Paisley party a real pleaser

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Party in the 'Peg: Brad Paisley performs at the MTS Centre Tuesday night. (DAN HARPER / FOR THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Last night, the country hero returned to Winnipeg three years and three weeks after he last moseyed on in to the MTS Centre. And he tipped his white Stetson to almost exactly the same number of fans as he did the first time around: a little over 7,900.

So there you have it: ain't no recession low enough to part country fans from their idols. Near the end of his concert last night, West Virginian charmer Paisley acknowledged this.

"I don't know how things are in your country, but back home they're pretty tight," he said somberly. "So I thank you for comin' out."

But before that brief moment of gloom, the Paisley Party tour was... well, a party.

"We're gonna stay here as late as they're gonna let us!" Paisley, 36, announced to his faithful, minutes into his set. "Are you in it for the long haul?"

"No," the audience said. "We have work in the morning."

Just kidding. They flipped out.

One quibble: A 90-minute set isn't exactly "the long haul." In fact, it's pretty standard. Nevertheless, Paisley's hearty offering easily satiated fans' ravenous appetites.

Though Paisley's last release, Play, is a mostly-instrumental album, guitar noodling wasn't the focus of the show until nearer its closing moments, when Paisley and his band gleefully whipped through a sizzling instrumental medley that begged for a hoedown.

Other than that, last night's set was essentially the same as the pre-Play sets from the 2008 Paisley Party dates. They tossed in Start a Band, Play's hit duet with Keith Urban (who joined Paisley onstage in pre-recorded format), at the set's midpoint.

But with six studio albums under his belt, Paisley has no shortage of crowd pleasers. Last night, the first big fave was the thrice re-released tearjerker Waitin' on a Woman, which Paisley crooned in synch with its music video. That was followed by a tongue-in-cheek treatment of Celebrity, which featured live video of Paisley superimposed between giant (and believable) Guitar Hero mock-ups.

For the most part, last night's show was paint-by-number stuff for Paisley. Little spontaneity, few surprises... save a lonely, stripped-down rendition of Layla that sent a murmur of appreciation through the crowd.

Other than that, there was the cheerful kickoff, the mid-set slow part, and the barn-burning closing punch of Online and Alcohol, as expected.

But in a genre brimming with appealing personas, Paisley's got the goods and gives up a consistently fun show. And hey, he's not such a bad-looking fellow, either.

Neither, for that matter, are red-hot Dierks Bentley and rising Canadian chanteuse Crystal Shawanda, who delivered brisk and lovingly received opening sets.

At press time, Paisley was preparing to take the stage for his encore.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 18, 2009 D3