Cole Swindell, Zach John King, und BlackHawk

Hailing from Glenville, Georgia, Cole Swindell is just now beginning to follow a path that seems to have been tread increasingly often these past few years; after spending almost a decade as a songwriter for hire, penning songs for others, he’s now stepping out as a recording artist in his own right, with his self-titled debut dropping earlier this year. It’s one thing for him to make a country record, though - after all, he’ll have seen the inside of a fair few recording studios down the years - and another entirely to be thrown into the deep end of live performance; that’s precisely why it was so undeniably impressive to see how he handled that particular transition when he played his debut U.S. dates last year. Backed by an impressively tight band, Swindell proved that, with just the mic in hand, he could command an audience’s attention with his laid-back vocal style - check out his performance of ‘Chillin’ It’ on the David Letterman show for proof - Swindell genuinely exudes confidence, and the only real question is why he left it so long to get started on his own career.

Pedal Steels, Mandolins, Fiddles and drawling American accents when they sing, you name it, they’ve got it. I’m talking about the country and western band BlackHawk who have been together for just over twenty years, who open up this set tonight with their song “Every One In A While”, which features some monumental melodies in the chorus that just make you want to go right over to the local record store and buy everything they have. One thing I will say is that the electric guitarist is prancing around the stage as though he’s in Poison, a little bit out of place to be honest. Oh look, there he goes getting to the front of the stage, fun.

All of that aside, this band knows what they’re doing when it comes to writing really well written pop songs, and the three part harmonies are so tight, locking together seamlessly. Every chorus is a real treat, with this band just doing what they do best. The chorus of “Goodbye Says It All” receives such a huge reaction from the audience.