The Haygoods

About a week ago, we went to Night Water at White Water.  As we were leaving, a couple of people were handing out vouchers for one of the shows in Branson.  Knowing that I was going to start this blog, I grabbed one for each of us.  It was a voucher to see The Haygoods for free, all we had to do was show our them our White Water tickets!  There were only four dates for which the voucher was good for, and since we'd been camping all weekend, that coming Tuesday was the only day we'd be able to go.


When Tuesday rolled around, I left work a little early, rushed home for dinner, and left for the show about 45 minutes before showtime.  Google Maps showed us that the theater was on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, right off of Hwy 76.  Now we live in Branson, so we avoid 76 (also known as The Strip) at all costs and use back roads as much as possible.  Having never been to the RFD-TV Theater, we wanted to leave fairly early, so we'd have sufficient time to get there, park, and get seated.  I'm usually late for everything and absolutely did not want to try and sneak in after the show had already started (if they'd allow us in at all).  It sounds nuts but if you have to take 76 to get anywhere, you need to leave VERY early.  Traffic is incredibly slow moving on that road so it can take 20 minutes to go just one mile.  It's not near as bad during the off season but keep that in mind anyway.  


We arrive at the theater at 7:00, giving us a full 30 minutes before the show was to start. 

When we walked in, I find the ticket counter with a pretty decent sized line formed.  

The line actually goes around the wall and all the way back to where I'm standing.

Although I heard some grumblings about about how slow the line was moving, it only took about 10 minutes to make it to the front.  I overheard a guy behind me say that he'd already paid for his tickets, but he was only given a voucher and still had to trade that in for a ticket.  I'm mentioning this because although I don't know if he bought them online or at one of those shops that sells tickets to shows, he still had to wait in line.  So if you purchase early, unless you have an actual ticket with a seat number, you are also going to have to wait in line.


Once we get to the front, I give the lady my vouchers, show her our White Water passes, and she gives us our tickets.  As we walk away to start taking some pictures, I notice that the line has gotten quite a bit longer.  With plenty of time left, I walked around taking some pictures.

While taking this picture, a man behind the counter came up and joked about me being a spy from another theater!  I laughed and assured him I wasn't but, although he was funny and very nice, I don't think he was buying it. 

Gift Shop

After snapping a few pictures, we decided it was time to go find our seats.  There were two entrances to the theater and while we did manage to pick the one closest to our seats, the theater isn't that big so if you go to the wrong one, it's not too far of a walk.  

The show ended up starting about 10 minutes late, which was fine because they kept us entertained by throwing huge sacks filled with balloons out into the audience to see which section could get theirs from front, to back, to front again the quickest.  


Now going into this, other than having heard of The Haygoods, we knew nothing about them.  I assumed they were probably a family of singers and hoped that if they were, they sang more than just country.  I might live in Branson, but I do not consider myself a fan of country music.  I went through a brief period 10-15 years ago where I listed to it, but that's where it ended.  Lucky for me, they came out singing "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas!  It's one of my favorite songs (even if it is a couple of years old) so it was definitely a good start to the show.  It didn't really show off just how talented they are vocally but that's probably because they were bouncing around the stage a lot.  They played another song (which I can't remember at the moment, even though I made notes) then preceded to play a few country songs including "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", both of which I knew.  

Banjos are cool.  

This is where I should mention, not only are they (as I assumed) a family of singers, but they each play multiple instruments and rock at it!  Catherine (the only girl of the family) plays more instruments than any of her 6 brothers, but they are all incredibly good at what they play.

Back to the show.  So after a few country songs, they said they were going to play some bluegrass music.  I'm not very familiar with bluegrass, but had they not said it, I wouldn't have known that's what they were singing.  One of the songs was by Mumford & Sons, which (according to Wikipedia) is a folk bank from the UK.  Even though I didn't know the song, it REALLY showed off just how awesome they are vocally.  

After the folk music they did two instrument only songs.  One was by The Beatles and the other was by Michael Jackson.  Of course, they were fantastic.  

About 50 minutes into the show, we had intermission.  Like many shows, they set up a table where you can buy cds, dvds, and even a little bear which gives you the opportunity to take pictures with a few of the Haygoods after the show.  They bring out the guy who is going to be manning the table and introduce him as their dad...it's the guy that was joking about me being a spy at the concessions counter!  Because he was wearing a suit, I'd assumed he was the manager of concessions or something.  I never once thought it was their father!  

Dad Haygood

Intermission lasted about 15 minutes and they started back up singing "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams.  

They then decided to slow it down a little by playing the Bruno Mars song "Just The Way You Are."  This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the show because they had a kiss cam.  There was a large screen behind them and one of the camera operators would zoom in on a couple, then they had to kiss.  Although I don't attend professional sporting events, I'm pretty sure they do this type of thing there.  A couple of times, rather than zooming in on a couple, they'd zoom in on an individual and put a little thought bubble above their head, which was hilarious.  I'm pretty sure I didn't actually hear most of that entire song because I was too busy laughing at what was going on with the kiss cam.  Speaking of funny, throughout the entire show, they did little things that were funny.  It's not a comical show but they definitely made us all laugh many times.

After a few more instrumental tunes... 

...they announce that they have yet another talent...TAP DANCING!  They were awesome.  

The only part of the show we were not allowed to take pictures (audio or visual recording is never allowed) was when they did Rednex "Cotton Eyed Joe."  They all used clear instruments that lit up but at one point the whole place went black and out come people similar to this.

Image borrowed from glowcity.com

The whole show finished off with the song "America the Beautiful" which had me tearing up a little.  I forgot to look at my watch but I think from start to finish, it lasted about two hours.  That sounds pretty long but I never once got bored or wished it would hurry and end.  

Leaving the theater, we saw a table set up where, I believe, the people who bought teddy bears get to meet the group.  We didn't stay long enough to see how it worked though.  One thing I will mention is it can be a pain getting out of the theater parking lot.  Because the light to get on 76 is so close, it becomes a bit of a cluster at that intersection, depending on which way you want to go.  

So, what did we all think of The Haygoods?  We loved it.  I knew the majority of the songs they played, thought they had incredible voices, was very impressed by their instrumental talent, and loved watching the guys tap dance.  I asked the hubs what he thought and he said it was about 1000x better than he thought it'd be.  It wasn't geared toward older people or younger people so there was really something for everyone.  The kiddo said it was better than she thought it'd be and very entertaining.  

There's one thing I want to note though before you rush off to buy tickets, they do three completely different types of shows throughout the year.  During the summer,they know a lot of kids will be in the audience so they adjust the show to make sure they are entertained.  During the spring and fall, they have a more mature audience so they have their traditional show.  In November and December they switch over to do Christmas songs. Also, their website says that they are the only show in Branson that changes every year so if you plan on seeing them next summer, they might have a completely different set list.  Regardless, I don't think you'll be disappointed!!!