A low steady rumble rippled through the Dee Events Center Saturday night. It was the sound of a capacity crowd springing to its feet and clapping, whistling and screaming. For the sea of cowboy-hatted fans, it was a Zane Grey stampede come to life.
Chris LeDoux hit the stage running and ripped through 21 songs. The majority of his fans remained on their feet and danced the night away. Freed to roam with a body mike, LeDoux would plant one leg firmly and beat out rhythm with the other while he hunkered down to sing.LeDoux came to entertain and there wasn't a trick he didn't employ before the night was out. There were colored lights and fog, fireworks that lit up the stage and six-foot flashes of flame; even a confetti-gun and flowers thrown to the audience. But underneath all the flash, a lean and limber bareback rodeo champ sang songs he has been living for decades. And that was the reason the Dee Events Center was jiving.
Handsome as he is, it seems this singer has a bigger contingent of male fans. Four cowpokes with hats and big buckles shouted in unison, "We love you, man!" It would seem LeDoux is loved for being a cowboy, not just singing like one.
LeDoux featured several cuts from his latest album, "Stampede" and the title song has the feel of a classic. Flashing from a rollicking honky-tonk number to the romantic "Look at You Girl," LeDoux read the names of three couples who participated in on-the-spot proposals to the delight of the crowd.
"Cadillac Ranch" brought out more fireworks and it was a nice reversal at the conclusion of "Whatcha Gonna Do With a Cowboy" when LeDoux said, "Thanks, Garth." (Garth Brooks was known to close his concerts with a "God bless Chris LeDoux.")
Particularly powerful were "Ridin' for a Fall" and "Under This Old Hat." LeDoux told Country Joe of KSOP radio, "Thanks for playing it," when he concluded the latter.
I was totally at a loss to understand why a net was raised across the front of the stage, just like you'd see in a wild and wooly bar that might have beer bottles pitched at the band. But LeDoux was already chuckling when he told the audience that he wonders if he should have written a particular song 25 years ago. He had barely started singing his tongue-in-cheek (along with a plug) "Copenhagen" when the tobacco cans started flying through the air and landing on the stage.
Throughout the concert, as fans pushed to the front of the stage to present flowers or cowboy hats to be autographed, LeDoux went out of his way to accommodate them. A cute little blond about three years old, handed LeDoux a rose from her perch atop her daddy's shoulders. LeDoux popped the rose in his back pocket where it stayed for most of the concert.
"Hooked on an 8-Second Ride" was spectacularly presented with surreal lighting. The audience absolutely went wild as LeDoux sang this song he knew from the inside out.
But that was nothing compared to when he ran up to the top tier of the stage to mount a mechanical bull that had been outfitted for bareback riding.
What a wild and wooly concert. A thunderous ovation brought LeDoux back alone to sing a "Utah Tribute" he wrote while out irrigating on his ranch. In the song he reminisces about the Terrace Ballroom and sings, "I owe you more than you'll ever know."
Then LeDoux said it was time to "turn the outlaw loose" and he and his Western Underground band rocked up "Little Long-Haired Cowboy" to the delight of his screaming fans. And having given his all, the exhausted LeDoux shouted, "Good night, Utah. You guys be careful drivin' home!"
It was an evening of feel-good entertainment from a man treated like a rock star. But this father of five coming up on a silver anniversary is a much needed role model for the important things in life: family and doing the work you love.
- MICHELLE WRIGHT was a star in her own right as she opened the LeDoux concert. Wearing a stunning black dress/shorts outfit, she did a little rollicking of her own from her newest album. Her "Nobody's Girl" sounded autobiographical and her "Farmer's Daughter" brought laughter with the line, "he sure does crank my tractor!" When she broke into "Take It Like a Man," a miniature forest fire from lighters flickered across the audience. It won't be too much longer before Wright will be the main attraction.