Concert Review: The Band Perry (and Sunny Sweeney) at the AMP, May 26
May 27th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
The Band Perry live at the AMP. All photos by KEVIN KINDER, NWA Media.
It was girls and guitars night at the Arkansas Music Pavilion on Thursday (May 26) night.
Though three different performers took the stage for the show, there was a common thing among them: blonde locks, acoustic guitar and big voices. The show, featuring The Band Perry, Sunny Sweeney and local opener Amanda Cramer, was billed as a country set, and I suppose it was. This wasn’t a cowboy hat country sort of affair, however. It was a bedazzled guitar and sparkly top kind of show, and the tween appeal of these acts couldn’t be ignored, especially considering the line of autograph seekers — perhaps 500 strong — that waited at the end of the latter two sets.
Kimberly Perry
The Band Perry is actually a sibling act, but Kimberly Perry is certainly the star of the bunch, leading the vocals on all of the songs and getting harmony help from brothers Reid (bass guitar) and Neil (mandolin). The group’s rise is meteoric, having just signed to a major label in late 2009. Since, they have released a No. 1 country chart hit in “If I Die Young” and been named ACM’s Top New Artist earlier this year.
But as it sometimes happens with brand new groups, there simply wasn’t much to go on during their 80-minute long set. Each of their radio releases generated singalongs, but the album those came from was only released last October. With just that material to go on, The Band Perry resorted to cover songs to fill in the gaps, with varying levels of success. They took on Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls,” “Amazing Grace,” The Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” and Tom Petty’s “Free Falling.” Those cover songs would account for about a third of their 15-song setlist.
Despite it having the second-loudest dose (behind “If I Die Young”) of fan feedback of any of the songs, I felt as if they stole the swagger right out from under “Fat Bottom Girls,” an interesting choice considering their wholesome image and pre-teen fanbase. They similarly were off with the treatment they gave “Honky Tonk Women.” The Band Perry is best when sweet and earnest, like with their radio hit, during “Amazing Grace” and during a songs such as “It Burns for You,” which contains the lyrics “Let’s be sweet/I want the whole world to know/You mean the whole world to me.” Aww.
All else was filler, and there’s no better proof of that than the fans who were content to leave their seats before the show was over and stand in line for autographs. Once the hits were delivered, there was only so much left.
Sunny Sweeney
Sunny Sweeney has a few hits of her own, like “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving,” the song she closed her set with. She had a little more natural swagger, and she landed one of the night’s better punchlines when she told the crowd she sings every night to make her father proud and that nothing makes him more proud than her song “Drinking Myself Single.”
Like The Band Perry, she seemed to be hampered some by the sound mix, which sounded rich for the backing band but muddied her vocals. I had a hard time making out lyrics from both acts.
She too tried the cover route, but only briefly, offering a take on Waylon Jenning’s “Good Hearted Woman.” It should tell you something about the average age of the crowd that no one recognize a song first recorded in 1972.
She got appropriately big cheers for most of the set, however, especially for her other charted hit, “From a Table Away.”
Prior to the set by Sweeney was one by Fayetteville vocalist Amanda Cramer. I don’t know much about her, but her songs matched the rest of the bill nicely. Unlike with The Band Perry and Sunny Sweeney, I had no problems picking out her voice. The girl has a big voice, and she proved it on Thursday night.
The Band Perry setlist: 1-3) I missed the first three songs while taking photos; 4) All Your Life; 5) did not catch the title of this track; 6) Independence/Free Falling [Tom Petty cover]/return to Independence; 7) Amazing Grace; 8) It Burns For You; 9) Fat Bottom Girls [Queen cover]; 10) Double Heart; 11) I believe the track was Postcard from Paris; 12) If I Die Young; 13) You Lie; 14) Honky Tonk Women [Rolling Stones cover]
Encore: 15) did not catch the title of this track
Sunny Sweeney setlist: 1) East Texas Pines; 2) Drink Myself Single; 3) did not catch the title of this track; 4) From A Table Away 5) did not catch the title of this track; 6) I believe the track was Lavender Blue; 7) Amy; 8) Mama’s Opry; 9) Kiss My Ass; 10) Good Hearted Woman [Waylon Jennings cover] 11) Staying’s Worse Than Leaving