By: Shenieka Russell-Metcalf
Jason Aldean’s Night Train tour came rolling through the GM Centre in Oshawa on Thursday night. The sold out show was the talk of the town since the show was announced last year and it was a packed house full of amazing fans. Jason brought along Missouri’s Tyler Farr and the guys from Florida Georgia Line to open for him on this much anticipated tour.
Tyler Farr opened the evening with songs from his album including his hit song ‘Redneck Crazy’ and his newest single ‘Whiskey in My Water’. Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of his set as I was in a meet and greet with Jason Aldean but his raw, smooth vocals didn’t disappoint when I returned to my seat.
Next up was country music’s biggest band right now, Florida Georgia Line, the duo made up of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. The guys came out with a bang starting with their country- hip hop infused ‘Itz Just What We Do’ and rocking the GM Centre is just what they did. Following it up with hits ‘Round Here’, ‘This Is How We Roll’, ‘Stay’, ‘Get Your Shine On’, plus they did a cover of Bruno Mars’ hit single ‘Grenade’. They finished off their set with their crowd pleasing and most popular song ‘Cruise’. The on stage chemistry, vocals and enthusiasm of both Tyler and Brian was unbelievable, they truly were a tough act to follow. Not only did they deliver smooth dance moves, clean vocals (mixing country, rock and hip hop), they delivered charisma, energy and possibly the best set of the evening. They ended the night with a cheers of their beers which splashed the first couple rows of fans but no complaints were heard as everyone was so impressed with the show that these guys just put on.
After an intermission, the stage was all set up and decked out for Jason Aldean’s performance to begin. He started his set with ‘Crazy Town’ and the crowd went absolutely crazy. He played a mix of hits including ‘Take a Little Ride’, ‘When She Says Baby’, ‘Johnny Cash’, ‘She’s Country’, ‘Dirt Road Anthem’, ‘The Truth’, ‘Big Green Tractor’ and ‘Amarillo Sky’.
He had a pretty sweet hologram of Kelly Clarkson for their duet ‘Don’t You Wanna Stay’. The technology was amazing and it honestly felt like she was in Oshawa performing live.
He covered Hank Williams Jr’s ‘A Country Boy Can Survive’ with Tyler Farr and ‘The Only Way I Know’ with Florida Georgia Line. He didn’t come back for an encore which was unfortunate as I had seen his set list from previous evenings which included two of his biggest hits ‘My Kinda Party’ and ‘Hicktown’. He put on a great show none the less but it’s pretty unusual to not have an encore these days.
Jason showed us a bit more of his sense of humour throughout the show by talking about Canadian fans liking to drink no matter what day of the week it is, plus he made sure to mention how crazy our cold weather was especially for a Georgia boy like him. He also gave dating advice before singing ‘Night Train’ which was really cute. Right before, he played ‘1994’, he showed off some pictures of his band members back in their younger days and the crowd loved it. He also put up a picture of himself back in the day with a Justin Bieber-esque hairstyle that was super hilarious but when he mentioned the Canadian singer the crowd booed.
It was a great show from start to finish, with impressive performances by all. It seemed that Florida Georgia Line however took away some of the shine from Jason Aldean.
