Any concerns for a lack of impartiality regarding this
review were well and truly extinguished at 10:48 PM on the Friday of the fourth
Country to Country Festival. At this exact minute Miranda Lambert exited the
stage at London’s O2 Arena following her inaugural overseas show. This feat
answered the wishes for legions of her fans in the UK and one in particular who
was hooked nearly a decade ago when first listening to ‘Famous in a Small Town’. Alas this track didn’t make the set list
on the evening, along with much of her best material which gets buried on albums,
but what we did witness was a supreme performer sealing the deal with a
scintillating performance.
You would expect an artist of Miranda’s stature to assemble a top notch touring band and it was no surprise to marvel at their ace accompaniment to a string of numbers spanning the length of her recording career. Fiddle and especially steel was given the oxygen to flourish among the cacophony of blistering guitar pieces acutely projecting song after song around the arena. When the pitch eased off Miranda stepped up her game and left many emotionally drained with the poignantly uplifting ‘The House That Built Me’. This track, actually one of only a few of her hits which make my virtual ‘Miranda Top 20’, was part of a mesmerising parade of songs in the latter stages of her set which demanded a frozen in time moment. The band’s cover of the Danny O’Keefe song ‘Covered Wagon’ saw all facets of the onstage ensemble in harmonious heaven and a major musical highlight was the end instrumental segment to ‘White Liar’.
However there were two downsides to the set which headlined
the first day of this growing festival. A little over an hour and a quarter
could have been extended by ten minutes and just when it seemed we were going
to hear the John Prine cover ‘That’s the
Way the World Goes Round’, reality dawned that the intended song was ZZ Top’s
‘Tush’. Anything that Miranda and the
band played tonight would have been exemplary. ‘Smokin’ and Drinkin’, way down on my list of favourite songs from
PLATINUM, was brought to life by some emotive pedal steel, while the lead
single from that album ‘Automatic’
circulated the venue with more than an air of nostalgia.
Early-Miranda Lambert bookended the pre-encore set in the
guise of the electrifying ‘Kerosene’
and the impassioned ‘Gunpowder and Lead’.
Sadly that was it from the first two Miranda albums, but things
were brought right up to date with an airing of ‘Sweet By and By’ from the new Dave Cobb produced compilation
record: SOUTHERN FAMILY. Many interpretations of PLATINUM framed it as a gender
album and to complete the pickings from it tonight, ‘Bathroom Sink’ and ‘Little
Red Wagon’ played to this gallery. The latter saw Miranda in full sass mode
and a phase that engages many.
Word got around on the wires that Miranda had gate crashed
the songwriters’ event the previous evening to sing ‘Heart
Like Mine’ with her good friend Ashley Monroe and this double reunion was
in repeat mode twenty four hours later. She had included the song in her arena
set list and further extended the invitation for Ashley to join her for the
first encore song and an apt choice to sing the James Taylor standard ‘You’ve Got a Friend’. The inevitable sad
moment was about to arrive as the band returned to the stage to close a
fabulous night with a rocking version of ‘Bitch’
originally on the Stones STICKY FINGERS album.
Before the final words on Miranda Lambert’s debut UK
performance, full credit must be given to the legendary Dwight Yoakam who
played an impressive relentless hour of a musical style steeped in the psyche
of honky tonk country. A visitor to the UK on several occasions over the last
thirty years, Dwight hones in on a certain sound and preserves its integrity with
impressive gusto. It took about twenty minutes of Dwight’s hour long set to
connect with the groove, but once coupling occurred, there was no looking back. ‘Honky Tonk Man’ injected renewed vigour
into the set about half way through and by the time we reached the classic ‘Guitars, Cadillacs’, the man who single
handedly champions the Bakersfield Sound had delivered his part of country music
legacy. A similar trait between the sets of Dwight and Miranda was the lack of
general chat from the stage, but perhaps festival arenas are the place where music does the
best talking and more than a few column inches on these two stars can be found
elsewhere.
While full commendation is reserved for the organisers in
the back to back scheduling of Miranda Lambert and Dwight Yoakam, there was a
feeling that Friday night punters were a little short changed from one less act
for the same outlay compared with the Saturday and Sunday shows. Thomas Rhett
was awarded the slot of opening the festival’s arena weekend and I’ll let others
invest more keyboard time in conducting an analysis. Ashley Monroe was used by
the organisers to promote the Friday; however it was disappointing that she was
awarded only ten minutes on the satellite stage. Surely the arena could have
had the same opening times throughout the weekend and thus allow Ashley a
better platform her talent warrants. On the plus side, listening to her best
song ‘Like a Rose’ from only half a
dozen paces away was one of the highlights of a weekend which ebbed and flowed
before a barnstorming conclusion.
Will this show be the catalyst for a Miranda Lambert love
affair with the UK? A similar question with an unknown answer is in what
direction she will seek to take her music. Influences across the spectrum are
rife and Miranda has succeeded immensely in most of her choices. The future is
going to be fascinating and if half as good as the last decade, treats will be
aplenty. Let’s end with dismissing the past and the future, by focussing on the
present and specifically the moment when Miranda Lambert arrived as a
performing artist on British soil. The promise of listening to ‘Famous in a Small Town’ back in 2007 was
absolutely fulfilled.
