Erie Insurance Arena, Rascal Flatts, and #AJO

For my last birthday, knowing how much I like The Band Perry, Husband Jim bought us tickets to see them as one of Rascal Flatts’ opening acts. The October 18, 2013 concert would also be the first major event at the newly renovated Erie Insurance Arena, and we were excited to see the new venue, which we had heard good things about. We weren’t disappointed.

Previously known as the Tullio arena, to honor the longtime Erie mayor, Lou Tullio, the structure was originally christened the Erie Civic Center when it was erected in 1983. Jim remarked that we had seen the very first concert there (The Beach Boys), and that we were now going to see the very first concert held there after the renovation.

Arena Sparkles

From the exterior, the Erie Insurance Arena is stunning. The front of the building is an arc of gleaming glass. Inside, the major transit areas are plain, clean, and bright. The restrooms have all new fixtures and stalls, and the toilets offer a water-saving feature. Interestingly, the first restroom we came upon spilled a line of waiting women out the door. Then Jim noticed another one further along with no line at all.

At the concession stands, the lines moved slowly, with most of the staff being part-time and new. The Coors beer tap was only spitting out foam, so the staff abandoned it and we switched our order to Bud Light. The people next to us got pizza that they laughed about its taking so long to be delivered, but let me tell you, I would have waited for that pizza. It looked hot, greasy, and satisfying. My Bud Light was refreshing and my popcorn was tasty, but would have been better if the box had not been prefilled.

Inside the arena itself, the most talked-about features I’ve heard about are the cup holders at the seats, which came in pretty handy for me. Our seats were directly across from the stage, and we sat in the front row on the second level. It was great not having people in front of us, and we had plenty of legroom, but we were quite far from the stage. The large displays on either side of the stage provided close-up looks, so I found myself watching them most of the time.

Cassadee Pope Commands Audience

Opening the show at 7:30 p.m. was Cassadee Pope, who in 2012 was the first female winner of the popular TV show The Voice. She has a new album out called Frame by Frame and a CMT docu-series that airs on Friday nights. Pope’s vocals were strong, and she had total command of the audience, quickly bringing them their feet. What energy she has.

The Band Perry – Leaves Your Troubles at Home

Her energy level, however, couldn’t match that of Kimberly Perry, the female lead of The Band Perry. The band consists of Kimberly and her brothers, Reid and Neil. Talk about aerobic workouts. That girl barely stopped for a second. Her arms were in constant action as she covered every possible surface of the stage.

Kimberly connected with the audience members, telling them to leave their troubles behind for the evening and to get up and dance. But “no, twerking.” I appreciated that after burning my retinas during Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance.

During both opening acts, the audience continued to stream into the arena. I wasn’t sure whether that was more because these individuals just wanted to see Rascal Flatts, or if it something to do with the traffic we saw on the way to the arena. Any lack of parking spaces should be resolved when Erie Insurance’s new ramp opens sometime soon.

Rascal Flatts Tops Off the Evening

By the time both opening acts had concluded, I almost felt like it was time to go home, but at 9:30 p.m. Rascal Flatts took the stage, offering a sharp contrast in energy to the acts that opened for them. Gary LeVox dressed as if he was ready to join a Thursday night bowling league. His second cousin, Jay DeMarcus, wore an embellished T-shirt, and looked like he was ready to kick back to watch a play-off game. But Joe Don Rooney’s ensemble, complete with dapper vest, looked like he meant business.

All three appeared rather stiff in the beginning, but the crowd responded with enthusiasm anyway. It seemed like the first two performers were pulling levers to illicit audience response, and Rascal Flatts merely had to press a small button to get the crowd to react.

#AJO Pay-it-Forward Moment

Having entered the music scene in 1999, the Rascal Flatts band is showing signs of age, but their message is full of values, including thanking the man upstairs. A particular poignant moment occurred when Gary donned a purple #AJO baseball cap, and he kept it on for several minutes as he moved about the stage. #AJO is a pay-it-forward movement, which started when epilepsy took a young Erie woman, Alyssa O’Neil. The movement is dedicated to raising epilepsy awareness and helping families of those with the disease.

The concert ended after 11:00 p.m., and when we left, we truly felt we got our money’s worth. The only slightly negative comment I have would be regarding the acoustics. It seemed that the vocals could have been defined better for all three acts. It was plenty loud, though, and I could feel the beat reverberating in my chest. I would be interested to learn how the acoustics were for other attendees sitting in various locations around the arena.

When the evening was over, I noticed that the arena emptied smoothly and quickly. This is probably something that someone arena designer studies, but from my perspective, it is a positive attribute in case there was ever a need to evacuate the building.

For people having troubles, I would imagine that, in accordance with Kimberly Perry’s suggestion to leave all their troubles at home, there were a lot of people who left the Erie Insurance Arena feeling better than they had when they arrived.