The 2013 Night Train Tour stop at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach began with the beats of “Forgot About Dre” blaring through the speakers. Thomas Rhett then took the stage as the band turned the thumping base into his song, “”All American Middle Class White Boy.” Rhett’s set, while short, featured his hits “Something To Do With My Hands,” “Beer With Jesus,” and “It Goes Likes This.” Rhett, the son of hit singer-songwriter Rhett Akins, was very entertaining and showed why he is widely regarded as a rising star in the country music scene as both a performer and a talented songwriter.
photo by Leslie Paczosa
Thomas Rhett Set List
- All American Middle Class White Boy
- Makes Me Wanna
- Beer With Jesus
- It Goes Like This
- Something To Do With My Hands
Dee Jay Silver helped kill the time between sets by playing his trademark country mixes, then Jake Owen took the stage and started his set with his recent #1 hits “Anywhere With You” and “The One That Got Away.” He went on to play a mix of all of his hits as well as some new music off his upcoming Days of Gold album. At one point, he did an entertaining free-style rap to the beat of Sublime’s “What I Got” before turning it into his song “Summer Jam” from last year’s Endless Summer EP. He later showed off his rapping skills again by mixing Will Smith’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” with his smash hit, “Barefoot Blue Jean Night.” Since his folks were at the show, he wanted to do something different, so for the second country concert in a row at the Cruzan Amptheatre, we heard a cover version of Van Halen’s “Jump.” (This one was more fun!)
As entertaining as Thomas Rhett was, Jake Owen took it up a notch to show that he has developed nicely into headliner material. Between his high energy performance and his recognition for the importance of fan interaction, Jake Owen is ready to be a big star. He took the time to work the crowd by signing autographs, slapping hands and posing for pictures as he joyfully sang. It’s clear that he has fun doing what he does, which in turn ensures that the crowd is having fun too. While “Days of Gold” is surprisingly only his 11th career single, he does a great job with covers and mixing in new music that he can handle a headlining role as soon as next year.
photo by Leslie Paczosa
Jake Owen Set List
- Anywhere With You
- The One That Got Away
- You And Me (a new song, I believe this was the title)
- Alone With You
- Yee Haw
- (Freestyle rap medley)
- Summer Jam
- Startin’ With Me
- Sunshine Blue Eyes (another new song, again, not sure of the exact title)
- Jump
- Barefoot Blue Jean Night
- Days of Gold
- Eight Second Right
After Dee Jay Silver got the crowd pumped up again, Jason Aldean‘s opening video featuring a train came on the screens leading into Aldean’s emergence from behind the video screen. He started the show with “Crazy Town,” “Take A Little Ride,” and “Tattoos On This Town.”
Aldean, a Georgia Bulldogs fan, then took a minute to ask the crowd how many Canes fans were in the crowd, seemingly to cheer along with them for the Miami Hurricanes upset victory over the Florida Gators that afternoon. The Gators are a big rivals of the Bulldogs, but to mine and surely his surprise, the south Florida crowd largely booed him for even mentioning the hometown Hurricanes.
Once he realized he wasn’t going to get the pop from the crowd he expected, he moved on to play a song off his new album titled “When She Says Baby” before slowing it down a bit with “The Truth” and “Flyover States.” He then played “Texas Was You,” which was a bit surprising as it was never released as a single and was off of his previous album, not his current or next album. He then played his hit, “Johnny Cash,” which got the crowd fired up again. Here’s a little “Did You Know?” trivia…John Rich of Big & Rich co-wrote it, and Tracy Byrd was the first to record it as an unreleased single on his 2004 Greatest Hits album!
He then sang “Amarillo Sky” before taking a break to tell the crowd about his upcoming Live DVD that hits stores next month, which was filmed at the University of Georgia football stadium earlier this year. He then played “Night Train,” then introduced the band. As part of the band intros, he showed old photos of the band members to tease them. He showed great humility and humor by finishing with a photo of himself rocking “The Bieber” cut way before Justin Bieber came along. Aldean finished his show with a series of fun rockin’ songs that had the crowd on it’s feet for the rest of the show. Check out the set list below!
photo by Leslie Paczosa
Jason Aldean Set List
- Crazy Town
- Take A Little Ride
- Tattoos On This Town
- When She Says Baby
- The Truth
- Flyover States
- Texas Was You
- Johnny Cash
- Amarillo Sky
- Night Train
- 1994
- Don’t You Wanna Stay
- Tennessee River (cover of Alabama‘s song)
- Big Green Tractor
- The Only Way I Know
- Dirt Road Anthem
- She’s Country
- My Kinda Party
- Hicktown
Some surprise omissions from the set list include “Why,” “Laughed Until We Cried,” and “Relentless.”