William “Big Dawg” Downie from UKCountryRadio.com reporting from The Wembley International Festival of Country Music.
16:30:
This is The Big Dog and this is International Country Music Festival Of Music in Wembley and WOW! What a fantastic start to show. George Hamilton IV brought of a few guests and then following on from that we had Tim McKay playing quite a few of his tracks, quite a rapturous applause at the end of that and then following on from that we had Pig Earth, a little bit different in country music I have to say. The crowd is starting to fill up the place however the crowd is REALLY DISAPPOINTING only halve of the stadium here at The Wembley arena is full , let’s just hope when Reba McEntire comes on it will be little bit more fuller.
17:30 – WOW! What a great performance we’ve just had from Will Banister, a brand new artist all the way from Texas, I think he lives just outside of Dallas. He wowed the crowd with a set of 5 or 6 songs and is the ONLY artist so far to be asked back on stage with an encore. An absolute rapturous applause at the end of his set and I’ve no doubt we will be hearing more from him. I can actually that there are some influences in there from Johnny Cash and even Kenny Chesney and even I have to say I little bit of Elvis in there . We will see if we can catch up with Will Banister at some stage and grab an interview which we will play later on UkCountryRadio.com. Well the rest of the show continues on and don’t forget we have Reba McEntire and Lonestar all to come and hopefully the audience is going to get a little bit bigger . It still seems VERY EMPTY in Wembley Arena at this moment in time. Let’s just hope it actually picks up.
John McNicoll on stage wearing a very sparkly red suit singing a Tim McGraw cover 🙂 arena still half empty 🙁
Yes John does have some original tracks but did lots of covers Queen, Shaken Stevens and a Tim McGraw cover …
19:30 I’ve just wandered outside and suddenly realized that The Carling Cup final has just finished. If you wondering what the score was I believe Liverpool won that game on penalties, something like 3-2 I’ve just been told. Anyway we’ve had a fantastic afternoon Will Banister has come back on stage and done a bit of an interview on the main stage and did a bit of impromptu singing and guitar work as well, absolutely superb. He is definitely going to be a man to watch in the future, maybe a new Garth Brooks. Just had a few other people on stage as well including George Ducas who’s really good actually. He reminds me of Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley, definitely one to watch out.
Ray Benson and Asleep At The Wheel great … That was a great hoe down 🙂
21:30 – The music continues on with a great set from Ray Benson and Asleep At The Wheel. I hoped we are going to have a bit of a hoe down in the middle of the stadium but unfortunately for health and safety reasons they would not let us do some line dancing, how bizarre is that! I’ve heard of health and safety but that takes the biscuit. Having a 10 minute break now. I’ve just actually come out and still seen Will Banister signing autographs. Wow, that guy has been really, really popular. Also George Hamilton IV made another appearance on stage with Ray Benson and did another track and they are currently talking away about the old times in country music. What have we got coming up next we’ve got Ricky Skaggs, Lonestar and Reba McEntire to finish off the night. Can’t wait for that, it’s been a long day but hopefully the results will be well worth it and we’ll have some fantastic music to finish off the evening.
Ricky Skaggs now on 🙂 lovin the mandolin player
Standing ovation for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder 🙂
Lonestar on for a good 40 mins ..
Just one more act left …. Reba 🙂
22:25 – It’s been an absolutely fantastic day if you are listening to this version of my report unfortunately I’m still stuck in the arena listening to the amazing Reba McEntire I didn’t want to miss the end of her set. It’s been a fantastic day some great parts of the day including George Ducas also Lonestar and Reba McEntire to name a few and also some great British bands on stage with the likes of Tim McKay.
22:38 – Reba reba reba 🙂 fantastic performance of Fancy
Additionally Ali Isabella Setlist – “ I sang Out of Tune Guitar, What If, Boy Next Door and closed with NYC Country Girl 🙂 Thank you so much to all the fans and Wembley Arena, had the time of my life!!”
About Will “Big Dawg” Downie
Hey Y’all, I am the original UK BigDawg, taking my nickname from one of my most favorite, if sometimes controversial, country Music Artists Toby Keith.
I got into Country Music in a big way in 2006, when my best friend the Kernow Cowboy gave me a compilation album of some country music to listen to. Yes this CD sat in my draw for months and even got lost at one point, until I put it in my car and then I could not stop playing the music that was on the CD. One of the first tracks on there was Toby Keith “Should have been a cowboy”. Since that point my country music collection is now over 350 CD’s.
I got into Country Music in a big way in 2006, when my best friend the Kernow Cowboy gave me a compilation album of some country music to listen to. Yes this CD sat in my draw for months and even got lost at one point, until I put it in my car and then I could not stop playing the music that was on the CD. One of the first tracks on there was Toby Keith “Should have been a cowboy”. Since that point my country music collection is now over 350 CD’s.