Kid Rock – Minnesota State Fair 8/23/2013

The Minnesota State Fair presents – KID ROCK with Blackberry Smoke.

Opening up tonight is Blackberry Smoke, a band signed to Zac Brown’s “Southern Ground” label, straight out of Atlanta, Georgia. With a southern rock style, they are cut right from the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd sound. You get exactly what you would expect from these guys, great southern rock licks, heavy piano and some great country southern fried tunes. They fit the part, looking like they just walked out of the seventies and make for a perfect opener.

Kid Rock starts up his set with a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'”, a song that people would have to be crazy not to get up and sing to. He then proceeds to break into tunes from “Devil Without a Cause”, the album everyone is all too familiar with when they think of his name. The music, not to mention Kid Rock himself, still sound just as fresh as it did sixteen years ago. Unfortunately, for fans of those days, he has very much changed his sound over the years, sticking more to southern rock than a rap style. With his strut around the stage and mic flipping, he has the whole crowd going. Kid Rock fans are die hard. Some in the front came as far as Massachusetts. “Never Met A Motherfucker Like Me” is next which goes right into “American Bad Ass”. His apple to the blue collar working people is eminent. With ten original albums going back to 1990 he has a lot to choose from. Sticking to a greatest hits set is a huge crowd pleaser.