Jerry Kellar’s Exclusive ’98 Interview With Paterno

Actors needed  at Music Box
Actors and actresses, particularly

<b>First Posted:</b> 1/22/2012

WILKES-BARRE - Whoever said there are no second acts in life obviously never met Darius Rucker.

The now 45-year-old singer who fronted Hootie &amp;amp; The Blowfish in the 1990s has totally reinvented himself over the past few years as a country singer, scoring five No. 1 hits in the genre. His live shows &amp;#8211; like his sold-out headlining concert at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts on Friday &amp;#8211; have become a crowd-pleasing, raucous good time in which he treats his fans to both his past Hootie hits and his current country smashes, and a few choice covers.

Unlike some singers trying to start a second career, Rucker has never shied away from his past, always giving the crowds what they came to hear and that has worked out splendidly for the singer.

Friday's show, which felt like it took place in a bigger venue than the Kirby Center with Rucker's stage setup of 11 video screens and a state-of-the-art light show, began with Rucker taking the stage in a dark blue T-shirt, jeans, cowboy boots and a baseball cap and launching into "Love Will Do That" from his most recent album, "Charleston, SC 1966."

From that moment forward, the huge crowd was completely with him, as concertgoers were standing from the first row in front of the stage to the last row of the balcony, and heartily singing along with pretty much every song.

Not wasting much time chatting with the audience, Rucker and his stellar six-piece band let the music do the talking all evening long. Early highlights included his No. 1 solo hit "Alright" and a stunning version of the Hootie hit "Let Her Cry."

"I have been lucky enough to spend the last two years on the road with Brad Paisley," Rucker said following his fourth number. "And now I need me my Brad Paisley fix." With that, he and the band played a cool cover of Paisley's "Ticks," which went over well with the country-music loving fans.

As much of a response as he was getting to his hits, perhaps the biggest noise of the night came when he played Steve Miller Band's "The Joker," as the ecstatic audience sang along at the top of its collective voice.

Other standouts of Rucker's performance included Hootie favorites "Only Wanna Be With You" and "Hold My Hand" and his country smashes "Come Back Song," "This," "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" and "It Won't Be Like This For Long."

Rucker ended his main set with a raucous rendition of Hank Williams Jr.'s "Family Tradition," then came back for a two-song encore ending with an awesome version of Prince's "Purple Rain."

Mallary Hope, a singer-songwriter from Georgia, opened Friday's show with a strong 25-minute showcase of her songs, including one she wrote on Tuesday and debuted for the Kirby Center crowd. Standouts of her five-song, solo-acoustic set included her opening number "Daughter of the South" and her closing cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide."

Rucker was last in our area when he opened for Rascal Flatts at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain in July 2009. He will perform in Easton tonight. He will head back to Pennsylvania on Feb. 4 to play the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park and on May 6 to play the Giant Center in Hershey.

The next show at the Kirby Center is comedian Kathleen Madigan on Friday.

Singer Rucker at top of game review