’m bluffing since I was only around 9 years old when Blake first started coming out with songs, at 9 I already knew the words to every George Strait and Clint Black song ever written, so there is no doubt I was with Blake from the start. He sang “Austin” which to this day is one of my favorites. Several more songs followed and he closed out the night with “Boys Round Here”.
As people started to leave my room mate and I knew that if we had left right then we could easily get out of JPJ arena and not worry about big crowds of people after the encore but we refused. Blake Shelton sang “God Gave Me You” and it was absolutely worth the wait and traffic we hit after the concert. My roommate and I naturally sang along, mostly to each other. After the song was over my heart slightly sank because I knew the concert was over, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
If going to a Blake Shelton concert was not on your bucket list before, you must, put it on there right this second. There is nothing more honest, simple and fun than a true country concert. If you like to wear blue jeans, good music, singing, dancing and drinking beer (coke if you are under 21) then you must buy yourself a ticket to Blake Shelton’s Ten Times Crazier tour.