Thursday night at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA was devoted to one of Country Music’s class acts along with a couple opening bands that proved to be an added bonus to the evening. With all the recent splits between country music’s couples, it was refreshing to see husband and wife duo, Thompson Square, perform a long, joyful set, which celebrated the desires for romance and companionship through their music.
Thompson Square was preceded by up and coming modern Country groups Eli V and Leaving Austin. Both bands opened with a half an hour set that got the crowd prepped for Thompson Square. Leaving Austin, the Central California band, wowed the crowd with “Take Your Breath Away” and “Just My Type,” from the 2013 self-titled album, making a name for themselves in Southern California.
Kicking off their 13-song set with “I Got You”, the first song on their self-titled album in 2010, they set the tone for an energetic evening. Followed by “Just Feels Good”, keeping up the upbeat mood, while songs like “Lay It On Me” and “Play With Fire” took on a more romantic tone on the same positive emotions.
Both new tunes (guaranteed to be additional hits for the duo) scheduled to be on their next studio album. Keifer told the crowd that their new song “Play With Fire” was inspired from when they were first together and couldn’t get enough of each other, followed by the couple singing the song intimately face to face.
Throughout their set it was evident that the couple couldn’t be too far away from each other, gradually coming together from opposite corners of the stage and introduced A Great Big World’s “Say Something.” Even more intimate was the duo’s 2nd number one hit, “If I Didn’t Have You,” with its double electric guitar solo and fans singing along to the words. The crowed cheered when the couple ended the song in a sweet embrace.
Shawna and Keifer asked the crowd if there were any traditional country music fans in the house. And by traditional country, she was referring to Johnny and June Cash, stating that they love the Cash’s, not only for their music, but for going out on the road together, making music together and their continued love for each other, in which they followed up with an acoustic take on “Ring of Fire.”
The dynamic duo even took time out of their set to take a “selfie” with their audience.
Coming back for an encore, Thompson Square performed their latest single “Trans Am,” launched by fellow band mates rocking their guitars. Ending the evening with their double platinum single “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not.” Keifer laughed stating “this song has been getting people lucky since 2010” and has probably helped make a lot of babies, where he threw in their own baby announcement that “another Square was on the way!” The crowd followed with cheers of excitement.
If you weren’t able to attend the concert, it was streamed on Yahoo! Screen Live (you can look for replays at screen.yahoo.com/live/event/thompson-square). To see if Thompson Square is coming to your area, check out their full tour schedule here: http://www.thompsonsquare.com/tour
