Ssshhh...this one's going to be a surprise...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a30R_drH2GA

Video removed...replacement...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbeQa2hmznk



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi33OubRblU

I can't find a concrete concert setlist, but the older ones I've seen look to be songs from his 1980 Greatest Hits, plus a few others...



(I'd Be) A Legend in My Time
(I'm A) Stand By My Woman Man
Pure Love
Daydreams About Night Things
It Was Almost Like a Song
Smoky Mountain Rain
Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends
Back on My Mind Again
What a Difference You've Made in My Life

Fortunately, that's the one I have, as seen on this older pic...



...plus I have...

I Wouldn't Have Missed It For The World
(There's) No Gettin' Over Me
Any Day Now
Let's Take The Long Way Around The World
Lost In The 50's Tonight (In The Still Of The Night)

I think that'll mostly cover it, I don't want to drop hints that I have tickets although she may find out anyway (occasionally listens to FM Country in the car when she's not listening to the 80's station). In any case, she's going to freak!

Our seats ($35.00) are meh, second row in the back section and off to one side (about where we sat for Rick Springfield). The auditorium isn't all that large so we should be fine. This one is selling out fast!

Also, Ronnie Milsap is calling this his farewell tour (he's 74), our show is third to last on the tour. I still owe my wife a Loretta Lynn concert at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, and she's 85!

Saw him live many years ago. He got really close to the edge of the stage several times and his backup singers acted like they were afraid he was going to fall. It was obviously part of the act, how he knew where the stage edge was I have no idea.

I think about older singers (especially the ones who also play an instrument) and how they sometimes use a cheat screen to help with remembering lyrics (Geddy Lee), whereas the blind guys have no backup.

++++++++++

I haven't decided yet how to secretly prep for this one, probably going to go full Classic Country the beginning of Dec. and include Ronnie Milsap so it won't seem conspicuous. Like with Funk and Southern Rock, it's normal for me to get on a musical genre kick for a couple of weeks or so and I haven't done Country in a long time (also have lots of Alabama). As long as she doesn't hear it advertised or gets an automated e-mail or something, then she'll just ask me to get tickets. Of course, I could just say it's sold out (and likely will be).

I tried getting Loretta Lynn tickets last year at a casino in Marksville, LA. Pffft...no chance, sold out immediately.

Getting into some old-school mellow Country now, "YeeHaw!"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZIqCLqFSOo

He kinda churches this one up for the audience, even changing the lyrics a bit (I believe it was an intimate gospel concert or something), but what a good song and the recording is of very good quality...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSVy5HrFGbs

AFAIK, wife still has no idea I have tickets for Sat. evening (found a way to purchase them under her radar, no online CC detection). And she recently purchased cowboy boots, that'll work for this night.

Man, I really do hate to say this, but overall we were a little disappointed by this concert. We don't regret going at all and we'd love to see some of the other older Country musicians play just once in our lifetime (and this is Ronnie's last tour), but overall it was a bit of a letdown.

Not that Ronnie didn't play or sing well, he did (as did his band), but the concert lasted only 1 hr. 15 min. and he played what we later counted as 6 (possibly 7) Christmas songs (some sung by his band members). Not to be a Grinch, but with such a short show, he didn't have time to play his bigger hits in their entirety, either playing short/half versions of a song ("It Was Almost like a Song"...lol) or playing a medley of hits (pretty much the rest of them, minus 5 or 6 songs). He played at least two long medleys covering many songs, each song shortened to the beginning verses and chorus or chorus only.

Fortunately, he did play “Smoky Mountain Rain” completely, which was the second-to-last song of the evening (followed by a final Christmas song). I knew when he started “Smoky Mountain Rain” that there would be no encore (possibly my first show ever without one), but that's understandable. You can't do a grand intro either with an older blind guy, the band just started playing as a couple of assistants slowly walked Ronnie to the piano (he stood up only once during the show, but with help...none of the edge of the stage stuff anymore).

Very entertaining though, even if we felt like youngsters among the mostly older and subdued crowd, although I doubt his audience has ever been very rambunctious at his shows. And we did enjoy hearing at least bits and pieces of just about every hit we know, just that some of them were more of a tease ("Let's Take The Long Way Around The World", singing only the opening versus and then the chorus twice, but absolutely nailing the higher pitch vocals on the second chorus). I wish he would have kept the Christmas stuff to a minimum, maybe one or two songs, and played his bigger hits completely. But the crowd seemed to enjoy it, some even standing up and doing this side-step dance to one song (at times I felt more of an observer of the audience, than a participant).

At least he didn't change his songs up to being almost unrecognizable (lots of older Country musicians do this, sometimes drastically changing tune/pitch/even lyrics). Also why I won't go see James Taylor, love his music but not what I've seen of his live performances.

Still glad we went, wife was quite surprised and we had a good time, but sooo looking forward now to the regular 2-hour Rock/Pop show by the Molly Ringwalds, Dec. 30 in the same auditorium.

Only took a few pics (which never come out well in the Casino auditorium) and I'll add captions to them later.

*** EDIT: Captions added... ***

Band comes out and starts playing as assistants retrieve Mr. Milsap (left of stage), they sit him down and then the lights go out as the show gets cranking...








Barbershop-style vocals only...




Post-show stage pickup, wife had a conversation (outside of pic) with one of the musicians (keyboardist, steel guitarist, sax player). Dude was good, especially his sax playing in "Lost In The 50's Tonight (In The Still Of The Night)"...




Leaving the Casino auditorium...





++++++++++

Adding an old Molly Ringwalds pic, showing chairs and portable bleachers removed (good idea to have the option)...



We're up front and left (as always), my hands in the air (I can never keep still).

^ Pic captions added above.

++++++++++

One more negative and positive...

A negative was that the sound wasn't nearly loud enough at first (you shouldn't be able to hear conversations behind you, and proper volume discourages people from having them), but it was mostly resolved about halfway through the show.

A positive is that this song was played (in its entirety) after the volume adjustment was made and damn did it sound good live...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHD4kGY7tbs


Ok, one more hit that I really like, to wrap up this thread with (unfortunately was part of a medley)...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJSjEl1JhHc

Just the wrong time of year to avoid Christmas songs for sure, I think this is something you have to consider going forward on a lot of the older artists who have put out Christmas albums over the years or those with Christmas albums and not a large library of hits.

80's Milsap!



20yr Old Mariska Hargitay in this one + some other recognizable faces

You make a very good point, David. I hadn't thought about these older Country dudes having Christmas albums and hits over the years...




Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed the Christmas tunes, I just wish those songs would have been included in medleys and more of his hits played entirely. Hard to fault the shorter-length show though, given his and lots of the audience's age, and we are glad to have seem him as he's about to retire. The timing was just bad with his BR concert being right before Christmas.

Alright, I have an unrelated (to his concert) grievance with Ronnie Milsap. His Greatest Hits CD (posted earlier in thread with song listing) is missing a couple of songs that were on my 8-track...



Why would they leave off songs, *especially* "Let's Take The Long Way Around The World?" I *knew* I'd heard that song before and was scratching my head how I knew it so well yet it wasn't on my CD. Because it was left off the CD (as is all of 8-track program 4)! So I purchased the MP3s and a few others from Amazon to make my Hits compilation complete.

Gonna add one more thing...

This was only my third Country Music concert I've been to in my life, my first two (both arena concerts)...

Alabama "Roll On" - Sept. 29, 1984
Brad Paisley "Virtual Reality" - Oct. 13, 2012

...were for my wife, although Alabama grew on me (they were popular across genres in the early-to-mid-80's).

My aunt loved Ronnie Milsap, but he never really grew on me except for some of his hits, especially "Smoky Mountain Rain" which was played constantly on one of the radio stations I listened to (competing with Styx's "The Best Of Times"). Despite my complaints about the Ronnie Milsap concert Sat. evening (mostly shortness of show), the show was worth $35.00 (X2) and we'd see him again if he weren't retiring. We'd also love to see Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson just once, especially in a smaller venue.

I would have never guessed it was her.


Wheels