Blake Shelton @ Erie County Fair, Hamburg, NY 8-16-12

Country artist, now turned TV personality, Blake Shelton made his way through the WNY area by playing this year’s Erie County Fair. Shelton, who won country’s male vocalist of the year this year, seemed in good spirits and told many stories in between songs.

Shelton came out playing “All About Tonight,” which is the title of his latest EP that came out in 2012. He really mixed up his songs selection by playing a few tunes (“Ol’ Red,” “Austin,” and “All Over Me) off of his 2001 self-titled debut CD which he claims surprised him by the positive response he got and was very appreciative of that. He talked about how Austin was the oldest song in his catalog.

Shelton’s backing band consisted of 2 guitar players, a bass player, 2 back up vocalists and a drummer. He told a story of how he originally was introduced to music and went into a 3 song medley that included covers from Wild Cherry, J. Geils, and Bobby Brown. I don’t understand why he did Bobby Brown, as he kept commenting on how much he hated the song?? One of his backup vocalists also pulled double duty as she played fiddle on “Kiss my Country Ass.”

The funny part of the whole evening came when Shelton picked out a couple in the front row and tried to give tips to the man on how to dance and impress his woman. It was very funny and garnered many laughs, including the couple themselves.

Shelton came off as endearing to the fans and delivered a sound performance for the almost sold out crowd. With his new found TV stardom and his good looks, things are only looking up for him going forward!

Setlist:

All About Tonight
She Wouldn’t be Gone
Some Beach
Drink on It
Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)/Centerfold (J. Geils cover) My Prerogative (Bobby Brown cover)
Kiss my Country Ass
Ol’ Red
Who Are You When I’m Not Looking?
Nobody but Me
Austin
All Over Me
The More I Drink
Some
Honey Bee
Hillbilly