Concert review: Montgomery Gentry, Gary Allan and Keith Anderson

Montgomery Gentry, from left, Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, in an archive Associated Press photo.

Concert review: Country stars close Zoo Amphitheatre’s season with a party

A fun-loving duo, smoldering heartthrob and Oklahoma native on a homecoming tour closed the Zoo Amphitheatre’s concert season Friday night with a fittingly raucous country-rock party.

With the lineup of Montgomery Gentry, Gary Allan and Keith Anderson, Country Fest 2008 promised to fire up the crowd of about 8,500 fans with a steady fuel of drinking songs, brokenhearted ballads and rebel anthems.  

But the fall temperatures cooled off some fans, indicating that the outdoor venue’s season closer came a little too late. While the evening started out comfortably mild, the shivering started when the sun went down. Several quaking fans barely waited for headliner Montgomery Gentry to finish their set before filing to the exits.

 Stillwater singer/songwriter/guitarist Nick Gibson and the Can’t Hardly Playboys, who won a radio contest to open the show, warmed up the crowd, setting an appropriate outlaw tone with their original songs “No Other Way,” “Another Hole in the Wall” and Gibson’s solid electric guitar rendition of the National Anthem.

For Anderson, who was born and raised in Miami, OK, playing at the zoo was a dream come true, and his dad and sister were there to live it with him. The rising country star, playing the first of three Oklahoma shows in a week’s span, told the crowd he attended many concerts at the zoo while seeking his degree “at the greatest university in the world,” Oklahoma State.

When some University of Oklahoma football fans objected, Anderson quipped, “Hey, at least we won last week.”

He opened his short set by amping up the good-time atmosphere, drawling the rollicking “C’mon,” his new album’s title track, and “XXL,” a party song suited to the former Mr. Oklahoma runner-up’s hunky physique.

“I love coming back to Oklahoma. … Ain’t nothing like it,” he told to the crowd.

The up-and-comer had some devoted fans who danced and sang along throughout his short set. The rest of the crowd greeted him warmly, but many stayed in their lawn chairs.

Anderson, who started out in Nashville, Tenn. as a songwriter, got more people singing with a pair of songs he penned that became hits for others: “Lost in This Moment,” a chart-topper for Big & Rich, and “Beer Run,” a big duet by George Jones and fellow OSU alum Garth Brooks.

He romanced the audience with the poignant piano ballads “I Still Miss You” and “Every Time I Hear Your Name,” and charmed with the boisterous “Break My Heart” and “Somebody Needs a Hug.”