http://www.courant.com/entertainment/music-reviews/hc-alan-jackson-concert-review-0515,0,129976.storyThis year marks the 20th anniversary of Alan Jackson's first hit single, a stretch of time that has yielded one good result after another for one of mainstream country's most reliable practitioners. His show Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville celebrated that successful run in typically understated style, as the 51-year-old Georgia native made his way across the years with comfort and class.
There was something effortless about Jackson's performance from the moment it began, when he ambled onstage to join his eight-piece band in "Gone Country." He was never in a rush to get anywhere, whether it involved a cool stroll through the supple sway of "Livin' on Love," or an amiable mosey across the lickety-split backdrop of "I Don't Even Know Your Name." One of many trips across the stage to throw guitar picks to the crowd found him out of position when it came time for the regularly scheduled next verse of "Don't Rock the Jukebox," so his band covered for him as he took his time getting back to its honky tonk groove.
His manner complemented his tunes, which ticked out every fresh pulse like a metronome of simple Southern charm. He stretched his leisurely vocalization out alongside the pulsating twang slice "Who's Cheatin' Who," and handled the fiddle-lined flow of "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" in a way that was casual yet retained the warmth of its reminiscence.
Jackson was circled closely by his band for an interlude of song snippets that traced his entire career, which moved from the easygoing float of his breakthrough 1990 single "Here in the Real World" to the equally vintage stone country spring of "Neon Rainbow." He told simple, brief stories to introduce each song in that portion of the show, leaving it to moments such as a lustrous cover of Hank Williams Jr.'s "The Blues Man" to do their own talking.
The evocations of "Remember When" were as simple as they were potent, everyman musings of uncommon eloquence. His party tunes were equally direct, including the lively "It's Five O'clock Somewhere" and a propulsive roll through the set-closing "Chattahoochee." Footage of local landmarks that accompanied an encore of "Where I Come From" is a device he has used frequently over the years, but is more distracting than effective, as audience members are more attuned to professional sports logos than the song itself. A sturdy offering of "Great Balls of Fire" made for a curious close the evening, as that tune's manic energy is one flame Jackson's restraint doesn't much stoke.
Second-billed Josh Turner drizzled his baritone over hook-lined country for the better part of an hour, rambling through the good old boy churn of "Firecracker" and wrapping his earthy tone around the stout swivel of "Why Don't we Just Dance." He brought good-natured gravity to the sweeping "Long Black Train," and managed a nonchalant seduction in his chart topper "Your Man."
2006 "Nashville Star" winner Chris Young opened the show with similarly framed mainstream country, drawl seeping from his voice as he streamed across a come-on of his own, the simmering "Getting' You Home (The Black Dress Song)."
Alan Jackson's Friday set list: "Gone Country," "Summertime Blues," "Livin' on Love," "I Don't Even Know Your Name," "A Woman's Love," "Small Town Southern Man," "Who's Cheatin' Who," "It's Just That Way," "Little Bitty," "Drive (For Daddy Gene)," "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," "Don't Rock the Jukebox," "Here in the Real World," "Wanted," "Neon Rainbow," "Sissy's Song," "She's got the Rhythm (And I got the Blues)," "The Blues Man," "Mercury Blues," "Remember When," "Good Time," "Country Boy," "It's Five O'clock Somewhere," "Chattahoochee," (Encore) "Where I Come From," "Great Balls of Fire."
