St. Leonard, MD — The St. Leonard Volunteer Fire Department 2015 concert season got a belated start this year – but what a start it was. With the originally-scheduled Little Big Town concert postponed to Sept. 25, the opening act of the season – Jake Owen — started things on a very high note with a rollicking, energetic, professional show Aug. 21 at Bayside Toyota Pavilion.
Owen and his band had just arrived from Canada after performing with Kenny Chesney during his wildly successful Big Revival Tour. Owen said it was his first concert as top biller in quite a while and he was obviously up for the spotlight.
The Florida native is an enthusiastic water sports fan, so his open with the country chart topper Beachin’ was no surprise. Owen’s show features a large screen backdrop continuously showing mood pieces, country videos and projections of the live show. Beachin’ featured surf and sand shots putting everyone in the mood for a good time.
Owen followed Beachin’ with another number one – Anywhere With You. Although he didn’t reference his recently-announced divorce from his wife of three years, Lacey Buchanan, many of the adoring females in the audience were undoubtedly having day dreams under the night skies over St. Leonard during that song.
Owen interrupted his string of hit tunes for a throwback to his roots with an acoustic set that included Garth Brooks’ “the Dance,” Allan Jackson’s “Chattahoochee,” and Brooks and Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” Owen ended the night with another song made popular by someone else – Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Song, which is undergoing a revival through the new movie “Ricki and the Flash,” which stars Springfield and Meryl Streep.
Opening act for the concert is rising young star Josh Noren, who told the volunteers who help run the concerts that he himself had been a volunteer fireman while in college.
There sure will be no letdown in quality for the remaining two shows of this year’s St. Leonard VFD concert season – Lady Antebellum Sept. 13 and finally Little Big Town Sept. 25. For concert tickets go to www.slvfd.org
Please enjoy the Photo Galley of the concert by The Bay Net Photojournalist Ron Bailey.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com
