Little Big Town and Sugarland at the Vibrant Arena at the MARK -- November 16.
Saturday, November 16, 7 p.m.
Vibrant Arena at the MARK, 1201 River Drive, Moline IL
Two chart-topping country and pop acts will combine for one exceptional evening of music on November 16 when the combined talents of Little Big Town and Sugarland bring their national "Take Me Home Tour" to Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK, the former group's number-one singles including "Pontoon" and "Better Man," and the latter's boasting "Want To" and "All I Want to Do."
A country-music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama, founded in 1998, Little Big Town has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Fairchild and Westbrook have been married to each other since 2006. Little Big Town's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead vocalists.
After a recording deal with the Mercury Nashville Records label which produced no singles or albums, Little Big Town released its self-titled debut on Monument Records in 2002. It produced two minor country chart singles before the group left the label. In 2005, the group signed to Equity Music Group, an independent record label owned by Clint Black. Their second album, The Road to Here, was released that year, and received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A Place to Land, their third album, was released via Equity, then re-released via Capitol Nashville after Equity closed in 2008. Seven more albums followed for Capitol: The Reason Why (2010), Tornado (2012), Pain Killer (2014), The Breaker (2017), Nightfall (2020), Mr. Sun (2022) and this year's The Christmas Record.
Four of those recordings reached number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, and their albums have accounted for 24 singles on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay, including the number-one singles "Pontoon" and "Better Man" and the top-10 hits "Boondocks," "Bring It On Home," "Little White Church," "Tornado," "Day Drinking," and "Girl Crush."
A country music-duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia, Sugarland consists of singer/songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vocals, guitar) was also a member. All three had experience in folk rock: Nettles had recorded in the groups Soul Miner's Daughter and Jennifer Nettles Band, Bush had recorded two albums as one-half of the duo Billy Pilgrim, and Hall had recorded two solo albums. After Hall left in 2006, Nettles and Bush continued as a duo.
Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2004, Sugarland recorded four studio albums, one Christmas album, and one live album for that label between then and 2010. These recordings accounted for 15 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including the number-one singles "Want To," "Settlin'," "All I Want to Do," "Already Gone," and "It Happens" Nettles was also a featured vocalist on rock band Bon Jovi's late 2005-early 2006 single "Who Says You Can't Go Home," which also topped the country-music charts. Sugarland's four studio albums for this label – Twice the Speed of Life, Enjoy the Ride, Love on the Inside, and The Incredible Machine – are all certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America . The duo went on hiatus in 2012, during which time both Nettles and Bush recorded solo albums, but they reunited officially in 2017 for Bigger, a studio album issued on Big Machine Records.
Little Big Town and Sugarland bring their "Take Me Home Tour" to Moline on November 16 with an additional sets by the guest artists of The Castellows, admission to the 7 p.m. amphitheater event is $29.50-169.50, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting VibrantArena.com.
