Concert Reviews

The Kinleys

Great American Country Presents The Kinleys
October 11, 2000
Historic Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA

Concert Review by Jeff Krasky

It was an uncomfortably cold night on October 11th when we made the trek out to the Historic Mountain Winery in Saratoga to watch The Kinleys perform. When we arrived and discovered that the concert would be taking place outside we were certainly glad that we had at least brought jackets. Thankfully when we got to where the stage was set up the wind wasn’t as bad. Once the show started people forgot about the piercing cold.

The concert was to benefit breast cancer and there were locations to make donations and silent auctions were taking place. The event raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer research, which gave the evening a special tone. Dallas Turner, a host for Great American Country’s Country Request Live and DJ of Nashville Nights was the MC for the evening. She was quite funny and had the crowd into everything that she was saying. She also told everyone in attendance that they were going to be slack on the seating and for everyone to move up into empty seats where they were available. This was a nice free upgrade for some of the fans.

The show opened with Bobbie Eakes. This new Epic records artists is just preparing to release her first CD after getting killed off the soap opera that she worked on (an interesting career change wouldn’t you say?). You might already know her from her popular duet with Collin Raye. She sang a couple of songs from her upcoming album. She has an impressive voice and everyone in attendance was into her short set. She’s a talent to look out for.

The second opener was a band called Rambler. They have had some top 40 hits and played an energetic set. The whole time most people were trying to figure out why the two lead singers looked so much a like. The band finally let everyone in on the secret, they’re twins. Rambler has their sophomore album coming out and after seeing them live this is definitely something that everyone should look into. Their music is very distinct and a hell of a lot of fun.

It was time to bring The Kinleys out on stage. During the intermission everyone started to realize again how brutally cold it was. Thankfully it was a short intermission. The Kinleys opened with their current single “She Ain’t The Girl For You” which instantly got the crowd back into the music. They touched on some songs from their debut album. Jennifer joked about how Bobbie Eakes was kind enough to loan out her shoes after telling Jennifer how cold it was out there.

One of the standout moments of the show was the performance of “You’re Still Here”. The song is incredible on CD but when you watch these two sisters nail this song live it’s nothing short of stunning. Jennifer’s husband who wrote the song made an appearance to sing it with them. The rendition of their next single “I’m In” was great as well. It’s amazing how much they sounded like their recordings. There isn’t a whole lot of doctoring going on in the studio. The Kinleys are the real deal. The antics of the characters in “Lovers” lead to a funny performance. The Kinleys joked that the reason they recorded the tune was because it let them say hussy in a song. The amount of energy The Kinelys displayed on stage really completed the package. There were very few instances where things slowed down and someone was always dancing around or playing to the crowd.

The crowd was completely out of control for most of the night. The Kinleys stopped on a number of occasions just to laugh at the antics of the crowd. In one instance The Kinleys stopped to put a spotlight on a girl who was dancing on top of the chairs. This went on for quite a bit longer than they expected and so they continued to stand joking about it. During the introduction of the band one of the band members got to show off his talent for doing impressions of the characters from Austin Powers. The Kinleys then made him do an impression of Steve Irwin, the guy from The Crocodile Hunter. At that moment a guy from the crowd jumped up to his feet and offered his impression. The band member and the fan proceeded to exchange impressions back in forth for a minute with everyone in attendance, including The Kinleys laughing their butts off.

The Kinleys played a ton of their songs from II and commented that they were amazed how many people already knew the words to the songs and were singing along. They considered it one of the biggest compliments they could be given. Their debut album Just Between You And Me wasn’t ignored however. The title track, “You Make It Seem So Easy” and “Please” were some of the songs making an appearance. There was also an impressive rocked up version of “Two More Bottles Of Wine” thrown in the show.

The Kinleys closed their set with their smash hit “Someboy’s Out There Watching”. The crowd went crazy as they exited the stage and it wasn’t long before they were back out and played a rocking encore with incredible acoustic guitar playing by Heather. We can only hope the song makes it onto an album somewhere along the line with that same kind of energy.

The Kinleys shocked me. I don’t know what I was expecting when I was on the way to the show but it wasn’t what I go. They are as high energy as their music. Seeing the two sisters stand face to face and sing their hearts out was just an incredible experience. The wild crowd played right into The Kinleys show. I never once got the feeling that a play list was involved in the show. It had that type of spontaneous feel to it. Everyone left that venue not only feeling like they’d seen a great show but also that they knew The Kinleys better than they did when they walked in the gates. The show was very honest and The Kinleys were very open to letting fans into their world. If you’re looking for a high-energy and fully entertaining concert experience look no further than The Kinleys. It’s worth every penny of the ticket price.

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The Kinleys Live Concert Photos