Artist: Brad Paisley with Morgan Evans And Mackenzie Porter
Date: September 26th 2022
Venue: Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Reviewer: Hayley Treadwell
Photographer: Andrew Treadwell

Fresh off closing out QLD’s favourite country music festival CMC Rocks, Brad Paisley kicked
off the Australian leg of his world tour in Brisbane, making us the first stop for his first ever
headline show in our country. The multi award winning country music star thrilled fans when he announced this tour, which sees Brad Headline 2 other Music Festivals in Australia, Savannah in the Round in Mareeba QLD and the Deni Ute Muster in Deniliquin NSW. And that’s in addition to his upcoming shows in Melbourne and Sydney. What an absolute treat for Australian Country Music Fans!!

And the show is fantastic! I was excited to see Canadian country music artist Mackenzie
Porter, I had heard of her in passing but not a lot of her songs. She bounded onto the stage
with so much happiness and energy, she instantly lifted the crowd and had people dancing
and bopping along. She treated us to a few of her most popular songs and also a 90’s pop
montage which had the crowds really dancing and singing along. Her voice was effortless from start to finish, and she was complemented by a fantastic band who even joined in a choreographed dance sequence during the 90’s mix.

After Mackenzie, we were eagerly awaiting the ever lovable Aussie country favourite,
Morgan Evans who is touring with Brad while he is here. We love Morgan Evans and from
the moment his band hit the stage we were bought into the party these guys were continuing
from CMC. Their smiles were infectious as they really got down with the Brisbane fans. An
absolute highlight was when Morgan walked half the catwalk, and then stopped and begun
to play Waltzing Matilda. Like our chosen national anthem the arena sung along with him in
a moment that I am sure gave more than just me goose bumps. Morgan was a bunch of fun
and gave us a sneaky insight that he will be back with his band next year on his own
headline tour! Morgan, we can’t wait!

We were very warmed up and ready to continue the party when the man we were all here to
see took the stage. Brad Paisley is cool and walked onto the stage with the swagger of a
cowboy ready to rock with his guitar, And rock we did. Singing hit after hit we were treated to ‘America Saturday Night’, ‘Waiting on a Woman’, ‘Online’ and ‘Crushin It’. But there were absolute standout moments like Brad singing ‘Last time for Everything’ into Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ and then Van Halen’s ‘Hot for Teacher’. No wonder Brad Paisley is so renowned for his guitar playing! Amazing!
And not only amazing in his performance, just an amazing guy! He gifted a young girl in the
crowd a guitar, and then later gave her some solid life advice while singing ‘Letter to Me’.
Brad invited Morgan Evans on stage and they sang ‘I’m Still a Guy’ and while singing Brad
stopped and borrowed a lady’s phone from the audience, took a pic of him and Morgan and
posted it on her Instagram! (she went from having 87 followers to now almost 600 followers
on her business page!). There was funny videos on the big screen and few rounds of Kiss
Cam! The whole show was energetic and just an absolute ball of fun!

My personal favourite moment was when Brad was joined by Mackenzie Porter.
Mackenzie took to the stage with a violin in hand and played it flawlessly to open the song.

She accompanied Brad and they acoustically performed ‘Whisky Lullaby’. And as
Mackenzie came back in with the violin, it was so full of emotion, I had goose bumps from
head to toe. Simply beautiful. Treating us to a few more hits, Brad then closed out the show with his 2005 hit ‘Alcohol’, with the crowd roaring as they let the American star know how much we appreciated his
performance, and cannot wait ’til he is back in our town again!

We had a super fun night from start to finish, a highly entertining show. If you are in
Melbourne or Sydney and haven’t got your tickets yet got on it
Thanks to Brad Paisley and crew for having us along, and big thanks to Frontier Touring, Chugg Entertainment, Potts Entertainment and Six Boroughs Media
Until the next gig
Hayley x