Country singer brings rowdy show to Garnet Way
High above the Garnet Way, a white blimp flew through the sky etched with the royal blue MetLife logo. Its motor buzzed as it inched its way over a floor of garnet, red and black and circled a grand stage at the back of the overflowing tailgating lot.
Girls, clad in black sundresses and cut-off shorts, climbed on top of their dates’ shoulders as “U-S-C” chants broke out across the roaring crowd. A live camera scanned the hundreds of fans, with each move over the mass eliciting high-pitched shrieks and efforts to be the most noticeable in the sea of school pride.
“I’m watching that camera more than anything else,” said one Gamecock fan.
In honor of College GameDay, Lowe’s hosted a free Billy Currington concert before Saturday’s game. The show was set to start at 5 p.m., but the curly-haired country artist didn’t take the stage until precisely 5:43, which quickly became a problem for many with the 7:15 kick-off.
A few frail trees separated tailgate tents from the concert, and one young man took to the branches to rally the crowd in the pre-show wait. One little girl, no more than four years old, gripped to a light post — strung with a large Lowe’s balloon — in a Carolina cheerleader uniform and a garnet bow that tied back curly-blonde locks.
It was at 5:30 p.m. when the “We want Billy” chants broke out. The wait was starting to wear on the audience, which was largely a Gamecock crowd. There was a bulldog, an actual dog, roaming the side of the pit, as well as a few clear Athens loyalists, but the Cocks ruled the roost.
A Gamecock yelled to the stage crew, tuning guitars: “Hey, I’ve been waiting forever — play me a damn song.” Another asked if Darius Rucker was going to be there.
And then, there was music. “Fans” by Kings of Leon slowly grew to a stage-shaking blare over the loudspeaker as another fan yelled, “I thought this was country.” A great song, but an odd choice for a lead-in, it only lasted thirty seconds before Currington ran to the front of the stage in a black T-shirt and dark-wash denim.
“They wake up in the morning and they drink their coffee black ... ” Currington started the show with “That’s How Country Boys Roll” as fans thrusted their coozied cans of Bud Light and open water bottles into the air. One little boy climbed on top of his dad’s shoulders in a Gamecock jersey and white football helmet covered with “Beat Georgia” stickers.
Currington, a Savannah, Ga., native, who was raised in Rincon, Ga., didn’t make any proclamations toward his team allegiance during the hour-long set. He kept most of his between-song banter to blanket statements about drinking beer.
The singer rolled through “I Got a Feelin’” while girls turned their backs to the stage to pose for group pictures, and the tailgate’s VIP section stood tall over the singing and swaying group. Currington asked, “Where are some of my beer drinkers out there?”
He sang “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer” as the crowd danced over a concrete floor scattered with sunflower seeds and crushed cans. As he crooned out the closing lyric, “I’m pretty good at drinkin’ beer,” fans broke into a loud cheer and held up their spurs. And in one smooth transition, everyone joined into the opening “ba-bada-bada-ba” of “Love Done Gone.”
It’s a tongue-in-cheek song, and the atmosphere matched. Women danced arm-in-arm alongside the row of tailgates, and students belted out the, “like snowflakes when the weather warms up” with smiles stretched wide. Arms shot up into the air, and fans swayed in beat with the easy-listening flow of the tune.
Currington sang a new song before the singer’s best friend joined him on stage: Paco, the chocolate lab. One of the artist’s most popular singles is “Like My Dog,” a ballad that calls for all the characteristics of his beloved pup in a woman. For example, “He don’t play dead when I want to pet him.”
At 6:15 p.m., people started clearing out for the stadium. Students slipped out the side gates from the front rows of the stage, and one group of three was stopped by a middle-aged woman with an unusual request. She was clutching a pair of turquoise and lime green women’s underwear and wanted the girls to throw them center stage. They passed.
The middle-aged woman, for the record, threw them from the side of the stage and they landed by an amp far from any of the band’s view.
Currington slowed things down with “Let Me Down Easy,” as a couple slow danced in the center of the thinned-out crowd. He was balancing four crushed beer cans in his left hand, and she was gripping a coozie in her left. The audience joined in for the chorus, “If I fall, can you let me down easy?”
The Garnet Way tailgaters started to break down their tents, struggling between the choice of staying for the show or getting to their stadium seats. One group rolled their red Roadmaster wagon to the concert, with their cooler sitting tight in the center. Another girl, sitting atop a pair of shoulders, grabbed a bottle of Jagermeister and took a shot, or two, straight from the bottle.
Currington’s token cover of the night was Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” delivered with a touch of country charm.
The show came to a close, just before 6:45 p.m., with “Good Directions,”another feel good single, with Currington singing: “Then a left will take you to the interstate, but a right will bring you right back here to me.”
There was no encore, or even an attempt for an encore. The music stopped, and the hundred or so people still standing at the stage poured out into the tailgating lots and toward the stadium. Girls held their sandals and heels in their hands and walked barefoot through the lines.
The red and garnet, which was a crucial difference Saturday, still didn’t stick. There were Gamecocks in red, and Georgia fans in more garnet tones — true allegiances could only be told through polo logos and cheek tattoos.
The Lowe’s tailgate was left empty, blanketed with bottles and cans, and fans continued their walk toward the win, still singing snippets of Currington’s singles.