I thought it was very interesting that I was going to see Ted Nugent playing at a County Fair in a small city like Albert Lea at a County Fair. It’s a fun County Fair filled with everything you would expect from corn dogs, mini-Donuts and 4H malts. They have a very nice grandstand where the concerts all took place. They brought in a variety of artists including Ted Nugent for the fairgoers.
Locations like this I think workout well for Ted Nugent. As everybody knows he is not shy sharing his beliefs on everything from politics, hunting to music. It was also my understanding that he is purposely choosing venues and locations that do not enforce any type of mask mandate. There was a lot of people there, he ended up playing to probably 2000 or so. The crowd was really into it and there was a lot of people buying merchandise.
In total he played for about 90 minutes and like every other time I’ve seen him has a very solid band. Tonight, it was a three piece. He opened with “Gonzo” and performed all of the songs I would have expected him to, including “Free for All”, “Hey Baby”, “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Stranglehold”. The audience was really into it but I’m not exactly sure how much so with the banter. It’s one of the things I wish you wouldn’t do. He tends to continually repeat himself. He is way too fixated in my mind about guns and hunting. I don’t really care one way or another, it just gets old after a while. He is an incredible guitar player and some of the songs I really enjoy. Although some of them I just don’t understand like, ”Queen of the Forest”. This was probably the first time I had seen him in 20 years, and I probably won’t go again for another 20. I’m not saying that he wasn’t fantastic from a musical standpoint but the bravado it’s just a little too over the top for me.
