Goal achieved! One down.

That’s one thing I can mark off my list as complete.  Last night was the Lady Antebellum 2012 Own the Night Tour concert in Los Angeles at the Staples Center, and it was awesome.

I can’t think of any other words to describe it.

The seat I had in the first level was great – in front of the stage, no obstructions, and it was an aisle seat, with room to spare. The people in the section were energetic, adding their own fuel to the concert – dancing, laughing, and in general having a great time.  It was a packed house, loud and heartpounding, and I’m sure I used up my voice cheering and singing along.

It was a great night of music to be had by three artists (well, there were six artists, in three ‘groups’) – Thompson Square, Darius Rucker, and Lady Antebellum.

The show started with Thompson Square, who as relative newcomers to the country scene, performed a shorter set of 4 songs that were pretty well received.  In true LA fashion, though, the crowd was muddling on in – the arena seemed like it was only about half full for the duo, yet there was still a good energy through the arena.

Darius Rucker was the second act of the show.  His performance was fantastic – over ten songs, with a couple of Hootie and the Blowfish classics, and Prince’s “Purple Rain” as the closer.  His voice is impressive – powerful and resonant, just as it sounds on the radio.  Being most familiar with his songs, I taxed my voice, singing along in the crowd, our section standing, singing, dancing and yelling to the entire set.  It was an amazing presentation, and by the end of it, I wasn’t sure if it could be topped – Darius performed like he was the main act, and not the second act of three.  I think he must have been up on stage for nearly an hour – and it was about 8:30pm when his set finished – an hour and a half after the concert started.

To my surprise, Lady Antebellum came out and topped Darius’ performance – home-run over the fence style.  16 songs, including a section of classics where the other performers came back out and sang in a large group, and a guest performance by Ryan Tedder of One Republic.  They played all their major songs, had the now-packed Staples Center’s audience totally immersed in the show, dancing and singing along with the group on stage.  From the start of the set with “Own the Night” to the ‘encore’ performance of “Need You Now”, it was a non-stop energy packed festival of light, music, and song.  It was a completely awesome show, from start to finish, and the time flew.

From start to finish, the concert ran nearly four hours, and yet it didn’t feel long at all.  I left happy, with that buzz in my ears that comes from three hours of live music, and barely a squeak of a voice.

And credit has to be given to Shauna and Chelsea from the OC who were the self-appointed rallying point that maintained the energy in our section.  It only added to the experience.

Thompson Square was great.  Darius Rucker was off the scale.  Lady Antebellum owned the night.

What more could a country music fan want?

One down, many, many more to go.

My 2 yen,

Akiosama