Country Band The Kentucky Struts Disrupt Tennis Tournament
This weekend the eyes of the tennis world will be focused on the second round of the US Open in New York City, but a couple of weeks ago at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati—a US Open-sponsored event leading up to the major tournament—Saving Country Music-approved country band The Kentucky Struts caused quite a ruckus during a tennis match pitting #2 in the world Rafael Nadal from Spain against Tomas Berdych from the Czech Republic.
The Kentucky Struts were playing outside the stadium in the food court, but apparently were loud enough to irritate Tomas Berdych enough to make him complain to officials.
“We got up on stage with all are equipment, amps etc. and went at it,” explains Kentucky Struts front man Todd Lipscomb. “Every thirty seconds the sound man was huffing around the stage, telling us to turn down. We’re not unreasonable so we complied, but he persisted. It escalated to the point where the older guy, [the guitar player] The Legendary David Rhodes Brown was not able to hear anything on stage. I leaned over and told him to just play. Still [the sound guy] is getting beet-red, snarling at us and eventually I lean over to him and say, ‘Look man, they booked the Struts, and this is what we sound like.’ Not too much longer they cut us.”
As can be seen in the video below, The Kentucky Struts made the broadcast of the event. Luckily though, they didn’t end up in too much trouble.
“All eventually ended up well and they let us back on after the match was over,” says Lipscomb. “One of the top chairman even came over and shook my hand.”
The Kentucky Struts released an inspiring album project in 2011 called Year of the Horse that featured 12 new recordings released each month accompanied by a visual artist interpretation of each song. Proceeds from the album went to a horse rescue foundation called “Speak Up For Horses.”
August 30, 2013 @ 1:28 pm
Spoiled ass little rich boy! In Country, “love” means everything!
August 30, 2013 @ 2:07 pm
But would they have had the guts to stop Florida Georgia Line mid-track? 🙂
August 30, 2013 @ 3:15 pm
Luckily the organizers had the guts to book a cool, local band who could probably benefit from the exposure compared to something like Florida Georgia Line, and apparently made sure to make it right to the band after the match.
August 30, 2013 @ 2:22 pm
I watched this match! It’s so funny. Can’t wait for Tomas to blame this loss at these guys, even tho his record to Nadal was all loss, all 12 or 13 matches.
August 30, 2013 @ 3:02 pm
Trigger, I think that’s a typo. You probably meant, “Tennis match disrupts Country Band The Kentucky Struts Performance”. These guys are great – can’t believe I haven’t listened to Year of the Horse until now.
August 30, 2013 @ 3:16 pm
Ha!
“Year Of The Horse” really is a good album and I advise everyone to check it out.
August 30, 2013 @ 8:34 pm
@Clark. You hit the nail on the head! “Tennis match disrupts Country Band The Kentucky Struts Performance” indeed. Check these guys out folks. They’re damn good. Lots of great tracks on Year of the Horse and their self titled debut album.
All the way from Cold Spring, Kentucky! Check out ‘Break That Key’ if that don’t get you moving then I don’t know what will.
August 31, 2013 @ 12:58 pm
They should have stopped the tennis match till the band was done playin.
July 25, 2015 @ 1:30 pm
Rafael Nadal didnt complain. He knows good music when he hears it. I know they love the bluegrass in Spain