Doghouse played at the White River Amphitheater in Batesville on August 4. The concert was part of the 64th annual White River Water Carnival, an event which has been a staple of the Batesville community. This year, Steve Thomas and the Batesville Chamber of Commerce decided to beef up the concert series this year by bringing the Oak Ridge Boys on Friday night and southern rocker Jimmie Van Zant on Saturday night.
The weather was extremely hot on Saturday when we loaded in around 3pm, there was a slight breeze coming off the river, but the humidity was unbelievable. Further Down from Jonesboro opened the show and put on their usual outstanding show. We took the stage just as it started to turn a little dark, but it was still extremely hot, so hot my fan felt like a hair dryer blowing on me.
We played in front of approximately 3,000 enthusiastic fans who really showed their support. The sound and lights were incredible and if it sounded anything out front like it did in my monitor, it was awesome. After we finished out set, we were actually called back for an encore! We met back stage trying to figure out what to play, so we came back with The Cult's "Love Removal Machine."
As we exited the stage, Jimmie Van Zant's band mates all complemented us on how good we sounded. I asked Jimmie if he would mind having his picture taken with my daughter and he happily agreed.
Jimmie tried to call Paige out during Skynyrd's "What's Your Name" but she bolted. JVZ played all the Skynyrd and .38 Special favorites and the crowd just ate it up. His original stuff sounded great as well, and really surprised me with a cover of Styx's "Blue Collar Man" which sounded fantastic. Toward the end of the show, the two backup singers (the blonde is Jimmie's wife) got Paige up on stage to do a number with them (click the image below to see the video).
