By Justin Smith
Alabama’s music — not bad.
Even though I’m not a big country fan (I’m not even a little country fan), you couldn’t ask for better music on the Fourth of July.
The Circus Gatti Elephants — nice touch; might even promote them as the main attraction next year.
Even Larry King showed up! Well, at least he paraded around the stadium once before he took off. One quick question, Mr. King, “Which discussion are you on now?” (Good luck, Elders.)
Nice perks, but let’s get to it. Bring on the fireworks!
Fifty thousand strong gathered to Cougar Stadium Tuesday, the Fourth of July, in patriotic fashion to celebrate Provo’s “Stadium of Fire.”
Before the entertainment took the stage, a tug-of-war commenced at the north end of the stadium in which the wonderful BYU Cougar representatives lost in a pathetic battle to the UVHS, uh…, I mean UVSC Wolverines. Come on Cougs, you’ve got to represent! Don’t be giving our football team any ideas!
Coming from a non-country lover, I’ll try to be as fair as I can about the tunes.
You have got to hand it to them. Anyone, in any musical genre, who can stick around for 20 years and still pump out No. 1 hits is doing something right.
They combined a number of crowd pleasers for fans, whose applause increased after each number. I must admit, I only knew one song, but their sound rang a familiar melody throughout the performance.
It was obvious that Alabama loves to perform. Their proud Southern roots helped them play up to the crowd without overdoing it, and it showed in loud cheers of approval.
There was only one thing lacking from their performance. Since this was a “Fourth of July celebration,” I expected to hear more patriotic music. If you can sing an incredibly jacked-up remake of an ‘N SYNC song, then you can sure throw in at least one or two more songs about how America gained its independence. Enough said.
Second Generation; do I dare? I do.
Actually, they did a fine job, singing. Tight harmonies, great audience-participation skills, one of the fellas was even sporting a sharp goatee. Great job on the national anthem! I’d love to come sing with you sometime.
The look? Well, that’s where we might need to put on the brakes. I’m not going to mention any names, but someone(s) had what our friend “Tommy Boy” called “a little bit of a weight problem.” I had no problem distinguishing the singles from the marrieds. Girls must apparently be more familiar with the phrase “a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” than I thought.
All in all, the LDS version of the Backstreet Boys did pretty well. Impressive sparks of their lyrical talents raised my eyebrows and hands more than once.
Next year’s headline:
GENERATION OF ELEPHANTS.
