By Brent Michael, Rock At Night Tampa Correspondent
Venue: Busch Gardens Wine and Food Festival Concert Series, Tampa, Florida. Sunday, March 17th, 2019
The Band Perry consists of siblings Kimberly Perry (lead vocals, guitar), Reid Perry (bass guitar, background vocals), and Neil Perry (mandolin, bouzouki, background vocals), along with a drummer who is apparently hired for the tour or studio session as required, no mention of him found, but he’s doing a fine job!
The Band Perry started out as a country band in 2005, got their first big break in 2008, and started being nominated for, and often winning, awards from country’s biggest promoters: Country Music Association Awards, American Country Awards, CMT Music Awards, and from mainstream promoters in the country category: Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Teen Choice Awards,and American Music Awards. They still consider themselves a country band – but what I heard sounded more rock than country. This includes songs like “If I Die Lonely” and “You Lie,” from the era they were considered straight country. They went through a transition toward pop in 2015.
It also seems that Kimberly is giving up some of the vocal/frontman duties to her younger brother Neil, who fronted the band for several songs in the latter half, including a scorching cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” The song itself is open to many interpretations, but many take it as a commentary on people’s desperate need for an always-there person – even if he’s not really there. It’s not what I’d consider a country song!
Regardless, the band puts on a great show and kept the concert series’ initial weekend from being spoiled by rain! Most of the crowd stuck it out for the few minutes of drizzle at the end, wanting to hear every last minute!
Photo Gallery
When not in custody, I've been involved with music, photography, and writing my entire life. Ever since I was a young boy and played those silver tunes, I've had the beat, but being a drummer didn't suit me so I became a lead singer, which lasted a few years. Settling down, sort of, I translated my knowledge of audio and glib tongue into mobile emcee work, and my training as a photographer and videographer into a living in the wedding, party, bar/bat mitzvah, and entertainment industry. During this time I also managed to bamboozle my way into a master's degree in writing, worked for a couple of magazines (yes, I took photos for a nudist magazine!), have photographed hotels, done commercial work (shot the cover of Tablet and Capsule magazine), published a few articles, hosted some public access shows (a couple times in drag, but that's another story), and generally made a nuisance of myself until I landed here.
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