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OTTAWA - Boy, do this city's country fans -- enough to almost sell out Scotiabank Place for George Strait last night -- ever turn out for the big shows.
The Kanata arena turned into a mini but mighty Texas North last night for the beloved Lone Star State native's show. Strait's fans were bedecked in big belt buckles, white cowboy hats and lots and lots of Wranglers in a nod to a man who has surely earned the title of "Mr. Country Music" in his long and storied career.
Strait, after all, has accumulated more than 50 No. 1 hits to his name since 1982 -- he even put out an album in 2004 called 50 Number Ones. That's more than the Rolling Stones, or the Beatles even.
Strait pulled 13,200 people out to the Bank on a Tuesday night on the pure power of his catchy choruses and lucky guitar strings. He proceeded to give fervent fans more than 90 minutes of music ranging from twangy, forlorn lost love odes to Friday night dance-style honky tonk, drawing from more than two dozen albums in the process.
Sadly, Strait didn't play the one song that seems to define him to those who aren't so into what he sells: All My Exes Live in Texas, with that most clever and famous of lines, "and that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee."
But there was lots for fans to love after Strait strode out through the crowd and hopped up on a giant, square stage in the middle of the arena.
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There was the upbeat Honk if You Honky Tonk opener; fiddle-enhanced Amarillo By Morning; mellow-yet-bittersweet I Can Still Make Cheyenne, all early on. Strait then plucked here and there from his parade of Top 10 and No. 1 hits, delighting with everything from I Just Want to Dance With You to I Hate Everything near the end. The crowd also ate up his upbeat encore cover of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues.
No one seemed to notice if the concert was a bit dull, and the songs verged on similar-sounding. After all, Strait writes them that way.
He played to all corners of the nearly full house from the moment he took the stage after openers Miranda Lambert and Tracy Lawrence. While he was surrounded by his Ace in the Hole band, four giant screens above projected his near-ageless, didn't-break-a-sweat mug up for the crowd, periodically broken by accompanying shots of rodeos, livestock and long Texas roads.
Dressed in a trademark white cowboy hat, white button-down and crisp jeans, Strait launched right into a no-nonsense night of mid-tempo country music. As is typical, he spent long minutes at the end of the show shaking fans' hands. He didn't talk much throughout, saying it was great to be back and apologizing because someone told him earlier the last time he was here was 1985.
"That's too long," he said.