May 26th. Eufaula Cove. Lake Eufaula. Dierks Bentley, Eli Young Band, The Great Divde, The Cadillac Black. Vinny and crew made their annual trek to Lake Eufaula for Music & Mayhem 2012. Yeah, Rocklahoma was the same weekend up in Pryor, and they had a pretty solid lineup this year, but if Dierks Bentley is playing in Eufaula the same weekend, you know where Vinny will be. The weather held out this year, clear skies, sun, not too hot, no wind. With the late start time, the sun was to everyone's backs by then, so sunburns were not a factor.

All the bands were pretty solid. The Cadillac Black opened the show with their southern rock set. They are a three man group out of Nashville. Not too bad. Opened up pretty hard, but after about 4 songs or so, Vinny was ready for The Great Divide. Not a knock on The Cadillac Black, but Vinny can only take so many We are from the South, and This is how We party type songs. Good opening band, one of the better bands Vinny has seen open for Dierks Bentley, so they had that going for them. They'd probably be a good invite to the Wormy Dog some Friday or Saturday.

The Great Divide was up next. Obviously you already know about The Great Divide. The crowd up front seemed to really dig on Mike McClure and the guys. They played about a 50 minute set. All your TGD favorites were played, including Vinny's favorite, College Days. Good crowd response throughout the set, kinda wish they got to play a little longer.

Eli Young Band followed TGD. You know the history of EYB. A few years ago, they were playing The Wormy Dog every other month. Nowadays, these guys are on tour with Nashville's big names and winning CMA awards. Vinny used to ride on them back in the day, but has had a change of heart since they sorta got out of the Texas bar circuit. Good for somebody to make it big. And big is where EYB is going. Judging by the crowd response, EYB is the band that most of the people came out to see. EYB didn't disappoint at all. Played everything the fans came out for, Jet Black and Jealous, Guinevere, Always The Love Songs, When It Rains, Oklahoma Girl, and their recent big hits, Even If It Breaks Your Heart, yes its a Will Hoge cover, and Crazy Girl. The future is bright for EYB. Good for them. Seriously. Oh by the way, Mike Eli gave props to being able to share the stage with The Great Divide.

Dierks Bentley closed out the show. Over the years, Vinny has seen probably 10 Dierks Bentley shows. He's a Nashville act Vinny doesn't mind going to see play. A lot of it is repetitive, but Dierks puts in the work onstage and his band is pretty tight. It's not fake like many other big names seem to be. Like EYB, Dierks gave the crowd what they paid for. All the songs you'd expect him to play and the shoutouts to his friend, Cody Canada and also mentioned TGD. Also, Dierks never forgets to give thanks to the military troops, past and present. After the set, members from the opening bands came out and joined Dierks for a final bow. Pretty cool. And, the outro song was "Walk" by Pantera. Nice. Dierks stayed out on the stage with a hockey stick and slap shotted tshirts in to the audience. That was pretty funny. Like Vinny said, Dierks is real.

Okay, before closing this, Vinny just has to make some comments about how things were run and throw in some suggestions for improvements for future shows at Eufaula Cove. First one is the line to get in. This is what, the 6th or 7th year shows have taken place here? Still no signs telling people which line is for VIP and which one is for GA. Get some signs please to designate which line people need to be standing in. Secondly, on the ticket, it said gates open at 4. Gates didn't open until 5. Third, once in, if you had VIP, you had to get in another line to get a VIP area wristband. Why not do that up at the first gate? Also, Vinny noticed that the people with the VIP wristbands weren't scanning the barcodes or marking the paper tickets. During EYB and Dierks, Vinny noticed that the VIP area was extremely crowded, a lot moreso than years before. Work on those people with the wristbands, please. People could just easily use their friend's VIP ticket to get a wristband. Last suggestion, keep the ATM you had down by the concession area. Vinny's friend ran out of money and he and friend had to walk all the way back up to the entry gate to use the ATM up there. Vinny understands having an ATM up there, but it would be nice to have one inside as well. Oh, another suggestion, put some lights in the non air conditioned restrooms. It was pitch black in there when the door was closed. Other than that, good times were had and Vinny will be back. Have a nice Ragweed Day.