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Country's Toby Keith mixes tunes, war dance
Entertainment Writer Last update: 04 October 2003 |
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DAYTONA BEACH -- Midway through his Thursday night concert at the
Ocean Center, country star Toby Keith praised "taking care of business"
the "old-school" way.
No, the Oklahoma native wasn't talking about making music in the manner
of Johnny Cash or George Jones. Addressing the virtually sold-out house,
Keith was decrying the United Nations' attempted roadblocks on U.S.
military might, and praising our nation's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Keith's simplistic, pig-headed, testosterone-bloated jingoism aside, he
did indeed take care of business musically. The burly singer-guitarist
delivered a rip-roaring concert that cleverly mixed straight-up,
hard-knuckled country with unashamedly non-twang -- but highly
entertaining -- ploys.
Heck, Keith entered the stage by emerging from a UFO-like pickup, then
prowled the stage amid a 13-piece backing band -- 13! -- that included
three babe-alicious female singers who danced like they were on "Showtime
at the Apollo," and three horn guys who did James Brown moves.
But Keith earned his boots by kicking out such spirited twang things as
"Country Comes to Town," "Beer For My Horses," the breezy "Should've Been
a Cowboy," the playful "Who's Your Daddy?" and the rockin' "Little Less
Talk and a Lot More Action."
But the non-twang action wasn't relegated to the UFO truck or the
backup band. The ballad "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" more resembled
Meat Loaf, that operatic rock singer, than Conway Twitty, but Keith pulled
it off. "Good to Go to Mexico" invited a welcome Jimmy Buffett vibe to the
party. And Keith even dropped in a bit of quasi-rap on "I Wanna Talk About
Me."
Keith wrapped himself in the flag . . . well, a red, white and blue
guitar . . . for his newfound signature song, "Courtesy of the Red, White
and Blue (The Angry American)." But this post-Sept. 11 song isn't as
jingoistic as it's been painted, and -- with the predictable giant flag
and fireworks blazing -- it made for a crowd-pleasing finale.
But the aforementioned "taking care of business" diatribe and the song
it introduced revealed Keith to be, at that lone point in his concert, too
drunk on martial machismo. Keith acknowledged that "The Taliban Song" was
a "bus song" that he played as a goof while touring, and that it was "not
politically correct" and would never be recorded.
Though it was sung from the point of view of an Afghani who welcomed
American intervention to rid his country of the oppressive Taliban, lyrics
about living in a "two-bedroom cave" and riding camels out of town were
beneath political incorrectness -- they were contemptible.
But throw out Keith's brief war dance and it was easy to answer his
"Who's your daddy?" question. This night it was Keith.
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