Last Thursday I traveled to Knoxville, TN to attend Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice” tour, with opening acts Love and Theft and Lady Antebellum. I was very excited because Love and Theft and Lady A are two of my favorite groups, and I was interested in seeing what kind of show Tim puts on (I had heard nothing but good things about it).

After the short drive from Nashville to Knoxville (part of which was spent driving behind Montgomery Gentry’s tour bus- ), I arrived in Knoxville and made my way to Thompson-Boling Arena. I stopped at Will-Call to pick up my Lady A fan club ticket (row 5-not bad at all!) and my meet and greet pass for Love and Theft. After a short wait for the doors to open, I made my way inside and to the meet and greet location. After some confusion (security let all of Lady A and Love and Theft’s meet and greet attendees just stand backstage without any supervision-we could have gone anywhere), Love and Theft’s tour manager met up with us and found a spot for us to have our meet and greet. I’ve been lucky enough to meet Love and Theft a few times now, and they are always the nicest guys and are always very excited to meet their fans. This time was no different. I had my chance to say hello and get my picture taken, then it was time to head out to my seat and get ready for the show.

Love and Theft were up first, and they put on a great show with lots of energy. Their short set included several cuts from their album, including “Can’t Go Back,” “Runaway,” and their current single “Dancing in Circles,” as well as their cover of Martina McBride’s “Wrong, Baby Wrong” (which they co-wrote). The guys managed to get the crowd going and, judging by the line at their post-show meet and greet, it seemed that many people in the crowd were very impressed with them by the time their set was over.

Up next was Lady Antebellum. Everyone has seen their recent success, so the crowd was truly excited to see them perform. In fact, I think I saw more people wearing Lady A t-shirts than Tim McGraw shirts. Anyway, Lady A took the stage and the crowd was into their set from the start. They played many songs from their new album “Need You Now,” including “Stars Tonight,” “Perfect Day,” “If I Knew Then,” and “American Honey,” as well as fan favorites “Love Don’t Live Here,” and “Lookin’ for a Good Time.” One highlight of their set for me was their performance of “Hello World,” which Charles delivered beautifully. Lady A finished their set with their first number one single, “I Run to You.” Overall, it’s pretty amazing to see how far Lady A has come in the last couple of years. I was able to see them open for Jason Aldean back in May of 2008, and the differences between then and now are HUGE. Their performance style has improved greatly, they really know how to work a crowd, and they look like they are genuinely having tons of fun on stage, and that’s refreshing to see.

Finally, Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors took the stage. Tim had a very entertaining set, which included many of his big hits, starting with “Real Good Man,” and continuing with “Last Dollar,” “I Like It, I Love It,” “Southern Voices,” and of course, “Live Like You Were Dying.” Tim’s set even included a cover of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” Tim brought a lot of energy and was able to engage the crowd for most of the set. My favorite moment of Tim’s set was when he brought out the Warren Brothers to help him perform an acoustic version of “If You’re Reading This.” I will admit that I’m not familiar with all of Tim’s music (mainly just his singles), so I found my mind wandering quite a bit during the show, but I do have to say that he is very entertaining and wants to make sure the crowd has a good time.

Overall, this was a great show, with great performances from all three acts. The show was very entertaining and one that I recommend everyone see this summer if at all possible.

~Mariah