opening act

[Ta town]

Probably doesn't go here but its where the arena talk has been. I'm not a country guy so I don't know if he is big or not but Brad Paisley is it.

This doesn't bother me, what bothers me is the arena managers attitude in the article. Almost like this was a "good get for wichita" and don't expect to much unless we get really lucky and it just fits somebodys schedule perfect. JUST MAKES ME WONDER...... who is going to play in Wichita when you can play in KC and get some of the wichita people then either go to Tulsa or OKC and get some more of the wichita people. Just cause there is a new arena? hmmmm

http://blogs.kansas.com/haveyouheard/2009/10/07/brad-paisley-to-headline-intrust-bank-arenas-debut-concert/

[WstateU]

Re: opening act

Probably doesn't go here but its where the arena talk has been. I'm not a country guy so I don't know if he is big or not but Brad Paisley is it.

This doesn't bother me, what bothers me is the arena managers attitude in the article. Almost like this was a "good get for wichita" and don't expect to much unless we get really lucky and it just fits somebodys schedule perfect.

http://blogs.kansas.com/haveyouheard...debut-concert/

http://shockernet.net/sn/viewtopic.php?t=15035&highlight=

[SpanglerFan316]

This is a great choice; it will keep me from spending money at the new Arena. With more acts like this, I may never need to spend money at the Intrust Bank Arena.

[1972Shocker]

I couldn't tell you who Brad Paisley is either.

Here is his web site. Kind of like the music video they have up.

http://bradpaisley.musiccitynetworks.com/

My guess is the ladies will like him and I 'spect he probably puts on a decent show.

Probably enough Country music fans in these parts for this act to do well.

Hopefully things will go well for the new arena and they can attract a little something for everyone.

Looking forward to seeing when the Shocks play downtown.

[Aargh]

I don't follow country music, but I believe Brad Paisley is one of the hotter country acts right now.

That's probably not a bad choice. Not in the same category as Garth Brooks in his prime, but not that far away from that level.

[kawwsu77]

The arena's opening is not the best time to open in my opinion. January weather in the midwest is not the best for travelling. Since this city is jam packed in country music's audience this act will be close to a sell out. I don't follow country music since Garth Brooks retired but I heard Paisley puts on a good show.

By having all of those community meetings for the design and location of the arena it put the opening back at least a year in my opinion.

[SHOCKvalue]

By having all of those community meetings for the design and location of the arena it put the opening back at least a year in my opinion.

Which is sad, considering the City/County consortium calling the shots back then was totally and utterly tone-deaf to what they we hearing from the community. And in reality, it really didn't "put the opening back" at all. The stages of development for IBA were phased in as the tax receipts rolled in. When the public opinion groups were put out there by the powers-that-be, there wasn't even enough money as of yet to pay for the design and engineering services, so no tangible net time lost really.

IBA will certainly be an overall move in the right direction for downtown Wichita, but it makes me shake my head that we chose to under-build in capacity, AND institute this odd, non-traditional, never-before-applied interior architecture. It seems this town will NEVER do anything in a first class manner. We aim low and keep our expectations down, and the progress of utilitarian Wichita shows it.

On topic... Brad Paisley will do a fine job of selling out IBA for it's first act. All the hand-wringing going on in here, and on the Eagle's website, in reference to him not being someone that appeals to the greatest number of residents is borderline hilarious. If one of "new county's" biggest stars is not what has the broadest appeal for the metro area's largest socio-economic demographic- white middle-class- then I'll eat my shorts. Not saying this is good or bad, but it is what it is.

[Veritas]

Miranda Lambert is getting pretty hot too. I don't know much about country music, but seeing her in Vegas and then hearing more about her, I'd not be surprised to see her up for some country grammys.
She's kind of a red-neck raunchy country gal.

http://www.mirandalambert.com/

[WstateU]

Worth a couple minutes of your time... with a little ESPN flavor.

Brad Paisley - I'm Gonna Miss Her

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O3Plt8DyMk

[vbird53]

IIRC, Brad's entire band is from Kansas (except him)

[Shocker85]

Re: opening act

This doesn't bother me, what bothers me is the arena managers attitude in the article. Almost like this was a "good get for wichita" and don't expect to much unless we get really lucky and it just fits somebodys schedule perfect. JUST MAKES ME WONDER...... who is going to play in Wichita when you can play in KC and get some of the wichita people then either go to Tulsa or OKC and get some more of the wichita people. Just cause there is a new arena? hmmmm

The vast majority of the concert-going folk aren't going to travel 3-4 hours to see the run-of-the-mill touring acts of the Brad Paisley ilk. The major stadium acts like Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eagles, Rolling Stones, etc. will draw from long distances, but many of them won't be playing venues as small as IBA. If you haven't been to a concert in a while, IT'S EXPENSIVE. Eagles were over $200 in Tulsa, Stones were $100 and up several years ago in Wichita, etc. Adding travel, hotel, etc. makes it hard for a lot of people to go in this economy. Once IBA gets into the rotation, many of the acts will stop here, although it is really disheartening that the management company didn't have the foresight to get us in the rotation for this winter's concerts. It seems like they were a bit hung-up on getting a really big name (Eagles, Elton John/Billy Joel) for the opener and are now having to settle for the next tier entertainers.

Acts that are obscure to large segments of the local population currently draw well in Wichita and with Century II, Hartman Arena and IBA we now have options to tailor the size of the venue to the expected draw.

Bringing major acts to Wichita will draw good crowds. The Colesium is a dump when it comes to hosting big acts and a new arena with properly engineered acoustics will be great. Being able to accommodate ~15,000 instead of ~10,000 will help, too.

--'85.