Phil Vassar brought fans to their feet with his singing at the Jorgensen Center for Performing Arts this weekend.

Vassar Electrifies Jorgensen

By: Freesia Singngam

Posted: 10/1/07

As Phil Vassar ended his set, he sang out the chorus, "Do you like it? How about this? Wanna try it? Oh, oh, oh." And as the audience cheered louder, he smiled and finished, "I'll take that as a yes."

"I'll Take That as a Yes (The Hot Tub Song)" was only one of the country hits Vassar excited his fans with in his performance Friday at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Vassar and the opening band, Lady Antebellum, performed both Friday and Saturday nights in a candlelit cabaret setting.

Lady Antebellum - a Nashville-based group of one female vocalist, a male vocalist and a guitar player - played an acoustic set with both original songs and covers to get the crowd going.

The band is still new with their first single hitting airwaves today.

The members tried to play up their own songs, including one called "All We Ever Need" about breaking up and believing that their love was all they ever needed. There was another song about a cheating man that the band introduced as an angry song. Even though these songs were about downbeat subjects, Lady Antebellum managed to make them sound a little more upbeat with the acoustic and country feel.

Lady Antebellum got the most audience interaction in their country rendition of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" and asked the audience to sing along.

After the opener left the stage, there was a short break for the crew to set the stage for Vassar.

As soon as the curtain opened, it was obvious that this was the main act. Spotlights flashed all around the theater as clips from Vassar's greatest hits played. After a loud "boom," the clips stopped, the sheer curtain fell down, and Vassar walked down the stairs of platform that lined the back of the stage.

He started with "Carlene," and fans stood up to clap and sing along. He included a break down to get the crowd to sing along, "Oo la la la … I love you, good Carlene."

After applause, Vassar kept the crowd going with another single - his No. 1 country hit, "In a Real Love." This also spurred the crowd to sing along.

Lights flashed on square screens that formed the backdrop in a grid-like pattern. Vassar played on a large black grand piano that had a jeweled "P" on the side that sparkled under the stage lights.

Vassar, who sings and plays the piano, breaks the stereotype of a country star with a guitar and a cowboy hat. Even though he is different from other male country singers, he still channels the feel-good, down-to-earth feel that country is famous for. His two Billboard U.S. Country No.1 hits, "Just Another Day in Paradise" and "In a Real Love" relate to fans with feelings of enjoying simple things and falling in love and going through life with that loved one.

Besides writing his own songs, he has written hits for big country stars including Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson and Jo Dee Messina.

Vassar waited until after his first two songs to talk to the audience. He complimented the cabaret setup with the candles and compared it to Vegas and seemed happy to be there.

Then he started another hit single, "That's When I Love You." One fan went up to the edge of the stage and soon, a whole crowd followed. The crowd gathered along the front and Vassar showed his appreciation by running across the stage and slapping their hands.

"I'm going back to college again," he yelled as he gave the high-fives. "Oh, it's good to be back in college."

He continued to play upbeat, dance-along songs.

He jumped on his piano as he sang "Six-Pack Summer," which especially stirred the college-aged crowd.

He slowed the show down a bit to play "America the Beautiful," while a blue spotlight shined on him and the backdrop displayed an American flag, showing the patriotism that is often found in country music. That was a transition into "American Child."

Vassar played a few more songs before the Jorgensen staff sent people back to their seats. Despite this disappointment for the fans, they kept their spirits up.

"Somebody complained because they couldn't see my butt," Vassar said, making the fans laugh even though they were sent back.

In a surprise for the audience, Vassar left the stage to let his band play and show off their talent. The band members, including a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist and violinist, took turns singing and performing energetic covers including AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long," The Police's "Roxanne" and The Charlie Daniel's Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." During this one, the violin player mastered the fiddle part and sang the song.

Vassar came back for a few more songs before the end of the show.

He saved his other No.1 hit for second-to-last. He had a longer piano introduction, but as soon as the audience figured out it was "Just Another Day In Paradise," they cheered.

After he played "I'll Take That as a Yes (The Hot Tub Song)," he left the stage and the lights stayed off in the theater. But fans stood up to clap and cheer as if they knew he would be back for an encore.

The drummer came back and started a beat, and Vassar gave the audience two more fast-paced songs to rock out just a little longer.

And the crowd rocked out, despite the cabaret setting and the inability to go up to the stage.

Most of the Friday night audience was older than the typical UConn crowd, but a good number of students attended and swooned over Vassar.

"He's amazing," said Abby Lund, a 5th-semester music major, about Vassar. "We got a [guitar] pick and we touched him."

While he was appealing to them as a country star, his fans also appreciated his talent.

" He's talented," Lund said. "Most people don't realize he wrote most of the top country songs."

"I liked it," said Krista Laliberte, a 7th-semester women's studies and psychology double major. Laliberte said she had a good time but thought the cabaret-style seating was more for a "mellow concert" and Vassar did not give a mellow concert.

Contact Freesia Singngam at Freesia.Singngam@UConn.edu.