Day two kicked off with a bang with yet another incredible set from Dan Davidson. Back on the Front Porch but this time in the daylight, as well as avoiding much of the rain, the crowd was even bigger for him this time. His charisma and stage presence are infectiously fun, and it’s impossible not to have a blast when watching him. The crowd-requested ‘Cinderella’ was a particular highlight here, and has become another song I’m rather obsessed with since coming home. I cannot recommend Dan enough, both on track or live, so check him out ASAP!
Next, we headed over to the Interstate to catch the amazing Julian Taylor. The country-adjacent, blues/easy listening man and his band were incredible for so early in the day, and deserved twice the crowd they got. His vocals are smooth as anything, and his songwriting skill within his sound is truly amazing, every single track being great and super memorable. It was the perfect set to chill out to, especially that early in the day, and his songs somehow came across even better live as they did on track!
Adeem the Artist utterly blew me away. They packed the place out at Buddy’s with their charisma, vocal ability and lyrical story telling. Whether it was the awkward humour between songs (sometimes mid song and just ending said track dead) or the emotional tales of acceptance and American culture, they had the crowd in the palm of their hand throughout. Honestly, we were planning on scooting out mid-way through to catch the start of Southall’s set, but were having that much fun we didn’t want to leave! Heck, their battery even died at one point and we got a fully acoustic version of one of their songs, it somehow feeling even more intimate.
Adeem is a once-in-a-generation artist, that is honestly worth checking out regardless of what you are into. They touch on some heavy subjects in their music, but do so in such a way that it either makes you think or laugh, and they have a massive new fan in me!
Speaking of Southall, we did still manage to catch a good portion of their set. Being a fan of the more southern rock side of the festival, this was right up my street, and I certainly had a good time with the band. Their sound is massive and excellent, and I loved plenty of their songs. I do feel like something didn’t quite click for me, though. I don’t know if it was maybe the show, or kinda lack-there-of. There was some movement, mainly from frontman Read, but there wasn’t a huge amount of crowd interaction, from what I saw. Still, they were a damn good southern rock band, and sounded excellent.
Our good friend Kyle Daniel was next up, taking to the Rhinestone stage. How it was our first time over at that stage yet I don’t know, but Kyle kicked it off with a bang for us. It was so good to see him back after his star-making performances back in 2022, and the crowd showed up in spades to see it again. The man lives and breathes to perform, and Saturday was no different. It’s infectious to watch someone have that much energy and love for putting on a show, and as such the crowd responded loudly. And, to finally hear the songs now that Kentucky Gold is out was amazing. Particular highlights were the Jared-less ‘Summer Down South’ and the always fantastic set closer, ‘Can’t Hold Me Back’. He’s gonna be a massive name over here in the country/rock world, I’m sure of it!
Despite the heavens opening for his first song or two, Wyatt Flores killed it during his first set in the UK. Opening on the fantastic newer track ‘Running Out of Time’ before running through 10 of his very best and biggest hits, the set list was perfect. His entrancing vocal style holds up perfectly live, and his backing band did an incredible job filling out the rest of the sound. At times it honestly felt identical to the studio version, that’s how good they all did. He’s another name that’s going to be huge sooner rather than later, especially if his other packed UK dates since have anything to say about it. Another amazing set!
Next up we saw Colbie Caillat on the Interstate. She continued the trend of artists managing to get such a huge sound out of just a few of them. Between her, her guitarist and the slide guitarist, they got an amazing, full sound that most certainly rocked the packed tent they were in. I wasn’t too familiar with her music outside of the big songs, which were certainly present, but I ended up loving all of it! Her voice is incredible, and it was another rather chilled out set. And hey, I got to see ‘Bubbly’ live, which was awesome!
Paula Cole was certainly an interesting addition to the lineup. Again, I didn’t know much, knowing her really as ‘the one who did the Dawson’s Creek song’. However, for a woman in her mid-50s, she can still belt out her voice like no one’s business! She leaned a lot more towards a pop sound than a fully country/Americana, but regardless she was pretty amazing live. Her emotion and voice were on point throughout; and even though it wasn’t my particular sort of music, I found myself having a great time!
The Red clay Strays played their asses off to cap off their short UK run, and I loved every second of it! Theirs was another album this year that we adored, and it translated perfectly to a live setting, especially in a packed out tent. Brandon Coleman’s vocals are truly one of a kind, powerful yet melodic yet gravelly somehow simultaneously. And the rest of the band were just as incredible at their parts too, putting on yet another set of the weekend contender. I feel like a broken record when I say ‘oh, these guys are gonna be massive’, but the sheer amount of hype for this band before and after their set and on social media even now is huge. If they keep up with this level of release and live performance calibre, they’ll be one of the biggest names in country-rock.
The absolute legend that is Don McLean closed out the Rhinestone in epic, yet chilled out, fashion. Everyone in the crowd knew exactly what we were in for, and while I probably wasn’t excited for it, I was pleasantly surprised. He sometimes spoke a bit too much and dragged on stories, sure, but he still sounded good for a man pushing 80. We even got new album tracks like ‘Thunderstorm Girl’, alongside hits like ‘Vincent’, ‘And I Love You So’ and, of course, raucous closer ‘American Pie’. An old-school guy, we got plenty of fun jamming and band introductions, too. He certainly wouldn’t have been everyone’s cup of tea, but much like Marty Stuart back in 2022, I can’t help but love the attitude and swagger that country legends have, and both can still play pretty damn well live!