Country star Miranda Lambert draws a huge and enthusiastic opening-night crowd for downtown Grand Rapids’ Rock the Rapids festival.
Miranda Lambert kicked off her set with a high-powered version of “Fastest Girl in Town.”
On Monday, the “Fastest Girl in Town” helped make Rock the Rapids the “Biggest Show in Town.”
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Ideal weather conditions and the star power of country singer Miranda Lambert, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the title of her latest single, “Fastest Girl in Town,” helped bring hefty throngs to the opening night of the six-day Rock the Rapids festival in downtown Grand Rapids.
Although scanner glitches prevented organizer Blue Cap Promotions from tallying a quick attendance count, president Denny Baxter estimated about 7,000 fans flooded the parking lots behind Van Andel Arena for the show headlined by Lambert, along with her female trio, Pistol Annies.
Festival-goers enjoyed near-perfect sunny weather for Monday’s show.
That’s more than the double the opening night attendance from 2011, when an 11th-hour Lynyrd Skynyrd cancellation and rain torpedoed hopes for a prodigious festival kickoff.
Much of that, of course, is attributable to Lambert, whose lively rock-hued country stage show and devoted fan base kept thousands of cowboy boot-clad fans two-stepping into the “Rock the Rapids Village” site just north of Cherry Street SW.
“She’s just phenomenal, a really good artist,” raved Brandy Casey, of Hastings, who came to the concert with a friend.
Lambert professed some Texas love for her Michigan fans.
Lambert, who even gave a loving shout-out from the stage to The Intersection, the Grand Rapids nightclub where she performed several years ago, launched the evening in rollicking fashion with “Fastest Girl in Town” and “Kerosene” but also included less typical tunes such as John Prine’s “That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round” before revving up the crowd further with the Pistol Annies and their retro-styled, old-country-radio-show harmonies.
Not that there weren’t some opening-night jitters and hassles: fans had extended waits in long lines that weaved around the block at each entrance to the festival site, while security personnel and volunteers were still figuring out the lay of the land and the proper instructions to give attendees. Some fans who had purchased early entry passes complained on Facebook that they didn’t get a chance to use them to get through the gates ahead of general admission ticketholders.
The Pistol Annies made a grand, if shadowy, entrance.
To open the night, Grand Rapids’ Kari Lynch Band ended up entertaining concertgoers on a side stage near the western entrance rather than the main stage as originally indicated, but Lynch gave an impassioned performance for fans nonetheless.
“We continue to learn what to do and what not to do,” Baxter said, noting organizers only got final permission from the city last week to erect an 80-foot-tall Ferris wheel as one of the festival’s side-show attractions. Overall, however, the layout is similar to the 2011 festival with some adjustments here and there.
Lambert
Still, the size of Monday night’s crowd made for a good start to the week of concerts, with the UPROAR tour featuring Shinedown, Godsmack and Staind moving in on Tuesday. (There is a last-minute change to the UPROAR lineup: Papa Roach has dropped out and P.O.D. will be replacing the band in the Tuesday lineup.)
Rock the Rapids continues with Toby Keith and Kip Moore on Wednesday, the Carnival of Madness tour with Evanescence, Chevelle and others on Thursday, Boyz II Men and Bell Biv DeVoe on Friday, and Big Boi and B.o.B on Saturday. (See the full schedule here.)
“I think it’s great for downtown,” Baxter said, surveying the festival site.
Judging by the zeal of her Grand Rapids fans, the Fastest Girl in Town certainly wouldn’t disagree.
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