Tim McGraw returned to Puget Sound for his third show in less than two years Tuesday night at Auburn’s White River Amphitheatre. But this time he left wife Faith Hill at home (or at least she didn’t show up on stage, and reportedly wasn’t seen backstage either.) And McGraw’s set was enhanced by comparatively modest special effects, sans the Soul II Soul tour’s brilliant, LED-enhanced stage. A series of video screens provided more conventional visuals, including shots of McGraw hilariously superimposed into iconic photos of “Sanford & Son,” John Wayne, the Village People and others during a rowdy delivery of “Indian Outlaw.”
ERNEST JASMIN

How rowdy was the “Indian Outlaw” performance, you ask? Well, one of the night’s weirdest moments occurred during that song, as McGraw dropped to his haunches for an animated exchange with some portly slob down front. It wasn’t immediately clear from where I was sitting that the encounter was hostile as McGraw struggled to pull this big boy onstage, nearly ripping the fan's “wifebeater” t-shirt in the process before he and a couple of roadies successfully dragged the guy up and sent him reeling. The disoriented heckler got to his feet and took a couple of menacing steps toward McGraw with hand raised, prompting the country singer (not a small guy, for the record) to cock his own fist before crew members grabbed the would be attacker and escorted him forcibly offstage. (Am I safe in saying this schmuck never heard about what happened to that guy who jumped onstage with Snoop Dogg a few years back? He should consider himself lucky to just get arrested.) McGraw's band kept playing as the incident unfolded. And to the country star's credit, he jumped right back into the groove without missing a beat, as smoothly as if the scuffle was a planned part of the show. (It wasn't, of course. See the update at the end of this post.) And there seemed to be an extra angry edge to the next number, McGraw's murderous revenge tale “Between the River in Me.”
ERNEST JASMIN

McGraw’s set was packed with crowd pleasing hits, with party anthem “I Like It, I Love It” predictably generating the biggest sing-along response. McGraw also threw some new material into the mix, kicking things off with nostalgic power ballad “Still,” from his forthcoming new album. “There’s a place I like I go/ where I can hear the cotton grow/ and the train whistles blow, a dozen miles down the road/ and all I really have to do is just be still,” McGraw sang. “Southern Voice” was an upbeat mid-tempo number with shout outs to Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jordan, among other Southern heroes. And he described “You Had to Be There” as one of his favorite songs he’d ever written. The sweeping ballad told the tale of a boy bitterly confronting his absent dad. “I should have been learning how to fish instead of learnin’ how to smoke,” McGraw sang. I couldn’t follow all the lyrics last night, but I found a decent You Tube clip here. And on a non-musical note, McGraw must have signed a hundred or more autographs as the pre-encore part of the show wound down with "Live Like You Were Dying." He signed hats, t-shirts, ticket stubs and whatever the fans down front shoved in his face -- an endearing sight when so many stars of McGraw's caliber are insulated from their fans or take them for granted.
ERNEST JASMIN

Halfway to Hazard and Jason Aldean (in red t-shirt above) opened for McGraw. I was stuck in traffic for Hazard, as surprising as that may be for a White River show. But I caught the up-and-coming Aldean’s set, which included radio hit “Hicktown.” At one point the lady standing to my left caught the country star’s attention, as busy as he was trying to introduce the next song, and asked if she could snap a picture of his booty. Kinda forward, but the singer was accommodating. “But you gotta be quick,” he said. Hmm. I’ll have to remember to try that next time Nelly Furtado is in town.
ERNEST JASMIN

[Update: Here's a statement McGraw's publicist sent regarding the near fight during "Indian Outlaw": “While Tim was performing at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, Washington last night, he watched a man rush to the front of the stage. This overly aggressive fan attacked a female fan and Tim witnessed this incident. Tim called for security, but when they could not respond quick enough Tim and several crew members removed the fan from the audience where he was then turned over to the local authorities.”

JESSIE SCHMIDT, MCGRAW PUBLICIST WITH SCHMIDT RELATIONS PUBLICITY FIRM IN NASHVILLE