WEFest 2018

I spent the first part of August in beautiful Detroit Lakes MN (beautiful in August, pretty sure I wouldn't think the same in January) for a super big and long running country music show. It was my third WEFest and I truly love the event.

When people ask me about the lineup, I start rattling off all of the acts. Most people, unless they listen to The Highway on Sirius/XM, go glassy eyed and politely nod because there are a bunch of up and comers they've never heard of. There are also always some "classic" country acts that have been around for a long time and that the young listeners may not know.

I listen to The Highway about 90% of the time in my car so I know all the newbies. I've also been listening to country since high school which is, sadly, long enough ago to know the classic artists, too.

Here are my thoughts on the performances. Any quotes are actually paraphrased because I wasn't smart enough to write them down right away and it's been a few weeks (and beers) since then.

Thursday

Devin Dawson - Dude's got a great voice and a couple of hits under his belt. He sounded and looked great. It was a good set. It's tough to be the first act on Thursday because there aren't a lot of people there so I applaud his effort to still make it a show.

Carly Pearce - Pearce also has several hits including a personal favorite, Better Hide The Wine. Man, that song is a two day long earworm for me when it gets stuck in my head. She also sounded great and put on a nice show.

Dan + Shay - OMG, Shay Mooney has the voice of an angel. Literally stopped me in my tracks so I could just concentrate on it. They did a dynamic, interactive show and I was blown away. Which reminds me, I need to buy their latest album.

Vince Gill - A true country star. My friend said he killed it with The Eagles earlier this year so it was disappointing that the sound was off. We heard more of the instruments than Gill's voice which is a shame because he's a gifted singer.

Carrie Underwood - We are so shallow. The first, and mostly only, thing we talked about was her outfit. She was wearing MC Hammer pants. The pregnancy rumor was confirmed the following Tuesday. Underwood has a great set of pipes and a very large catalog of hits. She was great to listen to but wasn't very dynamic.

Best of Thursday - Dan + Shay

Friday

Rodney Atkins - Atkins is clearly one of the old timers in the lineup. He has a bunch of hits, was very engaging with the audience and his wife is a backup singer in his band who moved up to do some lead work with him. She is very talented, too. Just a super fun set to watch and it was evident that he was enjoying it as much as we were.

Tyler Farr - Another younger artist with some hits. Unfortunately, his sound was off. We couldn't really understand when he was just speaking and it was only a little better when he was singing. Good crowd interaction with the people in front, though. I would see him again.

Chris Janson - Holy hell, it looked like this boy overdosed on 5 Hour Energy drinks before coming on stage. He was all over the place, worked the crowd like a magician with his stories and interactions (we all pretended to be American Eagles) and put on a high energy show even when including some of his slower stuff. I was exhausted just watching him.

Justin Moore - Oh, man, poor Justin. He had to follow Janson and came out saying "I don't do all that flashy audience participation stuff." (Remember, paraphrased.) I gave him props for being honest, my friends thought he was slagging on Janson. Regardless, it probably wasn't surprising that there were fewer people down front for his set and he seemed actually put out when he tried to rally the crowd and they weren't 100% enthusiastic. Put out or maybe he just has resting grumpy face. Having said that, he cranked out a lot of great songs and he and the band sounded tight.

Florida Georgia Line - As expected, there was a lot of video, flashing lights and pyrotechnics going on during FGL's show. It was fun and they sounded good, I just prefer a little less distraction but judging from the crowd they got going, I'm in the minority.

Best of Friday - Chris Janson by a landslide

Saturday

Ashley McBryde - I want to hang out and drink beers with this lady and I'm 100% convinced she'd be down with that. So funny! So talented! This was the hottest day of the event and she was dressed all in black. At one point she said, "Man, it's hot and I'm in Spanx from here to here" while pointing to her ankles then her boobs. There was some laughter from the crowd and she said, "It's OK to laugh, I'm OK with it. It's just how you keep the biscuits in the tube." I would definitely go see her again.

The Cadillac Three - What to say? Just because you're born in Nashville and have appeared on the show Nashville doesn't necessarily make you country. They were dynamic and fun and put out great sound. They just weren't country.

Josh Turner - Turner's voice is so strong and deep that I could feel it vibrating my breast bone. I could listen to him all night long. And look at him all night long as he's pretty good on the eyes. He has a solid catalog of songs and put on a a very good show.

Chris Young - Young was the closest artist to becoming this year's Brett Eldredge for me (for those that don't know, I fell madly in love with Brett at a previous WEFest and I'm sure we're going to live happily ever after together. Once we meet.) He was funny and interactive and also has some great songs. I looked him up after I got home and it appears that he's single. Brett might need to start worrying. Lust aside, it was a great set and I would pony up the bucks to see his full show.

Jason Aldean - I'll be up front about this. Aldean is not my favorite. I blame him for putting rap into my country. Having said that, he worked his butt off to put on a solid show. Some flashy stuff but mostly him working the crowd and sweating to near-death doing so. Not the most dynamic but with his many hits, he doesn't have to be.

Best of Saturday - Chris Young (to be honest, I'm not sure I picked him at the time but, in retrospect, he gets the nod)

Best of WEFest - Chris Janson. Go see him. You'll love him.

Besides the plethora of musical acts, we were also entertained by watching the big screens for social media displays. #wefest #wefest2018 We learned that if you post your stuff early, you have a better chance of getting up there more than once. And, man, we sure did. My friend captured some of our posts as they showed. Most of mine ended up on the screen and one of my companions said, "They should have a limit to how many times someone can be up there." She said it while looking directly at me. Can I help it that none of her posts made it? No, I think not. By this point, she should get that The Princess is popular even in Minnesota.

This selfie made it up there but I didn't capture the moment.
Day One, people, post on day one!

Overall, well worth the money to see so many acts at once. This is probably going into the permanent trip schedule as I not only get to enjoy a lot of music, I get to enjoy a lot of my Minnesota friends.