Concerts at The Amway Center in Downtown Orlando, Florida are always more than a concert, they are events that fans get there early for and dress up for. Tailgaters filled the parking garages dressed in denim with cowboy hats and boots ready for a great night of country music. Brooks and Dunn have been entertaining millions over the past 35 years with their music. The duo had retired in 2009 but needed to get their “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” back and resumed their career in 2019.
As the country music fans filed into the Amway Center a light rain was falling in Orlando, The City Beautiful! That didn’t seem to dampen the mood and as expected, the arena was sold out and the crowd was rowdy and loved every second of the show!
Megan Moroney was first up for the night at 7:00pm and came on stage dressed in a fluffy white satin mini dress. She is gifted with great vocals and stage presence as she glided back and for across the stage. Her set was only six songs, but she definitely left an impression on the Amway crowd as they hooted and hollered in approval of what they had just seen and heard.
Setlist:
1.) Lucky
2.) I’m Not Pretty
3.) Traitor Joe
4.) Girl in the Mirror
5.) Gunpowder and Lead (Miranda Lambert cover)
6.) Tennessee Orange
Scotty McCreery who is cut out of the same cloth as George Straight minus the cowboy hat, graced the stage at 7:45pm. At 17 years old, in 2011, McCreery won season 10 of American Idol. In July of 2017, McCreery became the only artist in Country Music history to chart a song without a record label with his single “Five More Minutes”. With his four albums breaking the top ten in the United States, the Amway Center witnessed an artist that is bound for great things and a long career. Scotty McCreery is equally as gifted as an entertainer as he is a singer, and his set was enjoyable from beginning to end.
Setlist:
1.) In Between
2.) Small Town Story
3.) Feelin’ It
4.) It Matters To Her
5.) Nothin’ Right
6.) This Is It
7.) See You Tonight
8.) Be My Baby Tonight (John Michael Montgomery cover)
9.) Five More Minutes
10.) Check Yes or No (George Strait cover)
11.) Damn Strait
12.) You Time
At 8:00pm the lights dimmed and the screen at the back of the stage lit up with a video of a car racing through the desert. Then the screen went red with fire as the band, still in the dark began to play, “Brand New Man”. Brooks and Dunn came on stage and began to sing the lyrics, which were appropriate to the video that had been shown,
I saw the light, I’ve been baptized
By the fire in your touch and the flame in your eyes
I’m born to love again
I’m a brand new man
The crowd went absolutely wild when the spotlights lit them up standing side by side at center stage. Everyone in attendance knew right then and there, this was going to be a special night. Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn have been staples of country music for the past 35 years. Even when the duo called it quits in 2009, they continued their solo careers. In 2019, they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and released their 11th studio album, Reboot that same year. The setlist was definitely a greatest hits list with songs “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You”, “Hard Workin’ Man”, “My Maria” (B.W. Stevenson cover), and of course “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” in the encore. They mentioned that Orlando was the last stop on the current tour, and they were going to play all night! But looking at the setlist from previous shows, the setlist was exactly the same.
Even for the occasional country music fan or not a country music fan at all, Brooks and Dunn’s catalog of country music hits refreshes the memory of songs that are familiar to everyone. I found myself singing along to songs I didn’t recognize were theirs.
Setlist:
1.) Brand New Man
2.) Put a Girl in It
3.) My Next Broken Heart
4.) Mama Don’t Get Dressed Up for Nothing
5.) We’ll Burn That Bridge
6.) Honky Tonk Truth
7.) You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone
8.) Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You
9.) Red Dirt Road
10.) Lost and Found
11.) Hard Workin’ Man
12.) Play Something Country
13.) Cowgirls Don’t Cry (with Megan Moroney)
14.) Neon Moon
15.) Rock My World (Little Country Girl)
16.) Believe
17.) My Maria (B.W. Stevenson cover)
Encore:
18.) Boot Scootin’ Boogie
19.) Only in America
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Photographer and Editor/Founder of AllMusicMagazine.com. My love of live music has taken me to incredible experiences with the top bands of all time in stadium shows to the smallest venues with equally inspiring musicians. Using the medium of photography and my publication, these memories will last forever.
