What a difference 11 years makes.
Back in the summer of 2008, Hootie and the Blowfish played the 1,500-capacity Weesner Family Amphitheater at the Minnesota Zoo and, soon after, announced they were going on hiatus. On Thursday, the band opened the Minnesota State Fair — or as lead singer Darius Rucker called it, the “Minneapolis State Fair” — Grandstand season in front of a sold-out crowd of 13,147.
The group took that extended break to allow Rucker to pursue a solo career in Nashville. And unlike most pop performers who have attempted to make the leap into country music — like, say, Jewel or Steven Tyler — Rucker actually succeeded and has scored an impressive eight No. 1 singles.
In retrospect, Rucker is actually the perfect fit for country music. Hootie and the Blowfish’s music exists in the same post-Mellencamp Midwestern rock mode than acts like Keith Urban and Tim McGraw often dip into. While it seems unlikely Hootie and the Blowfish will ever land on the pop charts again, it wouldn’t be shocking to see country radio pick up on the band’s upcoming new album “Imperfect Circle.” (The guys aren’t “going country” on it, but they did sign to UMG Nashville.)
Thursday night, Hootie came across like a mellower version of the Zac Brown Band in that they peppered in a series of covers throughout the show to give the night more of a party vibe. They tackled Led Zeppelin (“Hey, Hey, What Can I Do”), R.E.M. (“Losing My Religion,” prior to which Rucker called out touring member Peter Holsapple, who played on the original), the Beatles (“With a Little Help from My Friends,” with a little help from openers the Barenaked Ladies) and Tom Waits (“I Hope I Don’t Fall in Love with You”). The band also played a Hootie-fied version of Rucker’s 2009 solo smash “Alright.”
Hootie and the Blowfish also performed “Wagon Wheel,” Rucker’s biggest-selling single to date. The song’s got an interesting back story, too. Ketch Secor of the Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show took a half-written Bob Dylan song from 1973 he’d heard on a bootleg and finished the track some 25 years later. Dylan gave permission to the band to release it and it became their signature tune. Rucker is just one of several artists who’ve since covered it.
The reunion tour coincides with the 25th anniversary of Hootie’s 1994 breakthrough album “Cracked Rear View,” which sold a mind-boggling 21 million copies and stands as one of that decade’s biggest hits. Of course, the group played the record’s singles — “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry,” “Only Wanna Be with You” and “Time” — but they also threw in some album cuts as well, including “Hannah Jane” and “Goodbye.” They also treated fans to “Rollin’,” the first single from their upcoming album.
Canadian pop group the Barenaked Ladies’ goofy, high-energy opening set showcased their own hits — “One Week,” “It’s All Been Done,” their theme song for “The Big Bang Theory” — and wrapped with a medley of covers that opened with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” and closed with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
