Local radio station 100.3 The Bull recently put on the “Kickin’ it Country” concert series at the Kemah Boardwalk.
Each Wednesday in July at 8 p.m., a different country artist performed a free concert on the stage at the Kemah Boardwalk. Performers included Chris Lane, Luke Combs, High Valley, Dylan Scott and Midland.
As a fan of new country music, I was ecstatic to hear that there were free concerts down the street from my house, let alone artists I listen to on the radio daily.
When I attended the concerts, I noticed the crowd was of a younger age – particularly teenagers. It was white shorts, crop tops and cowboy boots all the way. This is expected with the concert series being free and the boardwalk being a place for all ages to have fun.
The concert series presumably helped some of the merchants, restaurants and bars in the area by bringing in a different crowd. The boardwalk normally caters to families and tourists, but this concert really drew in the locals. It brought in a crowd, but not as massive of a crowd as the fireworks do. Traffic was not horrible to get through since most people were local and knew the roads.
I will say that I had the perfect plan for the concerts because I knew it was going to be packed. I sat at The Flying Dutchman and had a few drinks with friends as we listened to the concert from the patio. I heard everything perfect from the patio since the stage backs up to the restaurant.
Of course, I did make my way over to the stage throughout the night because I couldn’t get the whole concert experience from the backside of the stage. It was nice to go to the boardwalk for the concert, then continue on my merry way down to the 6th street bars.
The Midland concert had the largest turnout as you couldn’t see the stage from anywhere except rooms with balconies at the Boardwalk Inn.
The only things to consider revamping are finding a way to allow the whole crowd to see the band. A big turnout is obviously a good thing, but it’s not fun standing in a hot crowd in Texas heat in July to try to see a tiny stage.
I really liked the artists this time, and I hope The Bull expands on the artist list. Maybe next time they can have Billy Currington, Josh Turner or Thomas Rhett perform.
I definitely enjoyed this series, and I hope that The Bull does this again, but in the fall or winter when the weather is better.
