“Let’s have a little party,” were the first words country artist
Joe Nichols said to the near-capacity crowd Saturday night, and
those words set the mainly lighthearted tone for the show.
At the Bradford Area High School auditorium, Nichols’ 17-song
concert opened the 22nd season for the Bradford Creative and
Performing Arts Center.
A group of local women sitting in the “Fan Circle” nearest the
stage wore blue T-shirts bearing lyrics from the first song Nichols
performed – a former Number 1 hit titled “Brokenheartsville.” Says
the song (and the shirts): “Here’s to the past, they can kiss my
glass.” Later during the concert, Nichols sat down on stage so the
women could have a group photo taken with him.
Singles from his new CD titled “III” (released Tuesday) made up
the next selections: the whimsical “Size Matters” and a slower song
of lost love, “Talk Me Out of Tampa.” He also sang the humorous
first single from “III,” “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off” about
a woman who can handle any booze except tequila. (In the video, the
someone is a grandma at a pool party.)
Wearing blue jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt, Nichols stood
just inches from the edge of the stage, to perform, sometimes
playing guitar. Backup for the baritone was keyboards, drums, bass
and steel, acoustic and lead guitar. He opted to forego bells and
whistles of a fancy set to perform against a plain backdrop bearing
Nichols’ name in a red field on black.
That simplicity reflects Nichols’ self-confessed affinity for
the traditional sounds of Merle Haggard and Hank Williams Jr. He
showed his appreciation by performing Haggard’s “I Think I’ll Just
Stay Here and Drink” and Williams’ “A Country Boy Can Survive,”
“Women I’ve Never Had” and “Family Tradition.”
Even with the homage, there was plenty for Nichols fans. From
his “Man With a Memory” album, in addition to “Brokenheartsville,”
he sang “She Only Smokes When She Drinks,” his million-selling
crossover hit, “The Impossible” and “Cool to be a Fool” which he
said he wrote “about some of the foolish things I’ve done.”
Another song he wrote, titled “What’s a Guy Gotta Do (to Get a
Girl in This Town)?” featured in the concert, as did “If Nobody
Believed in You,” both from his “Revelation” CD.
The award-winning vocalist and four-time Grammy nominee let
loose for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ “Honky Tonk Woman.”
For an encore, he sang the Willie Nelson hit “Whiskey River,”
Charlie Daniels’ “Long Haired Country Boy” and Alan Jackson’s
tribute to Williams, “Blues Man.”
Throughout the performance, Nichols encouraged the audience to
sing along, stand up and clap, dance, even hold up their Zippo
lighters during “She Only Smokes When She Drinks,” saying “Now’s
the time to use it . . . in the home of Zippo.”
He shook hands with audience members, threw guitar picks into
the crowd and more. He mentioned seeing one man holding a sign
saying he was named Joe Nichols, too. “He’s gonna finish the set,”
quipped the performer.
Donning a white cowboy hat, he said, “This does prove that Blake
Shelton and me are one and the same – just kidding!” (Shelton was
part of BCPAC’s previous season.)
Most often, he went from one song right into the next without a
verbal introduction.
“We encourage you all to get loud and have a good time, whatever
it takes,” he said to the crowd.
Even before the show started promptly at 7:30 p.m., Nichols
aimed to please. At a backstage “meet-and-greet” session for about
three dozen people, Nichols chatted, smiled, signed autographs and
posed for photos.
Seven-year-old Brody Pinney of Limestone, N.Y., came, wearing a
T-shirt with a photo of him with Nichols before a concert he went
to in September 2004 as part of a Make-A-Wish Foundation gift. This
time Pinney, who has lymphoma, brought Nichols a gift bag with
golfballs, candy and a ball cap from a fast food restaurant.
Rodney Jones of Bradford also got to meet Nichols, who later
broke into “The Impossible,” saying to the wheelchair-bound boy,
“Here’s to you, Rodney.”
To fans from South Jersey who had seen him perform the night
before he came to Bradford, he said, “I appreciate you guys
traveling all this way.”
“Thank you” was also the one phrase Nichols repeated through the
evening, right through the closing of the show.
Presenting sponsors for the event were WPIG Radio and Zippo
Manufacturing Co.; Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania was a contributing
sponsor for the event.
