Concerts Reviews
He’s Here to Make You Miserable: Noah Kahan Sells Out Two Nights at Denver’s Coors Field
Don’t be fooled by the upbeat sound of most Noah Kahan songs. Take a closer look at the lyrics and you’ll find that they are quite the opposite— and he makes sure that you know it. “My name is Noah Kahan, and I’m here to make you miserable” was the first thing he said to Denver’s sold out crowd Saturday night. At the start of June, Kahan embarked on a sold out tour of baseball and football stadiums across the United States, and Saturday was the first of two shows at the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field. With a setlist heavily featuring tracks from his new album, The Great Divide, and hits from the album that rocketed him into the spotlight, Stick Season, Kahan managed to both shatter and heal over 55,000 fans in the span of two and a half hours.
Indie folk artist Annabelle Dinda kicked off the night with music built on her background in poetry and creative writing. She played her breakout single “The Hand” and treated the crowd to an unreleased song titled “Learn Something Baby”. She handed the evening off to singer-songwriter Gigi Perez, whose emotional lyrics warmed up the crowd for what emotional turmoil lay ahead.
The voice of Perez’s late older sister, Celene, opened her set. A voicemail left by Celene wishing Perez luck on her performance echoed through the stadium before she and her band dove into “Please Be Rude”, off of her debut album At the Beach, in Every Life. “Fable”, an emotionally charged song about her sister followed, along with a cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness”. Perez closed out her time on stage with her viral hit “Sailor Song”, adding the host city into the lyrics “I can be the cat, baby, Denver you can be the mouse”.
A countdown appeared on the large screen at the back of the stage, along with sketches of ants and ladybugs, a motif present throughout Kahan’s new album and accompanying tour. Members of the stage crew began constructing a life sized cabin on stage, and as the countdown hit zero, a roof descended from the rafters completing the set.
“American Cars,” a tribute to Kahan’s older sister, kicked off his set, and the band was met with roaring cheers as Kahan entered the stage through the front door of the cabin. The first act of Kahan’s set highlighted new releases from The Great Divide, with Stick Season’s “All My Love” woven in. After assuring the crowd that he was going to wipe the smiles off of their faces with his set, Kahan joked that this was his first show without falling or injuring himself. A still-healing cut above his eye from hitting himself with his guitar at his stop in St. Louis was visible, which drew a large laugh from the ballpark.
Act Two of the show brought him to the B Stage, where he played new hits including “Haircut” and “Downfall.” Before heading back to the main stage for Act Three, Kahan hopped off of the stage down to a ringing phone booth. “Vail Resorts? Go fuck yourselves,” was the short and sweet answer to the mock phone call. Coloradans immediately understood the reference and a loud roar ripped through Coors Field. The song “Paul Revere,” off of his album Stick Season, includes the line “Vail bought the mountains, and nothing was the same” in reference to Vail Resorts’ acquisition of several Vermont ski resorts. The song was notably not on the setlist for night one, but Kahan made sure to play it the next night, saying he loves playing the song in Colorado because of his hatred for Vail.
He then brought Perez out to sing “She Calls Me Back” with him on the main stage to begin Act Three. The LED bracelets that were handed out as concert goers entered the venue began to flash red and blue, and sirens echoed in the stadium. Kahan was shoved against a Vermont State Police car by a police officer, arrested, and loaded into the vehicle, and sang “Dial Drunk” from the car.
To start Act Four, Kahan took to the roof of the cabin to perform “Willing and Able,” a song widely interpreted by fans to be about a strained relationship between siblings and a wish to reconcile. The atmosphere quickly shifted to the somber one he promised at the beginning, and it remained through Act 5. The C Stage is where he introduced the song “Orbiter,” telling the crowd about his 2025 Grammy loss, which the song references. Kahan recounted his time at the award show, which included his mom making friends with singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile, while he sat at the table alone and ripped the label off of his beer can.
Throughout the tour, Kahan has been posting on X the day of each show the title of a surprise song for the night followed by “queen?”, referencing a popular meme template that has been making its rounds on the internet since 2021. His first night in Denver broke the pattern and he posted the day before in no uncertain terms— “Young blood tomorrow. Queen.” The song that followed “Orbiter” was just that.
“Young Blood” was the first song that Kahan released off of his debut album Busyhead, and it was the first time he played the song on this tour. The name of Kahan’s mental health non-profit, The Busyhead Project, stems from this album. He has always been outspoken about his own mental health journey, and The Busyhead Project aims to end the stigma around mental health and improve access to resources. Since launching in 2023, they have raised over $6.6M to support 170 community based organizations across the world.
The band was then introduced during “Paid Time Off,” with each member taking a solo at the microphone. The next songs on the C stage were arguably some of his saddest, including unreleased favorite, “Pain is Cold Water,” and “Maine” from Kahan’s EP Cape Elizabeth. He asked the crowd if anyone was there with their best friend, and ended Act Five with “Dan,” the closing track on The Great Divide about his own best friend.
In the final act of the show, Kahan made his way back to the main stage while playing “The View Between Villages”. He gave a shout out to Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin who was in attendance, and wrapped the night up with his biggest hits, including “Northern Attitude,” “Orange Juice,” and “New Perspective,” disappearing through the same cabin door that he entered through at the start of the night. Cheers boomed throughout the ballpark, and eventually lights slowly began to reveal Kahan sitting at a piano for an encore. Subtle sounds of crickets chirping began to fill the air, signaling the beginning of “End of August,” the opening track on The Great Divide.
While it’s not quite the end of August yet, the song perfectly encapsulated the evening, the last stretch of a fleeting summer before darker and colder months arrive. But before the crowd dispersed out into the August night, Kahan left Coors Field with fan favorite “Homesick” and closed out the evening with “Stick Season,” ready to make another sold out crowd on Sunday just as miserable.
Check out our favorite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Noah Kahan has several stops left on his sold out tour.
Upcoming The Great Divide Tour Dates:
8/15 Pasadena, CA Rose Bowl Stadium
8/17 San Diego, CA Petco Park
8/19 Phoenix, AZ Chase Field
8/21 San Francisco, CA Oracle Park
8/25 Sandy, UT America First Field
8/28 Vancouver, BC BC Place
8/30 Seattle, WA T-Mobile Park
8/31 Seattle, WA T-Mobile Park
9/25 Melbourne, AUS Rod Laver Arena
9/26 Melbourne, AUS Rod Laver Arena
9/28 Melbourne, AUS Rod Laver Arena
9/29 Melbourne, AUS Rod Laver Arena
10/2 Sydney, AUS Afterpay Arena
10/3 Sydney, AUS Afterpay Arena
10/5 Sydney, AUS Afterpay Arena
10/6 Sydney, AUS Afterpay Arena
10/9 Auckland, NZ Spark Arena
10/10 Auckland, NZ Spark Arena
11/5 Glasgow, Scotland OVO Hydro
11/6 Glasgow, Scotland OVO Hydro
11/9 Manchester, UK AO Arena
11/10 Manchester, UK AO Arena
11/13 London, UK The O2 Arena
11/14 London, UK The O2 Arena
11/17 London, UK The O2 Arena
11/19 Dublin, IE 3Arena
11/21 Dublin, IE 3Arena
11/22 Dublin, IE 3Arena
11/25 Zürich, Switzerland Hallenstadion
11/26 Cologne, DE Laxness Arena
11/28 Copenhagen, DK Royal Arena
11/29 Stockholm, SE Avicii Arena
12/1 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
12/2 Amsterdam, NL Ziggo Dome
12/4 Munich, DE Olympiahalle
12/7 Paris, FR Accor Arena
More information here.
NOAH KAHAN
GIGI PEREZ
ANNABELLE DINDA
All Photo Credit: Kelsie Kerr
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: The Red Clay Strays Bring the Grateful Tour to Rogers Arena
The Red Clay Strays brought their Grateful Tour to Vancouver on August 30, supported by Wyatt Flores and Sweet Talk. I’ll admit it: before Sunday night, my familiarity with The Red Clay Strays went about as far as “Wondering Why.”
I knew the Alabama band had become one of the fastest-rising names in country and Southern rock, and I knew Brandon Coleman had a reputation for being the kind of frontman people compared to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and just about every other cool guy to ever stand behind a microphone. But there is always a risk when walking into a show knowing only the hit. Sometimes you spend the night waiting for the one song you recognize, but that was not the case at Rogers Arena.
Sweet Talk and Wyatt Flores got things going, giving the night a strong foundation before the headliners took over. Flores, in particular, already had plenty of fans in the building, and his set helped get the arena moving early. By the time The Red Clay Strays walked onstage, the room was ready.
The band opened with “Demons in Your Choir,” immediately showing why its sound has connected with so many people. The Red Clay Strays do not sit comfortably inside one genre. There is country in their music, obviously, but there is Southern rock, gospel, blues and plenty of old-school rock and roll mixed in. Trying to neatly categorize them feels a little beside the point.
What stood out most to me was how little the band seemed interested in playing up the scale of the room. 18 months ago, they were playing 2 sold out shows at the Commodore Ballroom, making the jump to Rogers Arena in 2026 pretty striking. Rogers Arena is a massive space, and this is the biggest kind of stage The Red Clay Strays have started playing regularly. But they never felt like they were trying to become a generic arena band overnight.
Of course, Coleman is hard to ignore. The Elvis comparisons make sense on a surface level: the pompadour, the old-school style and the way he moves around the stage all bring those comparisons to mind. But the more I watched him, the less useful those comparisons became. Coleman has his own way of commanding a stage, and his voice is the real deal.
There were several moments throughout the night when he let loose on a note and cut through everything around him. It was not polished in a way that felt overly perfect, either. There was grit in his voice, and sometimes a little roughness, which made the stronger moments hit harder.
The band moved through songs including “Stone’s Throw,” “Walking Away,” “Devil in My Ear,” “Ghosts” and “People Hatin’,” with the musicians remaining impressively tight throughout. They have reportedly been playing together in one form or another for years, and that connection was easy to see.
When it was time for “Wondering Why,” Rogers Arena predictably lost its mind. The opening moments were enough to turn the audience into one enormous singalong, and one of those goosebump moments. Even as someone who came into the show with limited knowledge of the band’s catalog, I could not help but get caught up in it. Thankfully, the show did not lose momentum after its biggest song. In fact, I found some of the strongest material came later.
“Drowning” and “I’m Still Fine” gave Coleman some of his best vocal moments of the night, while “Moments” slowed things down without killing the energy. That is not always easy in an arena show. The quieter songs can sometimes disappear in a room that size, but the audience stayed with them.
One of the evening’s most memorable moments came before the band launched back into the set when one of their three touring backing vocalists stepped forward to sing “O Canada.” She told the crowd that she regularly performs national anthems at NHL games and had always hoped to sing Canada’s anthem in Canada. The Rogers crowd loved it.
They ended with “Fool’s Gold,” “Wanna Be Loved,” “Grateful” and “No One Else Like Me,” sending the crowd home after a generous and well-paced set.
The Red Clay Strays are clearly in the middle of a major rise. Their Grateful Tour has taken them into some of the biggest venues of their career, and the rooms will probably keep getting bigger. The good news, at least based on what I saw in Vancouver, is that they have not lost the thing that got them here.
Head here for more information about The Red Clay Strays’ Grateful Tour.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
THE RED CLAY STRAYS
WYATT FLORES
SWEET TALK
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Luke Bryan Turns a Thursday Night in Ottawa Into a Country Party
People were already dancing and cheering as they walked to the line at the Canadian Tire Centre. That was probably the first sign that Luke Bryan’s Word On The Street Tour stop in Ottawa wasn’t going to feel much like a Thursday night.
Drew Baldridge got the night started while the arena was just starting to see people on their seats, but you wouldn’t have known it from watching him. He and his band played like the seats were already full. Covering Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” was also a pretty foolproof way to get an Ottawa crowd warmed up.
Lauren Watkins came next. Cowboy hats were becoming harder to avoid, people were starting to groove, and the arena was noticeably filling up. Like Baldridge before her, Watkins wasn’t trying to reinvent country music. She was there to celebrate it.
Then Lanie Gardner came flying out in sunglasses with a band that looked like they had collectively decided it was still 1993, and it worked. They hit hard from the start, and Gardner had the advantage of playing to an arena that was now getting close to what it would look like for the headliner. People were louder, drinks were flowing, and it finally felt like Luke Bryan was next.
Except he wasn’t. Not quite yet. Bryan was a little late getting onstage, so a DJ was tasked with keeping a packed Canadian Tire Centre entertained. Instead of killing the momentum, it turned the wait into its own little party. By the time the lights finally went down, people were more than ready.
And when he finally came out, the noise was unreal. The Canadian Tire Centre looked packed. For a Thursday night in Ottawa, that alone was impressive. When Bryan started playing, everyone in the building seemingly knew every word. That’s the difference between knowing someone has a lot of hits and actually seeing what those hits do to an arena.
Bryan has been one of the biggest country artists of his generation for long enough that these songs belong to his audience almost as much as they belong to him. There were moments where he could have stopped singing entirely and the show probably wouldn’t have missed a word.
The band deserves just as much credit for how good the night sounded. Everyone on that stage could play. The guitars were huge, the rhythm section hit hard, and the banjo or slide guitar rang through the entire arena in a way that was impossible to ignore.
Nothing about the show needed to be complicated. Luke Bryan showed up with a killer band, a ridiculous number of songs people knew by heart, and an arena full of fans who wanted to party. Sometimes that’s enough.
Actually, judging by the noise inside the Canadian Tire Centre, it was more than enough.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
LUKE BRYAN
LANIE GARDNER
LAUREN WATKINS
DREW BALDRIDGE
All Photo Credit: Gonzo Wassermann