Pam Tillis with David Ball A Concert Review	June 4, 1995 The Star Plaza Theatre Merrillville, IN A Review by Big Cooter & The Dude on the Right

On tap this evening were David Ball, a not-really-new-but-now-he's-getting- popularer (alright, it's more popular, but we never claim to be grammatical geniuses!) performer and Pam Tillis, a wow-she's-incredibly-popular performer. Along with their respective bands, they both did respectable on this evening.

We'll start with the headliner - Pam Tillis.

If you listen to country at all, you've undoubtedly have heard the name Tillis, whether it began with Mel, or onto his daughter, the start of the evening, Pam.

Now Pam, she broke into the realm of superstar right from the get-go, with her first album coming out about five years ago. Follow-ups came, up to her current album "Sweethearts Dance," and her show spotlighted just about every hit she has had, with a couple of refreshing different songs, like some Hank Williams and this Elvisy tune, to spice up the evening.

Pam Tillis has a great rapport with her fans, and they really appreciated her genuine attitude of kindness and fun that accompanied her show. A cute little remark about not peaking too soon o the person asking for "Maybe it was Memphis" early in the show, and commenting on it costing a lot to look as tacky as her outfit was showed she does more than just sings - but singing was what the crowd wanted - and that is definitely what they got.

Her band was great, especially the guitar/fiddle player named Jennifer, she played what the fans wanted, but I only have one problem - the length of the show.

Now, country songs are generally shorter than other musical genres, and it's easy to put about 17 songs into one hour - and that is what she did. A one hour show by a headliner just doesn't rate in my book. Sorry. As much as the fans heard much of what they expected, I heard one too many comments about the shows length. And so, I can only give Pam Tillis ONE THUMB UP!! Not bad at all, the show was good, just a little short. Add a little to the repertoire, maybe another little solo thing or two, and that other thumb would pop up no problem. But, not this time.

Opening for Pam Tillis, like I said, was David Ball. From what I've heard about him, he's been on the country scene for some time, and he's finally getting his call to the front of the stage. His show was a bunch of songs I've never heard before, and I guess that's good since I've only heard a couple of his songs. But I wasn't disappointed at all.

David Ball is kinda like Buck Owens, kinda like Clint Black, kinda like Dwight Youkum, and kinda like David Ball. He's a mix of it all, and his show was great except for one problem - it took him about 45 minutes to get out from behind those monitors and work with the crowd. When he finally came out front the crowd responded, and I think he just needs to get out at the starting gate and work with the fans - even if they don't know they're fans yet.

He should be around for awhile, but until he improves his working with the crowd I can only give him ONE THUMB UP!!! Way talented, but loosen up and have some more fun.

It was a good night, and the summer looks to be promising many more. So, keep your computers fired up, and thanks for all your support. Party Smart, and as always, Rellim Reeb, Rellim Reeb!!!!

Big Cooter
Hi again everyone out there in 'net land. This edition of our review find us out in the grand ole state of Indiana. Yepper, that is right, we took the grand trek down to the lovely town of Merrillville, IN to see a pretty hot country singer in Pam Tillis. This is the first time that I got to see Pam Tillis in concert, although I have enjoyed her music via my CD's, and I was really looking forward to seeing her, and being at Star Plaza was kind of a treat also because I think it is a pretty good place to see a show.

Well, before I kick off into my review of Pam, I should mention her opening act. That being a pretty talented, up and coming musician in David Ball. David did himself proud this evening by really cutting lose and entertaining a nice sized crowd. He did the one hit that I knew he had called Thinkin' Problem. I really enjoyed this portion of the show and thought that he was a pretty good opening act for the likes of Ms. Tillis. So, just to keep it brief, I will be giving David Ball ONE THUMB UP for a grand total of TWO THUMBS UP! I think he might want to come up with a few better opening stories for his songs but other than that it was pretty good. Well, there was one other thing that I ought to mention about David Ball's portion of the show. And that being have you ever read your horoscope at the end of the day and related all of your days experiences to it? I have, and it is sometimes scary how you can do such a thing. Well, my point here is that sometimes listening close to the lyrics of certain songs you might get the impression that the song was written with you in mind. I guess that's kinda hard to explain, but I think you get the idea.

And with that said, let's move onto the main act for the night, Pam Tillis. Pam, daughter of Mel (another fairly famous country singer who also starred in a movie or three, funny thing was that Mel had a nasty stutter, well until he sang, well I am straying from the topic, sorry) really turned out to be a fun entertainer. She pulled out a few new songs and a bunch of older songs that 'bout near everyone in the room knew the words to. How did I know? Well, I could hear them singing right along while I was trying to concentrate on getting down the song on my set list and making any and all appropriate comments on the same sheet of paper.

I really enjoyed myself at this show and it was a good thing cuz I could really have used to boost about that point in time. Yeah, we all gots our problems right? Well, I am just happy that I can say that I can deal with my frustrations much better than others. But at any rate, Pam Tillis was a joy for me to finally get to see in person, too bad we couldn't get backstage, but that would be greedy right? Well, call me greedy, I wanted backstage! Well, Pam gets TWO THUMBS UP from me. Hell, if the woman next to me didn't have such a large rock on her finger, maybe my night would have been even better, and I would have rated Pam a little higher with that added appendage. Oh well, two thumbs is where it stands.

So, until I can figure out what shows I want to go and review fer all you nice people, that is it for me. L8r.