Joe Nichols and Walker Hayes at Allure, Greensboro, NC

On May 27th, three girlfriends and I drove to downtown Greensboro to see Joe Nichols for my birthday. If you were there you may have spotted me. I wore my Joe Nichols "Gimme that Girl" T-shirt and, reluctantly, a foam "Happy Birthday" cowboy hat with candles glued around the brim.

The Country Kibitzer at Rivas Trattoria, before the show.

The rollicking laughter began soon after we hit the highway and one friend, while looking at one of Joe Nichol's Roper ads, suggested that we club him on the head with an umbrella and haul him back to the hotel in, as my Dad calls it, the "six body trunk" of my Mercury Grand Marquis. By the time we walked into Allure after polishing off two bottles of wine with our delicious dinner at Rivas Trattoria, we probably looked and sounded like something out of a reality show. The Real Housewives of Raleigh, Episode: They Don't Get Out Much.


On our way, already looking like trouble.

Allure is a smaller venue than I expected, the interior rather like a posh shoebox with red lighting. We arrived in time for the opening act, Walker Hayes, who is talented, funny and sports a very attractive haircut.  I liked the songs "Touching Feet", "Pants", and "Mama's Hot". (click for videos) Now that I've watched a video of him performing "Mama's Hot" I realize that Hayes performed last year in the Bluebird Cafe Songwriter's Tent at Country Throwdown. I distinctly remember "Mama's Hot" because the song says, before you marry a woman, check out her mother, and his mother-in-law was at that performance. The reason this was not immediately apparent to me during the show is because the sound in Allure, at least  right in front of the stage, was so bad I could barely make out some of the vocals.  Walker Hayes announced that Rodney Atkins is going to be recording one of his songs, although I have forgotten which one he didn't say it was. We'll figure it out when it Atkins gets it out there. Congratulations to Walker Hayes.

  

 

Walker Hayes and I after his set. He said that if he had known,
he would have sung Happy Birthday. Oh well. Guess I should have
worn the darn hat during his set.

Joe Nichols bounded onto the stage and opened his show with "What's a Guy Gotta Do", the same song he opened with last year. He and his whole band looked like they were having a blast performing. He played many of his hits, some fan favorites, his terrific new summer song "Take it Off" (click for video) and almost as many covers.  Unfortunately the sound right in front of the stage was still terrible. I should have moved to see if it was better in back but being close enough to touch the toe of his boot was too luxurious. 



Can't get much closer than this.

As much fun as we had we were also a little disappointed. We were frustrated that he played so many covers. He has a huge number of terrific songs and they just don't get out there. Since it was my birthday, I considered making a sign that said "It's my birthday, so please sing "Old Things New", "This Bed's Too Big", and/or "Believers"" but I'm a lazy country music fan.  I should have made the sign. 
 

Those are my lil ol' fists. If this photo had sound
there would be some hootin' and hollerin'.



We are pretty sure that the beautiful blond standing to the side of the stage, watching the show and scanning the crowd, was Heather, Joe Nichols' wife. Although I tried to avoid gawking it was interesting to observe her reactions. It must be very strange to see your husband perform in front of a crowd of mostly women who enthusiastically sing along with him, hoot and holler for the silliest of reasons, and in general think he's the cat's meow. When he sang "Let's Get Drunk and Fight" she had a bit of a frown on her face (Nichols credits her for his sobriety) but there were moments when she laughed and seemed to be enjoying the show as well.

When all is said and done, it was a fun event with a great group of fans. I was impressed by the dedication of a couple of guys who drove six hours from D.C. to see the show. The pretty six foot blond who was standing next to me had been waiting patiently at the venue for three hours by the time I took my spot next to her, and she was still nice to me.  After the show I heard a man say "I had no idea who Joe Nichols was, but that was fun!" He's still my favorite.

 

 Downtown Greensboro is a friendly place after midnight. A policeman on a Segway told us what bar we should go to next. We ran into one of the security guys from Allure at that bar who helped us avoid turning the night into "The Real Housewives of Raleigh: The Hangover III". All four of us managed to make it back to Raleigh the next day terribly sleep deprived, but with most of our belongings and nothing but our overnight bags in the trunk of the Grand Marquis.