Here
we go…February 3, 2007. The coldest it has been in MN all season…10 below
with 40 below wind chills. What better way to heat the season by attending
a Tanya Tucker concert. Patty and I arrived at about 2:30 pm Saturday
afternoon. We went up to our room to get ready for an early dinner. After
dinner, I stopped back down and talked to Jim and Virginia, who sell
concessions for Tanya at concerts. Then my ears heard a heavenly
sound…..Tanya was across the hall in the ballroom rehearsing. I tried every
door to get a peek, but they were all locked. Must’ve seen me coming. She
rehearsed Oh What It Did to Me and Love Me Like You Used To. Very cool. I
went back up to my
room to get ready. We met up with another Tanya Fan, Doran who was waiting
to hear from Jack (Tanya's Road Manager) about a Meet and Greet. Patty and
I took our seats and the Band came out to warm up for Tanya. There are a
couple of new members in the band. They sound great! Then came the
familiar sound of Some Kind of Trouble and out came Tanya looking
beautiful. The first concert was vintage Tanya…Some Kind of Trouble, It
Won’t be Me, Oh What it Did to Me, Lizzie and the Rainman, San Antonio
Stroll, Memory Like I’m Gonna Be, Hanging In, Strong Enough to Bend, Two
Sparrows in a Hurricane, and Delta Dawn…..In between songs Tanya talked
about her mom. Her mom is in the hospital not doing too good since Beau
passed. She talked about her dad. Very touching. Tanya mentioned she was
going into the studio to cut her 40th album with Gregg Brown and
also mentioned the new live DVD will be out in April and T. Graham and
Delbert McClinton will be featured on the dvd.
Tanya also did a quick
acapela
medley of Loretta Lynn Songs…..Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ and Blue Kentucky
Girl. She started Singing Amazing Grace, and after the first verse she
slides right into Delta Dawn…Wow was that cool. At the end she signed some
autographs….She signed my Changes Album and my Tanya Tucker Bag with the
White Cowboy boot on it. She recognized the bag right away and scooped it
right up with my sharpie….Didn’t get the Sharpie back…LOL…..All in all it
was a great Tanya Concert. Met up with Doran and we waited for Jack. Jack
said maybe after the second show. Hopes are high.
The second show started at
9:00. The band did a couple of warm-up numbers…They
do sound good together. Next thing, they started playing Old Weakness
(Coming on Strong) and out came Tanya looking better then ever and rocking
out. She was wearing a beautiful brown duster with black leather pants, a
cool top and a groovy hat. Wow what an entrance.
Then she sang Love Me Like
You Used To followed by a lively version of Texas (When I Die). I was so
impressed. The second show was different than the first. After Texas, she
sang Without You (What Do I Do With Me). She dedicated that to her Dad.
Very fitting. She talked about how when she left for MN on Friday (had I
known, I would’ve been there on Friday, she flew in) how Layla ‘s Basset
Hound puppy, Daisy Duke, got lost. They called the shelter and the shelter
said they found her. Tanya sent her farm manager to go pick up Daisy Duke,
but when he got there, it was not the right dog. Tanya got the call and did
not have the heart to tell Layla over the phone. So, to help Layla’s broken
heart, Tanya bought her two puppies….Great Pyrenees. What a cool mom….Then
Tanya started talking about George Jones and the tribute album. She did her
George Jones impersonation…spot
on….Then
she performed Window Up Above. Very cool. After, she talked about her
friendships with Loretta and Tammy. She said that her and Loretta used the
same person to write their autobiographies, Patsi Cox. Patsi asked Loretta
what she would do differently, and Tanya answered in her best Loretta voice,
"Well, I guess if I had to do it all again I would do it more like Tanya."
I tell you. Tanya can sure do the impersonations. Then she talked about
Tammy a little bit and broke into Your Good Girl is Gonna Go Bad. Then She
started talking about when she was 9 and first came to Nashville she met
Charley Pride and she and her dad just loved his singing. Then she
performed (Is Anybody
Going to) San Antone. What a treat to hear her sing this classic. Then
out came the chairs and the band came down to the stage. Somebody in the
audience yelled Elvis…and Tanya broke into a quick version of In the
Ghetto. There is a song she should record and release. Her rendition was
so haunting it brought goosebumps on my arms. Then she talked about the old
days. She tried to sit, but said the pants are too tight. The audience
laughed. She did the acoustic set of Jamestown Ferry, What’s Your Mama’s
Name, Blood Red and Going Down and Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of
Stone). As always, she sounded top notch. The band went back to their
places, Tanya grabbed her hat and they broke into Walking Shoes. She
chatted about her parents and how they would’ve been together for 65 years
in January. She mentioned her mom was in the hospital and is having a hard
time with her husband’s death and dedicated Two Sparrows in a Hurricane to
all the moms and dads making it work. After that, She said Let’s Rock it
Boys and rocked It’s A Little too Late. After that she said I can’t leave
you with out this one and started singing Amazing Grace and slid right into
Delta Dawn. A standing ovation followed. She signed
again
from the stage. I was a behind a couple of folks, but raised my fan club
cards up in the air and Tanya grabbed them right out of my hand and signed
them and said Thank you. What a show. It may have been 40 below 0 outside,
but inside at Shooting Star Casino, Thanks to Tanya Tucker, it was 140
degrees...
We waited around for Jack for about an hour. Jack finally showed up but said Tanya was already resting….bummer….But it didn’t matter, that second show was by far the freshest and best of any Tanya concerts I have seen in the past 8 years. I hope she continues to mix up the songs and the shows. She proved she is the Queen of Country Music.