Lonestar amazes TPAC

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Nov 22, 2003 by Bill Blankenship Capital-Journal

REVIEW

By Bill Blankenship

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Lonestar proved Friday night that you don't have to be plugged in to light up an audience.

Without pyrotechnics, without giant video screens, without swinging from the rafters, the Tennessee-based band of Texas natives energized a crowd of 1,232 at the Topeka Performing Arts Center.

Lonestar --- vocalist Richie McDonald, keyboardist Dean Sams, guitarist Michael Britt and drummer Keech Rainwater, along with sidemen Kurt Baumer on fiddle and Robbie Cheuvront on bass --- kept the crowd pumped up for a solid hour and 40 minutes by sitting in stools as they swapped stories, told jokes, played their instruments and sang their songs.

By leaving the electric instruments at home and booking their Acoustic on the Front Porch Tour in theaters as opposed to arenas, Lonestar won new fans while not disappointing old ones.

After a stunning opening set by singer-songwriter Jimmy Wayne whose hard life and the songs it inspired command listening, Lonestar delivered its less frenzied, more informal show that literally brought the band up close and personal to its audience.

At one point, McDonald invited a woman to join him on stage for a photo, and with the band's encouragement, she then posed for a shot with each musician. Another photo shoot happened later when the band saw some girls in the center aisle trying to get a snapshot of themselves with the band in the background. The show stopped as the band jumped off the stage and posed with the girls. So many more fans rushed to join in they nearly obscured the band.

Then there was the music. Not only did Lonestar deliver solid performances of its vast catalog of hits, they also mixed it up with covers of some of their personal favorites.

At the piano, McDonald launched into Billy Joel's "Piano Man," but stopped after a verse, saying someday he was going to not only learn all the verses of that lengthy song but also all of Don McLean's "American Pie," too.

Lonestar did the Eagles' "Best of My Love," Loggins & Messina's "Danny's Song" and Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville," which got the Parrotheads going.

But it was the band's own biggest hit to date, "Amazed," that at the show's end had couples slow-dancing in the aisles and the rest of the crowd swaying to the music.

Bill Blankenship can be reached

at (785) 295-1284 or bill.blankenship@cjonline.com.