photo by Jim Wright

Don’t be the guy who gets reprimanded by Aaron Lewis in front of 2000 of his closest friends.  Yeah, the guy that keeps yelling for songs from Staind. Rest assured, he’ll probably play something from the band, just hold tight, such is the case tonight. Too bad hard-core Staind fans left before that portion of the show.

The first portion of the show here tonight at Rams Head Live in Baltimore was pure country, even if some of the tunes performed later that night were originally performed as Rock and Roll, but not tonight. Lewis is proud of his country way of living in a little town in Massachusetts. Tonight though, it was about The Road, The Road is Lewis’s country record that he’s touring in support of. His country backing band was highlighted by Lewis’ emphatic  performance with the slide guitar crying in the background, it just makes it a little more country (well actually a lot but…). The set list consisted of songs primarily from The Road and a cover, of a cover. “What Hurts The Most” was made popular by Rascal Flatts but was originally recorded by Mark Wills and penned by another couple of gentlemen. Lewis’ version, as with most of his renditions,  evoke such emotion, which is a trademark of his vocal style. Lewis performed a few other cover tunes tonight including Jamey Johnson’s “Keepin Up With The Jonesin’” and later on “Turn The Page” (made famous by either Bob Seger or Metallica. However you want to see it).

The band left the stage and after some applause calling for a return to the stage Aaron comes out to perform multiple Staind songs, much to the pleasure of those in attendance. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty enough people here to hear stuff off The Road album but…Songs like “It’s Been A While,” and "Outside" were like a sing-a-long more than anything. After the Turn The Page cover, the band returned to the stage to end the evening with a few more from, The Road including “Country Boy” and that’s exactly who Lewis was tonight, a country boy.