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Adkins gives fans what they came for

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By JACI WEBB Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Sunday, August 9, 2009 12:15 am | Loading…

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He's Trace Adkins. All he had to do was stand there, silhouetted on the rear of the stage - all 6 feet, 6 inches of him - and the crowd at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark went nuts Saturday night.

Cathy Wasia, a grandmother in the sixth row who had seen Adkins perform twice before, shouted, "See what I mean? He commands the stage."

That he does. He doesn't run up ramps, he swaggers from microphone to guitar stand. He doesn't wave his arms in the air and coax the audience to clap, he commands them in his startlingly deep baritone. When he sang the ballad "All I Ask for Anymore" off his latest CD, "X (Ten)," he simply told the crowd of 4,000 to sit down and listen. And they did.

"We love his voice. He's real people," said Dee Pedersen, of Billings, who came to see Adkins with seven family members who all sat in the fourth row.

Adkins mixed rowdy rockers like "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" and "Marry for Money" with sentimental ballads like the Country Music Association song of the year, "You're Gonna Miss This," showing a video on a screen behind the drum kit. Videos of blonds in hot pants dancing on the bar were tamed by homey shots of country boys and freckly kids. Adkins showed videos of his own family during "You're Gonna Miss This," which brought on a few sniffles in the crowd.

Adkins had a few days off between gigs and chose to spend them in Montana. Ten employees from Cabela's were treated to floor seats and backstage passes because Drew Steinberger, retail events coordinator at the Billings Cabela's store, showed Adkins' band some Montana hospitality.

"I met Trace's band the other day and they were going to a barbecue. I went home and got eight pounds of elk burger out of my freezer and gave it to them. When I met Trace backstage, he shouted, 'Where's the guy that gave me the elk burger? I want to thank him.' "

During his set, Adkins gushed about Montana.

"Montana is beautiful, and it's still got the old cowboy spirit," he said.

There was plenty of love on both sides of the stage. Lined up in front of the stage was a row of cowgirls to whom Adkins gave a toothy grin and announced, "Thanks to all you fellas for bringing your hot mamas to the show tonight." Then he lit into the raucous "Hot Mama," showing off the raciest video of the night as it captured a married man's fantasies about his wife.

"That's still my favorite video," Adkins told the crowd.

Openers Gloriana whipped up some interesting covers for their 40-minute set, including the Doobie Brothers' "Black Water" and Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance." But what the foursome did best was nail tight harmonies on their own originals, including the first single, "Wild at Heart," off their debut album, which came out Tuesday.