Paisley stops by 'Prairie Home' before his X gig

Article by: JON BREAM , Star Tribune
Updated: January 14, 2012 - 11:43 PM

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Concert review, Brad Paisley�s �Virtual Reality Tour Saturday night at the Xcel Center. Brad paisley takes the stage by storm. [ TOM WALLACE � twallace@startribune.com _ Assignments # 20021406A_ January 14, 2011_ SLUG: paisley0115_ EXTRA INFORMATION: Paisley blends Southern rock into his traditional country material. A Grammy winner and a nine time Male Vocalist of the Year from his presser.

Photo: Tom Wallace, Dml -

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Saturday night brought a curious confluence to downtown St. Paul: the Sportsmen's Show, the Red Bull Crashed Ice finals and a Brad Paisley concert. Fishin,' Red Bull and country music. Gee, that sounds like a Paisley song.

But he's also urbane enough to have stopped by "A Prairie Home Companion" (also downtown) for a couple of songs Saturday before heading over to Xcel Energy Center. Paisley may sing about George Jones, George Strait and Alabama but he also mentions Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane and Barry White in song. Paisley is as much PHC (hey, Garrison, he'd be the perfect replacement host if he'd quit his day job) as he is CMA (he's co-hosted those awards with quick-witted panache for the past four years). Truth be told, he's more clever wordsmith than barroom poet, more guitar freak than honky tonk hero, more computer geek than hell-raising redneck.

That may explain why 10 days ago Paisley announced that he was changing the name of his 2012 concert trek from the earthy Camobunga World Tour to the Virtual Reality Tour. What he brought to St. Paul -- the third stop on the tour -- Saturday was a high-tech spectacle, including Carrie Underwood singing on a holographic device that made it look as if she was really there for their "Remind Me" duet.

JON BREAM