Winner of The Avett Brothers tickets announced
Readers share memories of their favorite concerts
Forty-seven people across three states entered the News-Times contest to win two tickets to see The Avett Brothers live in concert later this month and our winner was Kristi Cates from right here in El Dorado!
In June, the News-Times announced that we’d partnered with the Murphy Arts District to give away two third-row tickets to see The Avett Brothers with opener Robert Earl Keen at their performance this Saturday at the MAD Amphitheater. Cates was selected as the winner with a random name draw.
The Avett Brothers are a Grammy-nominated American folk rock band made up of brothers Scott and Seth Avett, Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon, along with several touring members including Mike Marsh, Bonnie Avett-Rini and Tania Elizabeth. The band has backed Bob Dylan in concert and played with John Prine.
The band was inducted in to the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2016. Several of their albums have enjoyed comfortable spots in the Billboard Charts’ Top 20. They’re currently touring for their 2020 release “The Gleam III,” their third EP and 13th release as a band.
Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Robert Earl Keen, who has been playing for 30 years and has 19 albums under his belt, cut his teeth on classic rock and Willie Nelson records and has played with the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Lyle Lovett. His top song on Spotify, “Feelin’ Good Again,” has over 11 million listens.
“We have plenty of general admission tickets available and lots of space to spread out on the lawn,” said MAD Marketing Coordinator Joanna Benson. “Come out and enjoy a night out before the kids are back in school.”
The show is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, August
14. Tickets for the concert are still available at eldomad.com or by calling the box office at 870-4443007.
Concert experiences
The News-Times also asked those who entered the contest to tell us about their favorite concert experiences. Cates said her favorite show was when she saw Percy Sledge in the late ’90s.
“Favorite concert was in the late 90’s in Monroe, Louisiana — Percy Sledge. I was escorted outside to his bus and got to meet Percy and his wife. Got pictures with both of them. He put on a great concert with the Aces from Shreveport, Louisiana. Out of all my concerts this was special,” she said.
Lots of genres were represented in our readers’ favorite concerts — everything from folk and country to rock ‘n’ roll and hip hop. Here are some more of the responses we got, some slightly edited for clarity:
“The Moody Blues in Tulsa, OK. Everybody was into the music and the crowds ran from their original fans to the ones who just discovered them. I was surrounded by strangers but they felt like friends. Great music, great vibes. Fantastic performance,” said Theresa Thomas of El Dorado.
“I am a music junkie, especially when it’s live! I’ve seen many amazing shows but I would have to say that my favorite concert would be a tie, not just because of the artists (which were fantastic) but because of who I attended with. My first concert was Bon Jovi and my dad took me and let me sit on his shoulders the whole time so that I could see the stage, since we were on the floor and I was by far the youngest there; his back was out for like a week after. And then the second would be Elton John in his farewell tour, because, a) hello! It’s Elton John and his last tour. And b) I took my son and it was our last mother/son date before he joined the Army,” said Heather McVay of El Dorado.
“My friends in high school were in a fantastic band called La Junta and I enjoyed their shows nearly every weekend for a couple years when they were in the height of their live performing. We had a whole crew of people and the songs were so inviting, uplifting and positive and it brought a huge group of friends together regularly for a long time after we were no longer in school together,” said Felice Lameroux of El Dorado.
“The Highwaymen — amazing to see Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson on the same stage,” said Gavin Lesnick of Little Rock.
“This is a hard question to answer but the answer is when POD, Buck Cherry, LIT, and Alien Ant Farm came to El Dorado. I took my son with me to his first concert and LIT pulled him up on stage and he got to rock out with them. Just seeing his face was priceless. His love for music matches mine,” said Kandy Yarbrough of Union County.
“Laurie Anderson at the Oriental in Milwaukee. We all sat and watched and when it ended we erupted into a standing ovation for what we had just seen. It was unbelievable,” said Gary Hall of El Dorado.
“Elvis. He was such a legend. So glad I was able to see him before he was gone,” said Anita Pugh of El Dorado.
“I’ve only been to one concert and it was Loretta Lynn years ago (I’m 65). I still remember it being awesome! It made such an impression all these years later I still remember it. Loretta Lynn introduced her sister, Crystal Gayle before people had really heard about her,” said Pamela Raines of Union County.
Several readers also cited seeing The Avett Brothers themselves at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in recent years. Also, several concerts that were held at the Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, including Molly Hatchet and Steppenwolf were mentioned.
Lots of readers also said they’ve loved concerts that have been held at MAD and Musicfest in recent years.