Concert Wrap — Aaron Tippin, Feb. 11 @ WAC
February 12th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Aaron Tippin
A warning: I am about to sound like a total jerkface. A big meanyhead. A major insert-bad-name-here.
I don’t mean it. Really.
So, before we get there, let’s make a few things clear. I love America. I love Veterans. My late grandfather, in fact, was a World War II veteran, and I’ve visited dozens of military museums and memorials. I respect and honor these fine, brave men who have served our country and served it well.
I also feel for underprivileged children, those who aren’t likely to get a present for Christmas. The Toys for Tots program, a fantastic charitable plan that gives toys to youth at Christmastime, does the kind of magic Santa Claus only wishes he could.
So, why oh why was I so nauseated with Aaron Tippin, the country star who performed at a concert for veterans on Feb. 11 at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville?
Tippin, after all, was in town specifically to honor veterans, playing at a concert called Valentines for Veterans, a nationwide program designed to make sure the families of those serving overseas are not alone at this time of year. Tippin also built a bicycle onstage during a song and gave it to Marine Corps members to give to a child at Christmas.
So how can anyone not care for the show of such a man?
Fairly easily, as it turns out.
Click the ‘more’ link below to continue reading about Aaron Tippin’s recent concert in Fayetteville.
I’m not trained to offer patriotism critiques, but I’d give him high marks for his. I’m not qualified to judge his message, but I don’t disagree with much of what he said.
But as for the concert, and I’ve seen a few, it was about as much fun as driving up an icy Northwest Arkansas hill: You aren’t likely to get anywhere and you just might make a fool of yourself in the process.
You see, Aaron Tippin suckered me into attending. I got to chat with him before the concert. He came across as a sincere, hard working family man, and I really suspect that he is all of those things.
I supposed those qualities would translate into a stage show of honor and one full of touching tributes. Instead, the first word that comes to mind is hokey.
Tippin came out onto stage in a high-legged sprint, showing off his amateur body builder’s frame (and enormous biceps) in tight jeans and a tighter T-shirt.
It took him less than one song to reach for a box to the left of the stage that was marked “Don’t Touch,” from which he promptly pulled extension cords and an air compressor. He later hooked those up to what I would describe as an air-powered trombone or horn, which he would use throughout the night after the end of songs, bleating it around for no good reason other than to make noise.
Tippin, who has had a fairly steady career of country hits throughout his 20-year career, reduced himself onstage to some gross caricature of his successful self. He reminded me more of a Baldknobber, the farcical Branson bunch, than he did of any self-respecting country musician.
Instead of sincere or inviting, he seemed as if he were the actor in a play that he’s performed no fewer than 10,000 times and was reciting the lines not with passion, but with a rote sense of duty. He lassoed fake cattle. He pretended to be a dog hanging outside of truck window. His band looked on as if they’d seen it all before, and even though I’d never seen an Aaron Tippin concert before, it all seemed largely unoriginal to me.
Even as he did something seemingly out of the ordinary — building a bicycle onstage while singing a song — he did nothing to confirm this was something less than just another routine, someone you or I would go through as casually as we fold towels. He mentioned that this was probably the 900th or 1,000th bike he had built onstage. Which meant it was the 900th or 1,000th time he had performed the exact same routine.
Saddest among the antics and the banter — the elimination of which would have cut a 70 minute set into about a 40-minute show — was that, vocally speaking, Tippin was strong, and his band, though a bit too precise, perhaps, was talented and never plodded along with him.
He got several standing ovations, and a woman standing beside me in a very-nearly sold out Walton Arts Center screamed so loud at his every move I worried that my ears were bleeding.
Perhaps he’s just keyed into this on a deeper level than I am. He talked about escapism in our interview with him, and how he likes to give veterans the chance to forget about the hard times they face. And I’ve never faced anything like many of these heroes in the audience no doubt have.
Me? I was just looking for an escape from the show.
Setlist: 1) Truck Drivin’ Man; 2) Movin’ On [Merle Haggard cover]; 3) You’ve Got To Stand For Something; 4) I Got It Honest; 5) That’s As Close As I’ll Get To Loving You; 6) Blue Angel; 7) Workin’ Man’s PhD; 8) Big Boy Toys; 9) Six Days on the Road [Dave Dudley cover]; 10) Medley: Roll On (18 Wheeler) [Alabama cover], undetermined song, Driving My Life Away [Eddie Rabbit Cover]; 11) Ain’t Nothing Wrong With The Radio; 12) Where The Stars and the Stripes and the Eagle Fly;
Encore: 13) Eastbound and Down [Jerry Reed cover]; 14) Kiss This