Tim McGraw's Tour Earns Outstanding Reviews
Every so often, an artist will get a stellar review for one concert, then the rest of the tour's reviews are mediocre. But there is definitely something going on with Tim McGraw's latest tour because every time I get a Google alert about him these days, it is yet another outstanding concert review. So far, I haven't seen one bad review. What seems to be coming through loud and clear is that the show is LONG. Two hours. So that's something kind of out of the ordinary in these days of cookie-cutter 90-minutes shows.
Then there's his mix of old and new, which every country star does and does well. But it sounds like McGraw's show has a cadence that works well to rev the crowd up and then bring them back around to the melancholy, like when he brings the Warren Brothers out for "Blank Sheet of Paper." (By the way, if there is a better country song that uses first-person personification, I've never heard it.)
According to most reviews, McGraw is also letting his Dancehall Doctors band shine a little brighter than in the past, which I think is important because of their rich history together both as McGraw's touring band and occasional studio band. All in all, it just sounds like he's glad to be on stage again. After a Kentucky show, the review said, "At the end of that song, McGraw raced along the catwalk asking, 'Do you feel the spirit of country music filling this place,' so much like a revival preacher you expected him to start healing folks." I don't know about its healing powers, but I do think a McGraw show certainly can't hurt.
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
maryann says:
I love Tim mcgraw he the best
Katie says:
I have also been reading the gerat reviews Tim’s been getting on this tour. Can’t wait until Tim rolls around to So. California.
Michael says:
I got a feeling something is filling this place, but it ain’t country music.
molly says:
the d.j. from my station was at the one here in Michigan this weekend and she said he was on fire and had the crowd the same way, it was awesome to hear 16,000 fans singing his songs with him. SHE SAID IT WAS A GREAT SHOW.
Neal says:
I see him as nothing more than a pop act with a plastic hat.
Regina says:
I see him as nothing more than a plastic act with a pop hat. Touche’.
truthteller says:
I’ll pass on the McGraw concert. I don’t enjoy listening to a singer who uses Pro-Tools in the studio and in his live performances. It’s a well-known fact that McGraw has major pitch problems. He’s a product of wise marketing and good looks — all style with NO substance IMO.
Regina says:
Oh, Neal, take a pill and chill you million dollar bill.
Steven says:
So….does that explain your love for Taylor Swift?
Neal says:
Regina, get home from work, turn on the lights, sit on the couch, spend the whole night there.
Regina says:
Steven, hey man…are you the guy Taylor wrote “Hey Stephen” about, because…I HATE YOU.
mahalia says:
I saw his concert in Lexington, he was on fire interacted with all the fans, no matter if you were in the rafters he connected. That two hours is NOT the whole show just Tim’s performance. Tim played for TWO HOURS and that doesn’t even include his opening acts. At The Lexington show a fan had a video camera and even had the nerve to have it on this pole. Tim saw took it turned around starting filming his band, turn it on him and was filming then gave IT BACK to the fan, he has an acoustic section where its just him sitting playing the guitar and doing the first song he ever learned on guitar, Alabama’s song Feels So Right. He performs Everywhere with just him and his guitar, then he is joined by the Warren Brothers and do an acoustic version of Blank Sheet Of Paper and If Your Reading This. The opening where he comes on stage is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. The lights and his videos are awesome the BEST I’ve ever seen it is clear has learned something from being in the moives in relation ot lights and videos. You will be laughing with the video to Back When. Its worth it just to see the play with the lights and videos. You think you are seeing a movie it is so well done. He is all over the catwalk down the middle and to the sides, slaps so many hands, his band are everywhere, down the catwalks interacting with fans. The spotlight on the band is awesome. I swear you feel like you are in the front watching the show on HUGE screen at the movies, so well done.
mahalia says:
Definitely no one has been working harder than Tim. Right now his concert tour has been only three days a week on the weekends cause during the week he is still filming his movie in Nashville. Did you know after that show in Lexington where he was onstage for two hours and that doesn’t include meeting with some military people earlier before the show he flew back to Nashville and was on the set of the movie at 8:00am to do some scenes, then flew out to Michigan to do a show that night including his preparty for fans.
They had an article in the Nashville paper about it. No one is working harder.
lifetime says:
I love tim mcgraw..I have seen tim and faith soul to soul one and two and both of them seperate shows 3 times…they both put on an amazing show!!!!
Susan says:
HEY NEAL - who are your favorites in country music? Who do you most listen to and are there any current artists you like? Just curious because I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything positive from you, ever. Not a criticism…just an observation. Are any of the artists you do enjoy alive? Again, not a criticism. My husband won’t listen to anything from the 80’s on.
Diane says:
I am so excited to read your review Mahalia, I am going to see Tim and DHD’S in July and I can’t wait. You are right, no one works harder then Tim. He is awesome!! I have been to two Tim concerts and have all his cd’s. He has so much heart and feeling and he puts 100% into his work. I just love his soulful voice, it just reaches inside and touches you.
Janice says:
Tim Mcgraw is on fire but the only thing is he is charred. Sorry, Tim just doesn’t cut it for me.
mahalia says:
Janice thanks for sharing that who do you like. Remember you may not like Tim but there are MANY that does, you don’t sell 40 million albums, sellout concert halls for years and years and have a career now that is in its 22nd year with out many fans.
BTW Tim fans he will be on Good Morning America tomorrow as the winter concert entertainer. he will be singing on the plaza on TV tomorrow.
Melinda says:
Tim Mcgraw has lost touch with his fans and it is showing. His last 3 albums are not what he expected. This may be due to his alcoholism, his wife and his Diva like conduct at his shows. Sorry but Tim is and will continue to be on the decline.
mahalia says:
Here is the Grand Rapids review, look at that last line.
Review: Tim McGraw’s ‘Southern Voice Tour’ rocks Van Andel Arena with old, new tunes
By Lorilee Craker | The Grand Rapids Press
February 28, 2010, 12:09AM
Once upon a time in Louisiana, a college student named Tim McGraw pawned his class ring for a guitar.
Twenty some years later, the deal seems to be working out, not just for McGraw, but for the over 11,000 fans packed into Van Andel Arena on Saturday night for McGraw’s Southern Voice Tour.
Rarely does an artist pump up a crowd like McGraw and his superb band, The Dancehall Doctors, do. From the time he sauntered onstage wearing his hallmark tight jeans and singing “Real Good Man,” the superstar had the audience in the palm of his hand.
He knows how to work it, easing into the party jams with the exquisite love ballad “She’s My Kind of Rain.”
“Let’s go to the honky tonk!” he hollered, and suddenly everyone was in a saloon with peanut shells on the ground and a piano man (on this case, Jeff McMahon) getting boogie woogie on the keys. “Down on the Farm” was a hootenanny, with the crowd wailing along on the chorus.
“Everybody Hates Me,” a wry song indeed, was a leg up for anyone who feels down on his luck. McGraw tipped his hat to Michigan’s poor economy: “I know you work your butts off,” he said. “Thanks for spending your hard-earned money to come here.”
4 OUT OF 4 STARS
Highlight: McGraw’s haunting ballad “If You’re Reading This,” and his unleashed arena anthem “Southern Voice.”
Time onstage: Lost Trailers, 20 minutes. Lady Antebellum, 50 minutes. Tim McGraw, 120 minutes.
During a soothing acoustic recess, McGraw was joined by the Warren Brothers, recording artists in their own right who appeared to be members of the Dancehall Doctors for Saturday, anyway. “Blank Sheet of Paper” was lovely and evocative, while “If You’re Reading This” pierced the heart of anyone who has ever loved a soldier.
“It Felt Good on My Lips,” a tune so new it isn’t even on his latest album, “Southern Voice,” was a frisky rocker with just a smidgen of country.
Of course, no McGraw show would be complete without “I Like It, I Love It,” one of the coolest, most rowdy tunes to ever rollick along a stadium or arena. It had the Van at full tilt. “Southern Voice” continued to encourage boisterous high spirits; it may be brand new but that song will be rocking arenas for a decade to come.
Why isn’t this man the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year? It’s a mystery, but in the meantime, he kept this Grand Rapids crowd wildly entertained for two solid hours.
Blake says:
No one works harder than Tim Mcgraw? That is an ignorant statement. Tim hasn’t even made a trip over seas yet like Carrie Underwood and Toby Keith. Supporting Troops at home is the easy way out.
mahalia says:
To all you haters the album Southern Voice is very country guess some of you can’t hear. More country than Taylor’s, Carrie’s, Keith’s and many others it obvious you have not listen to it. That disgrace of an album that you call it has SOLD MORE than Brad’s, George’s, Reba’s, Miranda’s, Toby’s and Kenny’s last one just to name a few and its close to catching Keith’s that came out last April. In fact ALL them albums I mention came out WAY before Tim’s
Example Tim
October 20th album release total sales so far 630,000, Brad’s album came out in June has sold 501,000, Toby’s came out in October has sold 350,000, just an example.
Instead of worrying about Tim that was NOT on TOUR last year and his albumn didn’t come out to October so it is NO surprised he didn’t get any nods, should be worrying why Brad that was on tour all last year, won awards, cohost of the CMA’s, big radio airplay but only has sold 501,000 copies since June and is only selling 2000-3000 copies a week.
That is the question you should be asking.
KEN says:
It really doesn’t matter how many more album’s Tim has sold as compared to the rest of the others, the fact is Tim’s music in not that good. The thrill of Tim is gone.
Sara says:
Tim’s not one of my faves….needs to quit singing such whiney crap…..he used to be awesome…what happened?
MORGAN says:
I agree Sara. Tim is a whiner. He needs to put pep in his step. I guess he wants to continue his appeal to the old, fat ladies with no teeth.
Regina says:
Morgan, how rude! I have hairy legs as well!
payton parks says:
ur the cutiest country singer ever ur music speaks to me because i love the down home country and ur music is just wat i want to here i may be a heck girl and only 14 bt i can do anythang a ghy can do that has to do on a farm.
i love u so much
payton parks
mahalia says:
So Tim is not good but he is sold more of his new album than Brad, Kenny, Reba, Martina, George, Miranda, Toby’s new albums that came out WAY before his. Must be something that you can have a album that is not as good as the artists I listed and sell more. That is what you want me to believe right. It is obivious the majority of country fans disagree or his album wouldn’t have sold more. He sold more without being on tour, without the big radio play and without the award nods, imagine that. After all Tim WAS the BEST SELLING ARTIST OF THE LAST DECADE with less albums.
truthteller says:
Mahalia: McDonald’s sells the MOST hamburgers, but everyone knows they’re not the BEST hamburgers. More people are buying into the “marketability” of McGraw rather than his quality of music.
Amy says:
A Tim McGraw show with the Dance Hall Doctors can ABSOLUTELY heal me!!
molly says:
TIM IS WONDERFUL AND ALL YOU HATERS HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO I GUESS.
Zach says:
We have better things to do such as listening to real music such as Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Kieth Urban, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum. Tim’s songs are a real bore. Honestly, Tim is doom and gloom 24/7.
Susan says:
truthteller - that’s a very good analogy. If an artist is marketed well, the consumer will buy. However, once they buy they may discover the artist or their product wasn’t as good as advertised. In reverse, there are the artists w/out the big guns behind them that aren’t marketed properly so their product sells poorly. That fact doesn’t mean the artist’s music isn’t good. If you compare a McDonald’s burger to a classic burger at your local, vintage diner, I’m sure the diner version would win, hands down. Yet McDonalds sells more. Proves nothing about quality.
Susan says:
One more thing…MOLLY - not everyone can agree with you about Tim’s music. You happen to love it. Others don’t. They have a right to their opinions as you do. BUT, it might be nice if people were a little more respectful about voicing their opinions. But I think a lot of folks that frequent these blogs thrive on drama so they try to create it wherever they can.
Kara says:
Just saw Tim on GMA and I can honestly say he talk sings. He doesn’t have much in the vocal dept. As I turned channels Lady Antebellum was performing on The Today Show. Now they can sing and perform with ease.
Jamie says:
Been to several concerts of recent country stars. McGraw was the worst. No real talent but a lot of hype. I wanted it to be good but was very disappointed.
chris says:
if you dont like tim or his music then find your self some thing else to wine abought dont listen to his music or look his way tim has put his life out out in the open and has shared the highs and lows the with and withouts and that is why he has a fan base as such hes real he hurts and smiles just like the rest of us so with that said find something that will fill your day and quit your bitchen
Jess says:
Tim McGraw is the best! His concerts are great and so worth the money! Cant wait to see him on 4/30 in W. Palm Beach FL! Going with my two cousins and I know we’re gonna have a good time!
If anyone is looking for really good seats to his concerts check this site out….www.totaltickets.com. Just a suggestion if you’re planning on going! :)
Myra Robinson says:
I have seen Tim 4 times and he and his lovely wife two times and they are both great entertainers. he gets into his audience and has a great voice. but even he says he does not sing as well as his lovely wife. Tim has always put on a great show. he works hard to satisfy his audience. he has not been overseas to perform probably because his schedule with other things does not allow it. there could be many reasons why he has not done a show for soldiers over seas. but he has performed at many military bases and does them for free.
Myra Robinson says:
and by the way,Tim stopped drinking any kind of alcoholic drinks more than 3 years ago. and he moves on stage and has lost weight so he can move around even better than before. and there is no comparison between him and the group he helped make it to the top of the charts,Lady A. they are in their own league.Tim is an awesome entertainer.