Entertainment

Hot ticket warms up a sparse crowd

Jason Aldean headlines Nutter show with Lady Antebellum and Eric Durrance.

By Carol Simmons

Staff Writer

Saturday, October 11, 2008

FAIRBORN — The folks at Country Music Television (CMT) put together an undeniably hot ticket when they tapped hit-maker Jason Aldean to headline a tour bill that also features smokin' trio Lady Antebellum and newcomer Eric Durrance.

What they apparently forgot to take into consideration — as far as the tour's Friday night, Oct. 10, stop at Wright State University's Ervin J. Nutter Center — is that a fall Friday night around these parts means high school football to a good portion of the show's target audience.

Surely, that explains the Nutter Center's relatively sparse crowd, since the show's modestly priced tickets would normally invite a fuller arena.

But then, these aren't normal times, as the opening song of Lady Antebellum's 40-minute set seemed to refer — despite being written more than a year ago: "This world keeps spinning faster, into a new disaster ..."

That's for sure.

The crowd's warm appreciation for Lady A turned to adulation when headliner Aldean took the stage.

An entertainer who combines the energy of rock with the real-life themes of country music, Aldean filled his show with musical variety.

Rough and rowdy tunes such as his mega-hit "Hicktown" which concluded the Georgia-native's more than 60-minute set, hit their mark with the mostly young crowd.

But the ballad "Asphalt Cowboy," the first of three encore tunes, had the crowd cheering the chorus as well.