On Saturday night my buddy Buzzard and I made our way to the River Cree Casino to see the Outlaw Legacy show featuring Ben & Noel Haggard (Merle Haggard's sons) headlining with opening acts Ned Ledoux (whoever he is) and Tyler Reese Tritt and Tristan Tritt (Travis Tritt's son and daughter). I know nothing about Travis Tritt, I wouldn't know a tune of his if I heard it, so the Tritt's really meant very little to me. This line-up is such a casino show. Buzzard and I have seen Ben & Noel a few times before and have always enjoyed seeing them perform, but I wasn't going to pay a hundred bucks to see them this time, way too expensive. But thanks to my buddy who was looking for a night out with some live music, bought the tickets and treated me to a night out.
The first act of the evening was Tristan Tritt, I knew nothing about him, but for the hundred dollar ticket we wanted to be sure to checkout every artist. Well much to our surprise, we got in the venue at 8:45, with the ticket saying 9:00 start, we figured we gave ourselves enough time to grab a few beers and be seated for start time. Well, we got in and Tristan was already playing. By the time we got to our seats and I asked the guy next to me how much we missed, he said Tristan was already on his third song. What the fuck! And he only did a four song set. It was him singing with sister Tyler Reese adding some background vocal and some dude playing acoustic guitar. What we did hear was alright, country with a rock influence, not bad.
Next up was Tyler Reese Tritt. Same set up, Tyler, Tristan and some dude on guitar, only I didn't see or hear Tristan do any background vocals, he was just kind of there, weird. Again, only a four song set, all covers I believe, I know one of the songs was called "Texas Hold'em" the other three not sure. Whatever they were, she had people in the half full venue singing and dancing. What I will say about Tyler Reese Tritt is that she has got a set of lungs on her, she can fucking sing. I was impressed.
Next act up was Ned LeDoux, first artist of the night with a full band. No clue who Ned is but after some research I see he is an country singer/songwriter from Wyoming and the son of country artist Chris LeDoux, again, no idea who he is either. After four songs into his set, I said to Buzzard "fuck this, I'm going for a smoke", they were just middle of the road country, did absolutely nothing for me. But after the fourth song Ned said he had a special guest joining him on stage, someone he had written the next song with and we would know him. Well much to my surprise it was Corb Lund joining the band on stage for a song they wrote together called "Dance With Your Spurs On", so that was very cool. But after that song I bailed for a smoke. Sure glad I waited as long as I did before I left.
Corb Lund with Ned LeDoux.
The last surprise of the night was when Ben Haggard hit the stage and announced that older brother Noel Haggard wouldn't be joining the band tonight because of cross border issues. Well that sucked. I've seen Ben and Noel live twice before and they are always excellent, with Noel sounding a lot like his father Merle. But that wouldn't be happening tonight.
Ben did a great job on his own, with him and the band playing only a forty minute set, which was way too short. Ben did great versions of some of his dad's classic songs such as "I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink", "The Bottle Let Me Down", "Are The Good Times Really Over" and closing out the night with "Okie From Muskogee". His set was good and he did a great job without Noel, but at the same time, Noel was missed big time, with his gritty voice and presence. And the set was just too short.
On thew way out of the show, I heard a lot of grumbling about no Noel and how short the show was for the money spent. I would have to agree. Nonetheless, it was a fun night out with my buddy Buzzard. Good times!!!
