I have a new boyfriend. And his name is Dallas Smith.

Confession:  I bought my ticket to The Boys of Fall tour for Chad Brownlee and only Chad Brownlee.  Dallas Smith?  Who the heck is Dallas Smith?  Oh, the former lead singer of Default. Okay, sure, I know him.  And he’s gone country now?  Huh.  Whatever.

Chad Brownlee.  All I care about is Chad Brownlee.

And then.  Two days before the show at The Crazy Horse, I thought maybe I should check out this Dallas Smith guy after all.  I was a fan of Default, but hadn’t heard any of his new stuff, aside from “Jumped Right In”, the title track off his new country-flavoured album that’s getting play on the local country station.

Downloading Dallas’ new tunes might have been the best thing I’ve ever done.  I was instantly hooked.  And then seeing him live last night just cemented our relationship.

It’s love.  Absolute love.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  Chad Brownlee still makes my speakers go boom-boom.   He’s so very handsome.  Highlights of his set for me included “Hood of My Car”, “Carried Away”, “Listen”, “Love Me or Leave Me”, “Smoke In The Rain”, a cover of the Black Crows’ “Hard To Handle”, and, of course the crowd-pleasing “Wagon Wheel”.

But Dallas?  Dallas made the show at the Crazy Horse last night.  If he was the only one playing, and it was time to go home after his set was over, I’d have gone home a very happy girl.

The other day, I declared “Stone Cold Killer” my new favourite song, but honestly, picking just one is next to impossible.  So many amazing new songs -  “Jumped Right In”, of course, but also “If It Gets You Where You Wanna Go”, “Somebody Somewhere”, “Shotgun”, “Nothing But Summer”, “What Kinda Love”… And when he tossed in a few of his old Default songs – “Wasting My Time” and “Count on Me” – it was absolutely epic.

I wasn’t sure what to expect last night at The Crazy Horse, and I honestly didn’t expect it to feel like “just another crazy night at the Koo Koo Chevale”, especially with it being a Tuesday night – but that’s exactly what it was, with just a bigger headliner than you’d find there on any given weekend.

Lindsay and I had staked out a table early that we thought would give us a good view of the stage.  We were so very wrong.  The Crazy Horse just isn’t a place where you’ll ever get a good view of the stage, unless you’re on the floor standing right in the front row.  We were there early to eat dinner, but the hours started to drag, especially after the start time of 8 PM came and went with no sign of action on the stage.

We eventually moved to a booth closer the stage after a group of our friends invited us to join them, and that allowed us to stand on the seats and get a birds-eye view of the stage.  I was so happy that we moved there – it brought us closer, and by standing up in the booth, we could see much better without having to brave the crazy crowd on the floor.  I admit I was starting to get antsy and thinking the night was going to be a bust, but then Dallas finally took the stage around 10 PM, making everything all better. ;)

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any great pics of Dallas, but I was lucky to get a few decent shots of Chad on my phone.  And Chad is so pretty…

This is a snap of both Dallas and Chad on-stage together, when they closed out the night by singing “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive” and “Come Together”.  So much fun!!

 

I have to admit to feeling a little bit like an old lady today.  It was a late one, as we didn’t get home til around 1 AM.  (I know, that’s not that late…but it was a TUESDAY, people.  Yes. I’m old.)  I’m nursing my coffee, that’s for sure.  But I have my iPod on, and I just know that Dallas will get me through the day. ;)

Overall, it was an awesome night, and I’m so happy we were there.  I mean, I did get a new boyfriend out of it, so really, how could I complain?