Concert Review: JOHN MAYER, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia

*scroll down for a full photo gallery of the event!*

Hopefully by now, you’ve gathered that I’m a pretty big fan of music, so when I say that an artist is amongst my favourites, you should know that I think they’re really rather good. This is how I feel about John Mayer, whose music I got into as a result of Disney Pixar’s Cars soundtrack (weird, I know), and have loved ever since. Part of the reason I moved to Australia early was to see Mayer perform at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on his world tour, so there’s that too.

The BEC is a smaller arena-type venue than I’m used to, with a capacity of 13,500, which was quite nice as you could hear everyone, from the fans screaming ‘I love you, John!’ to the whole audience singing along to the words; as well as meaning that no-one was particularly ‘far’ away from the stage as you would be in some bigger venues where the artist looks little bigger than an ant.

John and his band walked onto the fairly basic stage, with just rugs lining the floor and two screens either side projecting his image to those further back, and immediately began with an extended guitar solo, showing us that he really is more of a guitarist than a singer. We began with Belief before ‘Brisbane, are you ready to get down this evening?’ The resultant cheers promised a resounding yes.

Guitar solos between each song became somewhat of a staple, John jamming away impressively before leading into the recognisable opening chords to each of his songs, the crowd cheering as they realised what he was about to play. We moved on through Moving On And Getting Over and Who Says before my favourite song of his, Why Georgia. This is one of the songs he had not played the last time I saw him (you can read my review of thatgig here) so I was thrilled to have heard it now.

His fingers danced across the guitar strings as he soloed during I Don’t Trust Myself, leading me to write down the bold statement that I consider him the best guitarist that I know of. As well as his guitar playing, another highlight was his adorably cute dancing as he shuffled around the stage during Speak For Me and In The Blood. This was a concert where there wasn’t much to catch the eye aside from the artist themselves, with no background video or choreography, so even this little movement was fun to watch, and terribly endearing through.

Playing live allowed John to add distinctive flares, whether that be vocally or on guitar, to each of his songs that he hadn’t been able to put on the album, as well as extend each track with a totally impressive guitar ending that wouldn’t have fit in a three and a half minute track. I felt like we were getting the best of John in that he sounded exactly like his records, and more, with all of these added elements.

He swapped guitars during Helpless and Changing, showing he knows exactly what type of guitar fits best with each song, the different sounds differentiating the styles of music and indeed the different eras of his career. We finished ‘Act 1’ with Vultures, highlighting John’s falsetto, before taking a short interval.

We returned at 9pm, John being the only one to head back onto the stage for his solo acoustic set. He prefaced his first song by saying that it was and is a polarising song for fans, and one that he had never meant to be cheesy but just highlighted who he was at twenty-one and what he thought made for a great song then. I knew immediately that it would be Your Body Is A Wonderland, a song I actually enjoy, and which became more enjoyable as John mentioned mid-song that for amusement, he likes to pick someone in the crowd he thinks likes YBIAW the least, and make unrelenting eye contact with them as he sings.

He continued with the least known song in his catalogue, Go Easy On Me, which I hadn’t heard before but really enjoyed. Apparently it was released on his 2012 EP, but would have fit perfectly on the Born And Raised album – give this song a listen, as it’s one I’ll definitely be listening to a lot more after this.

Throughout the gig, as well as the occasional ‘I’d die for you, John!’ I’d also heard fans chanting ‘Neon! Neon!’ so we were gifted this track next, the crowd singing back at the top of their lungs, clearly a favourite for them. Next was another favourite of mine, John’s cover of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’, which truly is a masterpiece, and again a song he hadn’t played the last time I saw him so a definite tick-box for me.

The band returned for Waiting On The World To Change, with its incredibly ‘woke’ lyrics that seem more relevant now than ever – take a look at: ‘Now we see everything that’s going wrong / With the world and those who lead it / We just feel like we don’t have the means / To rise above and beat it’ and ‘Now if we had the power / To bring our neighbours home from war / They would have never missed a Christmas / No more ribbons on the door / And when you trust your television / What you get is what you got / Cause when they own the information, oh / They can bend it all they want’ Hardly the stuff you’d find in your everyday pop song.

John took a moment to explain that he lives in Montana when he’s not touring, and that there’s a bar there called The Murray Bar, which ‘has a jukebox that not’s f-ing around when it comes to music – there’s nothing that’s not cool in that jukebox. I’m not in it. But I wrote a song that I hope will be considered cool enough to be in it’. This song is Roll It On Home with its part-country, part-blues, part-whatever you want it to be vibes.

We headed into the ‘put your phone lights up’ part of the slow with Dreaming With A Broken Heart (I’m not crying, you’re crying) before talking about a song he wrote nine years ago without knowing how applicable it would be now. He started with a super sweet cover of Pete Townshend’s Let My Love Open The Door before moving into The Age Of Worry. Then the real tearjerker arrived with Slow Dancing In A Burning Room, one of the greatest songs ever written and one that I think would make the perfect wedding song – you know, if not for the lyrics. Hearing it live was just truly surreal.

We headed into the Paradise Valley era with Paper Doll, the song rumoured to have been written about ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift who had her own song about John (Dear John) – amazing how much you can cryptically say in a song. We had a brief interlude into Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, the guitar interludes becoming significantly longer than the songs before ending with Dear Marie, which really is a great gig-ender with its anthem-worthy ‘oh, oh’s.

Fear not, the gig was not completely over, and John and the band returned for a sneak peek into the next era of John Mayer, first playing I Guess I Just Feel Like before ending on New Light, complete with the cutest dancing your eyes have ever seen. Seeing just that would have made going to the gig completely worth it. I think this is the song that exemplifies John to a T, as the adorable and dorky, and yet completely the opposite at the same time, man that he is (just watch the New Light music video to see what I mean).

Every John Mayer is a completely different kettle of fish because he changes the setlist for each show. This is both incredibly cool – he literally has to remember every song in his catalogue and play different ones each and every night – but can mean missing out on your favourites too. Thus was the case with the last time I saw him, and less so with this one (Why Georgia and Free Fallin’ are definitely my top two). Even compared with his previous show in Auckland, NZ, I was admittedly a little jealous that they got songs like Something Like Olivia, XO, Daughters, Love On The Weekend and Still Feel Like Your Man. But hey, I guess that’s even more reason to see him on his next tour so that by some point I’ll have heard every song in his catalogue. 

I hope you enjoyed today's review - feel free to drop me a message in the comments below and make sure to follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry to stay up to date on all upcoming reviews and interviews! Thansks for reading! 

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Concert Review: CMC ROCKS FESTIVAL (Day 3), Ipswich, QLD, Australia

Before you begin, make sure to check out my Day 2 review here! 

Like all music festivals, the weekend had flown by and somehow I had already reached the final day of CMC Rocks. Surprisingly, it started with beatboxing. I know, unusual for a country music concert, but that’s what you get when you invite Home Free to the party – country music’s answer to Pentatonix. The acapella group had pulled quite the crowd as they performed a bunch of cover songs including Cam’s Mayday, Blake Shelton’s Hillbilly Bone (complete with interesting dance moves), and a mashup of Dierks Bentley’s Woman, Amen and Keith Urban’s Female. They were very different from anything I had seen before, and super fun to watch.

I stuck around in the campers bar as the all-star Songwriters Show was coming up shortly after (you can read about that here), and then headed back to the main area. Another Aussie legend was on the stage at that point – Kasey Chambers, whose vibe I really liked (take a listen to Am I Not Pretty Enough?) but unfortunately didn’t get to enjoy much because I had since started lining up for the Florida Georgia Line signing event later that evening. Yes, it may have been only 3:30pm, and yes, the signing may have been at 7:30pm, but a queue had already started forming and since they were only due to sign for 30 minutes, I knew I needed to be one of the ones at the front.

Quite frankly, the signing was awfully organised. At 3:30, I had gone in to ask whether a queue had been started yet and was told not officially, but I could join the ‘unofficial’ queue that some fans had started. A small group of us stood there as the rain started to pour, but determined not to lose our space. A few hours later, we were moved by the organisers to the back of another queue or people who had not been standing in the rain for hours, thereby pushed back about twenty places even though we had been the ones there first. When the queue moved position again, a number of people pushed in, and this wasn’t even accounting for the vast numbers of people saving spaces for others who couldn’t be bothered to wait. So, from my position about fourth in the queue at the beginning, I’d say I was moved back to about 40^th or 50^th by the time the signing started – not particularly fair by my books.

I was also very disappointed by the signing itself. We were literally pushed past the desk BK & Tyler were standing behind by security, and the two didn’t even look up because they were so busy scribbling signatures on CD covers. I had expected to at least be able to share a few sentences with them as I had with Cam and Thomas Rhett, so to end up with the same result as I would have got had I just ordered a signed CD (minus the four hours wasted!) was terribly disheartening. I felt that I had not been able to enjoy the afternoon’s music due to stressing that I the signing would be over by the time I got to the front. Afterwards, I went to the toilet and by the time I came back, the signing was over. They had signed for less than 15 minutes rather than the 30 advertised. I’m sure this was not FGL’s fault, but no doubt many fans felt as cheated as I did, and it did put a damper on what was otherwise a great weekend.

Alas, I returned to the Main stage as Michael Ray finished his set and Locash took over. I had high expectations for the brothers, and they didn’t disappoint. They are proper country boys, from their accents to their songs like Don’t Get Better Than That, I Know Somebody and One Big Country Song from their upcoming album. I loved how they took songs that could easily have been a ballad and turned them into pop-rock party anthems – take Ring On Every Finger which deals with the same subject matter as Dan + Shay’s Speechless but in a very different manner (I love the lyrics ‘Let’s spend this life together / Dropping F-bombs like ‘forever’’), or God Thing which is basically a religious song disguised as a pump-up track.

They were the ideal opener for the headliners and definitely got the party going with songs like It Feels Like A Party as well as songs they had written for other artists including Keith Urban’s Fly With Me and Tim McGraw’s Truck Yeah which I almost thought fit them better than it did Tim. Locash finished their set with the apt I Love This Life, a sentiment to which many of us at CMC Rocks could definitely relate to.

We then began the Main event with BK and Tyler of Florida Georgia Line starting their set with new songs Colorado and Speed Of Love. With their album having only been released a month ago, it was no surprise that the crowd were not too familiar with these songs, so we were told they would play a song we all knew next – Cruise, which definitely had the whole crowd singing as undoubtedly the song that got us all listening to FGL in the first place.

We continued with the countrified Y’all Boys and Shine, during which I definitely felt my Southern drawl coming out (can’t be helped!) We held up our phone lights during Shine – a song completely different to the ballads normally called upon for arena-lighting-songs. Things got groovy during Smooth and my personal favourite Confession, during which the two worked all sides of the stage, making sure to move around so the vast crowd stretching back across the site could all see. Tyler mentioned how cool it was to be playing for 120,000 people, although I think he may have added an extra 0 to the festival’s capacity, but still, that’s a heck of a lot of people. We had some throwbacks with Dirt, Anything Goes and May We All, the heartwrenching music video playing in the background as they sang.

I liked how BK was called upon to sing guest parts on songs such as Tim McGraw’s on May We All, as any FGL fan will know that it is almost always Tyler’s voice that you hear on their records. What followed was a variety of songs ranging from club banger Swerve to the baby-making Talk You Out Of It (one of the better tracks on their latest album) before we slowed things down for H.O.L.Y. – Tyler sitting down to play the piano for the ballad, the likes of which are unusual from the rest of FGL’s party songs.

Things picked back up again with Simple and Up Down for which Morgan Wallen, who had played earlier in the day (an act I was sad to have missed having been in my never-ending queue at that point), joined the duo on stage. They bid the crowd farewell before returning for an encore of their hit with Bebe Rexha, Meant To Be, and This Is How We Roll, complete with fireworks shooting out of the top of the stage. It was a shorter set than we had been told, ending at 10:15 rather than 10:40 (short appearances seem to have become a thing that day) but they had played the songs we wanted to hear and put on a good show.

All in all, CMC Rocks was a great weekend. The fact that they had managed to bring so many big names – Cam, Frankie Ballard, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett, FGL – together, highlighted those who will hopefully get more success as a result – Jillian Jacqueline, Danielle Bradbery, Noah Schnacky – and shared some of Australian’s best and brightest – Troy Cassar-Daley, Kasey Chambers – was truly admirable. I walk away having seen some of my favourite country music acts and discovered new ones – what more could you want? I’ll definitely be back next year!

I hope you enjoyed today's review! Make sure to leave me a message in the comments and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for even more reviews and interviews coming soon - thanks for reading!

Concert Review: CMC ROCKS SONGWRITERS SHOW (Troy Cassar-Daley, Kylie Sackley, Luke Combs, Thomas Rhett), Ipswich, QLD, Australia

Before you begin, make sure to check out my CMC Rocks festival review here! *Scroll down for a gallery of all the artists*

If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Songwriters Shows, having attended various Bluebird Café and CMA Songwriters events, so hearing that one would be held at CMC Rocks immediately peaked my interest. I was even more enticed upon hearing the all-star lineup, consisting of Aussie country music legend Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian-turned-Nashville songwriter Kylie Sackley, vocal powerhouse Luke Combs, and one of my favourites, Thomas Rhett.

Troy kicked things off with the uplifting Born To Survive, which certainly had old Tim McGraw vibes. I particularly appreciated that he wasn’t trying to be anything he’s not, writing clearly from an Australian point of view rather than a faux-American one which I find some international country stars try to do.

Kylie started by explaining that this was the first time she had played to an Australian crowd in 16 years, having moved to Nashville to write. The move has clearly done her well though, as she opened with a song she’d written for Faith Hill, a summery track entitled Sunshine and Summertime – definitely the kind I can imagine taking to the beach with me.

We were then asked by Luke how many of us had ever broken up with someone and it turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to them. There weren’t as many cheers as Luke had expected in response (hey, we can’t all be as lucky as him!) but he nonetheless launched into his hit song When It Rains, It Pours. Full of fun lyrics like ‘I was caller number five on a radio station / Won a four-day, three-night, beach vacation / Deep sea, senorita, fishing down in Panama / And I ain’t gotta see my ex future mother-in-law anymore / Oh lord, when it rains, it pours’, Luke’s powerful voice boomed through the tent and was responded to by ear-splitting cheers which I swear were louder than those for any of the acts on the Main stages had been!

Thomas continued by explaining how he had felt growing up and always wishing he was a couple of years older so he could drive, pull off a fake ID, and drink (legally). This inspired the song Sixteen, one of the best off of his latest album Life Changes, so I was glad that we got to hear it acoustic here.

We headed back to Troy who performed a new song called something like What Are You Going To Do For The World Today? I liked how Troy’s songs all seemed to have a positive message to them which leaves you walking away with more than just a catchy song in your head. One of the best things about country is its ability to pass on messages, and Troy seemed to be particularly good at writing songs that do just that.

I liked Kylie’s introductions to her songs, and she began the next one by saying that she thought co-writing was a bit like going on an awkward blind date every day. She explained that she had been told one day that she would be working with someone named Sam Hunt. Imagining a 70 year old country singer, she was surprised at the young man who actually showed up and ended up with her writing one of the sexiest songs of her career – Speakers. Just take a listen to it and you’ll see! It was so interesting to hear it performed by one of its writers, giving it a completely different feel to how it is when performed by Sam.

We were treated to a new song from Luke called Dear Today, all about doing what you want to do now because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. I really liked its letter writing format, and of course Luke’s voice boomed throughout the tent again resulting in huge cheers from the crowd. It’s clear that if you’re looking for fantastic country music vocalists, you need look no further than Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton.

Not wanting to miss out on the ‘new song’ train, Thomas followed up with a new song he hadn’t played live before. That Old Truck told the story of his old silver F150 which had seen all kinds of firsts inside. It was definitely something of a love song to his truck, and whilst I generally have mixed feelings towards country songs about trucks and tractors and the like, the way it weaved stories about life inside made me like it better.

Troy had expertly picked his songs for this show to be the ones that told the most interesting stories, and I particularly liked his next choice, Shutting Down That Town, which did just what it said on the tin – told us about the people affected by a town that had effectively been shut down. This was certainly a song to evoke emotions, and was a real ‘human interest’ song.

We continued with the emotional songs with Kylie, who told us that she couldn’t say too much about the song, aside from that she had written it with songwriting superstars Phil Barton and Lori McKenna, for fear of crying. As she sang I Can’t Be Your Jesus, I could see why. It was a real tearjerker about wanting to be everything for someone you love, but knowing that there are just some things you can’t do. She sang it with great emotion and I heartily recommend checking it out when it’s released – this is what country music is all about.

Luke had saved a love song for last, explaining that he had gotten engaged last November and written a song about his fiancée, who was equal parts beautiful and crazy. Luke’s vocals on Beautiful Crazy were almost matched by the crowd who sang passionately along to every word. Out of all of the talented songwriters at the show, Luke definitely received the strongest reception and is clearly a favourite for Aussie crowds. I have no doubt he’ll be returning to play more shows over here before too long.

Thomas also chose to play a love song as his last song for us, choosing one he had written about his wife of almost seven years and which has since become one of the most popular love songs in the genre. Die A Happy Man was just as beautiful now as it had been when I first heard it, and the perfect end to a truly incredible songwriters show. It’s not every day you get so much star power in one room and it was an absolute privilege to watch.

I hope you enjoyed today's review! Make sure to leave me a message in the comments and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for even more reviews and interviews coming soon - thanks for reading!

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Concert Review: CMC ROCKS FESTIVAL (Day 2), Ipswich, QLD, Australia

Before you begin, make sure to check out my Day 1 review here!

Day two started off on a much better note, with the lovely Jillian Jacqueline first on the lineup. I loved both her well-written fun songs like Shady, Bleachers, Holier Than Thou and Reasons, as well as her lovely voice, which reminded me of Maren Morris, whose music I’m a big fan of. Jillian herself proclaimed that she’s no good at writing happy songs – just look at some of her titles: Hate Me, Sad Girls, Tragic – but she did stick one happy song into her set in the form of Somebody which was great fun to sing and dance along to. In spite of the demure subject matter of most of her songs, I still found myself smiling throughout her set and wishing her way more success than she currently has, as it’s certainly well deserved. A definite highlight of my weekend.

We moved from pop country to a mix of honky tonk, blues and rock with Aussie Jedd Hughes, who hails from the amazingly-named Quorn in South Australia. If you’re less of a fan of modern pop country than I am, Jedd’s songs like Big Blue Sky and Hollywood might well be for you, and again showed the variety of country music available at the festival.

Next up was Danielle Bradbery, again someone who I think deserves a lot more success than she currently had. I had been disappointed that her set the day before had been cancelled thanks to the weather, but was glad that at least we would get to see her perform once. She seemed pretty tired as she started her set (jetlag, maybe?) but picked up energy as she went along, performing hit after hit including my favourite of hers Red Wine + White Couch, Can’t Stay Mad and Goodbye Summer, all songs which you can’t help but bop along to, something I think is absolutely necessary at a music festival. We also got the more ballad-y side of Danielle as she sang Potential and a killer cover of Ariana Grande’s God Is A Woman, which merged beautifully into Messy.

I appreciated that Danielle took a moment to introduce herself to the crowd, explaining her career had started at the ripe old age of sixteen when she won The Voice TV talent show which led to the release of her first album which included the next song she sang for us, Wild Boy. Before all of this though, she had just been a shy girl singing into her hairbrush and looking up to country queen Carrie Underwood, whose So Small she then performed. The sun started to come out as she finished her set with Heart of Dixie, Sway and Worth It. The crowd has swelled during Danielle’s set, and for good reason. I could easily have watched her perform twice – damn you, extreme Australian weather!

The next act was introduced as ‘the streaming king’, and out walked 22-year-old heartthrob Noah Schnacky who, unsurprisingly, got a pretty big scream from the women in the audience. He began with new song That Guy, a super catchy pop song due to be released soon. He smartly chose to fill most of his set with covers, having not released many tracks himself. Songs like Old Dominion’s Break Up With Him, Jake Owen’s Barefoot Blue Jean Night, Sam Hunt’s House Party, and Dan + Shay’s Tequila gave us a good idea of what type of music to expect from him as well as show off his vocal range. Of course, there were a few originals in their too, including Maybe We Will and Hello Beautiful. Indeed, he added to the swoon-worthy nature of the latter track by producing a rose to offer to the ‘most excited girl in the crowd’. Quite cleverly, he chose a young girl who no doubt will be putting posters of him up on her wall in a few years time.

We moved in quite a different direction for the next act – Ashley McBryde, who revived a similar set to the day prior, thankfully without the awful weather. Her vocals really are quite something as she played songs like El Dorado, Home Sweet Highway and first hit A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega. The crowd particularly enjoyed a song she had written for her graduating class, who she told ‘I think it’s an awesome song, but I don’t think you will’ – the amusing Fat and Famous (as in ‘you got fat, I got famous’) and of course Girl Goin’ Nowhere, the crowd screaming as she sang ‘I hear the crowd / I look around / And I can’t find an empty chair / Not bad for a girl goin’ nowhere’

Lindsay Ell brought the rock ‘n’ roll back with her rocky set full of slamming guitars and gritty vocals on songs like Wildfire, Mint, Waiting On You and Castle. Whilst her style wasn’t necessarily up my street (you can probably tell by now that I’m more into pop country – indeed, my favourite of Lindsay’s songs is the poppy By The Way), there was no denying her excellent guitar playing whilst she showed off on ‘the song that started it all’ Criminal. I’d say her and The Sisterhood Band would put on an excellent rock-country show.

Another new-for-me act was next up with perhaps one of Australia’s proudest country artists, Troy Cassar-Daley, who has an impressive 31 number one songs on Australian country radio – that’s a lot. We got to hear plenty of them throughout his set, including Take A Walk In My Country, Country Is, V8 Town, Dream Out Loud, Big Big Love and River Boy, for which he popped on a cowboy hat, much to the delight of the crowd. He was certainly more at the traditional end of the country spectrum, but clearly a big favourite for Aussie fans.

I started lining up for Thomas Rhett’s signing at this point – yes, at CMC Rocks, even headliners do signings! – so watched Cam’s phenomenal set from the sidelines. She started off with the ‘the other woman’s perspective’ Diane, highlighting her spectacular vocals from the first note. We moved on to revenge song Runaway Train and the utterly beautiful unreleased Forgetting You When I’m Alone, which made me overly excited for the long-awaited release of her second album just so that I can listen to that song all the time.

Cam prides herself on being a sex-positive singer, and so treated us to a funny anecdote from her grandmother who used to say ‘sex is like a milkshake, once you have it, you’re always going to want it’ and two songs which embodied this sentiment – My Mistake and new Til There’s Nothing Left. We also had the fun Country Ain’t Never Been Pretty and a wonderful cover of Miley Cyrus’ Nothing Breaks Like A Heart which, if you know the song, you’ll know sounds a little like Dolly Parton’s Jolene, to which Cam did a mashup of. And of course, what to end on but Burning House, which I have no doubt will become Cam’s version of Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now – she’ll never not be allowed to play it.

Then, Thomas Rhett appeared at the signing desk and it was all go – a quick conversation, a hug and a signed CD later, and I could officially say that I’d met one of my favourite country artists. Brandy Clark returned to the stage as I moved to join the queue to meet Cam. Again, Brandy’s set was filled with amusing and satirical songs like Big Day In A Small Town, Love Can Go To Hell, Get High, and You’re Drunk. Satire is indeed a key part of country music and I’m glad Brandy was there to represent it.

I shuffled to the front of the queue and met Cam, who was absolutely lovely. We bonded over our shared jetlag having travelled from London just days earlier, and we joked that as this was the second festival I’d seen her perform at in as many weeks, maybe I’d see her at another the following week. A lovely woman and an incredible singer to boot – double check marks in my book.

Back on the Main Stage, Frankie Ballard began his set with the most intense guitar playing of the festival that I’d seen yet. I had fallen in love with his music a few years prior and maintain that he is another of the underrepresented artists who deserves so much more success (there seems to be a lot of those, eh?) so loved bopping along to his hits like Young and Crazy, Cigarette, It All Started With A Beer and Helluva Life.

Frankie was just as confused as I was as the crowd began shouted ‘Shoey! Shoey!’ which apparently means the artist has to chug a beer from their shoe, to which he gratefully obliged. We had a few new songs thrown in there too, including Long Live Love and Try To Be A Better Man. I look forward to hearing Frankie’s next album, and hope that appearing at CMC Rocks has helped build his fanbase as is deserved.

Michael Ray swaggered on to the Stampede Stage while singing Fan Girl. Frankly, I think Michael has a few too many ‘hey girl’ songs for my liking and (unpopular opinion) has made it this far in the industry more thanks to his looks than his vocals (I told you it was an unpopular opinion) but if the bra thrown on stage was anything to go by, others in the audience were certainly enjoying themselves as he worked he was through Kiss You In The Morning, Her World Or Mine, and One That Got Away, during which there was a bit of an awkward moment when he encouraged the crowd to sing along before realising that very few people knew the words; and a cover of Tim McGraw’s I Like It, I Love It, complete with OTT accent. I would’ve had Frankie Ballard or Cam much higher up the line-up in this pre-headliner slot, but if the aim was to get the crowd (and particularly the ladies) pumped up for the main event, Michael was as good an act as any.

We waited in suspense as DJ Khaled’s All I Do Is Win blared through the speakers before Thomas Rhett appeared from the dark to sing Leave Right Now. We only managed to get through three songs (T-Shirt and Get Me Some Of That) before Thomas succumbed to the calls of ‘Shoey!’, the crowd roaring in response as he downed a beer out of his new shoes. He brought Cam back on stage (yay!) for Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time which was something we were certainly all having as he sang hits old and new, including You Make Me Want To, Craving You, complete with music video playing the background, the lovely Star of the Show, and autobiographical Life Changes, with photos of Thomas throughout his life playing on the big screens.

It was clear that everyone in the audience was having a blast and a half, no one more so than ‘Tim from Brisbane’ who was invited onstage to sing Friends In Low Places, Thomas instructing him to pretend to play the guitar he’d draped around his neck ‘so you look cool’. We had another guest appearance from Michael Ray to sing Think A Little Less, which Thomas had actually penned. I hadn’t realised Thomas had written songs for other artists too, and it was nice he showed them off here, continuing with FGL’s Round Here (sadly no guest appearance from BK and Tyler). This being a shorter set than most headlining shows, we didn’t get to hear all the hits, but did of course get Marry Me, It Goes Like This and the cutesy Unforgettable, written for his wife; as well as brand new Look What God Gave Her, played for the very first time here. Let’s hope that means another new album on the horizon soon! 

I hope you enjoyed today's review! Make sure to leave me a message in the comments and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for even more reviews and interviews coming soon - thanks for reading!