OMG! I'm not sure how to begin and I'm just too bloody old to be a fanboi (I'm 46) but WOW. I didn't even start listening to country until 7 years ago or so, but this festival was the most fun I've ever had while wearing clothes! There wasn't a bad performance out there. 99.99 percent of the people were great and I even learned a few things.

1) I had NO idea Keith Urban was THAT good a guitarist. I mean Hendrix good.

2) There just is no more boundary between rock and country. Jason Aldean proves it.

3. Sugarland definitely has a sense of humor. Their version of "Heart Of Glass" was ...scarily ....dead on.

4. My gf and I each added one person to our "allowed to do" list. Phil Vassar for her Jennifer Nettles for me. Phil put on an amazing show, but didn't see much in the local press about it.

5. Ok one complaint, Merle should have either been on the Mane Stage, or at least not have had other acts playing at the same time. He was great, and I'm pretty sure there were more people watching him at the Palomino Stage than there were at Mane at the same time.

6. For me, the highlight of the fest was Brooks & Dunn. I guess they've been around so long that I had forgotten just how many hits they've had. I can't remember the last time I saw that much love between performers and their audience.

7. The closest thing to a disappointment for me was Toby Keith. Don't get me wrong, he and his band did a rockin set, but it seemed to me, that unlike B&D, Aldean, Sugarland, or even Billy Currington, he was just doing his normal thing, kind of disconnected from the rest of the festival. It would have been a great performance at any other place and time but Stagecoach.


Now for the big question for next year, how DO I get P1 seats! I bought my tickets about 3 minutes after opening and ended up in P2 Section 6, which of course was not shabby at all.