One big highlight of an otherwise slow week thanks to the Owl and Slice being closed for the South Country Fair, was country 
superstars Big and Rich and Gretchen Wilson bringing their road show to the South Pavilion, July 14.
They had a fair number of people, but it wasn’t packed to the rafters like I thought it would be. I also wasn’t expecting to go deaf at this one out of all the concerts I go to. Johnny Cash it wasn’t. But it was a lot of fun and did I mention loud?
Big and Rich opened up with their upbeat new single “Fake I.D.” Big and Rich, with Big Kenny sporting a top hat and sunglasses and John Rich wielding a cherry red Flying V and also sporting sunglasses.
The lovely and talented pint sized fire-brand Gretchen Wilson dressed in four inch stiletto boots, ripped jeans and black sleeveless short, joined them mid-way through the song. Man, that woman has a set of pipes that would have brought down the walls of any other poorly constructed building.
Wilson sang her big hit “Here For the Party,” which set the tone for the rest of the hour and a half some long show as Big And Rich provided all of the nauseatingly sugary sweet new country ballads all the “redneck women” in the audience could handle after tearing into their other big hit “Coming To Your City.”
On the other hand, Wilson beamed ear to ear and provided plenty of sassy swagger and rock and roll attitude mixed with with back country snarl and pure charm on newer songs like “I’ve Got Your Country Right Here,” plus a scorching version of Heart’s “Barracuda” that was nothing short of ear bleeding and jaw dropping, thanks to their super tight band, which both acts shared as they alternated between playing a handful of songs each.
Wilson showed her dangerous side on “Homewrecker,” then her softer side on an acoustic guitar powered version of John Prine’s “Angel of Montgomery.”
But she showed she was indeed not only “Here For the Party” but that she was willing to “Work Hard and Play Harder.” 
She completely dominated the stage. I can’t rave enough about this woman’s voice. So powerful, so distinct. Such a twang. Beautiful. She was watching the crowd and observed how cute one young, pre-teen cowboy was in his shirt and cowboy hat and gave the lucky little guy a kiss on the cheek.
As for Big and Rich, they were pretty amusing and were there for a good time, bringing out a bottle of Crown Royal to share with the people in the front row after their hit ballad “Lost In This Moment” and in the middle of an uptempo rocker “Love Train.”
Big and Rich closed the show with their big hit “Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy.”
Wilson wound down her part of the show by getting the crowd “All Jacked Up, ” though she returned for an encore of “Redneck Woman,” leading to a roar of cheers from the redneck women on the floor.
Big and Rich brought out big, black, towering Cowboy Troy (who also appeared on stage a couple other times to lend his big voice) to show their hick hop side, as he rapped a medley of popular rap hits including “Big Butts” and “Jump Around,”plus several freestyles, plus and a couple bars of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give it Away” to end the show as Wilson grinned and shot autographed T-shirts into the crowd with an air gun.
Good times despite the hearing loss, could have used more Gretchen though.
