Walking into The H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center Thursday Nov. 18, audience members saw the members of Josh Turner’s band up on stage, preparing for the upcoming night.
At 8 p.m., the band and crewmembers dispersed off stage as the lights went down and the announcements began. Soon after, all the lights went out as the band filed out onto the stage.
While they filed out, there was a screen set up in the back of stage showing some video of the different processes Turner’s crew goes through, accompanied with the recordings of what is said between the crew members.
As the video finished, the stage lights went up and Turner was center stage. He started the night off with “Backwoods Boy.” It was quickly apparent that video was going to be an integral part of the night with 6-foot-high video screens, three on each side of the stage, looping video of forest scenes.
Then he sang “Haywire,” which heavily relied on the video aspect. There was a constant video of what looked like red flames and was even overlaid on the video of Turner preforming on the large screen in the back.
After this he finally addressed the whole crowd, thanking everyone for coming and mentioning the fact that the song he was about to sing, “Your Man,” was his first No. 1 hit.
He then started singing, the video screen in the background playing scenes from the music video from the same song. He then transitioned into “Good Problem,” and after the song ended, all the lights in the house went down with a train whistle as the beginning of the music video for Turner’s most famous song “Long Black Train,” played on the large screen.
All throughout the song, many of the audience members were singing out as he played. He also had the crowd stand up and clap along to the song, making many in the audience sway to the music. He even had the crowd sing parts of the song as he played through.
After giving a plug for his sponsor, he sang “Time Is Love,” and then slowed the night down with “I Wouldn’t Be A Man” and “Lay Low.” He was even sitting on a stool, quieting the audience as they intently listened to his low and melodic voice.
He then brought the mood up with “Me And God” and “Would You Go With Me.” He proceeded to explain that he is coming out with a new album at the beginning of 2015 and asked the audience if it would be good to play the new songs.
The audience quickly agreed and he played three new songs, one about a girl and pickup truck, another about wondering what a woman is doing after a breakup and the last was asking where the girls are.
After this, he introduced all the band members in a unique way. He took a trait or an event that happened in each of the performers lives and basically made a joke out of it. It left the audience laughing as well as the performers since a few had no idea what would be said.
He then wrapped up the night with “Everything Is Fine” and “Why Don’t We Just Dance.”
The band then left the stage with some of the audience screaming for an encore. Before the band played one more song, there was a video of Turner explaining that he writes the majority of his songs, saying that the idea for “Firecracker” came when he was in the shower.
Afterward he finished off the night with “Firecracker” and got the crowd on its feet once more, many audience members swaying, dancing and singing to the song.
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