As for Kristian…I agree, he should have found a way to word that better, so as not to insult anyone…God forbid we hurt anyone’s feelings, or make another entertainer feel inadequate or “less than”. I’m sorry, if other entertainers or even the fans of the entertainers get insulted by outside comments, you’re reading too much into it…..basically making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

I’ve been to a Sugarland concert, and they are entertaining, but they also play their instruments…which is great. I’ve been to concerts before where the act just stands there…or simply holds the guitar (kinda like George Strait….) and strum it every once in a while. Sugarland is ALL OVER the stage, engaging ALL of the fans in the venue. You leave their concert knowing that it was money well spent.

I’m sure that there is some compitition between some of the acts, and each new touring season brings the motivation to go bigger, and better than the last year. You’ve heard Kenny say…”oh…we did this last year, so we’re going to change it up and do it bigger.” If you listen to early interviews with him right before he started his first “Stadium tour”…he was ready to ‘Go Big’….to do something that was new-ish…and now he’s known as an “arena act”….each year adding something new, or something a little extra.

Same goes for Sugarland, I’ve seen a huge change since I saw them in concert two years ago, and I look foward to seeing whats new this year (they’re coming back to my city!!!). I’ve seen major changes in stage design, set lists, and audience engagement. Two years ago, they still seemed to be coming into their own when touring. I’m excited to see what comes next, and I hope they blow us all away….because I know they can.

I’ve been to several Paisley concerts, and here is a guy who doesn’t NEED smoke and mirrors or bells and whistles…but he employs such stagecraft very artfully, and really pulls it off for a hugely entertaining show.

Re. Sugarland, I agree there is a lot of talent there, but I think sometimes they way overdo it on the entertainment side, and risk trivializing their art by contrast. What was up with the gerbil balls that Kristian and Jennifer inserted themselves into, and used to roll over their audience? That was just plain silly, and if that was all I knew of Sugarland, I would never give them a listen.

I have to say, though, that I don’t know how Nathanson is going to be able to play to Sugarland’s family-oriented crowd – never seen him live, but I hear has quite the potty-mouth (and uses it to hilarious effect).

That’s an interesting news bit, though. I think Sugarland are establishing themselves as country’s best current ambassadors to the rest of the mainstream music community, although I hope they’ll experiment more with traditional/bluegrassy fare on future albums.

One of the big issues with country nowadays is that you have your arena acts (Chesney, Paisley, Urban, Sugarland, etc.) and your festival/smaller venue acts (AKUS, for example). I think he’s absolutely right in the point he’s trying to make—the dividing line is longer now than it used to be when Mandrell, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, etc. were superstars.

Now, being entertaining is judged quite a bit by how well you can fill a big arena. Country stars just didn’t do that kind of business 30-40 years ago. A number of artists are now writing or performing a number of songs mainly designed to sound good in a larger audience, and some of the musicianship is lost.

I don’t think Bush was “dissing” anybody. He mainly was saying that Sugarland wanted to be more than just an entertainer (using Chesney as an example) or well-known proficient musician. He wants to be both.