On Sunday July 20th, the crowd that flowed into the Verizon Wireless Music center came ready for a country music show….cowboy hats and all.
We were entertained by James Otto and Rodney Atkins who did a fine job getting the crowd into the mood, but only made us more anxious to see Brooks and Dunn. After Rodney Atkins finished up, 3 red curtains dropped from the lighting truss, hiding the stage from our view. While waiting for the show to begin we spent time watching the big screens on either side of the stage. The screens displayed text messages that fans at the show were sending in. Eventually the screens stopped and went black.
The crowd jumped to their feet and began to cheer as they heard a guitar being strummed behind the curtain. Suddenly the whole band kicked in, the curtains rose, and Ronnie Brooks and Kix Dunn began singing the title track from their 2007 release “Cowboy Town.” Needless to say, the country duo was well received by Indianapolis. “Cowboy Town” was quickly followed by “You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl,” from their 2003 release Red Dirt Road. Between harmonica licks, Kix treated the front row crowd with an occasional autograph. The fiddle player commenced a phenomenal solo as the men took control of the stage and had a good time with the crowd. Kix picked up a potato launcher and began shooting t-shirts into the crowd and Ronnie tossed drumsticks into the crowd after every couple of strikes on the cowbell. The whole crowd cheered, in hopes of getting the opportunity to catch one of these great souvenirs. 
After a few more tunes the duo played a track from last year’s release Cowboy Town “Proud of the House We Built. The tune only reached #4 on the Billboard Country Songs chart, but the whole crowd sang along. Next, we went back in time and heard “Neon Moon,” a #1 hit from their first record release Brand New Man.
After singing fast-paced “Put A Girl In It,” two stools appeared at end of the extended stage, and the men walked out, Kix with his mandolin in hand. Ronnie sat behind the mic and began to sing “It’s Getting Better All The Time.” Looking out on the crowd you saw lighters in the air, arms swaying back and forth, and hundreds of country music fans sharing a tender moment in time with Brooks and Dunn. They continued to sit on the stools singing a few more songs, Kix on his acoustic guitar, and Ronnie on his Tele. Kix and Ronnie finished up this portion of their show with “Believe.” The crowd, which has mostly been sitting during the past few songs, heard this song and all rose to their feet. This song was very sentimental to many among the crowd…some sang, some cried, and some slow-danced with their loved ones.
The break from the fast paced show was nice, but the crowd was anxious to rock again, as “She Likes to Get Out of Town” began.
“Only in America” was followed by many more hits by Brooks and Dunn. Some songs were more recent, while other songs flashed back to earlier albums, including the song that closed the show,
“Boot Scootin’ Boogie,” This song is probably one of the most popular songs in country music, and hit #1 on their very first album. As the crowd left the Verizon Wireless Music Center you could see that all had had a very enjoyable time. We had witnessed one of the most awarded country music duo’s of our time. They interacted with the crowd, and sang their hearts out for us. Overall, this was good experience.
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