It was a rainy Saturday for Labor Day Weekend, but that did not stop Rodney Atkins from coming on stage or the hundreds of people that came to see him, including myself and my friend Barb.  We headed down to the Walworth County fair that evening prepared with umbrellas and ready to take on some mud.  Most of the area wasn’t too bad, but the ground in front of the stage was all dirt, which became mud with the help of the rain.  Though this didn’t quite come close, I must admit that I had a few Country Thunder flashbacks.  Some fair food, fresh lemonade and Rodney Atkins made that rainy night fun and one to be remembered. 

Rodney Atkins hit the stage and started us off with “It’s America”.  What a great song choice to get the audience going.  After that he gave us “What I Love About The South”, “Simple Things”, “Farmers Daughter”, and “Friends With Tractors”.  At this point the rain started to slow down, even stopping after a while.  The rest of the night we had showers on and off, but nothing constant like the beginning of the show.  We were all a little wet but thoroughly enjoying ourselves.  Rodney Atkins mentioned that he’s not much of a talker, yet he really took a lot of time interacting with the audience and sharing stories and special moments with us.  I think he’s more of a talker than he thinks he is, at least he was that night.  He threw out a lot of souvenirs for people during the entire show.  I couldn’t count the number of guitar picks that got tossed out, a cap – actually two caps and several T-shirts.  He shot the T-shirts out of a big gun so the people back on the bleachers were able to receive some stuff too.  His son Elijah came out and shot out the last couple of T-shirts which was really cool.  Some more great songs we enjoyed were “Give Me Three Steps”, “Curtis Low”, “Wasted Whiskey”, “Touchin Feet”, and a taste of Willie Nelsons’ “On The Road Again” and Waylon Jennings “Good Ol’ Boys”. 

You can bet things were heated up by now.  With these awesome songs we had no choice but to feel great.  I think the rain was helpful to cool us down a bit because we enjoyed a full fun night of fast up-beat songs.  Next we rocked out to his current hit “Backroad” followed by the funny yet so true for many fathers “Cleaning This Gun”.   This seemed like the perfect time for “I’ve Been Watching You” which was absolutely wonderful.  As a parent that is a song that really hits home, which I can only imagine is the same for other parents.  The live performance of that song on this particular evening was extra special because Rodney Atkins’ son Elijah came out onto the stage, sat on his dads’ knee, and sang the chorus to us.  How wonderfully amazing is that! That was my favorite part of the entire show.  We were also lucky enough to hear “He’s Mine”, “My People”, and of course “If You’re Going Through Hell”.  Rodney Atkins was great on stage, and covered a lot of it, making sure to come out to the ends many time throughout the show.  He was fun and personable, and has many fabulous songs.  I’m so glad I had this experience.