Photo by Brian Chilson.
Tim McGraw / Lady Antebellum
April 9, Verizon Arena
Lady Antebellum probably infuriates country purists, if there are any of those left. On record, the trio of Nashville young bloods only occasionally pretends to have something to do with country music and live they don’t even pretend. At Verizon Arena on Friday the band brought no fiddle or pedal steel to dirty up their clean, simple, ultra-melodic pop.
As the second of two opening acts for Tim McGraw (the first, The Lost Trailers, sort of sound like the Goo Goo Dolls and will be lucky if they every catch on another major tour), Lady Antebellum is in any interesting place — two albums into a career that find them one of the hottest acts in all of music. Their set, which was about an hour and ought to be the last they’ll have before they are headlining, was filled with their hits and the ones they hope to be hits and a cover of John Mellencamp’s “Rockin in the USA.” About an hour is all Lady Antebellum needs right now, giving them just enough time to showcase why they have rocketed to the top in such a dramatic fashion.