On 3/2, I flew down to San Diego to see Chris Stapleton and The Turnpike Troubadours. The line-up was irresistible to me and a friend of mine from Virginia is now stationed in San Diego and loves them too. SMS was invited but wasn’t that into it so he stayed home.
Chris Stapleton is an excellent performer. Such a good singer, songwriter and guitarist. I would totally see him again! It was drizzling earlier in the night, but we weren’t in the stadium yet. We skipped Elle King in favor of finding food. Our dinner was somewhat lackluster- I ordered pizza by the slice that I thought was topped by zucchini but instead were pickles?! But still, I’m glad we ate. I’ve seen Elle King at a small club in Oakland. She was good then and probably good now, but we passed.
Chris Stapleton’s setlist: White Horse | Parachute | Second One to Know | Starting Over | Millionaire | Crosswind | Might As Well Get Stoned | Hard Livin’ | Worry B Gone | What Are You Listening To? | Mountains of My Mind | Whiskey and You | Arkansas | Midnight Train to Memphis | Think I’m in Love With You | You Should Probably Leave | Nobody to Blame | Cold | Free Bird | Traveller | Fire Away | Broken Halo | Tennessee Whiskey *Encore* Where Rainbows Never Die * Outlaw State of Mind
My favorite songs are Parachute, Starting Over, and You Should Probably Leave. But really, it’s hard to pick. As a live artist, he is absolutely amazing and has a super talented band. Stapleton is the main singer and switches between lead and rhythm guitar. The sound is so clear and on tune. While I miss the in-studio female harmony from his wife Morgane, I get that the live show is a different set-up. And having a random back-up singer wouldn’t ring as true.
The steel guitarist is so talented and really contributes to the overall sound. The harmonica player played with Willie Nelson for years and is considered one of the greats. The band intros came at the end of the show and were sung by Stapleton to the tune of Tennessee Whiskey right before they launched into the song to end the show (prior to the encore).
One thing that I thought was kind of funny was that a lot of couples were swaying together during Fire Away. While it certainly is a testament to romantic love standing strong during difficult times, it’s not exactly a love song that feels good. It reminds me of an interview with a REM band member who always thought it was weird when couples would make out during The One I Love. He said something to the effect of, “Have you even listened to the lyrics?!”
We had floor seats so during some of the louder crowd cheers, I’d look up to hear what baseball players here. It’s pretty cool! I also took a picture of the building where SMS and I had our wedding.
The bathroom lines were ridiculous. At the last two stadium concerts I’ve been to (Stapleton and Swift), the line situations have been ridiculous. I don’t totally get it. It doesn’t seem that bad during sporting events? Not that I attend a lot of those, but I feel I’ve been to enough that I don’t understand the difference.
Turnpike Troubadours had a great setlist, but I can’t find it anywhere. They played well but the volume was too low. I usually wear earplugs, but a louder sound is useful for drowning out the ambient noise/drunk people talking. TT was set so low. So, boo! I’ve seen them once before at a small club in Silver SPring and I think they could be good in a big venue, but the sound engineering was poor.
I stayed at the Courtyard Downtown, which is an old bank. I think I was there about 15 years ago when there was a Gordon Biersch bar. It was a cool hotel, reasonably priced, and I recommend!
Sunday morning, I walked to Little Italy and grabbed a quick breakfast at the Parakeet Cafe. Then I took the bus the rest of the way, hopped on Southwest, and was home about 24 hours after I left!
That sounds like an excellent concert! But I mostly want to comment that pickles are most certainly not zucchini and if someone tried to pull that on me, I would probably not eat it because pickles are gross and ruin everything they touch. LOL.
Haha, it was a bad surprise.
I love pickles, but they do not belong on pizza, that is just weird.
It looks like you had a great time, I haven’t been to San Diego since the late 80s….
Do you think the bathroom situation in sporting arenas for concerts is because there are more people? I mean, there are a lot of people on the grass or whatever that are NOT in line for bathrooms during a game. That’s my first thought at least.
Oooooo, very smart. Next time, I’m storming the men’s room even though it tends to be grosser.