It was a Tuesday night like any other.
90s country music icons Brooks and Dunn delivered a free pop-up concert in the parking lot of Losers Bar & Grill in Nashville celebrating 35 years of their 7x platinum selling debut record, Brand New Man.
Okay so maybe it wasn’t like any other Tuesday night. (well in Nashville it kind of is)
A packed and eager crowd donned free commemorative camo-billed Brooks and Dunn hats while the Losers house band serenaded the masses, juicing them up for the main event. After some otherwise corny DJ intermittence between acts, the music from the speakers dropped out as the multi-piece band took the stage to grand applause.
“I saw the light, I’ve been baptized / By the fire in your eyes and the flame in your touch / I’m born to love again / I’m a brand new man,” the duo sung in unison to kick things off to more roaring cheers.
The pair ripped through classics left and right, keeping smiles on the faces and ants in the pants. And make no mistake — they weren’t just going about business as usual: they were whooping it up on stage like they were 30-years-old all over again. Well, mostly Brooks, as he was hopping around all over stage, chugging what one would presume to be a beer, and reminiscing about the Brooks and Dunn genesis.
With what seemed to be a bit of a tipsy disposition, Brooks talked about he and Dunn forging their own solo paths in the 80s, only to be united by songwriter and producer Tim Dubois at a Mexican restaurant with “bad enchiladas.”
“So Ronnie shows up from Oklahoma, and I’ve been here ten years already, and he’s got these songs he’d written by himself — and they were, okay,” Brooks says in a dismissive jab-type tone to crowd laughter. “He’s got this one song, ‘ohh moon’s made out of neon’ or whatever,” he continued in a mocking voice.” What? So y’all wanna hear ‘Neon Moon’?” Cue the roaring applause.
“How does a duo breakup? They argue about the setlist,” he joked, as he went on to say how he wanted to play it at that point.
As I can surmise, most folks — including myself — wondered when they would indeed play the mega hit. Maybe for the encore? Last song before the encore? Nope. Somewhere towards the latter middle, and when Dunn approached the end with a sustained chorus note, he abruptly stopped and started telling a story. Throwing everybody off guard thinking he might jump back quickly, he went on for a good five or so minutes talking about an expensive throat doctor visit.
He was worried something was going on as “his throat was on fire” and he had to leave for a show in Texas the next day. He got his throat scoped and ultimately the doctor said “don’t do that thing you do in ‘Neon Moon’ where you draw out the high note at the end.”
Well, he did.
“I was in Kansas City and my wife called me and said ‘guess what he charged us? $5,200.’ I said ‘I’m gonna hit that note if blood squirts out my ears. Might not be on pitch…” he said before belting out, ‘Watch your broken dreams / Dance in and out of the beeeeeeaams… I think I got it down to $3,800 now. I’m gonna get it down to $800 bucks. “Of a Neoooon Moooon,” he wailed, as the band hit the groove one more time before coming to a close.
Other B&D bangers included “My Maria,” “Play Something Country,” “Rock My World (Little Country Girl),” “My Next Broken Heart,” and of course “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” for the encore.
“We’ve been trying to get off the bus for 35 years but y’all won’t let us,” Brooks said to the crowd. “Thanks for paying our rent for 35 years.” And just like that, a typical Tuesday turned into a memorable (and free) performance from modern country music icons.
Only in Nashville, folks.
