Sugarland, Country Music Association’s “Vocal Duo of the Year” in 2007, held a concert last night at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee. A not-so-sold out crowd of about 8,000 country music fans were at the show, which included opening performances by Ashton Shepherd and former American Idol “minx” Kellie Pickler.

This was my first visit to the Osceola Heritage Park complex, and the Silver Spurs Arena proved to be a very acceptable concert venue. There was ample floor seating available and every ticket offered a good view of the main stage. The biggest issue was definitely the parking situation, which was nearly unbearable. After getting to within two blocks of the entrance, we crawled along in a single file line for the next hour before finally parking.

As for the show, Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles was amazing the combined energy level of the duo made for an exciting show. If you’re unfamiliar with Sugarland, you should check out one of their videos on YouTube. Their peformance of their Academy Award winning single, “Stay”, at one of last year’s award shows is a wonderful display of Nettle’s vocal prowess. Last night’s concert showed that and more.

The parking situation kept us from seeing Ashton Shepherd’s performance, but just after getting seated, Kellie Pickler took to the stage and belted out a set of songs from her first two albums. Having seen Kellie on American Idol, I wasn’t too sure about her overall abilities as a performer, but she too, had the pipes of a well-seasoned artist. With a little fine-tuning, a few more hits, and some additional experience on stage, she should enjoy a very nice career.

If you happened to be at the show and got a few pictures, send them along to fieldreport@livingorlando.com. My cameras could only do so good from our section, but just about everyone there had a camera so I’m sure there are good shots out there.

On a final note, Sugarland’s encore was decidedly un-country. Featuring performances of “The One I Love” and “Love Shack” (with Kellie Pickler and Ashton Shepherd joining in on the fun), Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush jumped in giant clear “balloons” and proceeded to jump off the stage and onto the hands of the excited crowd below. Definitely a cool moment.

Here are some pictures …

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