Montgomery-Gentry and Miranda Lambert play countryfest's wet and wild affair

SARATOGA SPRINGS - They were still counting heads, many of them covered by wet 10-gallon hats, Saturday night after the rain-soaked audience enjoyed a day filled with music at WGNA's annual Countryfest.
The rain didn't lessen the enthusiasm of either the performers or audience, however.

With attendance figures estimated to be around 27,000, organizers said Saturday's concert could be the largest gathering in the 10 years the festival has been held at Saratoga Gaming and Raceway. According to city police, there were nine arrests stemming from the event.

Country music newcomer Miranda Lambert appeared early in the afternoon, performing a set highlighted by the nostalgia-tinged 'Me and Charlotte Talking' and her newest single, 'Bring Me Down.'

When the Texas-born musician strummed away at her cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Bad Moon Rising,' it seemed like the 21-year-old performer was daring the silver-streaked clouds to give a performance of their own. Sure enough, the sky opened up, soaking the crowd.

'I love the rain,' she replied, undaunted. The crowd seemed to agree. With no shelter from the storm, they settled in for the daylong festival and resolved that they were just going to get wet.
Dierks Bentley followed, heralding the event as 'one big wet T-shirt contest,' and offered tips to aspiring songwriters in the crowd.

'There's a couple of things you need in a country song,' Bentley instructed. 'Ex-girlfriends. Cold beer. And pickup trucks.' Then he performed a set that alternately longed for, lamented and loved all three, delivering tunes from his new album, 'Modern Day Drifter.'

Then it was Trace Adkins' turn. He kicked off his set with his 1997 song 'Big Time,' reminisced about a decade of playing endless honky-tonks to get to the biggest honky-tonk in the Northeast, and hit an emotional peak with his ballad 'Arlington,' culled from his new CD,
'Songs About Me.'

Among the most creative looks in the crowd were the swatches of confederate flags redesigned into halter tops, mud-drawn face designs that served as temporary tattoos and one particularly enterprising man who strolled through the crowd collecting dollar bills and attaching them to the straps of the women's brassiere he was wearing.
Judging by the take, for him, it was a good day.

Others sloshed through the wet grounds and consumed things like battered mushrooms,
Texas Tornado Chips and a variety of barbecued meats served up from propane grills.

The Kentucky-born duo Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry headlined the event and performed a raucous set powered by a six-man band pumping behind them. Taking the stage to Thin Lizzy's 'The Boys Are Back in Town,' Montgomery whirled, stomped and riled up the crowd, swinging a microphone stand over their heads like it was a scepter.

The duo performed their tunes 'Gone' and 'Speed' as smoke rose from the stage, adorned with a red, white and blue backdrop.

Gentry plucked a mandolin as the duo performed 'Scarecrow.' It was perhaps the day's most pertinent song. 'Seven days a week out here in this heat,' they sang, 'a gentle rain my only friend,' as 27,000 others sang along with them.

words and pictures by Thomas Dimopoulos text published in The Saratogian, July 2005.