This weekend will give us three shows by one of the hometown musical heroes of the moment, Kid Rock. This will mark the sixth, seventh and eighth shows here in Michigan this year alone.

We all know Kid Rock loves Detroit, but it may be time that Kid Rock’s early fans are starting to wonder the same question I am: Where did our old Kid Rock go?

Let me take you back to a more serene time, back to 1999, when Kid Rock was the up and comer, rocking out for a sold out State Theatre, followed by a more than sold out Palace of Auburn Hills.

Kid Rock and his Twisted Brown Trucker Band kicked out blazing hip-hop fused rock, which made a place for itself in our soundtrack of that summer. The Kid Rock a lot of us knew stayed that way for a few years, and then some disease infiltrated Kid Rock like it does to many artists.

That disease is the need to change things up. Many bands and artists feel that after a few successful albums, they must reinvent the wheel to satisfy some personal standing in life. This usually leads to mixed results.

Kid Rock is no different. He decided to throw a new cog into the wheel of his musical influences: country music. A little of it was shown on “Cocky”; but with his recent self-titled record, the Kid seems to be pleasing himself, but not too many of the old fans.

This is a guy who bragged about “going platinum”; now the only thing he’s bragging about is going to find the biggest belt buckle. There looked like a time where Rock might have went towards the Skynryd-southern rock direction, which would have been fine, but he decided to bypass that to please his new friends, such as Kenny Chesney.

Maybe it’s just me being my usual Neanderthal self, but I have always been somewhat of an a-hole when it comes to Kid Rock’s “easier” material. I have been known to take part in a single man silent protest during “Only God Knows Why” and other slower songs.

During a January show in Saginaw, much of my time during his country-based songs was spent walking around watching the natives talk about which snowmobile ran better.

Do I really want to spend any of this weekend at DTE wondering which guy was going to win the Busch Series race while I wait for Kid Rock to play some older material.

Do many people even care that Kid Rock went country? I hate to say it, but I don’t think so. Many people just think Kid Rock and DTE Energy Theatre and think that it’s going to be a good party. Believe me, it’ll be a good reason to go get drunk and have a good time, there is no doubt about that.

But the crowd is completely different than it was five years ago. Backwards baseball caps are now replacing now with ten gallon cowboy hats. Openers like Powerman 5000 are now replaced by openers like groups from the country music label MusicMafia.

There are occasions where groups shift their musical direction and do succeed, but I don’t feel like justifying myself to you right now. My silent protest has now become vocal, and for the first time in five years, I will be missing my first group of Kid Rock shows.

Two years ago, I would have driven six hours in a car on fire to catch a Kid Rock show.

I would have missed dollar shot night at some sleazy place in Windsor to see Kid Rock.

But now, I have reconsidered my decision. I have seen Kid Rock 12 times in my concert going career, but the interest just isn’t there anymore. Let me repeat this; I don’t hate Kid Rock. I think he’s a cool guy that should have never dated Pamela Anderson (all the dirty 80s rockers have banged her.)

I am especially hard on the guy, but I know what to expect from him, and this whole rocker turned full on hillbilly thing just isn’t doing it for me.

Art Michalski doesn’t care to sit in the parking jam mess that will be I-75 this weekend to see the same Kid Rock concert he has seen twice this year already. If you are going to the show, and want to rub it in, email him at arthatesyou@detroitbuzz.com.