Kevin Costner wandered around Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops last Saturday in flip flops, holy old jeans and a plaid shirt, goofy sun glasses and a ball cap -- just like every other rock star movie icon on the planet.
The media visiting the resort got the heads up Costner would do a sound check at 2:30 the day of the concert and at exactly 2:30 , without fanfare, he took to the stage, all flirty and sweetly smiling for the cameras, talking with the attention-seeking group of pink-wigged ladies and bantering a bit with audience members.
After making sure all was well Costner left the stage as quickly as he appeared and carried on with his day as three opening acts spent the balmy afternoon entertaining the crowd that grew to 4,300 by the time he once again took to the stage at 7 p.m.
Openers were local talent Weedz, Margit Bull and Sweet Grass and Paul Filek. Each one did a 50-minute set.
Costner returned to the stage clad in a black shirt, old jeans, cowboy boots and slick sunglasses that he took off as soon as the sun was at a reasonable slant in the sky.
Anyone that ever questioned Costner's musical talent got all the answers they needed. He plays all his original music and he's a great singer and great performer. Costner was always mindful to keep the audience connected to him with lots of emotion coming through his songs and lots of eye contact, waving and pointing. He offered insight into every song before he played it, saying he thought it always added to the song if you knew the history behind it.
When he stopped to talk about Find That Girl he spoke of everyone wanting to find someone but then said he'd tell us the details on that one. He was at a function with about 3,000 people in attendance when a girl walked by. He was stunned, he said, by the vision of her and because he couldn't get away, he asked his best buddy to find the girl for him -- amidst 3,000 people, no less. He went on to say that he told his friend she had this kind of hair and was about this tall and was wearing something like that. Everyone laughed as Costner went on to say his friend did find her and then he sang the song. Very sweet story. Great song.
During the concert Costner invited uber-fan Lauren Pilzek up on stage. She had won two meet and greet tickets from a local radio station and in order to make sure the super star would remember her, she wrote a rap song about him. Well, he remembered her and asked her to do her performance for the audience at the concert -- she did a marvelous job and had everyone laughing at her charming lyrics.
The whole evening was perfect, with a cool breeze blowing, great music coming from a movie mogul, back-up band Modern West was incredible and then the bear came along. He watched from high up on the hill, thankfully keeping his distance.
Costner continued by singing Top Down, then he sang 500 Nations and two songs from his latest project, the television series Hatfields & McCoys. The songs were How Deep the Water Runs and Devil's A Long Way From Home. Next up was Cleo At The Wheel, about that crazy girl no man can resist who seems to find her way into everyone's life at some time or another.
He then closed with Saturday Night and covered Hey, Mr. Tamborine Man, as an encore and everyone sang with him.
