FLORENCE — Montgomery Gentry made their Country Thunder USA debut 10 years ago when the festival was in Queen Creek.
They were newcomers, scrappy and determined to make an impression. They succeeded. They performed with off-the charts energy. Their music was infectious, raw and striking for its honesty and intensity. It borrowed equally from Southern rock and country and quickly established the duo of Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry as rebels with a mission.
The last 10 years have only made them stronger. First and foremost, they are here to entertain. And with 9,000 people watching them Thursday night in the second day of the four-day Country Thunder USA festival here, they set a new bar for intensity and entertainment.
Simply put, they were so much fun to watch. And if you bought a reserved seat, you might have considered it a waste once they took the stage. Very few people remained in those seats with the exception of a quick rest when the boys slowed it down for heartfelt, midtempo ballads.
But these guys never really slow down. In the middle of the ballady anthem “Some People Change,” Montgomery, dressed in his trademark long black coat and wide-brimmed black hat slung low, bopped about the stage with a fierce energy. He twirled the mic stand — he never sings at a stationary mic but tots his along, using the stand as a prop — and fairly skipped the length of the stage.
Montgomery does not sing songs; he preaches them. With a rough-hewn bass, he tells rich stories of a parent’s expectations (“Something to Be Proud Of”) and nearly growls about the “Long Line of Losers” in his dysfunctional family.
Gentry is the calm in Montgomery’s storm. He possess a refined energy and a supple baritone that steadily delivers whether he’s dishing out a screaming rocker (“Hell Yeah,” “All Night Long”) or a heartfelt midtempo ballad like “Roll With Me,” which he dedicated to the parents of soldiers lost in the war.
With a decade behind them, Montgomery Gentry pulled from a healthy catalogue of hits — from their early singles “Hillbilly Boots” and “My Town” to new material (“There’s One in Every Crowd” and “The Big Revival”) off their recently released sixth studio album, “Back When I Knew It All.” That was perhaps the starkest difference between their 1999 Country Thunder show and their 2009 show. Back then, they had one album — which had come out literally days before the festival — with 11 songs that they managed to wrangle into a 45-minute set.
Their challenge Thursday was on the other end of the spectrum: squeezing all those songs into just 90 minutes.
From the thunderous applause, they pulled it off.
Review
Montgomery Gentry headlining Day 2 of Country Thunder USA at Canyon Moon Ranch in Florence Thursday.
The festival runs through Saturday at the ranch, 20585 E. Price Road, off Arizona 79, in Florence.
The festival starts at 1 p.m. today with Arizona favorite Harry Luge Jr. Tim McGraw headlines at 9 p.m.
