On Sunday, July 3, we went to see Sarah Darling in concert at Prairie Meadows in Altoona. Sarah is from the Des Moines area. She moved to Nashville to pursue her singing career. She was in all episodes of E!'s show The Entertainer with Wayne Newton. Sarah also appeared in the "Save A Horse" video, playing the mannequin.

She knows my wife Cheryl since they went to the same church for several years. I saw Sarah perform in church but I can not claim to 'know' her since we have never been introduced or talked to each other. It is still odd to go to a concert with so many people attending and know the degrees of separation between yourself and the person performing are so few.

We showed up to the concert at least an hour early. Since there was no reserved seating I wanted to ensure we got a good spot. It was a good thing we were early since we bumped into so many people Cheryl knew from church on our way to claim some space in front of the stage. Cheryl had to talk to all of them, which I can understand. I was eager to get to the stage and I know she wasn't happy that I rushed her a bit.

We did not bring any chairs so we had to sit on the grass. Someone let us borrow some vinyl bags and we sat in the front row. Of course we were surrounded by people Cheryl knew from church so the time passed quickly with conversation. Cheryl doing more talking them me, since I'm just a bit on the quiet side.

Richard Dicks, Sarah's grandfather, greeted all of us he knew in the first few rows. He shook everybody's hand and thanked everybody for coming. He is obviously very proud of Sarah and I am sure Sarah is proud of him.

I brought my digital camera but I was not sure what Sarah's camera policy is. I know from my experience as a Journey fan that it is best to find out such things before taking out the camera. So, I asked a nearby security person and he verified with the person in charge of security (I believe that's who it was anyway) that it was OK. I was allowed to take pictures as long as I did not leave my seating area and approach the stage. Since I was already in the front row, this would not be a problem.

So, I have a decent set of pictures which can be viewed at the bottom of this entry.

I have to admit that I am not the greatest country music fan in the world. I am sure that most of the songs Sarah performed were covers. But, since I am not a big country music fan, I can't give a set list.

The show was broken into sections. Sarah came on stage at around 7:30 and did her first set of songs. This set lasted at least an hour. Sarah then took a break for an 'intermission' where she signed autographs and met with fans. During this intermission the stage was taken by the top three karaoke winners in Altoona's "Big Kahuna" contest. Sarah took the stage again for maybe 45mins or so. After Sarah's second set of songs, there were fireworks and then Sarah took the stage for a final set of songs. We did not stay for the fireworks so we missed the last set.

Sarah ripped through the first set, not missing a beat, and it seemed she hardly took time to catch her breath. There was a large variety of songs, from faster paced to slow, ballad type songs. She mixed up and balanced her set very well and all songs were performed incredibly well, by both Sarah and her band. I should emphasize that her band is exceptional, especially the fiddle player. She is definitely surrounded by a great group of musicians.

The only critique I can make is Sarah's interaction with the crowd. Maybe there was a bit of a timing issue with the fireworks coming up but I think she could take more time to get the crowd involved, maybe do more between songs. She lets the music do the talking, which in itself is not a bad thing...The audience is allowed to hear a lot more music when the performer does not talk too much.

The crowd itself was very laid back. I guess I am not used to that. It was basically a sit down, clap your hands, sing if you know the words, and just plain have fun, sorta crowd. It was somewhere between going to a theater, where you are expected to clap only at appropriate times, and the frenzy of a good rock concert. Hard to pin down, I guess. It did seem the crowd was having a good time and that is what matters the most.

The first set ended with a cover of "Save A Horse", the video she was in as the mannequin. After the first set Sarah signed autographs and met with fans for an intermission. During the intermission the top three entries for a karaoke contest performed two songs each.

During the intermission, I told Cheryl that she could go back and talk to Sarah and get something signed. I stayed and watch the karaoke. I regret doing this just a bit because I could have went and taken a picture with them together. Oh, well, she got an autographed head shot and they did say 'hi' to each other. Sarah was too busy signing autographs and dealing with people wanting her attention to do much talking.

As for the karaoke, the first guy performed "America" by Neil DIamond and "The Auctioneer's Song". He was good but the audience was a bit distracted because of the intermission. I don't think he grabbed their attention.

The second karaoke performer sang Allanah Myles "Black Velvet". I'm not sure if she realized that Sarah had added that song as part of her set and performed it later in the evening. The second song was "I'm Still Alive", or whatever that disco song is. She definitely grabbed the crowds attention and she was a lot of fun to watch.

The third performer started out with Survivor's "I Can't Hold Back". From the first notes he sang, it was obvious he had an awesome voice. Somewhere in the middle of the song he did one of those "ooooOOOh" with his voice. I told Cheryl, "I bet he does a Journey song next". After he was finished, someone in the crowd shouted an "AC/DC" request. He laughed it off and said, "I'm going to slow it down a bit with a Journey song, 'Open Arms'." He obviously has a perfect voice for those type of songs and he performed them both incredibly well.

Sarah's band opened the second set with a version of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "The House Is Rockin'", while Sarah made her way back to the stage. I love SRV and Sarah's band obviously had a fun time playing it...even with a fiddle! He tore up a bow on this one song! Some of the younger kids loved it and started dancing in front of the stage. It was a fun song, it gave the band a chance to show off, and it definitely prepared the crowd for Sarah.

That atmosphere continued after Sarah took the stage. The kids kept dancing in front and the crowd seemed a bit more active. Someone kept yelling, "We wanna hear you yodel!" Sarah seemed to want to ignore it but eventually she said, "I hear some 'yodel' requests out there...who here saw me at the fair last year?" She got some applause for that, since she has performed at the Iowa State Fair for the past few years. The third set continued until it was dark enough for the fireworks.

We left during the fireworks to avoid the traffic. So, we missed the third set. I kind of wished we could have stayed but it was still a good evenings worth of free entertainment. Sarah definitely puts on a great show, even for someone who is not into country, like me.