Music
Husband and wife superstars promise duets, covers and more during 10-week run
Country’s golden couple, the multi-platinum-selling husband and wife team of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, are the latest act to go Vegas. The pair announced at a press conference yesterday they’ll set up shop at the Venetian Hotel for 10 weeks, four shows a weekend, starting December 7th and running into April.
The pair have toured together multiple times under the “Soul2Soul” moniker, but they promise this will be a very different experience.”Soul2Soul tours were really just her and I doing a tour,” McGraw told Rolling Stone in an interview with the couple after the conference. “They were great – we started out with two songs together and she would do her show, then we would do two songs together, then I would do my show, then we would end with a couple of songs. So we did duets and it was our tour together, but it wasn’t like it was a show about us completely. And that’s what this show is going to be.”
The couple were approached by the hotel, who have gone all-out to bring them into the fold. “The Venetian has been first class,” Hill told us. First and foremost, the hotel agreed to give these two parents of three girls flexibility so they can come in on weekends for the shows. Both Hill and McGraw stressed the importance of that during the conference. And the hotel is reportedly revamping a suite for them, possibly the suite we joined them in for the interview after the conference. It had four bedrooms, a fireplace, a media room, an exercise room and much, much more.
But what got Hill and McGraw uniquely excited about the opportunity is the chance to play the intimate (by their standards, at least) 1,815-seat Venetian Theater.
“Just the idea of creating such a unique show with 1800 seats, for us, we’ve never actually done a show like this together,” Hill said.
They plan on bringing that intimacy and their adoring relationship – during the 15-minute chat they sat side by side on a couch, holding hands and affectionately stroking each other – to the stage. “It’s an honest and true relationship, and from that comes surprising, spontaneous moments, which we’re more apt to have in an environment like this,” Hill said.
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On cue, McGraw jumped in. “sh*t, for me, I’m just trying to hang on singing with her. That’s a whole ‘nother level of singing than what I do,” he said, prompting his wife to crack up.
The surprises will extend to the songs as well. “Most, if not all, of our hits that we’ve done together are ballads,” McGraw said. “We’re gonna fill that in with other things, ’cause you can’t just do all ballads.”
Fans can expect some covers, which could range from duets by George Jones and Tammy Wynette to Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. “We thought about all of those – Marvin and Tammi, of course George and Tammy – always a classic,” McGraw said. “There are a few of those that we’re gonna investigate. We want to do some covers, but we want to find the right ones.” There might be some clues in their favorite duets: McGraw goes for Jones and Wynette’s “Golden Ring,” while Hill picked a surprise. “I like Queen and David Bowie, ‘Under Pressure,'” she said.
Hill, an unabashed rock fan, does a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind.” McGraw chose that as the song he’d most like to duet with her on. Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, is often featured as a vocalist on the track on tour. Hill and McGraw might take some clues from the E Street version for their duet.
“Yeah, I’ll sing like Bruce Springsteen,” McGraw joked.
“And Patti, she’s an amazing singer-songwriter,” Hill said. “Of course they would be inspiration. They’re inspiration to us in life in general – they’re such wonderful people.”
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Asked which of McGraw’s many hits Hill would like to accompany, she replied, “Oh my gosh, do you have an hour? He has so many.”
Hill has finished a new album, while McGraw is in the midst of making his own next effort. And they both have more surprises in store. “There are a couple special guests on mine, a couple on yours as well that are sort of unexpected,” he said.
