Tim McGraw Digs Deep Into Catalog to Headline Taste of Country Music Festival
Tim McGraw played a few of the songs one expects to hear from him during his headlining set at the 2015 Taste of Country Music Festival. Then, he reached back for forgotten hits, or at least the hits radio stations nationwide have forgotten. His fans certainly did not on this night, Day 2 of the third-annual event.
"For a Little While" and "Unbroken" were two late '90s, early '00s hits McGraw sang to fans gathered on the ski slope-turned-concert venue in Hunter, N.Y. "The Cowboy in Me" and "Just to See You Smile" are two more that came from that era, although the latter is one fans certainly expect to hear live, and country lovers from the front rail to the back fence sang along.
What began as a rowdy country-rock show ("Truck Yeah," "Something Like That," "Down on the Farm") quieted down seven songs in with "Smile." "Diamond Rings and Old Bar Stools" and "Let It Go" marked the halfway point. McGraw was in good spirits, seeming genuinely charged up by getting to see one of his idols perform earlier in the day.
"I got to see Tracy Lawrence tonight," he shouted before a short a cappella rendition of Lawrence's "Sticks and Stones." Earlier he name-checked the singer during "Down on the Farm," changing "Got old Hank cranking ..." to "Got Tracy Lawrence cranking, way out loud."
The 48-year-old stayed away from his duets in his main set, including his recent chart-topping hit "Meanwhile Back at Mama's." "Shotgun Rider and "Diamond Rings ..." were two he played from Sundown Heaven Town. His songs came from all eras of his 20-year career. The encore included "Mexicoma," an album cut from Two Lanes of Freedom that's popular with fans, as well as Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," closing with "Live Like You Were Dying."
McGraw's headlining performance capped a day that included performances from his fellow Shotgun Rider tour acts Billy Currington and Chase Bryant, plus Lawrence, Easton Corbin, Amanda Watkins and more. Day 3 of the 2015 Taste of Country Music Festival is Sunday, with Toby Keith closing a lineup which includes Jerrod Niemann and Sara Evans.
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