Miranda Lambert Simply Charming at Taste of Country Fest 2017 [Pictures]
With Miranda Lambert, it's all about the eyes. The singer's subtle looks and even quieter smiles dictate how her night and a show are going. At Taste of Country Music Festival on Saturday night (June 10) she charmed a mountain full of fans with both.
The mood of a Miranda Lambert concert isn't dependable. Some nights she gets emotional during songs like "The House That Built Me." Occasionally she blitzes through her set list like she's part of the Ramones, a punk-rock act known for a non-stop wall of music. This was a friendly 90 minutes of music that only found Lambert cracking during "Tin Man," the emotional, unusual choice for an encore.
"Kerosene," "Heart Like Mine" and "Highway Vagabond" came early. Prior to the show, the reigning ACM Female Vocalist of the Year told Taste of Country it takes two songs for the switch to flip from the laid-back Texan friends know to the ferocious entertainer, and that seemed to hold true. During "Highway Vagabond," one of the more delightful songs on The Weight of These Wings, Lambert gave many slow, seductive sideways glances. What she does is not quite dancing but vibing.
Watch: Miranda Lambert's Interview Prior to the Taste of Country Music Festival
"Thank you for showing up for a girl headliner tonight," Lambert told the audience about 35 minutes into her mountaintop set, after playing "Vice," "All Kinds of Kinds" and "Over You." There were no tears for this ballad, nor were there any for "The House That Built Me." The best emotions came during the sassy "Pink Sunglasses" and the outrageous "Little Red Wagon."
Her best rockers stayed in the 33-year-old's pocket until the end. "White Liar," a cover of ZZ Top's "Tush" and "Gunpowder and Lead" helped the concert and the day toward its zenith. Linda Ronstadt's "Willin'" was her only other cover song, coming between "Mama's Broken Heart" and "Automatic."
Perhaps "Ugly Lights" was the song most indicative of the mood of this concert. The song about staying out too late when you're trying to drink off heartbreak came with a short recap of the ups and downs of Lambert's last two years and a guarantee she "made it out better and prettier than ever." That's believable now, and she proved it with a very confident set at ToC Fest.
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