Morgan Wallen made his UK debut last night at The O2 Arena in London, to a rapturous reception.
The UK has proven it has well and truly fallen for Morgan Wallen, before he ever set foot on these shores. Morgan Wallen, last night, played his UK debut to the largest country concert the O2 Arena had ever seen, one filled with more mullets than we thought the UK population had in total. It was a truly transcendent, legendary evening, showing that the country fanbase has migrated through generations in the UK – from older couples singing word for word along to breakup songs, to young girls cosplaying as cowgirls while belting out songs about silverado trucks.
Wallen’s original London debut was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID – originally meant to take place at The Garage to under 1,000 people. So, to see the growth over 3 years to selling out The O2 to 20,000 is jaw-dropping. It is hard to pin down the appeal of Wallen – he does not have the moves of Jagger, or the fashion sense and swagger of other performers, yet this year, One Thing at a Time has been the biggest selling album of the year. His appeal was laid out and made clear across his 90 minute set – delivering hit after hit, from heartbreak moments to party drinking songs, all with his smooth country twanging vocal.
What his live set made even more clear than his live albums were able to do, was the inherent musicality and lyricism of Morgan Wallen as an artist. He seamlessly moved between instruments and moods, including a stand-out piano ballad for ‘Sand In My Boots,’ with a performance that underlined the more hip hop elements of his later tracks, including ‘Last Night.’ This was a blockbuster, huge performance from the star, from the hook-y opener ‘Up Down,’ he had the audience captivated, singing along to every word. His setlist and performance has been honed to perfection, moving between his three albums with ease, from ‘Chasing You’ to ‘7 Summers’ and ‘Thought you Should Know,’ with every track feeling bigger than the one that went before it – all a reminder of the almost unbelievable power of Wallen as an artist and enigma. Still, even with the might of Wallen as a performer, he is still capable of delivering spell-binding, ‘quiet’ moments as he did with his cover of Isbell’s ‘Cover Me Up’ that was even better than the studio version.
For an artist, who has fallen by the wayside and made mistakes in his career, what was the main takeaway from the set, was just how likeable and captivating of a performer is Wallen. It is to be hoped that this UK debut – and the purchase of an England football jersey that he donned for the encore – is a sign of a closer relationship with his UK fanbase, who were whipped into near hysteria at this debut performance. I have never witnessed before that kind of energy at the O2 before.
Setlist
- Broadway Girls (recorded version, during walk to stage)
- Up Down
- I Wrote The Book
- One Thing At A Time
- Everything I Love
- ‘98 Braves
- You Proof
- Ain’t That Some
- Sunrise
- 7 Summers
- Chasin’ You
- Cover Me Up (cover of Jason Isbell)
- Thought You Should Know
- Where I Find God (cover of Larry Fleet, with Larry Fleet)
- I Deserve A Drink (with Bailey Zimmerman)
- Sand in My Boots
- Thinkin’ Bout Me
- Cowgirls
- Whiskey Friends
- This Bar
- Wasted On You
- More Than My Hometown
- The Way I Talk
Encore
- Heartless
- Last Night
- Whiskey Glasses
