Jason Aldean's hot music helps ward off the chill at Blossom's season opener (concert review, photos)

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio - Hoodies and coats might have been the uniform of choice over tank tops and Daisy Dukes at Blossom Music Center Friday night, but it wasn't Jason Aldean's fault.

The two-time Academy of Country Music entertainer of the year did his best to ward off the chill of the summer concert season's first show at the picturesque amphitheater with a 90-minute set that rolled through 22 songs.

Ironically, Aldean was the final performer in the 2016 season at Blossom, so it seems things came full circle.

The stop was the fifth in Aldean's young "They Don't Know Tour,'' which means it still has a little of that newness to it for the performers, but they've also had time to work out some bugs.

That may explain why the sound at this show was better than expected - and, truthfully, better than it has been on previous season-openers. Too often, screaming guitars and thumping kick drums, couple with a muddy mix have made vocals at Blossom darn near indecipherable.

Friday night, Aldean's nasal baritone rang clear through the pavilion - I wasn't on the lawn, but did notice during a brief foray there that the sound wasn't quite as crystalline.

But really, the crux of the show was that Aldean had 20,000 people saying, "This is 'My Kinda Party.' ''

And it was a bit on the brave side, too. Aldean has a catalog of hits, from "Amarillo Sky'' to "Hicktown'' to "Big Green Tractor'' to "She's Country,'' and he played them all, to the delight of an eager crowd.

But starting with the title cut of his current album - and the namesake for the tour - was a bit risky. Most fans want the "new'' stuff mixed in with the hits. Aldean clearly had his own agenda . . . and it turned out he was right.

In an interview to preview the show, Aldean said that he takes great care in organizing his set lists, and turning shows into a "roller coaster ride'' for those who come to see him.

That's as much a learned skill as playing to - and not just FOR - an audience, and he's clearly mastered it.

That's not to say the night was without its hiccups. "Tattoos on the Sky'' and "Fly Over States'' were tainted a bit by some pitch issues, which become all the more noticeable because Aldean doesn't have the greatest range.

Of course, you couldn't tell that with "Don't You Want to Stay,'' done as a duet with a video of Kelly Clarkson, who sang the original with him. That song was particularly impressive, actually, because it was so well-choreographed that at one point, the Clarkson belting her heart out on a huge hexagonal screen looked to stage left ... right where Aldean was standing. It's a little touch, maybe one that would go unnoticed, but it showed an ever-growing attention to detail.

To his credit, too, Aldean doesn't phone in a lot of those hits, like "Dirt Road Anthem,'' "Dirt Road Anthem'' or "Lights Come On,'' even though he's revered by fans that just hearing the first few bars of them can get a crowd going. He delivers them as if they were his greatest hope for his next No. 1. That's professionalism.

Kane Brown and Chris Young opened, with Young winning that race. Brown is up-and-coming, and his fan base that skews pretty barely drinking-age young. But his talk-like delivery doesn't seem to hint at much true singing ability.

That's not the case for Young, whose multi-octave range was on frequent display throughout his 12-song set.

Once again, Deejay Silver was on hand to spin tunes - or portions of them - between acts. So apparently, there are 25,642 possible choices to "Where my (fill in the blank) people at?'' and not one was "proper grammar.''

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