Rascal Flatts gives the Fair its final number

The 2012 Iowa State Fair came to a close Sunday night with the soulful Ohio country band Rascal Flatts playing to a sold out crowd of 10,600 fans in the Grandstand. The lines to get into the fair for its final night were long, with crowds eager to spend a beautiful final night at the fairgrounds.

Rascal Flatts topped a bill packed with radio-friendly country acts. Little Big Town, Eli Young Band and Edens Edge helped fill out a nearly four hour show. It was a lineup that helped showcase the range in the current pop country market and the crossover appeal of the sub-genre.

Of the four acts performing Sunday night, Rascal Flatts was probably the least country, with lead singer Gary LeVox sounding at times more like and R&B singer. The band’s sound has polish, and LeVox and bassist Jay DeMarcus have a stage presence that puts crowds at ease with good natured humor.

The band did briefly draw cheers and boos in equal measure when LeVox asked the crowd “Shall we talk about Hawkeye football?” After the crowd quieted he got the exact same reaction asking “Shall we talk about Iowa State football?” He followed that up with “I just wanted to see if you could get loud.”

Future Grandstand acts looking to get a big reaction should take note.

During a portion of the show Rascal Flatts took requests from the audience, performing “He Ain’t the Leaving Kind,” “I’m Moving On” and “Prayin’ for Daylight” after asking specific audience members what song they wanted. One song request that wasn’t granted, at least immediately, was their big hit “God Bless The Broken Road.” LeVox informed the fan that they didn’t need to waste a request on that song, and indeed it did show up later in the set.

The band worked in a few covers, including “Lean on Me,” a bit of “Open Arms” by Journey as a nod to the previous night’s headliner and their take on Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway.”

Little Big Town fused Gospel, bluegrass, country and good old fashioned harmonies, trading off lead parts between the band’s four primary members. “Boondocks,” “Bring it On Home” and the recent hit “Pontoon” were among the songs performed. The band regularly takes what they call “good pop songs” and tries to make them “better country songs” in the “Scattered, smothered and covered” segment of the show (a nod to Waffle House hashbrowns). Sunday night Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” was the unlikely song picked and Little Big Town pulled it off with aplomb.

Not to come back to the Hank Williams Jr. show, but the Lady Gaga cover seemed to illustrate the change in country music. While performing the song “Dinosaur” on Friday night Williams sang the line “You're singin' a song about makin' love to your drummer, well queer guitar-pickers don't turn me on” (in the original “gay” was used in place of “queer,” not sure why he changed it). During Little Big Town’s cover of “Born This Way” four male members of the group enthusiastically sang “Don’t be a drag, just be a queen.”

Eden’s Edge and Eli Young Band started the evening off with half hour or shorter sets that got the audience warmed up without keeping them waiting too long for the top two acts. Eden’s Edge got the crowd swaying with the “Afternoon Delight”-esque “Skinny Dippin’,” while Eli Young’s “Crazy Girl” drew a huge reaction from the audience.

The show’s finale came in the form of every act joining together for a group performance of Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band.” All together there were 19 musicians performing together on stage, with each band getting lead on a verse.

It wasn’t a finale that screamed country, but it did play to the bands’ strengths. It’s a loud and fun number with just enough Americana appeal to fit with a bit of added twang. In a year loaded with country acts, Rascal Flatts and their cohorts were probably the perfect acts to give the Iowa State Fair its closing number.