Concert Review: Easton Corbin Rocks Arizona…Twice!

This past weekend was a fun weekend that revolved around country’s hottest new artist, Easton Corbin. Corbin performed two shows in Arizona – once at Mesa’s Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill and once in Tucson at the Pima County Fair. I was able to attend both shows so here’s my review of Corbin’s performances.

Out of all the concerts that are hitting Arizona this year, this one was the one that I was looking forward to the most because I had seen Easton Corbin twice before (both shows were last year) and he didn’t disappoint. I’m glad to say that these past two shows once again didn’t disappoint.

Corbin started his 60 minute set with “The Way Love Looks,” a track of his 2010 album Easton Corbin. From there the newcomer transitioned into “Don’t Ask Me About a Woman” and “Far From Memphis” and didn’t hold anything back throughout his set. Some of the set’s highlights included the album tracks “A Lot to Learn About Living,” “Let Alone You,” and the current single, “I Can’t Love You Back.” He continued to perform every other song from his debut album including the number one smash singles, “A Little More Country Than That” and the set-ending “Roll With It.”

Since Corbin doesn’t have enough material of his own to fill an hour long set, there’s the need to throw in a few covers. Being one of country’s best neo-traditionalists Easton covered classic country hits like Merle Haggard’s “Workin’ Man Blues” and Don Williams’ “It Must Be Love.” He also threw in songs by current artists like Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Happen Twice” and Alan Jackson’s “Where I Come From.” During his Tucson performance he also threw in Gary Allan’s “Watching Airplanes” and Conway Twitty’s signature hit, “Lay You Down.” The highlight of both performances was Easton’s encore which included a medley of hits from the artist he’s most compared to to, George Strait. Beginning with just an acoustic guitar, Corbin ran through a few lines of Strait’s “The Chair.” After that, he was joined by a steel guitar to sing “You Look So Good in Love” and then was joined by the full band to conclude the medley with the hit “It Just Comes Natural.”

After spending several months on the road with the CMA Entertainer of the Year Brad Paisley last year, it’s obvious Easton learned a lot about performing live. He had the packed house eating out of the palm of his hand and delivered a sold and energetic set during both shows. His voice was right on and, in person, he sounds even more like George Strait. I’ve known for a while now that this newcomer has what it takes to have a Strait-esque career in country music and I sure hope he sticks around for many more years to come. I think we have yet to see the best Corbin and I can’t wait to see where his career goes from here.