If you didn't get to see Blake Shelton Saturday night at the Pensacola Civic Center, I regret to inform you that you missed one AWESOME concert. I'm not saying that because it was just the other night and I'm still caught up in the moment. No, it really was a great show and thanks to Blake's record label rep Lou Ramirez, my wife Kim & I got to experience Blake Shelton's "Beer Camp" before the show, which made it even more fun. One of the perks of working in radio is that you get to attend a lot of the concerts that come to town and even meet the singers every now & then. After working in radio for 15+ years, I sometimes have to remind myself that not everyone gets to see these shows and meet these singers. So I'd like to give you full disclosure (well, almost full disclosure) on what it's like to go backstage for a big concert.
The middle of last week, Lynn came in the studio when I was on the air and asked if Kim & I would be interested in going to "Beer Camp" before the show. I gave her a quick "yes" and then we both wondered what exactly would take place at this Beer Camp. Knowing Blake's personality and the fact that there would quite obviously be alcohol involved, we came to the conclusion that we didn't know, but whatever it was, it would probably be a lot of fun. Most of the time when you get to go backstage to meet an artist, you're in a line of people and when you get to the front of the line, you have enough time to say "hello", get an autograph & a picture and you're out the door. Beer Camp sounded like it might be a little different, so we were pretty excited to see what it was all about. Saturday night, Kim & I got to the Civic Center around 5:45 and hung out at the WXBM tent until Lou came out at 6 and we headed in along with another radio personality from Mobile. While we were walking, he mentioned that he got a phone call from a guy with the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team wanting to know if he could get tickets & backstage passes for one of the players and his buddies who were in town and wanting to see the show. I'm a huge baseball nerd, so I had to ask which player, and he said it was Colby Rasmus. I'd heard of him and was excited that there was a chance that I was going to meet a professional baseball player as well as Blake. So anyway, Lou brings us inside before the doors open and we walked up to the left side of the stage, and then through security, down a hall and around the corner and he said "Welcome to 'Beer Camp'". We walked in to a room with a big "Blake Shelton" rug on the floor, a nice couch, food, soft drinks, beer, booze, a lamp made out of a deer antler and wall coverings that made you feel like you were in a huntin' camp. There was also a big screen HDTV with full karaoke set up and XBOX. The four of us settled in and chatted for a while as different crew members and band members filtered in & out. Most would just pop in to say hi to Lou and grab something to drink, and then they were back out the door. At about 6:30, Blake's steel guitar/lead guitar player, Kevin, came in with his parents who were in town from San Antonio and hung out for about 45 minutes. After a short time, Kevin couldn't resist the karaoke any longer, so he punched up some "Fightin' Side" from Merle, and then "1982" from Randy Travis. The karaoke machine was on shuffle, and it was playing some pretty random stuff, and out of nowhere, Michael Jackson's "Beat It" came on and again, Kevin couldn't resist singing....or "vocal stylings" as he put it. Kevin's version of Beat It was a little different than the MJ version, and right in the middle of the song, Blake popped in the room, saw what was going. He laughed, shook his head, said "good GOD" and then apologized to everyone in the room for what was going on & turned around and walked out. We all had a good laugh over that, and it brought Beat It to an abrupt end because of the laughter. Shortly after that, the baseball guys showed up. It was Colby Rasmus, Trent Mummey who plays ball in the Orioles farm system and four other guys who play (or played) for Auburn. Super nice guys. A few minutes after they got there, Blake came back in and chatted with everyone for about 15 minutes, until he had to head out to get ready for the show. Blake is very candid. He is who he is, whether he's on stage, in front of a camera or hanging out in Beer Camp. We had a lot of laughs as he told us a few hunting stories, few stories from his experiences on The Voice and he said he is really excited to be performing with Miranda before the Super Bowl. Beer Camp was awesome. It wasn't the raucous party that we thought it would be, but that was perfectly fine with us. After a few pics with Blake and Colby, Lou brought us to the soundboard on the floor of the Civic Center where we saw Justin Moore's set and then he brought us up to the front row to see Blake's entire performance! We didn't expect to go all the way up to the front, but it sure was fun. There aren't many singer in any genre that sound as good in concert as they do on CD, but Blake does. A great voice and a true entertainer. It was an awesome night! Thanks Lynn, Lou & Blake!
As I mentioned, Blake and Miranda will be performing before the Super Bowl this Sunday. They will perform "America The Beautiful" right before Kelly Clarkson sings the "Star Spangled Banner". Blake also returns to NBC's "The Voice" this year and the season premiere is right after the Super Bowl. I missed it last year, but will definitely watch this time around.
