The reigning king and queen or country, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, stopped by South Florida this Thursday with their Soul2Soul tour

SHADE-O-METER RATING

4 OUTTA 5 WERKS: “SHE GAVE GOOD FACE – SHE SERVED IT”

Who’s Tim McGraw?  He’s a country singer and an infrequent actor.  His first album is from 1997.  He’s originally from Louisiana, and he’s been married to Faith Hill since 1996.  Who’s Faith Hill?  She’s a country singer.  Her first album is from 1993.  She’s originally from Mississippi (as the song goes).  What is BB&T center?  It’s an indoor sports an entertainment arena in Sunrise, Florida.  It’s holds about 20,000 people.  Of note, according to the website, no “moshing” is allowed.  How much was the parking?  $20.  Does the venue serve liquor?  Yes.  How were the drinks?  $19 for a double, and, they’re measured to a tee.  Does the venue serve food?  Yes, but we didn’t get any.  The venue serves typical concert food.  How much were the tickets?  $112.  The seats were excellent.  Was the show sold out?  Almost, but not quite.

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Hamilton 2018 Day-to-Day Calendar

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How was Tim McGraw’s set?  From the audience’s response, he appeared to be the more popular of the two, and with a higher percentage of anthem singalong-type numbers.  For what he lacked in vocal ability—the voice was pleasing enough, but it was certainly not the best that has ever been heard—he compensates with bombastic displays, complete with multiple episodes of arm-stretching histrionics.  Strangely, though, he was not too personable with the audience; there really was no chit chat (but he and Hill did banter a bit).  His set was about 45 minutes long.  Hill sometimes accompanied him in the background on the guitar.

How was Faith Hill’s set?  Although her voice was not particularly distinct, she was clearly the strong singer.  Her devout church-singing Christian background is well-known to many, and it’s this very influence that’s inherit in her singing style.  But she had several costume changes throughout the show, and she was never anything if not dolled up.  Her most direct country lineage is probably Dolly Parton, and, in the dichotomous vane of Parton (backwoods songwriter versus onstage sexpot and showman) one gets the feeling that Hill might be most comfortable with a smaller acoustic set, dressed in jeans, and singing exactly what she wants.  Her set was a little shorter than McGraw’s, at about a half an hour long.  As she did for his set, McGraw also periodically accompanied her on the guitar.

How was the show overall?  To begin the show, they both rose dramatically from either side of the stage, which was an interesting touch.  Of further intrigue, and maybe to perpetuate an air of foreplay, they didn’t interact with each other until well into the show.  Maybe a half an hour into it.  But unlike, for example, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers “Islands in the Stream,” McGraw and Hill don’t really have any huge hits together (but they just announced a joint album), so a tour together may be slightly indulgent.  It appeared that the theme of the show, was—as the tour name implied—an examination of couple that’s deeply in love.  This theme was probably most efficiently displayed in the finale, where a pair of neon pink triangles (presumably, pink to symbolize love as opposed to symbolizing LGBT) undulated and converged around them.  The entire show was about 2 ½ hours long.

What could have improved the show?  The presumed theme of a heterosexual couple in love was not consistently applied throughout the show.  In addition, some of lighting design was straight out of Xanadu, overdone, and with no particular rhyme or reason to it.  What was surprising about the show?  McGraw and Hill did solo numbers towards the end, where they walked through crowd for their entire songs.

To learn more about the tour, visit the tour’s website at Tim McGraw and Faith Hill – Soul2Soul Tour.