Martina McBride's Caesars Windsor Concert Was The Place To be Saturday Night

Saturday night (Aug, 24) belonged to country queen Martina McBride. Caesars Windsor was on fire as the still-gorgeous mom of three plowed her way through a 20-song setlist spanning many of her 14 studio albums and numerous Number One and Top 10 hits.

Kicking it all off with the 1999 hit Love’s The Only House, the audience was with her the moment she stepped onto the stage. With little to say at the start, she dove into a delicious set that continued with hits like I Love You and My Baby Loves Me, before taking a breather to talk a little bit about music and her family.

During the song “In My Daughter’s Eyes,” she noted that her daughters are now 26, 21 and 14, and dedicated the tune to them, joking that she has to go through those teen years all over again. Mothers in the crowd broke down and held their daughters close – a woman sitting in front of me broke out into tears for the entire song. It’s that connection to her audience that has made McBride a superstar – she basically preaches about life, love and family in her songs and from the looks of it, walks that same walk.

Along with her three daughters, McBride has been married to sound engineer John McBride for more than 30 years and the two have been together for the entire duration of her career. John was even in the house at Caesars tonight.

She almost asked the crowd for forgiveness as she dove into the only newer song in her set, the title track from her 2016 album Reckless. The powerful song, which was the highlight of the show, was dedicated to John. It’s arguably the best song she’s ever recorded and it shone bright live in concert.

McBride seemed to be enjoying herself all evening and when she asked the audience to light up their cell phones if they knew someone who was going through a hard time, you could see she was overwhelmed by the response. She then broke into I’m Gonna Love You Through It as the phones lit up throughout the theatre.

She later posted on Instagram just how important that moment was for her:

“This is one of my favorite moments from the show,” she wrote. “It’s so moving and so powerful to see people being vulnerable and doing it all together. Sharing. Connecting. Sending out light and positivity. I just stand up there on stage and soak it all up. This is what it’s all about.”

In response to a social media message about playing a specific song, McBride and her band performed Cry On The Shoulder Of The Road specifically for this show. She mentioned the 1995 song was well on its way to becoming another hit from her 1995 album Wild Angels when it stalled abruptly on the chart and died a quick death because of a duet she recorded with Clint Black.

She closed the evening with two encores, including a little bit of Canadian content with Hit Me With Your Best Shot, the Pat Benatar hit written by Toronto’s Eddie Schwartz.

McBride is a lovely performer with a heart of gold. She emits positivity, love and passion whenever she speaks or sings and that is exactly what our world needs at this time.

If love truly is the only house, then Martina McBride welcomed us home with open arms.

Up next at The Colosseum, Canadian rockers Moist and Big Sugar visit Windsor on Thursday, September 5.

All photos by Dan Savoie