Brad Paisley played three sold-out drive-in concert events in St. Louis, Indianapolis and Nashville last month. The country music singer-songwriter reflects on the experience during these strange times.
“In some ways it felt like the ultimate act of flipping the bird to this virus a little bit, without doing it in a way that made everybody sick.”
Brad gave credit where it was due for the idea and was impressed that it didn’t feel like it was about making money.
“I was so impressed with what Live Nation did and how they came up with this. It’s not a money-making venture, I’m not even sure anybody broke even doing this. It’s more about, you do this so that you are investing in the future of live entertainment. I was very impressed at them doing this that way. There’s such expenses involved in putting on any concert, and then when you take away the capacity, and you add into it the extra expenses of sanitizing the bathroom every whatever, getting extra whatever you might need to make something safe. Everything was extra.”
The events were executed with safety measures in place from start to finish.
“We got extra buses, we tested my whole vulnerable crew, we didn’t let them interact with local crew, so everything took longer.”
Brad may have felt like things were strange while preparing for the concert, but when the show started it was obvious why he was there.
“Once you get there and once you do this and you stand there and see these faces and a sea of headlights, you realize why you’re there. You realize, “okay this is so important for sanity and for the principle of it.” Being there and being able to say we aren’t beaten, we aren’t fully beaten by this, we are going to rise up and find ways to celebrate these things that we love.”
The country music superstar would be open to doing this style of concert after the threat has passed.
“I said this in concert, when this is all over, I’d like to do it without the restrictions, the same way. I’d love to celebrate by doing the biggest drive in thing you can imagine, but you can go say hi to the other cars, you know, you can have a beer, somebody can come through and wait on you for refreshments and whatever. As opposed to having to bring your own. We could sell concessions, we didn’t even do that, because it wouldn’t be safe.”
Brad didn’t even throw picks out during his concert like he normally would. Everything was done, or not done, with safety in mind. However, he says that doesn’t mean he didn’t get into the performances.
“It’s weird. But it also felt very very emotional for me, at the same time that it was a lot of fun. I will never forget it.”
There were some attendees that are sure to remember this somewhat unique concert experience for a long time to come.
“I’ll never forget the kids in the front row that had signs that said “this is my first concert,” a little five-year-old down there, a boy and a girl in St. Louis, both of them had the “this is my first concert” big sign, and I talked to them from the stage. You’re going to grow up and go, “wow that was my first concert, during that time.” It’s not always going to be like that. Trust me kid this is different, this isn’t normal. He was in the front row and I couldn’t have reached him with a guitar pick, he was too far away, and the back row was a quarter mile away, really strange.”
Brad is currently climbing the charts with his latest single “No I In Beer.” The song echoes the sentiment of being together in a group effort similar to what the drive-in concert events were. Listen for the song on Bloomington-Normal’s #1 Country, B104.
Would you go to a drive-in style live concert if it was in your area during the pandemic? Would you attend one after the pandemic has passed?
by: Buck Stevens
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