Dark songs require dark shades—Eric Church wants his hometown back.
Selfie time! Co-hosts Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton search for the biggest stars in the room; determine that they are the biggest stars.
“I always said I have the best fans,” noted
George Strait as he accepted Entertainer of the Year honors at last night’s (April 6)
ACM Awards, “and I heard this is a fan-voted award, so I rest my case.” Making it two-for-two, Strait also took home the top trophy at the November CMA Awards.
The ACM show brought a galaxy’s worth of Country star power to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The string of excellent performances—ten, in fact, before the first award was handed out— surely left fans satisfied. Still, there were a few black holes in the line up. Nominees
Taylor Swift and
Carrie Underwood presented but didn’t perform. Nor did Album of the Year winner
Kacey Musgraves. Meanwhile artists
Strait,
Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and co-hosts
Blake Shelton and
Luke Bryan took the stage twice each, either to sing their own songs, or to assist another artist.
Hunter Hayes gives a powerful performance of “Invisible.”
Hunter Hayes had the best stage set of the evening. He donned an all-black wardrobe and played “Invisible” in front of an orchestra dressed in white with white instruments, while contrasting black and white images danced on the video screen. The production for
Eric Church’s “Give Me Back My Hometown” included the film-like music video in the background and a graveyard setting in the foreground. As always, he delivered with passion. Lady A’s pairing with iconic songstress
Stevie Nicks was a stripped down vocal dream of “Golden” and “Rhiannon.”
Tim McGraw offered an old-Hollywood take on his new song “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” and was joined by
Faith Hill where they seemed to share an endearing moment. It was also good to see a performance by mega-star
Toby Keith, who is sometimes absent from Country’s trophyfests.
Lady Antebellum and Stevie Nicks were enthralling.
Show opener
The Band Perry scored with plenty of family-sized energy.
Brad Paisley’s poolside performance of “River Bank” was sunny fun.
Keith Urban brought three drummers to the party for “Even The Stars Fall 4 U.” Lambert, Strait,
Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts, and
Darius Rucker gave solid performances.
Sheryl Crow and
Dierks Bentley teamed for his hit “I Hold On,” from his highly listenable set
Riser, (one of this year’s best releases).
At the ACM Fan Jam at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, FGL and Bryan sang “This Is How We Roll” with an exciting mash-up of sky-high flames and summersaulting bike tricks.
Justin Moore, who
barely squeezed in a nomination for New Artist, took home that fan-voted prize.
Brett Eldredge, Kip Moore and
Lee Brice had abbreviated performance slots. Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck” earned Song of the Year for writers
Jessi Alexander, Jimmy Yeary, and
Connie Harrington. Often an astute predictor of awards to follow,
MusicRow subscriber members voted it
MusicRow Song of the Year in 2013.
Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington and Jimmy Yeary accept Song of the Year honors.
Back at the MGM, charmer Shelton reiterated that he’s equally adept at delivering a ballad as a bro-country smash, performing the sexy tune “My Eyes” with
Gwen Sebastian on a romantic, candlelit stage.
Bryan and Shelton shared plenty of camaraderie as co-hosts, and while the jokes were mostly funny, they borrowed a little too much from this year’s other awards shows, including a selfie photo, Travolta-ized name mispronunciation, and Daft Punk space helmets.
Underwood won in the style department.
Shelton also teamed with
Shakira for “Medicine.” His fellow coach on
The Voice makes the morning-after worst-dressed list with her red lingerie slip. Making the best-dressed list are the silver glam gowns worn by Faith Hill and
Carrie Underwood; as well as Luke Bryan, who donned a sharp springtime suit for hosting duties and switched to black leather jacket for his performance of “Play It Again.”
With so ACM many highlights, fans are likely ready to play it again. And their year-long wait will be well worth it, because the
2015 move to the home of the Dallas Cowboys is sure to bring Texas-sized entertainment.
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View evening ratings.
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View full winner list.
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View after-party photos.
McGraw and Hill still have spades of onstage chemistry.
Photos courtesy of ACM.