ACM Awards Recap
The 43rd annual Academy of Country Music awards followed a predictable award show program with cleaned up and cut up performances as well as awards that go to artists that make you say “Why did they get that”. The awards kicked off with a few minutes of comedy from host Reba McEntire who did a great job throughout the evening moving the lackluster show along even through the most boring of parts. The show was packed with performances from many of todays top artist and even some legends. The performances for the most part all seemed lacking something whether it was the sound and acoustics of the venue or if it was just the performers themselves. Garth Brooks performed a medley of his greatest hits which would get any country music fan excited except all of the hits lasted about ten seconds each so many had a hard time of really getting into them. Many other performances from artist such as Sarah Buxton, Keith Urban, Sugarland George Straight, and Kenny Chesney all were as expected other then Taylor Swifts pitchy water performance which was awkward at best. One of the better performances of the night that stood out in our minds was one of the edgier performances of the night by Carrie Underwood who sang her newest single “Last Name” to open the show.
Kenny Chesney later after the awards criticized the academy for the way they picked entertainer of the year. The award for “Entertainer of the Year” which was actually one by Chesney was a fan voted award. In years past the award was voted on by his music industry peers. Our opinion on this is the same as Chesney’s, if you are going to have an music industry based award show then you must not make the largest award a fan voted award, because it is not fair to the past winners who who voted in. Maybe it was Kenny Chesney’s choice of words that made fans feel unappreciated but many know where he is coming from in the music industry on this matter.
One of the surprise winners of the night in my opinion was Brooks & Dunn for duo of the year since they had no hits this year, as well as Taylor Swift winning “new” female vocalist even though she performed her hit single “Tim McGraw” at last years award show. In all it was a lackluster award show that was very predictable and cleaned up to the point where it felt very old-fashioned. With an award show in a place like Las Vegas known for all its glitz and glamor I was expecting something a little edgier to bring country music to the forefront. Below is a list of winners from the night.
RESULTS:
- Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney
- Top Female Vocalist: Carrie Underwood
- Top Male Vocalist: Brad Paisley
- Top Vocal Group: Rascal Flatts
- Crystal Milestone Award: Garth Brooks
- The Home Depot Humanitarian Award: Rascal Flatts
- Vocal Event of the Year: “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” by Tracey Lawrence, Tim McGraw, and Kenny Chesney
- Top Vocal Duo: Brooks & Dunn
- Song of the Year: “Stay” by Sugarland
- Album of the Year: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend by Miranda Lambert
- Top New Male Vocalist: Jack Ingram
- Top New Duo or Vocal Group: Lady Antebellum
- Top New Female Vocalist: Taylor Swift
- Video of the Year: “Online” by Brad Paisley
- Single Record of the Year: “Stay” by Sugarland
I didn’t like Rodney Atkins performance at all. He did his medley of greatest hits and only other person to do that was Garth Brooks. I don’t think they are on the same level. I actually enjoyed Taylor Swifts performance for once, she did not seem at pitchy as usual and she looked cute.
I like the ACM’s but the CMA’s blow it out of the water