It’s somehow been a little minute since we had the chance to cover some live country here at Overtone, having to look all the way back to January for it. So, between that and being a massive Kip Moore fan for years at this point, safe to say I was very excited for this gig. Add to that that he had one of the best and fastest rising stars in the scene supporting him, and it was surely a recipe for a good night. And it was the first night of the tour, on top of all of that! Let’s see how it was, shall we?

Firstly, can we talk about how INSANE it is that this was Gareth’s first live show with a band behind him? Not only was he insanely good, but he had some natural chemistry with his band, it felt. Yes, he was a little nervous and there was some slight technical difficulties, but neither stopped him from putting on one hell of a show! The fact that he’s only started writing his only music recently with his move to Nashville and is already this good I’d honestly insane. We got all the best songs from his EP, from ‘Last Thing I Do’ to the powerful title track, and they sounded just as good live as they did on track! His vocals are amazing, and honestly gave me slight Chris Robinson vibes while there, which I loved. There is no doubt he’s going to be a massive name sooner rather than later, and the fact that he’ll have so many eyes on him because of this tour, and how good he is on it, will surely accelerate that even more!

What an F’in’ performer Kip Moore is! He has evolved from a simple country star into more of a soft rock icon at this point, not dissimilar to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams or even Billy Joel. And he and his band perform with that level of swagger and gravitas, too. They’re a well oiled machine up on stage, something that can only come from talent and experience. They treat it like a massive stadium-rock show, and it definitely comes across that way!

All of that is amazing, but it can also be an ever so slight downer at times. He’s a fantastic frontman, but given how long he was on for, it did lack a slight bit of crowd interaction at times. He seems like a great guy, so chatting a little more with the crowd may have been nice. He did mention late in that he does get anxious still though, so that may way attribute to it. And having said all of that, he is still a fantastic frontman. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout, them clapping and singing along whenever he so much as hinted. And the few songs where he put down the guitar and bounced around the stage mic-in-hand he really got to get the crowd going and show off his stage presence.

As for the setlist, it was stacked, and amazing! Opening on the incredible build-up that is ‘High Hopes’, and playing a set heavy of the phenomenal new album, including the likes of ‘Solitary Tracks’ and new crowd-favourite ‘Live Here to Work’, that alone would have been enough for me. But we had another 20-odd tracks on top of that, too! Whether it’s his wildly popular early stuff like ‘Beer Money’ or ‘Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck’ to more recent bangers like ‘Plead the Fifth’ and ‘Heart On Fire’. We even got a little acoustic break in the middle where Kip was just throwing in songs he felt like playing or that were asked about earlier in VIP, stuff that he hadn’t played in a while. We got so many amazing songs, and it seemed like the whole band were having a blast playing them! And closing on the epic ‘Last Shot’, especially with the extended middle with everyone singing, honestly gave me goosebumps, it was SO GOOD. Everyone in the band is so damn talented, and put on a FANTASTIC show.

So yeah, what a brilliant night! Both sets were absolutely amazing, and everyone really gave it their all. Gareth was the perfect opener and is going to quickly grow into a massive star, yet put on a great show as is. And then we had one of the most professional, mind-blowingly good sets from Kip Moore and his incredible band. There are still a few dates left on this tour so if you are anywhere nearby, head down, you certainly won’t regret it. But even if you can’t, I can’t recommend checking out either artist enough, both live and on track!