I was at the inaugural Country Spirit concerts at Ludwig's Corner over the weekend. Me and my girlfriend attended all 3 days. Here is my review:
DAY 1
Ludwig's Corner is known for it's horse shows so having a three-day country music festival on the grounds promised to be interesting. Friday was a perfectly beautiful day- brilliant blue skies, sunny and warm, no humidity, a slight breeze. Far different from the recent muggy, rainy weather which seemed to dominant the entire summer.
Reaching the event around 3:00 pm, we immediately noticed how disorganized things were. First, the parking. We had gotten preferred parking, yet we also wanted ADA parking, which would leave us closer to the grounds. Not the same area, and we had to cross the main road to get from the lot to the main grounds.
Talking to volunteers, they admitted that "Parking sucks!" and said "Nobody knows what they are doing." It was the first year of the festival, as well as the first day, so there was bound to be problems.
The crowd wasn't too large on Friday afternoon. We got our wristbands, after navigating the rough gravel paths and grassy areas, watching for potholes. The worse part was, after traveling so far over rough terrain, we encountered a pair of speed bumps before entering the actual concert area. Definitely not wheelchair friendly.
We had seats but were directed to a raised platform area, which was a nice surprise, so we could see even if the crowd stood. There was a small pit area in front of the huge main stage, plus numerous white plastic seats directly in front and at the sides of the stage. beyond us was the General Admission area, basically an open field. Fans laid on blankets or sat on lawn chairs. We saw quite a few people who were carrying back-packs and sleeping bags. Maybe they camped out all weekend?
Vendors were everywhere, especially beer vendors. It was a country music concert- what else? T-shirts and cowboys hats were flying. Each artist had their own areas to sell their merchandise, including Cd's and shirts. The food was typical festival-food and over-priced. We got a basket of fries, a burger and a small bottle of water and paid $35.
Doors opened each day at noon, and the first acts took the stage around 1:00. We noticed the acts were pretty much on time and everything was on schedule. So, after gettingthe tickets for the entire weekend last chilly march, here we were, during the dog days of August, ready to enjoy.
Cassadie Pope was good. A young singer who came to face on the reality music show, "The Voice," she impressed and got the growing crowd going. We noticed over the next 3 days that the bigger the names, the more lights and video.
Brett Young was next. He drew a younger crowd, a lot of teenybopper types. By the way, according to the act fueled the type of fans. Lots of older country fans, lots of cowboy hats, lots of college-aged kids. Lots of girls and women, most with guys, many with other girls, not too many guys with guys.
Dustin Lynch brought energy along with a younger crowd. We were there on Day 1 to see Alabama, billed "The Greatest Country Band Ever!" They played for over an hour, many of their 40 No. 1 hits, songs like "Feels So Right." "Mountain Music." 'Love In The First-Degree" and the touching "Angels Among Us." It was a great first day, but we still had a long, bumpy road back to the car in the dark.
By the way, at the end ( around 10:30 pm, it was down-right chilly. After all, we were in the middle of an open field, and once the sun set the temps dropped pretty quickly. There was a full moon hovering over the setting, which made the atmosphere even more special.
DAY 2-
We decided to try to park closer, so we asked the security guards at the main gate if we could park in the lot on the main grounds. We found out that was where the ADA parking was located. It made the trip easier.
We also talked to one of the vent's big-shots,a nice lady named Tawny, who appreciated the feedback. We told her we could deal with the rough terrain ( that was more a Ludwig Corner's problem) but the real hassles were the parking and the stupid speed bumps, which a manual wheelchair couldn't go over. The thing about country fans is- they seem to be nice people, and many offered to help us with the pushing and getting over the speed bumps, which was nice.
Anyway, Tawny listened to our concerns and said she would take them into account , if there was a next year. For now, she offered volunteers to help over the speed bumps and a chance to exit via the Loading Dock area after the show, which would make parking even closer. We happily accepted her offer.
Weather-wise it seemed a tad warmer, a little more cloudy but another beautiful evening. Crowd-wise it was noticeable how many more people were there. The General Admission field was packed, and many more fans milled around the vendors.
We arrived to catch only a few songs from country Canadian group called High Valley. There were good, from what we saw and heard. It was hotter, so already the sweat was dripping from the performers. Fans were still guzzling beer, but in the three days, i didn't see any fights or rowdy behavior. Only one incident of a girlfriend leading her noticeably drunk guy ( along with several cops) toward the exit on Saturday night.
The only clunker the whole weekend was Tyler Farr. Just wasn't my taste of country music. He was pretty red-neck and I couldn't understand a lot of his lyrics. The crowd didn't seem to like him either, especially when he started making remarks about Trump, which didn't go over too much with this crowd.
Trace Adkins was next and he was great! very rocking. That's the thing with country music these days- it's not so much country anymore than it is honky tonk rock n' roll. A few of the older acts, like Alabama, had a member of their band playing fiddle, but not many acts.
What separates Adkins from the others is his deep, deep voice, and it seemed even deeper live. He did a nice set as the sun went down Saturday night, that same full moon rising over the fields, not quite as chilly.
Toby Keith was the headliner. We only stayed for a few songs, as we had learned it was really tough to work our way around 5-10,000 people all trying to get to their cars. Keith had the lights, the videos, the American theme going. He never has been a favorite of mine, so I didn't miss him that much.
Sure enough, Tawny had worked it out that my girlfriend got the car and drove it into the Loading Dock area behind the stage. It made life so much easier than having to hike so far to the car, especially over rocky ground and still-muddy fields.
We had noticed that Toby Keith had at least 4 buses with him, as he had tons of equipment and background singers plus his band.
DAY 3
Two down and one day to go. Sunday was much hotter and more humid, with threatening sky. It never did rain, thank goodness, as everyone was not under cover. By night there was smoky, orange-colored moon above. Day 3 was probably the most fun.
Michael Ray was just starting when we arrived. He drew a younger crowd as well. Jake Owen had the most energy of the weekend, as he signed hats tossed onstage while he sang, and later hung out on stage signing more items.
During his hour-long set, he roamed the stage constantly, then finally broke free and almost did a loop around the reserved seating crowd. People were screaming and going crazy as Security followed him. To our shock he jumped onto our accessible platform and started shaking hands and sharing hugs as he continued to sing. I was literally two feet away from the guy. But for some reason he didn't go to the right of the platform where we were sitting. If we had been sitting on the left, as we were the nights before, we probably would've had a sweaty visit. I was happy that he hugged a young girl in a wheelchair near us
.Before he was done with his tour and returned to the stake, Jake had climbed up a tower that sat off the left-hand side of the stage.The fans sitting in those "rooftop" -like seats had to be totally surprised that he had more the long trek up to them.
We caught the first 7 songs of brad Paisley's 90 minute set. Immediately I was stunned by his guitar playing ( I didn't think he was so good until then) and the quality of his videos. One song flowed into the other and so did the corresponding pictures.
Interestingly enough, almost every artist over the weekend did a cover song or two. From Jake Own doing 'Stand By Me" to Paisley doing a brief snippet of Prince's "Purple Rain."
Again we left early to beat the crowd rush, which is a shame. Regardless it was a fun weekend and over too soon.
Here's hoping they keep it going and bring Country Spirit back next week. They seemed to make money for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who got some of the proceeds. It was a memorable time, and if the festival does become an annual summertime event it's cool to know we were at the very first weekend of great music and fun.
If you weren't there sometime over the weekend you gotta go next year, just to experience everything.And even though I was not a huge country fan before the weekend, I found myself playing my favorite songs from the weekend at home.The memories will last forever.
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