Kid Rock Was Crude But Entertaining At Viking Hall

   Kid Rock was cocky. He was crass. He was crude.

   But, hey - he was also pretty darn funny as he held a capacity crowd of nearly 6,000 spellbound at Viking Hall Civic Center on Friday night.

   Many of the rock star’s R-Rated jokes poked fun at his love life – and even his recent run-ins with the law.

   But, it was clear that this singer from Detroit was happy to be in Bristol and fueled by the excitement of having a race in town at nearby Bristol Motor Speedway.

  More than a dozen times, Rock made references to Bristol - both Virginia and Tennessee.

  Dressed in white, Rock came on stage singing his new “Rock’n’Roll Jesus” with a fervor, fronting a 10-piece band.

   From there, his show unfolded much like a rollercoaster ride. It continually turned, going from fast to slow to funky. From one half-hour to the next, you never knew whether you would be rapping or clapping or banging your head.

   In quiet times, the crowd cooed for Rock’s plaintive ballads, particularly “Only God Knows Why” and “Picture.”

   But when it was time to be loud and proud, the standing-room-only crowd simply remained standing. And they shouted “Hey! Hey!” whenever Rock wanted to hear it.

   Everybody swayed to Rock wanting to be a “Cowboy.” They also laughed as he tripped through a bit of David Allan Coe’s country classic “You Never Called Me By My Name.”

   Plenty of new material also made it into the mix, like “All Summer Long,” a celebration of teenage love with a melody that borrows from both Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves in London” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”

  In between, Rock provided a stewpot of musical styles with onstage guests including a star of hip-hop trio Run- D.M.C. Joseph “The Reverend Run” Simmons slammed through “Walk This Way,” a big hit for Run-D.M.C., and Rock proved he could screech nearly as well as Aerosmith’s frontman, Steven Tyler.

   Another time, guitarist Dickey Betts steered the show in an opposite direction as he played “Southbound,” "Ramblin' Man" and “Jessica,” a trio of 1973 classics Betts recorded as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band.

   Rock rapped with "The Rev," and he jammed with Betts.

   On stage, he looked equally at home with either.

   Born Robert James Ritchie, Rock also continually proved to be a bundle of energy, able to tackle any type of music. And do it well.

   Few, after all, could twang with the best of them, then rap like a gangsta – and, yet, by the time it was all over, manage to crunch together a jam that could rival the earsplitting tones of Metallica.

 

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