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Route 91 Harvest delivers more country comfort on Day 2

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Martina McBride performing on the main stage at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip. Saturday, October 01, 2016. CREDIT: Glenn Pinkerton/Las Vegas News Bureau
Glenn Pinkerton/Las Vegas News Bureau

In its third year, the Route 91 Harvest country-music festival at the Las Vegas Village on the Strip continued to successfully market to mainstream country fans, with its safest, most uninteresting lineup yet. Even as the festival organizers have remained committed to unadventurousness with their bookings, though, the logistics of the festival have continued to improve, and for fans of the kind of music played on country radio, Route 91 remains a solid option.

Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival

I arrived around sundown on Saturday, the second of the festival’s three days, in time to see Martina McBride, who was a highlight of April’s similar ACM Party for a Cause Festival, and once again shone in comparison to the bro country that still dominates the genre (and festival lineups). McBride’s voice is as vibrant as ever, and she packed in the hits during her 50-minute set, slowing only for a couple of mediocre songs from new album Reckless. Even on subpar material, though, McBride’s vocals were stellar, effortlessly reminding the audience why she’s a country legend.

Navigating the festival grounds was much easier this year, with organizers confining fans who brought their own chairs to a “chair corral” near the back of the venue, so I wasn’t constantly tripping over people when I headed to the other side of the Village for the Next From Nashville stage. Other festival-goers seem to have finally discovered the programming on this second stage, and the two sets I saw, from Texas indie-country sensation Aaron Watson and erstwhile Staind frontman Aaron Lewis, were the most crowded I’ve ever seen the NFN tent. Watson’s straightforward traditionalist fare went over well, and a surprising number of fans sang along to nearly every song. Although sound bleed from the main stage has been a problem for the NFN tent in the past, this year even soft, contemplative songs like Watson’s “July in Cheyenne” could be heard clearly.

“We are putting cowboy back in country music,” Watson said as he announced his upcoming album, and the NFN headliner, Aaron Lewis, took an even more hardline stance on that front. Lewis’ new single “That Ain’t Country” takes aim at exactly the kind of pop-oriented acts Route 91 thrives on (one of the artists that Lewis has criticized, Luke Bryan, headlined on Sunday night). The outspoken singer riled up the crowd not only with his shots at other country acts (“If I offended you by this song, then maybe I wrote this song about you,” he said when introducing “That Ain’t Country”), but also with his blunt political message. Whereas other singers that day offered uplifting dedications to the men and women of the military, Lewis prefaced “Red, White & Blue” with “I wrote this next song because our f*cking president sucks,” and the crowd roared.

Back on the main stage, the night’s headliner, Brad Paisley, brought the full production of his current Life Amplified tour, including fans seated at an onstage bar. Paisley showcased his impeccable guitar skills (despite some technical difficulties) on hits like “Online,” “Ticks” and “Country Nation,” complete with shout-outs to local college sports (which in this tourist town meant Trojans and Sun Devils in addition to Rebels). Tyler Farr and Lindsay Ell, both of whom performed earlier in the day, joined Paisley onstage at different points, Farr stumbling through the lyrics to “I’m Still a Guy” and Ell matching Paisley note for note in a blazing guitar duel during “She’s Everything.” Paisley’s good-natured, often goofy songs were perfect for Saturday night in Vegas, an easygoing, feel-good closer to the crowd-pleasing festival.

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