The Country Music Hall of Famer captivated a Meijer Gardens audience on Wednesday for a buoyant evening of solo hits plus familiar favorites from her days as one half of the legendary duo, The Judds.
Shining Moments: Wynonna demonstrated her star power throughout her Meijer Gardens concert. (Photo/Jamie Geysbeek)
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In her Grand Rapids tour stop Wednesday evening, country legend Wynonna Judd, 61, reminisced about the genre’s glory days of the ’80s and ’90s.
While nostalgia reigned supreme for the ever-glamorous star’s greatest hits tour stop at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, it was anything but tired or perfunctory.
Looking resplendent in flowing, glittery duds and her trademark cascade of fiery tresses, Judd and her eight-piece band regaled the audience with 105 minutes of decades-spanning hits, among them, “I Saw the Light,” “Love is Alive,” “Girls With Guitars,” “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days)” and “Why Not Me.”
The 20-ish-song set balanced work from Judd’s solo career with a healthy representation of classics from her days as one half of the chart-topping duo, The Judds, which she helmed with her late mother, Naomi Judd.
With the recent Michigan heat wave showing some signs of abating, a rapt audience was primed to party, spending most of the show on its collective feet, singing, dancing and soaking up the charismatic singer’s generous affections for her devoted audience. “The place I go to get love and peace is this stage right here,” Judd said.
This being an evening devoted solely to popular content, every cut elicited a hearty response from the audience, but the two-song encore of “No One Else on Earth” and “Love Can Build a Bridge” particularly drove it home for the all-ages crowd, which was predominantly female (and fabulously dressed — so many sassy boots, backcombed manes and vintage Judds concert tees).
While the show had an overwhelmingly joyful air, Judd — whose life has been filled in equal measure with success and sadness — readily acknowledged the pain of missing her mother and the gravity of other personal life challenges, while encouraging the audience to always “hold on” for the many “people out there who love you.”
Show opener Sam Stoane, just weeks from her due date (“I’m 31 weeks pregnant with a kicking chicken,” she quipped), was sweetness and substance in a 30-minute set of original songs. She was accompanied by her husband on lead guitar.
Missed the show? Judd performs tonight (Thursday, June 26) at Kresge Auditorium at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Tickets, starting at $48, are available online here.
She also returns to Michigan on Aug. 15 to open for Little Big Town at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston; tickets start at $30.
UP NEXT AT MEIJER GARDENS: The Psychedelic Furs and the Chameleons perform at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, (June 29). Tickets are $61 to $63, available online here.
PHOTO GALLERY: Wynonna, Sam Stoane at Meijer Gardens
Photos by Jamie Geysbeek
