Jacksonville, FL (November 19) From November 5 to November 16, the Jacksonville Fair arrived and provided fair-goers many shows during the two weeks. The Gator Country Concert Series also came onto the scene. It all started on Thursday November 6 with Thompson Square to kick off the concert. They opened their show with their hit song “I Got You” and performed with excellence and energy. They played their best songs such as “Let’s Fight”, ”I Can’t Outrun You”, “Glass”, “If I Didn’t Have You”, and “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not”. I found their show great and a great start to the concert series.
The next day was not what was expected. With a cold front coming in, many people didn’t show up to see Lindsay Ell. She is a new upcoming country artist from Canada, and was an awesome guitar player. I do wish for more female guitar pickers, and this was something new for Jacksonville. Her performance was great, and she can rock out on a guitar. Her songs that got her on country radio are “Shut Me Up”, and “Trippin on Us”. I hope she comes back when the weather is better so everybody can see how awesome she is.
The second week of the concert series continued the day before Veterans Day with Scotty McCreery. The weather was a little warmer than it was on Friday, and the crowd of people coming in for Scotty warmed up the place. The last time Jacksonville saw him was at the Web Tournament at the TPC. He performed his best songs including Water Tower Town”, “I Love You This big”, “Trouble With Girls”, “Walkin In The Country”, and closed with “Buzzin”. He came back for an encore and performed his most popular songs “See You Tonight” and “Feelin It”.
The fair was crowded again on Wednesday for Brett Eldridge. He came out and performed all of his songs from his current album “Bring You Back”. On his previous visit to Jacksonville, we saw an acoustic set of his performance; this time, we saw a full band performance and it was just amazing! Brett played his best songs such as “Don’t Ya”, “Beat of the Music”, and his current single “Mean to Me”. For his encore, he did a medley of his favorite songs and people enjoyed them.
The concert came to a close on Friday with RaeLynn. However, the cold weather again was a challenge that might have driven the crowd away. But by the beginning of her show, the audience started growing. She performed her best songs such as “Care Less”, “Kissing Frogs”, and current country radio song “God Made Girls”. She even covered some songs and made them her own such as “Hell On Heels” by the Pistol Annies and “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor. This new artist, who was a winner on the TV show “The Voice”, has come a long way and has even played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. RaeLynn is on her way to being the next best country artist.
Overall, the Gator Country Fall Concert Series was fun, energetic, and overall a hell of a great time. With the weather being a common threat, people still came out and braved the cold weather to see some amazing acts. I hope the fair continues to do it again next year.
