An hour and a half of pure magic. This past weekend,
Chris Stapleton headlined Friday night of the
ACL Festival (he'll headline this coming Friday too). The festival also features incredible country music acts like Sturgill Simpson, Red Clay Strays, Orville Peck, Emily Nenni, Tyler Halverson, and more. As this is just a portion of the vast musical talent displayed throughout the festival, the first weekend of ACL was one for the books. Stapleton took the final slot on the main stage Friday night and laid down a drool-worthy set. Every time Chris Stapleton takes the stage, fans know they will get a stellar performance... it's that consistency that makes him such a beloved act, in addition to insane vocal talent. There's not a lot of bells and whistles, but it's a high quality performance... Every. Single. Time. Opening the set with "White Horse," his booming vocals let the massive crowd know that it was his turn to captivate them, and all heads turned to the large screens blowing up the image of him on stage. During the opening song, viewers from the audience also saw the special addition of his wife, Morgane Stapleton, joining him on stage. Chris Stapleton's love songs hit you to the core, but they hit a little harder when he shares the stage with the woman who inspired them. The combination of their voices creates flawless harmonies that captivate listeners. After putting the rock and roll soul on "Second One To Know," Stapleton takes a second to address the crowd, letting them know they will get a lot of music and not much talking.
"Hello, Austin, Texas. Thank y'all for being with us tonight. I hope you're having a good festival. The sun's gone down, so it's not as damn hot as it was. I'm not going to do a whole lot of talking tonight, we are going to play as much music as we can in the time that we have." I've always respected Stapleton for this; he gives a similar note at many shows. He knows folks paid money to listen to him sing his songs live, so he squeezes in as many as he can. A little past the hour mark of the set, he pulls out a classic cover and lays down a face-melting good version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." While this is not the first time Stapleton has pulled out this cover, each time it reminds us this is a cover we never knew we needed in our lives. Stapleton takes fans back to the beginning of his discography near the end of his set, and closes the show with his famed hit "Tennessee Whiskey." Stapleton brought the heat during weekend one of the festival, so I am interested to see if he is pulling out any more stops for weekend two or if he will mix up what cover he chooses to perform. If you are mourning that you missed weekend one or cannot attend the festival, watching this is well worth an hour and a half of your time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ld9aK3z9bI
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