Besides some small shows at one of our local venues, it has been a good two years since 
That all changed this past Friday when we had the absolute pleasure of seeing Ashley McBryde live at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit. This was our first time ever visiting the Fillmore and it absolutely didn't disappoint as far as venues go.
Thanks to all this mess with the omicron variant of the Corona Virus, we were a little skeptical that the concert was even going to take place. We had this nagging feeling in the back of our minds that it was going to get cancelled or postponed like many of our shows did over the past two years.
Happily, that wasn't the case and as you can see from the photos it was "on with the show". They did have some requirements before you could get in though. The venue was requiring either a negative covid test or proof of vaccination.
Feel free to debate that requirement in another place.
My wife and I are fully vaccinated, so it was no issue for us to show proof that we were good to go.
The only issue I have is the fact that they made us stand outside to verify our status. Since it was just about -15 C outside and we didn't wear heavy coats because we didn't want to deal with them in our small seats, it was kind of cold!
Once we got inside, it was nice and warm. The Fillmore is actually a pretty small theater. That doesn't mean they aren't able to draw in some big names though. Ashley McBryde is proof of that. I was actually a little surprised that she was playing here because she is a pretty big name in country music right now.
I really love going to shows at places like this. These old theaters always have some of the most opulent architecture and decorations. According to their site, the Fillmore was opened in 1925 as a movie house and has been more recently been renovated for concerts and other events. In fact, you can rent the Fillmore out for things like weddings and stuff like that.
The domed ceiling is 80 feet high and like most people my age, my first thought was "I wonder how they dust that thing".
At this point in the post, I am going to bombard you with a bunch of grainy low light shots I got from inside the theater before the show. I apologize for the quality. I tried my best, I promise.
I was able to get us some pretty choice seats in the first row of the balcony. My only issue with the seats was the fact that they put them so close to the balcony wall. There was literally only about two feet between the front edge of my seat and the front of the balcony. This gave me very little foot space.
Thankfully, there wasn't anyone sitting next to me (besides my wife), so I was able to spread out a little bit. If this has been a sold out show, things might have been a little uncomfortable. The other thing that is a bit disconcerting about the front row of the balcony is the fact that there are no rails. As you can see from the photo above there are zero rails except at the termination of the staircases.
My wife and I had a pretty good discussion about whether you would die or just break something if you fell. My biggest fear was dropping my phone quite honestly. We figured as long as you didn't hit that railing down there funny, you would likely just break some bones.
One of my favorite parts of the theater are the suits of armor that they have standing on either side of the stage. I tried to get some pictures here, but like I said, the lighting was kind of funky.
Unlike typical theaters, you can see that they pulled the seats out of the lower level. This allows them to have a large dance floor and standing area. Before the concert started, the usher came to us and told us that we were more than welcome to move to the floor if we wanted.
We had a couple issues with that. First, by the time he came, most of the space in front of the stage was full. Second, with omicron being so transmissible, who wants to be that close to other people anyway, and finally, with views like I have shown you above, why would we ever want to move!
Eventually, it was time for the show. Ashley had a singer open for her named Ashland Craft. My wife and I think that she may have been a last minute add, but I will get to that in a second.
She was good, but at times I feel like she tried to do more with her voice than she should have been. What I mean is she has this natural rasp in her voice when she increases her volume. Once in a while it is cool. She totally overused it though.
Apparently Ashland was on Season 13 of the US show The Voice which my wife and I watch regularly. We didn't recognize her though, if that tells you anything...
After a quick 30 to 45 minute set from Ashland, it was time for Ashley McBryde to take the stage. After a couple of songs, Ashley admitted that she was recovering from Covid, so she apologized if she couldn't quite hit the notes.
She is a true professional because you could have never told that she was dealing with the aftermath of the rona.
In fact, she pretty much laid it all out there. So much so that my wife and I noticed her next show ended up getting cancelled. We think she was supposed to have someone else open for her but they may have gotten Covid to and that was the reason for the quick change. Who knows.
I think it is important to point out that they had the upper portion of the balcony closed off and if I had to guess, there were likely only about 1000 people in attendance for the show. That seems really low to me for such a big name.
It could just speak to the hesitancy of some people to attend events like this. On the other hand, perhaps people were turned off by the vaccine/test mandate who knows.
We have a show this coming weekend at Little Caesar's Arena, so it will be interesting to see how that compares to this.
Ashley put on a fantastic show and in my opinion it was the perfect way for my wife and I to start enjoying live music again.
The backing band was awesome and she sang all of her hits. She didn't sing one song that my wife was hoping to hear, but she sang another one that she was looking forward to, so she was cool with that.
I hope she is able to take some time to recover and get back to 100% so she can get back on the road. Hers is a voice that the world deserves to hear in my opinion.
Here is the video for the first hit song she ever had. It is one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it too.
That's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed this visit to the Fillmore Theater as much as we did!
All pictures taken by myself or
