Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne
The acclaimed country rock and soul singer Chris Stapleton played his first ever show in Australia last night at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. It was part of his All American Roadshow Goes Down Under Tour for Australia and NZ with special guest Marcus King.
I’ve attended quite a lot of country music shows in recent times and I can honestly say Stapleton’s show was a standout. As I arrived at RLA, there was a feel-good country vibe and the opportunity to ride a mechanical bull, get a free shoe shine or have a drink in the beer garden. Many attendees looked absolutely amazing all decked out in their cowboy hats and boots.
Chris Stapleton is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist born in 1978 in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1996 and initially started his music career songwriting (not singing) and over the years has written many hit songs for Country artists such as Luke Bryan, Kenny Chesney and Josh Turner. It wasn’t until 2007 that he formed a bluegrass band, The SteelDrivers that his music career took off. He left them in 2010 to form The Jompson Brothers before he eventually went out on his own. Stapleton’s debut album Traveller released in 2015 launched his career to a whole new audience and earned him worldwide recognition and popularity. Stapleton has gone on to release another 4 albums since Traveller and has a huge fanbase around the world.
The Marcus King Band are a Southern rock/blues band from South Carolina. They opened tonight’s show and played a wonderful 50-minute set of soulful blues rock. King and his band are all quality musicians and King’s soulful voice shines throughout their diverse mix of songs. Some of their songs highlighted his upper vocal register and emotional depth and others his lower vocal register. On top of this, King’s virtuosic guitar skills were impressive. They played a cover of ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House and a cover of Ramblin Man by The Allman Brothers Band. They could easily have headlined their own show. We were so incredibly fortunate to get two wonderful artists on the same bill.
Stapleton and his band came on and launched into WHITE HORSE from his 5th album Higher (2023). An incredible opener that wowed the audience right from the get-go. They sang 5 songs from Higher – WHAT AM I GONNA DO; the powerful IT TAKES A WOMAN; the infectious groove of THINK I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU and MOUNTAIN OF MY MIND.
Stapleton’s show is captivating and a pure country experience with no gimmicks. He is not a showman on stage, he lets his music speak for itself, letting his distinctive voice and incredible guitar work do all the talking. Stapleton’s vocals were flawless. He fits that rugged cowboy outlaw look, wearing his feathered cowboy hat, long untamed hair, thick beard and cowboy boots.
Stapleton does not face his audience when he performs. He tends to look more to stage left across at his wife Morgane Stapleton who is close by his side facing him and provides her rich backing harmonies in most of his songs. It almost looks like they are serenading each other as they sing affectionately to one another with a look of love and devotion.
The stage set up had three large screens. One situated on each side of the stage and one directly above the stage. They displayed Stapleton and his band and it worked well as you could see the precision of the musicianship by Stapleton on multiple guitars and watch him sing to his wife Morgane. The screens also displayed his talented band who now and again performed short solos. The camera work was outstanding and complimented the show making it spectacular.
The actual stage itself had giant draped curtains and the lighting made these curtains change colours throughout the show. There was a giant mirror ball that looked like the moon. A parquetry triangle backdrop directly behind the drummer. There were large globes across the front of the stage and overall the stage had the appearance of an old country theatre.
Stapleton has a stellar 5-piece band that play so tight together. The band are:
Chris Stapleton – Lead Vocals / Guitars
Paul Franklin – Pedal Steel Guitar/ Slide Guitar (has performed with Dire Straits)
Lee Pardini – Hammond organ/keyboardist.
Derek Mixon – Drums (has performed with Mavis Staples, Bonnie Raitt)
J.T. Cure – Bass Guitar
Mike Eli LoPinto – Guitar
Morgane Stapleton – Backing vocals/tambourine
Stapleton literally changed guitars after every song and he has some beautiful instruments from what I could see.
The crowd were loving every minute of the show. They played 5 songs from From A Room (Vol 1 & 2) released in 2017 – BROKEN HALOS; SECOND ONE TO KNOW; HARD LIVIN’; I WAS WRONG and the Kevin Welch cover MILLIONAIRE.
Stapleton played 7 songs from the Starting Over (2020) album – ARKANSAS, STARTING OVER; YOU SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE; crowd favourite COLD, the swampy blues DEVIL ALWAYS MADE ME THINK TWICE which reminded me of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Stapleton also played several covers in his set including a Guy Clark cover of WORRY B GONE and a cover of John Fogerty’s JOY OF MY LIFE that both appear on Starting Over.
Stapleton mixed things up throughout the show with his band. Morgane left the stage on several occasions when they played the heavier songs. Stapleton played a short acoustic solo set with him just on stage singing and playing guitar. Another time just four of them played together creating like a campfire session. Stapleton doesn’t talk much between songs or engage with the crowd. He did mention early in the show that there will be minimal talk as they wanted to belt out as many songs as they could in the time they had. The order of songs in their set worked well. Their music is a blend of various genres ranging from country, soul, bluegrass, rock and contemporary Americana. Some songs are easy listening ballads and others are hard country rock or swampy blues.
A woman in the crowd yelled out “I love you” and Stapleton reciprocated saying “I love you”. Then other women started yelling out “I love you”. He laughed and said he wished more of the world would love each other in this way and then got the entire audience to yell out “I love you” at the same time.
Much to the delight of the audience, Stapleton sang 8 songs from his debut album Traveller (2015) – NOBODY TO BLAME; WHISKEY AND YOU; the popular PARACHUTE; the title track TRAVELLER and FIRE AWAY. Towards the end of the set they played crowd favourite TENNESSEE WHISKY with the crowd singing harmoniously like a gospel choir which sounded absolutely amazing.
The 2-song encore MIGHT AS WELL GET STONED and the storytelling OUTLAW STATE OF MIND inspired by a roadtrip from Kentucky to Tennessee were a fitting end to a 2 hours, 10 minutes, 25 song set. Absolutely brilliant!
Chris Stapleton plays to another Sold Out Show in Melbourne tonight and then heads to Brisbane and Sydney.
SET LIST:
White Horse
Nobody To Blame
Second One To Know
Millionaire (Kevin Welch cover)
Devil Always Made Me Think Twice
Hard Livin’
Worry B Gone (Guy Clark cover)
What Am I Gonna Do
It Takes A Woman
Think I’m In Love With You
Mountains of My Mind
Whiskey and You
Arkansas
Parachute
Starting Over
Joy of My Life (John Fogarty cover)
You Should Probably Leave
I Was Wrong
Cold
Traveller
Fire Away
Broken Halos
Tennessee Whiskey (David Allan Coe cover)
Encore:
Might As Well Get Stoned
Outlaw State of Mind
