By Mike McKenney, Rock At Night New England
Venue: Mohegan Sun Arena-Uncasville, Connecticut- Thomas Rhett Celebrates his “Life Changes 2018” tour with Brett Young and Midland-Saturday, September 15, 2018
Thomas Rhett knows all about the changes life can throw at us. In short order, the singer along with wife, Lauren, adopted a child, Willa Gray from Uganda, and as fate would have it, wound up pregnant with a child of their own, Ada James. All in a whirlwind span of about 3 months, the Rhett family doubled in size, so it was a no brainer for the singer/songwriter to name his latest album and tour “Life Changes”.
On Saturday night it was Midland opening the show with their traditional country sound with “Check Cashin’ Country”, “Burn Out”, and Alabama’s “Dixieland Delight”. Consisting of Mark Wystrach (lead vocals), Cameron Duddy (bass guitar, background vocals), and Jess Carson (lead guitar, background vocals), Midland performed a great cover of Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” and their most well known sing along hit “Drinking Problem”
California’s Brett Young kept the Country coming with his “Here Tonight”, “Like I Loved You”, “Mercy”, and “In Case You Didn’t Know”. The one time Major League Baseball prospect, Brett Young credits DeGraw as his inspiration to take up songwriting after an elbow injury in collage cut his baseball career short and he honors him when he sings DeGraw’s “Not Over You”.
When the curtain goes up for the third time, there is no question it’s Thomas Rhett time! Dressed in a bright yellow jacket that could be seen for miles, Headliner Thomas Rhett opened with “Leave Right Now” from his “Life Changes” album. A fusion of Pop/Country/Rock, and R&B riffs, follow on hits, “T-Shirt”, “Renegades”, and “Get Me Some of That” shows Rhett is an artist willing to take risks as he continues to push boundaries of what is todays Country music. As a powerful storyteller, Rhett earned fan approval with “Beer With Jesus”, “Sixteen”, and “Unforgettable”.
“Marry Me” is a song about a man attending the wedding of the woman he wanted to marry and looking back at what could have been. Thomas joked that when brides to be first heard about it, they wanted to use it for their wedding and he had to warn about 40,000 brides that it was “definitely not a wedding song”!
Engaging the packed house, the smiling Rhett hit his stride, dancing all over the stage singing “Vacation”. Finally, with the entire Mohegan Sun Arena on their feet, Thomas Rhett closed with mega hits “Die A Happy Man”, and “Crash and Burn”.
Three great Country bands make for a fun night of today’s Country music, be sure to catch Thomas Rhett’s “Life Changes 2018” tour as it continues through October.
Thomas Rhett Setlist:
Leave Right Now
T-Shirt
Renegades
Get Me Some Of That
Make Me Wanna
Craving You
Star Of The Show
Life Changes
Sweetheart
If I Could Have a Beer With Jesus
Round Here
(Florida Georgia Line cover)
Marry Me
It Goes Like This
Sixteen
Unforgettable
Vacation
Encore:
Die a Happy Man
Crash and Burn
PHOTO GALLERY
Mike McKenney is an award winning professional photographer and current New England Correspondent for Rock At Night magazine.
With his years of experience and passion for Concert Photography, Mike has photographed many of the famous acts in the world today.
Rock Icons such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, and Fleetwood Mac along with Country artist Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney,and Jason Aldean have all appeared before Mike’s camera.
"My goal is always to present the experience truthfully so fans can feel the energy and emotions the Artists convey. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be allowed to create art while blending my two passions, music and photography”
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