Miranda Lambert (April 12, 2012)

Headliner: Miranda Lambert

Opener: Chris Young & Jerrod Neimann

Date: April 12, 2012

Venue: Verizon Arena (North Little Rock, Ark.)

Miranda Lambert brought the house down at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock on Friday night, April 13 with a rip-roaring performance of her kickass brand of country music.

Lambert opened the show with a track from her most recent album Four the Record titled “Fastest Girl in Town,” which is in the style of many of her hardest charging hits like “Kerosene” and “Gunpowder & Lead,” minus the revenge on a guy aspect. She then followed that up with the perfectly placed “Kerosene,” her first massive hit from her 2005 debut album of the same name, which had the crowd pumped up and ready to go for the remainder of the set.

Lambert followed the opening performances with hit after hit mixed in with tracks from Four the Record. Among the Four the Record performances were the album’s first two singles: the typical Lambert “Baggage Claim” and the emotional “Over You.” Also, performed from the album were “All Kinds of Kinds,” “Mama’s Broken Heart” and surprisingly “Fine Tune,” which has to be the sexiest performance of a song I’ve ever seen at a concert.

Among the “greatest hits” selections were “Gunpowder & Lead,” “Dead Flowers,” “More Like Her,” “New Strings,” “Famous in a Small Town,” “Heart Like Mine,” “Only Prettier” and “White Liar” all of which sounded as good live as they do on her albums. 

My favorite performance of the night was “The House That Built Me,” which will probably be Lambert’s essential song no matter how many more great albums and tracks she releases. All great artists have “that song” that will be the first to pop into minds of people everywhere and this is it for Lambert.

The biggest surprise from Lambert’s set was a cover of a Lady Gaga song … nope, that’s not a typo or error, she actually performed Lady Gaga’s Grammy nominated hit “You & I,” which she said would make a great country song. I agree and have actually said as much before hearing Lambert’s countrified version. I wouldn’t mind hearing Lambert cut “You & I” for her next album.

Lambert’s opening acts where the massively talented Chris Young and the not worth wasting much ink on Jerrod Neimann. Young performed his biggest hits like “Gettin’ You Home (The Black Dress Song),” “Voices,” “The Man I Want to Be” and “Tomorrow” all in his silky smooth voice that recently saw him nominated for ACM Male Vocalist of the Year. Two of the biggest highlights from Young’s opening set where his current single “Neon” and “Lost,” which hopefully will be eventually released as a single.

After Lambert’s set she returned to the stage for an encore of an Aretha Franklin song that I failed to catch the name of and then she was joined on stage by Young and Niemann for a cover of the Billy Joe Shaver written, Waylon Jennings recorded “Honky Tonk Heroes,” which was a fitting way to end the night.    

This was the third time I’ve seen Miranda Lambert in concert, but the first time I’ve seen her as a headliner. I can only say that she’s getting even better each time I see her.