“I’ve been doing this a long, long time,” Tim McGraw said on stage at Alpine Valley Music Theatre Aug. 22, with particular emphasis on the “long, long” part.
And then he added: “It never gets old.”
There’s a really good reason the forthcoming Country Music Hall of Fame inductee might have felt this way.
There was a time recently when McGraw thought he may not get to do this at all.
Late into his hour-and-forty-five-minute set at the East Troy amphitheater, McGraw, 59, talked about how he had both knees replaced and four back surgeries in the past few years.
“You’re always going to have hard times…,” McGraw said. “The key is how you get back up.”
McGraw’s done it by making the absolute most of his time on stage. He’s getting older, but this doesn’t get old, because he just won’t let it.
That attitude showed in the passion McGraw brought to setlist standards “The Cowboy In Me,” “Humble and Kind” and “Truck Yeah” that closed out the 21-song set. But the main way McGraw and his eight backing musicians, all of whom have played with him for decades, keep things fresh: they don’t play all the same songs.
McGraw performed at Fiserv Forum just two years ago, but 11 of the 21 songs he sang at Alpine weren’t part of that show.
That included multiple songs in a new format for McGraw as a show starter: an acoustic set.
Setlist additions of older songs like “Forget About Us,” “Down On The Farm,” “Don’t Take The Girl” and “My Best Friend” (the latter a request, McGraw suggested, from his wife and fellow country star and actor Faith Hill) sounded especially warm in this format, accompanied by loving crowd singalongs.
And when the McGraw and the band went full throttle for most of the rest of the set, they added in “Southern Girl” this time out – with McGraw swapping “Southern” at one point for “Wisconsin” – and also “Indian Outlaw,” which took a fun detour into Steppenwolf’s “Magic Carpet Ride.”
Beyond swapping in some different old songs this time out, McGraw played new songs, too.
One of them followed his talk about his health issues – “King Rodeo” – with lyrics that clearly came from a personal place.
“Adoring crowds are not around you/Whispers and shadows, they surround you,” McGraw sang softly and movingly, before recognizing, even in this dark hour, he needs to change his attitude.
“Don’t let them make you jaded ’cause you can’t turn back time,” he sang at Alpine. “Lady Luck’s been good to you, so take her by the hand.”
Fans at Alpine were awfully lucky to get what appears to be a McGraw exclusive this tour: a performance of his portion of “McArthur,” the multi-generational story song that also features Eric Church, Hardy and Morgan Wallen (and was co-written by Cedarburg native Josh Thompson).
And there were two songs from McGraw’s forthcoming album “Pawn Shop Guitar” (out this fall he said at Alpine) that made the set. The patriotic “Song for America,” performed in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday, consisted of effective lyrical snapshots that spanned from Marfa, Texas, to a Las Vegas wedding chapel to a Detroit diner to Arlington National Cemetery, while also taking stock of “9/11 scars” and recognizing people “don’t always see eye to eye.”
McGraw also performed the album’s poignant title track, saying it was inspired by his own experience hawking his high school ring at a pawn shop in exchange for a terrible acoustic guitar. He said he spent the summer of his freshman year learning to play 50 songs and performed his first gigs at a restaurant, the beginning pivotal steps for a soon-to-be Country Music Hall of Famer.
After he performed the song, McGraw’s guitar tech brought out an electric guitar that he bought from a pawn shop in the area. McGraw autographed it and gave it to a young girl in the pit. She promised she would learn how to play, and McGraw suggested 20 years from now, if he were lucky to still be alive, he would cheer her on at one of her shows.
Based on McGraw’s strong performance at Alpine Valley, it’s a good bet that, 20 years from now, he’ll still be doing shows – and he’ll make sure they still don’t get old.
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Contact Piet Levy at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him at facebook.com/PietLevy and instagram.com/pietlevy.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After four back surgeries, Tim McGraw treasures playing Alpine Valley
Reporting by Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
