When you're treating your mom to a concert, it's probably going to be an artist like Rod Stewart, Simon & Garfunkle or Cher. Someone safe and bland, right? Last night, I treated my mom to Kid Rock.
I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed this show. For one night I forgave Kid Rock for his blind support of Dubya and recent slide into country music territory and allowed myself to be entertained. He put on a high energy show filled with his hits, some good covers and even some rap from a ghost. Below are the details of my night with the Nascar crowd.
In the middle of one tune, Kid Rock broke into Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and everyone broke out their lighters for a sing-along. It was that kind of night. Later, he actually covered the Dukes of Hazzard theme and had the back of the stage draped in the confederate flag. During another tune they played from tape the part sung by the late Joe C while a large picture of dimunitive rapper hung in tribute. This kind of kitchy fun was worth the price of admission alone, which for me was zilch. I often wondered how Kid Rock balanced his hip-hop turntable scratching with his southern rock and country base. Isn't the country crowd upset with the rapping? Isn't the rock crowd upset with the rapping and country? Wouldn't my mother be upset with the prevalent use of the term "mother f*cker"? So many questions...
I mentioned I enjoyed the show and I sincerely did. It was a hell of a lot of fun. We got the hits like "Only God Knows Why", "Cowboy", "American Badass", "You Never Met A Motherf*cker Quite Like Me", "Picture", "Feel Like Makin' Love" and, of course, the crowd favourite "Bawitdaba", his home run closer.
As for mom, she loved it too. I always suspected there was more than a little Harley Davidson flowing through those veins of hers. On the way home, she asked me what "Bawitdaba" means. That's a very good sign.
