Concert Review
Darius Rucker
Darien Lake PAC
Darien Center, NY
Friday August 21, 2015
Review/Photos: Joseph Suto
Darius Rucker brought his Southern Style tour to the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center Friday night. Coming along for the party were Brett Eldredge, The Brothers Osborne and A Thousand Horses. The show even brought out some dignitaries as former Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was seen at the event.
Rucker of course is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Hootie & the Blowfish. Hootie came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Their debut album Cracked Rear View hit number one and had three top-10 singles that propelled it to go platinum sixteen times. These days however Rucker has changed his musical genre and now considers himself a country singer. He became the first black artist since Charley Pride to reach number one on the country charts.
Rucker started things out fast with the high energy of “Lighter Up” from his latest album Southern Style, making it the perfect choice to get the affair kickstarted. “Good For A Good Time” was an early highlight as Rucker had the crowd singing along.
Not one to shy from his past, Rucker whipped out the big hits from Hootie’s debut. Songs such as “Time” and a stellar “Only Wanna Be With You” really perked up the crowd that were already sold on the show.
Rucker took a moment to announce he was going to play some classic country as he tore into the Jerry Reed classic “East Bound And Down”. He also used the song to introduce the band.
Brett Eldredge preceded Rucker with a fast paced 45-minute set. The 29-year old has been at it for five years and has quite a stable of hits. He touched base on the big ones like “Beat Of The Music”, “Mean To Me” and the closer “Don’t Ya”.
A Thousand Horses opened followed by The Brothers Osborne, two up and coming acts played very short sets to warm up the crowd.
Rucker played a solid set that featured a good mix of his country songs and Hootie songs. Perhaps the only thing that would have made it better would have to included the Hootie gem “Old Man & Me”, my favorite Rucker song. Other than that two thumbs up from me.
Darius Rucker Set List
Lighter Up
This
Good for a Good Time
Radio
Southern Style
Time (Hootie & the Blowfish cover)
All I Want
Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It
Back When (Tim McGraw cover)
No Diggity (Blackstreet cover)
It Won’t Be Like This for Long
History in the Making
Alright
Only Wanna Be With You (Hootie & the Blowfish cover)
East Bound and Down (Jerry Reed cover)
Let Her Cry (Hootie & the Blowfish cover)
Come Back Song
Hold My Hand (Hootie & the Blowfish cover)
Homegrown Honey
Encore
So I Sang
Wagon Wheel (Old Crow Medicine cover)
Brett Eldredge
Fire
On and On
Beat of the Music
Wanna Be That Song
Lose My Mind
Gold Digger
Mean to Me
Drunk On Your Love
Tell Me Where to Park
Don’t Ya
