SARATOGA SPRINGS - Twenty-thousand
music fans descended upon the Saratoga Raceway on Saturday for
the day-long annual Countryfest music marathon.
Some of country music's biggest stars
took the stage during the early evening hours.
Doors
for the festival, presented by WGNA-FM, opened at dawn, but
the show "officially" kicked off at 11 a.m. with regional
favorite the Boot Hill Band, followed by national acts Steve
Azar and Mark Wills.
"So far, my favorite is Mark
Wills," said Colleen Quinn, who made the trip to the Spa City
from Pittsfield, Mass. "His songs are hot, but he needs to
work out some," she said, laughing as she waited for Sara
Evans to take the stage.
There was lots to do while
waiting. A variety of food and beverage vendors lined the
track's perimeter. For kids, there was a climbing wall and a
Rain Room to cool them off.
Richard Leduc was
watching 4-year-old David Hazzard III, who was waiting his
turn at the giraffe and dinosaur bouncy-bounce. "All together,
there are seven of us that came here at 5:30 a.m. in from
Troy," Leduc said. Others claimed Adirondack Park,
Gloversville and Western Massachusetts as home.
"Y'all
can get up and dance if you want," Evans said as she came on
stage introducing an upbeat country rock song to the audience,
which is from her soon-to-be-released CD "Restless." Her
happiness was infectious. A relatively new star on the country
music scene, she is also a new mom.
"I want to be
successful, but I also love being a mom," she said. "I believe
I was born to sing and have a family. I really have the best
of both worlds."
As she finished up her set with a
rhythmic rendition of the Doobie Brothers song "China Grove,"
she exited the stage to where her 4-year-old son, Avery, and
5-month-old daughter, Olivia, were waiting in the wings - the
young girl gurgling in delight as mom scooped her up and
"zoomed" her through the air.
One of the main
in-between-set attractions was the WGNA walk of stars, where
fans could meet and greet their musical heroes. Amongst the
faithful ready with cameras and glossy photos was News 10
chief meteorologist Steve Caporizzo and his wife, waiting
their turn to meet Charlie Daniels in his big red Liberty
Coach.
As a distant quarter of the sky threatened with
gray clouds, Caporizzo offered advice. "That is north," he
said, pointing to where the silver clouds were accumulating.
"That's where the rain is."
As luck would have it,
once he stepped away to meet Daniels, the sky opened up and
showered the fans with rain. When Caporizzo emerged a few
moments later, the sun magically reappeared.
Charlie
Daniels had some magic up his sleeve as well, hitting the
stage in a trot with fiddle in hand. He used its bow like a
magic wand, blessing the masses as far across the track as the
eye could see. Behind him, his band pounded, riffed and banged
away with tight precision. Alternating between his fiddle and
a sunburst Les Paul, Daniels drew the biggest cheers for his
reading of the Pledge of Allegiance, which was beamed across
the track on the large video screen as the fans dug Daniels'
gospel, shook to his barrelhouse boogie and mimed along to his
rabble-rousing prose. He closed his set with a "Star-Spangled
Banner" finale, fiddle style, then invited Sara Evans and Mark
Wills onstage for a breakneck speed version of his 1979 hit
"The Devil Went Down To Georgia."
"Did you see that?
Now that's what you call a 10th anniversary magic moment,"
said WGNA's Dick Stark after all had exited the stage and
exhilaration hung in the air. People in the crowd waved
American flags above a sea of cowboy hats - black , white and
safari straw. "Now, the question is this: How do you follow
that?" Stark said.
It was up to headliner Lonestar to
tackle that. And from the moment lead vocalist Richie McDonald
asked the crowd, "How y'all doin' Saratoga Springs?" he won
them over. He led the Texas-bred quartet into a string of the
group's hits from "I'm Already There" to "Amazed." He
dedicated the tune "Not a Day Goes By" to "all the folks lost
on Sept. 11."
While Lonestar played, John Reagan was
still riding a personal high. Seven hours after his group, the
Boot Hill Band, had performed on the same stage as his musical
heroes and in front of 20,000 people, Reagan was still shaking
his head in wonderment. "You know, I've played in no-name bars
and honky-tonks for the past 25 years," the group's drummer
said. "This really is the experience of a lifetime."
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