It all kicked off at the Kenny Rogers concert (From Halesowen News)

It all kicked off at the Kenny Rogers concert

1:56pm Tuesday 15th June 2010 in Music By Adam Smith

Kenny Rogers took no notice of the kerfuffle in the stalls of the Symphony Hall as the stewards tried to kick out a drunk and abusive Brummie.

After a career spanning six decades Kenny has probably sung through full scale bar room brawls so Skinny Kev from Northfield swearing at a few pensioners wouldn’t register on his radar.

Thanks to the marvels of plastic surgery Kenny has the face of a forty five year old but unfortunately still looks like he has the body of a 75-year-old as walking around the stage like a saddle sore cowboy.

However, what Kenny still has is that wonderful scorched velvet voice and the Symphony Hall’s unrivalled accoustics meant he sounded perfect.

It was great that the voice which catapulted him to superstardom in the 1970s after he went solo from The First Edition still sounds great all these years later. His stage craft is still class too, he worked the audience brilliantly playfully teasing members of the audience to brilliant effect.

Starting with some uptempo modern numbers he quickly promised his audience he would be singing all the classics they had paid good money to see.

The first of those million sellers was the anthem of injured soldiers everywhere Ruby - Dont Take Your Love to Town. His backing band resembled the Grumbleweeds but appearances were deceptive as they all pitched in perfectly as the night went on.

Kenny was also on song for one of the most heartbreaking of all Country and Western songs Lucille.

The song still resonates after all these years.

He could easily release it with the new chorus “you picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, with four hungry children and a crop in the loft’ to make it pertinent to the modern world where it seems every man and his dog is getting busted for growing skunk weed. And speaking of mind altering substances Kenny was only too happy to say that with the trippy 1960s footage of him singing Just Dropped In (to see what condition my condition was in) the song was ‘like an 1960s acid trip flashback’.

After a barnstorming rendition of the song he poked fun at the way out lyrics and said: “They just dont write songs like that anymore.”

The audience, which included a lot of Kenny look-a-likes, were up on their feet as he blasted through Coward of the County and The Gambler but were respectfully quiet when he sang Lady.

He ended the night with an extended version of his hit Dolly Parton duet Islands in the Stream which had everyone singing along.

There wasn’t an encore but he’d told us already when it would have been but he was too old for all that walking off and back on again.

But the audience didn’t mind as though his legs are creaking his voice was on song and it was a brilliant night - except for Skinny Kev and his girlfriend who got kicked out before the night’s cracking climax.