02/03/08 - Brisbane Becomes Cowboy Town For One Weekend Only

By Tim Holland

17 years after their recording career began, country music super-stars Brooks & Dunn performed their first ever Australian concerts on friday and saturday night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. A sold out and very pumped up crowd witnessed an amazing 2 hour spectacular. Ronnie Dunn and Kix Brooks performed a catalogue of hits including 'Hard Workin' Man', 'Believe', 'You Can't Take The Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl', 'Brand New Man', and new tracks 'Proud Of The House We Built' and 'Cowboy Town'.

These guys have built a career by recording great songs - album after album. And the shows featured a night of pure hits. There were no fillers, just hit after hit after hit.

Kix even did a verse and chorus of 'Lost & Found' on Saturday Night which which was my personal favourite of the weekend - just sensational.

We've seen Shania Twain, Keith Urban and The Dixie Chicks sell out major venues in the past which is fantastic. But what makes this tour extra special is that Brooks & Dunn isn't a cross-over group with a couple of pop hits to draw from. Nor are they a country legend from another generation doing a reunion tour. This is a straight up the guts modern day country act. A great modern day country act doing a great modern day country show. They sold out Brisbane (twice) and are now about to conquer Melbourne and Sydney.

This tours is also providing wonderful opportunities for local acts. Catherine Britt and Adam Harvey, currently promoting albums of their own, were able to utilize the fantastic production set-up on the night and perform fantastic sets in front of 20,000 people over two nights. The fact that most of the crowd were there when the locals hot the stage was just another positive on the night. Morgan Evans and Steve Forde get those same opportunities in Melbourne and Sydney.