After touring with Brad Paisley the past couple of summers, Darius Rucker is hitting the road headlining his own show this year. He rolls into town this Thursday night with a show at the Sunset Cove Amphiteater in western Boca Raton featuring local star Tom Jackson as the opening act. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com, or you can win your way in by entering our contest (ends Tuesday, May 10th at 8pm) under the Contests Tab of this website.
Tom Jackson is a well-known local artist that has played many big shows both locally and around the country. Tom has opened up for several national stars, has regular gigs at local bars, and has even had national acts come in and open for him (Blaine Larsen, David Nail, Ashton Shepherd to name a few). We’ve written numerous previews and reviews of Tom’s shows, so hopefully you’re familiar with him enough to know you’re in for a treat seeing him open up this show.
Darius Rucker is best known as “Hootie” from the ’90’s rock band Hootie and the Blowfish. Three years ago Darius embarked on a solo country career, overcoming multiple stereotypes that typically prevent artists from crossing over into country music. Not since Charley Pride has an African-American had such success in the Country Music genre. Putting aside racial barriers that may or may not exist today, his biggest obstacle in breaking into country music is the fact that he already had a solid career outside of country music. Others have tried and failed to switch genres…Jessica Simpson, Bret Michaels, etc., while others have had varied degrees of minor success…Jewel, Michelle Branch, Uncle Kracker, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, etc.
The beauty of Country Music is that fans look beyond race or a person’s past, and solely focus on the music. Darius Rucker‘s Country Music launch was about as successful as can be. His debut album, Learn to Live, is a #1 platinum selling album (over 1 million copies sold) that produced four hit singles…”Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It,” “It Won’t Be Like This For Long,” “Again,” and “History in the Making.” The first three of those singles were #1 hits, and the last peaked at #3.
Darius recently released his sophomore solo album titled Charleston, SC 1966. This album has only been out for 7 months, but was also a #1 album and currently has earned Gold status (500,000 albums sold). His first two singles off this album, “Come Back Song” and “This” both hit #1 on the charts, and his new single, “I Got Nothin'” is expected to hit the airwaves very soon. So to recap, Darius Rucker has two #1 country albums, five of his first six singles were #1 hits, and the one that didn’t make it peaked at #3. Not too shabby for anyone breaking into the Country Music scene, eh??
If you’ve never attended a show at the Sunset Cove Amphitheater, you’re in for a treat. This lawn-only venue holds about 5,000 people and offers a very intimate, beautiful setting for a concert. The sun sets behind the fans over the Everglades just beyond a lake, and the landscaping in the park is meticulous. The only bit of advice is to bring bug spray, as it is near the Everglades, and to keep your bladder from “I have to pee NOW” status, as the lines in the bathrooms CAN be long at times. Overall, a concert experience at this venue is great, and you’ll have yourself a great time jamming out to Darius’ country hits as well as some Hootie and the Blowfish classics.