Artists appearing:
- Kane Brown
- Kameron Marlowe
- Kaylee Bell
Kaylee Bell Enjoys Small Town Friday Nights
“It's a one red light town whose back roads are ours and we got our names up on that water tower some things 'round here, they don't ever change like waking up and working hard and knowing when to chase down those good times flying down the road under the moonlight to the place we always go where the bonfire high meets the stars and the sky yeah, living our lives for these smalltown Friday nights.” Small Town Friday Nights - Phillip Harvey Barton-Kaylee Bell-Lindsay Jack B. Rimes.
When expatriate Kiwi singer-songwriter kicked the perspiration off the glass as the opening act on this hot show she had plenty of fans who arrived early to escape the heat outside.
She opened her sizzling set with Take It To The Highway, Getting Closer and Good Things but it was the choice of Small Town Friday Nights from her third album Nights Like This that aptly ignited her mosh pit and way beyond.
Bell’s energised band uplifted the crowd who may have first seen her as a 2022 Voice discovery by fellow expatriate Kiwi Keith Urban on national television.
Kaylee, now 35, proved an adept guitarist as her drummer drove the tempo in the fast lane but she didn’t need to perform her original Urban tribute song Keith.
Instead, the 2013 Tamworth Star Maker winner led a singalong on another crowd pleaser – Same Songs released as a collaboration with James Johnston.
It preceded her new single Cowboy Up that was released on November 14.
Kaylee asked fans to line dance and light their phones as she closed her set with Boots ‘N All and pledged she would be back on stage here in February.
Kameron Marlowe Sober As A Drunk
“I'm as sober as a drunk
I'm as high as rock bottom
as free as a man with his hands handcuffed to the bar
hoping you walk in
my mind is clear as a cloud
I'm as happy as a teardrop
rolling off my cheek into my drink
whenever I think about you and somebody new in love.”
Sober As A Drunk - Marv Green-John Harding-Justin Tyler Wilson.
It was fitting that another Voice contestant – North Carolina born Kameron Marlowe – would follow Kaylee with his rocking country band.
Kameron was working as a car parts salesman when recruited for the 2018 Voice auditions.
Marlowe, now 27, dug deep with entrée song 911 that was followed by Nothing Slowing Us Down and his hedonistic humour in Sober As A Drunk.
The singer, who appeared here in March with fellow tourist Lainey Wilson and Jackson Dean, also sipped on his whiskey wishes in Tequila Talking.
He followed Tennessee Don’t Mind with his humorous revamp of the Big And Rich hit Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy that featured his fiery fiddler strutting the board walk.
Marlowe also covered the Teddy Swims hit Lose Control and his energised Girl On Fire.
“I never would’ve thought that a song that I wrote in my bedroom would have taken me all the way to Australia,” the North Carolina singer said of his debut track Giving You Up.
His band propelled the passion of Strangers as he dropped his microphone mid-song after he reached back to his 2022 debut album We Were Cowboys and showcased the title track of his 2024 album Keeping The Lights On that depicted his poverty stricken family roots.
Marlowe and his guitarist and bassist ended their set with the customary throwing of plectrums into the mosh pit and selfies with the audience.
But there was no chance of his fiddler throwing his valuable instrument asunder.
Kane Brown Alive And Kicking
“Bury me in Georgia
10 miles outta Chattanooga
south of that state line
there's a no-name road off Highway 2
just past the welcome sign
it's where I was born
it's where I was raised
ain't saying I'm ready yet
but that's the place I wanna be
after my last breath.”
Bury Me In Georgia - Josh Hoge-Matt McGinn-Kane Brown-Jordan Mark Schmidt.
Georgian singer-songwriter Kane Brown proved he was a master maestro as he entered the arena after an amazing light show never seen before or likely to be repeated during a tennis tournament.
Brown opened his set with Bury Me In Georgia – a tribute to his multi-racial family roots – in his colourful career.
Kane, now 31, followed with One Right Thing and embryonic hit What Ifs – his duet with Lauren Alaina – from his self-titled 2016 debut album.
The singer and his energetic band excelled on their TikTok-viral hit One Thing Right, Grand and Phill Collins hit I Can Feel It replete with fiery pyrotechnics.
Brown was joined by his fiddle player as he performed Fiddle In The Band and used his song One Mississippi to illustrate his journey to the back of the arena where he climbed on a smaller stage and aimed his music to the bleachers while his band stayed on the main stage.
Kane personalised his song Backseat Driver under a spotlight towards the back.
The song from his fourth album The High Road was dedicated to Kane’s two tiny daughters, Kingsley and Kodi, his son Krewe and singing spouse Katelyn Brown.
Brown proved his multi-talents as he danced, sang, high-fived fans in a cinematic kaleidoscope captured on huge video screens behind the main stage with Homesick and Good As You.
When he returned to the main stage he welcomed back his entrée acts Kaylee Bell and Kameron Marlowe to perform his Chris Young penned 2020 hit Famous Friends.
Brown was accompanied by an equally energised band featuring a dominated fiddler on Memory with heartfelt hints of how to deal with depression, Be Like That and the passionate Thank God and Heaven.
The mesmerising light show climaxed with his finale Like I Love Country Music when the fans were showered with silver confetti blown high into the bleachers, top floor and way beyond.
The singer signed posters given to him by fans and celebrated his host country with a spate of shoeys into more than those he was wearing.
He even autographed several of the shoes before he threw them into the mosh pit with his sweaty shirt and other shredded clothing items.
Except, of course, for his shorts.
Brown proved a hard act to follow and his amazing light show and huge video screens depicted tattoos many of his fans had emulated long before they headed for their trucks, Utes, cars, bikes and crowded trains and trams.
Review – Nu Country TV
Producer David Dawson
