Center Stage and The Bronk Bros. opened for Trent Tomlinson. I am amazed at the energy the Bronk Bros. bring to each show. They did a great job. If I had to describe Trent in one word, it would be CRAZY! He has an insane amount of energy and put on an exciting show. He had the most jewelry and had the most wardrobe changes I have seen from a male performer yet (can you include shirtless as a wardrobe change?). He was loving the crowd and tried to step onto the railing to get closer to the fans but slipped and fell off the stage. He played it off so cool & impressively didn't miss a lyric. He was thrown back up on stage, finished the song and added, 'Man, that hurt like hell'. The fall didn't hold him back at all. He played his hits "One Wing in the Fire", "Drunker Than Me", "Just Might Have Her Radio On" and gave us a good look at what to expect from the new album he is still trying to finish. It was really cool to see him perform an acoustic solo he had just finished writing about how things used to be. It was phenomenal - very well written. I'm looking forward to hearing some new stuff from him on the radio soon!

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Paige Richie, a 17-year-old from Indiana and Frankie Ballard opened for Luke Bryan. Unfortunately Frankie broke his hand and was in a cast, so he was unable to play guitar. He still sounded great and his back-up guitar player was really good, but it just wasn't the same. Luke was so much fun and had no problem entertaining the crowd. He found out it was a girl's birthday in the crowd, but wanted proof. She gave him her drivers license proving it really was her birthday, so he began singing Happy Birthday to to her while rubbing her drivers license on various parts of his body. He and his guitar player exchanged dancing skills and Luke showed off his Elvis moves. I really enjoyed his performance because it was totally different than the other two shows I have seen him at (Battle Creek and Muskegon). He played his hits, had the crowd singing "Good Directions", John Anderson's "Money in the Bank", did a really cool mix of "Fishing in the Dark" with "Hillbilly Deluxe" and came back out to do an encore of "All My Friends Say" while tossing a few beers into the crowd.

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Frederik Meijer Gardens was a beautiful location to host Sara Evans. Jason Jones, a new artist who just signed with Warner Bros. in May, opened for Sara. He played acoustically with another band member and sounded great. He writes a lot of his own music and has a similar sound to Keith Urban. Sara came out sounding great, but seemed a little stage shy. But as the night went on, she began to get more comfortable. She introduced her band which included two of her sisters singing background vocals - one of which is 'high' and 'preggers' - and a brother who plays bass. She even asked a man sitting in the front for some of his windmill cookies. He was obviously more than willing to share with Sara. She played all the songs on her greatest hits cd including "As If", "Suds in the Bucket", "Perfect" and her new single "Love You With All My Heart". She came back out for an encore which included "I Could Not Ask For More" and Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me".

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It was a beautiful evening in Fremont for another great concert. Branded opened for Lonestar who recently added lead singer Cody Collins to the band. I was anxious to hear the new sound of Lonestar and was pleasantly surprised. Cody brings a different sound to the group, but I thought he sounded great singing the previous Lonestar hits including "No News", "You're Like Comin' Home", "Walking in Memphis" and "Amazed". They also played a few new songs from their upcoming album including "Let Me Love You" (which I love). They may now hold the title for the best encore as they played a montage of some good old rock tunes that included Van Halen's "Jump", Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and AC/DC's "Back in Black".

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The very warm evening began with CenterStage, a band out of Belding and Kalvin Wayne, a gospel country artist from Otsego. They were both good, but 8-year-old Breanna Romer stole the show when she came out singing Martina McBride's "Happy Girl". She sang a few original songs and was joined by Kalvin Wayne for an "Amazing Grace" duet. Sammy Kershaw put on a good show for the minimal crowd. He played a few of his past hits like "Third Rate Romance", "National Working Woman's Holiday", "She Don't Know She's Beautiful" and got the crowd on their feet when he began tossing out mardi gras beads to the crowd while singing "Queen of My Double Wide Trailer".

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