Country fans mourn Haggard, celebrate Nelson at concert

Willie Nelson is on the road again, and the first stop on this leg of his Willie Nelson and Family concert was Cape Girardeau.

On Thursday evening, thousands of people packed into the Show Me Center to see the “redheaded stranger” along with special guests Jamey Johnson and Ryan Bingham.

The tour’s original lineup included country legend Merle Haggard, but Haggard dropped out of the tour March 29, citing a bout of double pneumonia and doctor’s orders for bed rest.

On Wednesday, it was announced Haggard had died.

This was Nelson’s first concert since Haggard’s death, and the loss did not go unnoticed by the performers.

“I originally came to see Merle, but now I’m here for Willie,” Clayton Wiersma said.

He and his girlfriend, Nicole Collins, traveled from Paducah, Kentucky, for the show.

“And once I heard Jamey Johnson was playing, I was pretty happy.”

People of all ages came to see their favorite performers. Father and daughter Bart and Lilly Nevill drove an hour and a half from Illinois to see the show with their friends Christy and Henley Parker.

Lilly Nevill was excited to see Johnson perform, while Christy Parker expressed disappointment at the loss of Merle Haggard, who was her original reason for purchasing her ticket.

“I’m sure Jamey will play some Merle songs,” Bart Nevill said.

And Nevill wasn’t wrong.

Ryan Bingham started the show with several upbeat tunes, eventually launching into his song “The Weary Kind” from the 2009 movie “Crazy Heart.”

“I always told my mama they’d put me in the movies,” Bingham said to a cheering crowd.

He closed his set with one of Haggard’s singles, “Mama Tried.”

Jamey Johnson took the stage next and didn’t take long to pay his own tribute to Haggard, singing several of Haggard’s more popular songs.

Johnson asked the crowd whether there were any requests before launching into hits like “Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine” and “Workin’ Man Blues.”

Though the opening acts were met with great cheers, the crowd was clearly there to see one man: Willie Nelson.

Nelson’s performance began after press time, but the seats were packed in anticipation.

And though there was disappointment about Haggard’s cancellation, Abbie Vander Bol, marketing director at the Show Me Center, said there were few requests for refunds, and the show was sold out.

Kim Lingle of Cape Girardeau had lost count of the number of Willie Nelson concerts she had attended.

“Between 15 and 20 times,” she said.

Her sister Phyllis Gillespie, who came from Nashville, Tennessee, to see the show, guessed she’d seen Nelson 10 times.

“We’re Willie groupies,” Lingle said.

The concert was a family affair for them, with husbands and grandchildren as young as 3 attending.

“If our mom were still with us, she would have been here, too,” Gillespie said.

“He’s always great. He has a kind, wonderful soul,” she said.

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

133 N. Sprigg Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.