Hootie and the Blowfish Frontman Performs at Ravinia

By Jacob Zuckerman

After selling out Ravinia five years ago with Hootie And The Blowfish, Hootie returned only to do it again on Friday under his real name, Darius Rucker; this time however, he performed as a country musician.

Fans filled the lawn from end to end to see the newfound country singer, packing in under umbrellas, braving the rain throughout the night to see the show. Most fans would be seen in either southern attire in the spirit of the show, or Blackhawks gear in celebration of the Stanley Cup victory parade.

“The show was awesome, totally worth the ticket,” said a cowboy hat sporting Kevin Ryan, of New Lenox, Illinois, “I got everything I wanted: country music, cowboy hats, and beer.”

After opening performances by Jana Kramer and an unusually crowd arousing Rodney Atkins, the crowd erupted in cheer for Rucker, clad in khaki hiking boots, a Johnny Cash t-shirt, and his iconic trucker hat. He had the fans on their feet from the beginning, playing a spirited rendition of his own Heartbreak Road, leading to more material from his country albums.

While Rucker played acoustic guitar for a few songs throughout the set, he spent most of his time onstage without an instrument, singing, dancing, taking shots for the Blackhawks between songs, and then dancing some more.

Throughout the show, Rucker sang with a theme of his country side seeping into his life as a star, especially in his Darius Rucker song, Southern State of Mind. He sang, “I was up in New York City just the other week, you should have seen the waitress’s face when I asked her for sweet tea.”

Despite his hiatus with the Blowfish, Rucker didn’t shy away from playing the classic 90’s band’s hits, including Hold My Hand or Only Wanna Be With You.

Alongside his Hootie material, throughout the set Rucker got around to playing his radio hits including the aptly titled Radio, Alright, The Comeback Song, and True Believers.

Beyond his original songs, Rucker played a series of unusual and ambitious covers, ranging from Steve Miller Band’s crowd-favorite, The Joker, a brief excerpt from the Commodores’ Brick House, and even inviting on stage openers Jama Kramer and Rodney Atkins to sing what he described as “country music’s national anthem,” Hank Williams Jr.’s call-and-response classic Family Tradition. The true country fans in the crowd would shout answers to the singers’ lyrical questions at the top of their lungs at every chorus such as, “Why do you drink? To get drunk!”

After closing the main set with the Hank Williams Jr. cover, Rucker retreated backstage for a fleeting break before reemerging for his chart topping cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel with the help of the crowd with the lyrics. At the end, to the surprise of the audience, Rucker closed with his most ambitious cover yet, playing Prince’s Purple Rain showing off his impressive vocal range and a thrilling mix of rock and roll, country, and soul vocal prowess.

After having seen Rucker two years ago as an opening act, Katie Daly of Carpentersville, Illinois said, “I loved Darius, he was better than I’ve ever seen him. I was glad he played as himself and not Hootie.” Despite the ever temperamental weather, most fans walked back to their car contently, soaked in rain, singing sporadic lyrics to Wagon Wheel long after Rucker had left the stage.