Kane Brown returned to his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee on Saturday (May 7) for an incredible homecoming show at Finley Stadium that fans in the Scenic City will be talking about for years to come.
The sold-out show marked the first time Brown has played Chattanooga in over six years, as well as his very first headlining stadium concert. Ahead of the show, Brown shared his reason for waiting so long to return to Chattanooga, telling Country Now, “They’ve asked me to come back and play, I just wasn’t ready. I wanted to come back when I had a good amount of songs that a lot of people knew.”
It’s safe to say that he waited long enough as fans could be heard singing along throughout his two-hour set.
READ: Chattanooga Honors Kane Brown With Key To The City & Declares May 7 Kane Brown Day: “We’re Super Proud”
To celebrate his homecoming, the superstar brought his A-game and a larger-than-life production that featured colorful lasers, explosive cryo, fire and fireworks. It was, without a doubt, the biggest and best show of his career so far.
Moments before Brown took the stage, a sea of phones could be seen all around the stadium as they waited in anticipation for the first glimpse of the country superstar.
Brown entered the massive stage suspended from above while singing the unreleased track, “Riot.” The audience cheered at the sight of Brown as he greeted his hometown crowd, making his way around the stage.
“It feels good to be home,” Brown declared with a smile on his face.
Keeping the energy up, Brown went on to sing “Pull It Off,” “Be Like That” and “Short Skirt Weather” before getting the crowd dancing with the breezy vibes of “Cool Again.”
Fans witnessed quite the full-circle moment when Brown performed “Hometown.” The lyrics seemingly came to life in the moment as he sang, “All I wanna do is make my hometown proud,” making for quite the emotional moment.
The Chattanooga crowd was treated to the live debut of Brown’s brand-new single, “Like I Love Country Music,” which was released less than 48 hours before the show. As it continues to climb the charts at country radio, the ’90s-country-inspired song will certainly make for an epic sing-along.
In the midst of Brown’s electrifying set, the country hitmaker took a moment for what he called “story time” and an acoustic performance, where he shared his most vulnerable moments with the audience. The intimate moment allowed fans to see a different side of Brown as he spoke about his family and his sometimes difficult childhood.
“I get to travel the world to different shows, but I’m not going to lie to y’all, this is my favorite show. So, I’m going to tell y’all a little bit about how I grew up,” he began.
He then gave shout-outs to the various schools that he attended over the course of his childhood and also took a few moments to reflect on his life and the struggles he faced during his adolescence.
“Growing up for me a little weird, it was a little different,” Brown acknowledged.
He went on to share emotional stories about going to school with pants that were too short and playing basketball with holes in his shoes. For someone who had all the odds stacked against him as a child Brown managed to overcome the hurdles that were thrown at him and carve his path to success. His story is truly inspiring and brought tears to the eyes of many onlookers.
Brown concluded the story with a message about the city that he holds close to his heart no matter where his career takes him.
”I’m not going to tell the whole story because I got some family here and I don’t want to hurt nobody’s feelings, but I just want everybody to know if you came from Chattanooga, if you live in Chattanooga, like I said I’ve been all over the world, and I came home,” Brown shared. ”I’m happy here, if you think you’re going to leave here, there’s nothing better, Chattanooga is where it’s at man. I love Chattanooga.”
After performing “Learning,” Brown made it clear that the most important things to him were his fans and his family. He even paid tribute to his wife, Katelyn, with a performance of “Worship You” and their two daughters, Kingsley Rose and Kodi Jane, with a special performance of “For My Daughter.” During the performance of the heartfelt tune, adorable video clips of his family were displayed on the giant screens behind him.
Fans were excited when Walker Hayes and Restless Road returned to the stage to collaborate with Brown on “Famous Friends,” a duet that originally features Brown and Chris Young.
The collabs didn’t stop there. Lauren Alaina, who attended middle school with Brown, surprised fans when Alaina joined Brown to sing their 7X Platinum, multi-week #1 song “What Ifs.” The electrifying moment was one of several highlights of the show.
When Alaina left the stage, Brown told the audience, “This is a dream come true. I’ve been here for six years now going on seven, I just want to say thank you guys,” Brown shared. “This is a blessing and we going to end this sh*t with a bang.”
Brown delivered on his promise. During his performance of “One Thing Right,” fans were treated to a grand finale-worthy fireworks display that lit up the entire stadium.
Walker Hayes served as direct support for the “unbelievable” Kane Brown.
“No lie, sometimes you get to open for people and you just want to steal their audience and you’re like ah it’s cool, but man, I like Kane Brown’s music a lot and we get down to his music at my house,” Hayes told the capacity crowd after kicking off his set with “Drinking Songs.” “I’m just so proud to be here and I’m just grateful to be on this tour.”
Throughout his hour-long set, Hayes showcased his latest project, Country Stuff The Album, with performances of songs such as “Craig,” “Country Stuff,” “DeLorean,” “Don’t Let Her,” “U Gurl,” “AA,” and of course his GRAMMY-nominated hit, “Fancy Like.”
“This is a big ole stadium right here, full of people, it wasn’t long ago we were just playing restaurants. Wasn’t, nobody listening to us, they were eating, but look at us now baby!” Hayes said. ”Humblebrag, hashtag blessed.”
He also performed several tracks from earlier on in his career like “Dollar Store,” “Beautiful,” “90s Country” and his Top 10 hit, “You Broke Up With Me.”
Restless Road, the fast rising country trio comprised of Zach Beeken, Colton Pack and Garrett Nichols, opened the show with performances of “Hometown Tonight,” “Took One Look At Her Momma,” “Headlights,” “Growing Old With You” and more.
“We are so blessed that Kane asked us to be here tonight. This one’s so special for us, we’ve known Kane Brown now for 10 years and we’ve been working with him,” the trio said collectively. ”He signed us about three years ago to his record label and it’s been an absolute amazing ride. We owe that guy the entire world and we know tonight is a very, very special night for him and y’all it’s a very special night for us because this is our first-time-ever playing a show in Chattanooga!”
After performing “Take Me Home,” a collaboration that originally features Brown, Restless Road got fans out of their seat with a medley of cover songs that included Jason Aldean’s “Big Green Tractor,” Josh Turner’s “Your Man,” Toby Keith’s “Should’ve Been A Cowboy,” George Strait’s “Check Yes Or No.”
Throughout their 25-minute set, the group showcased their star power with a confident performance. Beeken, Pack and Nichols ended their set with an energy-filled performance of “Bar Friends.”
Kane Brown Set List
Riot
Pull It Off
Be Like That
Short Skirt Weather
Cool Again
Hometown
Like I Love Country music
Lose it
Learning
Worship You
For My Daughter
Good As You
One Mississippi
Covers Medley (Blake Shelton’s “Ole Red,” Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls,” Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” Soulja Boy’s “Soulja Boy,” Blackbear’s “Hot Girl Bummer”)
Memory
Famous Friends (w/ Walker Hayes and Restless Road)
Rodeo
Homesick
Bury Me in Georgia
Heaven
What Ifs
One Thing Right
