The Pepsi Grandstand at the South Carolina State Fair filled up quickly Sunday night with a mixture of cowboy boots, cowboy hats and camouflage as fans waited for country superstar Trace Adkins to take the stage.
Every once in a while a voice would come over the loudspeaker, announcing Adkins' "Made in America" merchandise, which included autographed CDs.
Patrons made the best of the last night of the fair, carrying corn dogs and candy apples to their seats. Andy Woods, DJ for 97.5 WCOS, welcomed the crowd at about 7:15 p.m., and following a few commercials on the screen behind the stage and some increasingly loud warm-up tracks — including Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" — Adkins, wearing a black T-shirt and tight blue jeans, strode onto the stage.
The audience members jumped to their feet, and Adkins wasted no time in setting the mood with a rowdy tune titled "Whoop a Man's A--." A seamless transition led into his 2009 hit "Hillbilly Bone," which quickly got the crowd yelling "Yee-haw!" along with the lyrics. Next was Adkins' 2006 single "Swing," which was accompanied by a humorous video showing him hitting a home run in a metaphor about asking a girl out.
He powered through the next two songs in his set, "Marry for Money" and "Chrome," which faded into crowd favorite "Ladies Love Country Boys." Adkins ended the high-energy set with a slowed down, piano-fueled "You're Gonna Miss This."
Finally stopping to breathe, Adkins welcomed the crowd.
"It's good to be at the fair, eating greasy fair food and all that," he said, eliciting a few chuckles from the audience. "I rode a few things out there today. Not that thing," he said, pointing outside the grandstand to one of the "spinning, flashing things."
He joked about his own subdued demeanor, keeping a straight face as he said, "I'm in a pretty good mood tonight; you might not be able to tell. This is me, extremely happy." The crowd laughed, and he added, "I'm not one of those giddy people, jumping around and yelling and stuff. Those people kinda get on my nerves, you know."
He said he really didn't feel like singing any love songs, which tipped the crowd off to his next selection, "This Ain't No Love Song."
Adkins followed his anti-love song with the sexually charged "Hot Mama," which got Adkins and the crowd gyrating and singing along.
After another brief pause devoted to joking with the crowd, mostly about the overtly sexual video for "Hot Mama" ("My mama called me after that video came out and said, 'Well, I guess I'm gonna have to change churches,'" he said), he introduced arguably one of the most anticipated songs of the night and his current chart topper "Just Fishin'."
After the song, he reminded audiences of the reason for that song.
"You need to make those kinds of memories with your kids and grandkids; that's what this is about," Adkins said.
He then brought the star of the song's video and his daughter onto the stage to a huge round of applause from the crowd.
He played his new album's title track "Proud to Be Here" and what he called his "get out of jail free" love song for his wife, "Million Dollar View."
Adkins took some time out of his set to thank and honor his supporting band, and then let his hair down, literally, for two covers — "How Long" by Ace and Larry Graham's "One in a Million You."
He brought the show back to his original tunes and the audience back to its feet with a power-packed rendition of "Songs About Me," during which his trademark baritone vocals brought a few high-pitched screams from the crowd.
He quickly thanked the audience members for their kindness and introduced a pair of "love songs" — 2011's "Brown Chicken, Brown Cow" and his hugely successful crossover hit "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk," which had the crowd laughing, dancing and shouting the words along with Adkins.
Adkins thanked the crowd again, tipped his hat and bowed as he left the stage, but the audience — not to be deterred — clapped and yelled until Adkins and his band ran back onto the stage with a encore version of Foreigner's "Dirty White Boy," closing out the night, and the State Fair, with an energetic finale.