The first of three concerts this week is in the book and I’m going to be hoarse in the morning. Sheryl (we’re on a first-name basis) was fantastic tonight at Century II. She was fantastic, her band was fantastic, the lighting was fantastic, the crowd was fantastic, my company was fantastic. Except for the people consistently getting up out of their seats and crossing in front of us to do whatever it is they were going to do, it was a perfect night.
Sheryl did all of her hits and a bunch of songs off of her new CD/record/iTunes/whatever the hell you call new releases, Detours. I have to admit, the first time I listened to this record, I wasn’t crazy about it. It’s very personal and a little slower than most of her stuff. But the lyrics are great and the performance of her news songs _ she must have done seven or eight of them _ made them feel comfortable to the audience.
One of the highlights of the night came on the second and final song of her only encore when she belted out Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll, complete with a little butt wiggling. The band really cut loose on this one and it was definitely her most rocked-out performance of the night. It was a packed house and I think Sheryl liked us Wichitans. She did make reference to how “we” beat the brains out of Memphis in college basketball’s national championship game, surely not realizing that there were probably more Wichita State fans in the crowd than KU fans. But that wasn’t a big deal and it was cute that Sheryl, who grew up in Missouri, close to Memphis, acknowledged the Jayhawks’ championship.
It was an even better show than I expected. And from Sheryl, I expected a lot.
Oh, by the way, listen to Sports Daily the next few days. It’s on from 9-11 a.m. and airs on KFH (1240-AM, 98.7 FM). We’re having our NFL mock draft tomorrow and we’ll be talking to Woody Austin on Thursday. On Friday, KU football coach Mark Mangino will be a guest on the show at about 9:15.
Later, everybody.