REVIEW: Chris Stapleton: "All-American Road Show" tour
Surprise, readers! I had the incredible opportunity to swing by Fenway and take a little break during my 10-hour, 4pm-to-2am shift at Audubon on Friday August 14th to enjoy Chris Stapleton and his All-American Road Show tour. Thank you to the wonderful owners of Audubon, J and Riley, for the free ticket! (And you all wonder why I keep going back to work shifts there after 5 years... how could I not when I am treated with such respect and kindness by the people who own the place!).
I'll admit that I am very unfamiliar with Chris Stapleton, and the only tidbit of information I did know about him was his beautiful and very popular cover of Tennessee Whiskey (which, I'll confess, I didn't even know was a cover song until I was looking at the setlist for this show so I could properly time beating the exiting Fenway crowd and get back to Audubon before the walking de- I mean the exiting concertgoers arrived post-show for some late night grub and beer). But if you are offered a free ticket to attend a show at Fenway, you would be a fool not to leap at that opportunity! Hilariously, my first real impression of Chris Stapleton and his fans was when a random man, who had the classic drunken thousand-yard stare, approached me without saying a word and shook my hand. I was confused but reciprocated the handshake; later, the friend and fellow coworker I went with, Sade ( pronounced Shaw-day), stated matter-of-factly that he was probably shaking my hand because he saw the two of us together and thought we were... you know... TOGETHER. Sorry, random guy, and no disrespect to Sade, but she's not really my type. I prefer my significant others to be... you know... unable to communicate their feelings <3.
Chris Stapleton, originally born in Kentucky, moved to Nashville in 1996 to study Engineering at Vanderbilt before dropping out to change course and pursue a music career. He is not even close to the hillbilly knucklehead he dresses as or sometimes emanates with his music. I don't say "hillbilly knucklehead" in the pejorative. Chris Stapleton knows exactly who he is and who his audience is, and seemingly takes a no-frills, no-gimmicks approach to his performances and overall body of work. The man was born in Kentucky, after all; he's going to have just a little bit of country redneck in him at all times!
A lethal combination of his deft songwriting, vocal acrobatics, and technical skills with the guitar were an incredible feat to witness during his very sold out Fenway show (and by "very sold out", I mean VERY SOLD OUT. I attempted to acquire a last-minute ticket, but the only singular ticket available on the MLB website was a $400 floor seat. Absolutely nothing else was available, even at the last minute before Chris went on stage. Yeah, no way.) I ignorantly wrote him off as a very talented but overrated country singer a long time ago; that is on me for being booboo the fool and not giving him a chance. I was absolutely blown away by this show and the vivid imagery his songs and singing provided; there were so many moments throughout the concert where the combination of lighting, singing, backing vocals, and song choice, painted such a vivid picture in my head that even while I type this out on a Monday morning at 7am, attempting to avoid the abject reality of Work, I can close my eyes and still see that aforementioned picture in my head.
There were certain parts of the concert that seemed out of place or less than excellent, but on the whole, I was pleasantly surprised, impressed, and taken aback by how beautiful—and, dare I say, sensual the show felt (yeah I said it, SENSUAL. There were moments where I was ready to leap out of my tiny ass seat and save a horse by riding a cowboy instead!).
Strengths
By far, the biggest strength was Chris Stapleton's voice! I couldn't believe how brilliant he sounded, especially in a place like Fenway where the acoustics are notoriously terrible. The stripped-down portion of the show where it was just him on stage with a guitar was the absolute best part of the show. I was so drawn in to him and his songs, like a sailor to a siren. Chris Stapleton's wife, Morgane Stapleton, complemented his voice beautifully, adding a strong alto voice that layered Chris's raspy, soulful tenor voice. There wasn't much to look at on stage, but there didn't need to be; Stapleton's voice alone carried the entire show.
Another general strength of the show, which I hinted at in the previous paragraph, was the lack of flashy effects or grand gestures during any portion of the show (it's possible, however, there may have been some fireworks at the very end of the show, which I may have missed since I had to get back to work and close down the restaurant. But if I didn't see it then it didn't happen). Some performers need to add a little spice to their shows or else they run the risk of becoming repetitive or boring during their live set. That was not the case in this instance. Chris Stapleton was able to carry the entire show on his back with just a musical instrument and his voice. The stage setup was pretty simple: a bare-bones Grand Ole Opry-style stage front with a large, spoked wagon wheel in the back and the entire stage perimeter lined with globe bulbs to give off an old-timey, western feel. It matched the show, and Chris Stapleton's brand, perfectly: not too flashy, pretty straightforward, but still an effective mood-setter that managed to elevate the entire show (both literally, since parts of the stage were raised for the instrumental performers, and in terms of vibes).
Speaking of mood; the imagery that Chris was able to project using only his voice and lighting effects was nothing short of magical (although admittedly I'm going to contradict this statement a bit in the 'weaknesses' section, but I don't care. It's my website and I can do what I want). During his rendition of "Parachute", he painted such a clear picture in my head (even if it wasn't exactly the image he was going for); I could imagine myself sitting in some dimly-lit, smoky bar whose entrance was located down a dark alleyway next to a dumpster. I was sitting at the bar, whiskey on the rocks in one hand, cigarette in the other (Mom, if you are reading this, I don't smoke...cigarettes. just FYI), making eyes with someone else sitting at the other end of the sticky bar. The great thing about music is that music is a form of art (duh), and art is always open to interpretation! Despite the slightly sleazy image I had in my head while listening to a song about unwavering loyalty in a relationship, it was nonetheless vivid and bright, which is a difficult feat to achieve during live shows (in my opinion, at least). This wasn't the only time I had some sort of vivid imagery painted in my mind based on what Chris was conveying on stage during the show. While he was singing "Cold", I could clearly see myself standing in the middle of a frozen lake, watching the vague, blurry silhouette of someone I once loved slowly walking away from me into a hazy, dark horizon that lay ahead of them. Obviously, that is something I have never actually experienced, but the way Chris was singing it made that mental image feel so real, like a true lived experience. The imagery he projected was at its strongest during his acoustic set, which started with Allen Stone and himself singing "I'm a Ram" and then transitioned into "Maggie's Song", "Free Bird" (yes, the Lynyrd Skynyrd song), "You Were Always On My Mind" (another beautiful cover), and ending it with "What Are You Listening To?" before finishing out the acoustic set with a improvised jam sesh with the rest of the band.
The acoustic set, speaking of, was the highlight of the entire show (I think I already said this, but whatevs). It was beautiful, elegant, emotional, and even a little accidentally horny at times? Maybe not what Chris Stapleton was going for, since all the acoustic songs and covers he performed are pretty depressing, but he sang them with such deep, sultry passion that it felt intimate and almost sensual in a way. The transition out of the acoustic set, which was the jam sesh I referenced earlier, was a brilliant creative choice. It allowed for the solemn-yet-sensual mood to slowly transition upward into a more upbeat and fast-paced environment.
Weaknesses
I'll admit that the country genre is not exactly my forte, so, writing this section feels a little unfair since there are many pieces of country music that I may not understand or necessarily jive with like I do with the pop, rock, or rap genres. I'm going to try and keep this focused on technical critiques only (which I believe is fair game for ANY concert attendee to critique), and not necessarily design or style criticisms.
The biggest issue I took with the show was that I could barely understand what Chris was saying in between songs. Shae's mom, Beth Feather, put it best: "it sounded like an adult speaking in a Snoopy cartoon". Now, I will confess: I don't know if this is Chris's fault or Fenway Park's fault. As I mentioned before, the acoustics in the baseball stadium are not exactly stellar (Fenway Park wasn't built to be a concert venue after all). However, if you ("you" meaning Live Nation and Chris Stapleton's team) are going to charge over $200.00 MINIMUM for entry, the LEAST you can do is ensure the microphone and sound system are set up in such a way that the audience can hear a performer both singing AND speaking. It was frustrating to not be able to understand what Chris was saying as he, to his own confession, informed the audience he wouldn't be doing much talking and stick to singing. I always enjoy when artists take a beat to address the audience - it's why I love concerts so much. It makes the event (especially when it's a large arena or stadium show) so much more intimate and allows the artist to connect to their fans in a deeply personal way. I was disappointed to not be able to understand what Chris was saying, and then frustrated that his singing voice was clear as day! You'd think the microphone would work for talking AND singing, right? I don't blame Chris one single bit for this - this is clearly the fault of Live Nation or the technical team in charge of the stage setup.
One thing that I absolutely love is when artists acknowledge their openers. I was quite surprised to find out that touring artists and their openers very rarely intermingle (as highlighted by this Zara Larsson interview (fast forward to the 11:00 mark) in which she plainly states she rarely saw Tate while they toured together for their Miss Possessive World Tour in 2024). So it was an absolute joy to see Allen Stone AND Zach Top take the stage at different points during the show. However, the reason why I am flagging this as a weakness and not as a strength is because it seemed that Allen Stone was given a song to sing with Chris that was MUCH more suited to Allen's own style than Zach Top. Both sounded great, but Allen Stone outshone Zach Top by a significant factor. It almost seemed unfair that the two of them played with Chris Stapleton, as Allen seemed much better suited to keep up with Chris than Zach. That's not to say Zach Top performed badly - quite the contrary! He sounded great. I just think it would've been better for Zach Top to sing by himself while Chris stuck to instrumentals; Zach's voice didn't really match or harmonize well with Chris, and took me out of the moment a bit.
Here is where I contradict myself a bit from what I said earlier about how the design conjured up such vivid imagery: some of the lighting color choices were a bit odd and unfitting for some of the songs being sung (I like to think that this isn't a design critique, but rather a technical one, but hey you're more than welcome to disagree with me). For example, while Chris was singing "Parachute", the lights around the perimeter of and above the stage were a deep blue, which I found odd since the song is about loyalty: not exactly a character trait I would pair with a color that has connotations of coldness and depression. This wasn't the case for every song, but there were some moments where I thought the color scheming chosen for the song being sung on stage didn't quite match the song's messaging.
A small critique: the stage included a set of large lights, hung above the stage, that bobbed up and down and formed different shapes throughout the show. While the effect was pretty cool, it didn't really match Chris Stapleton and his vibe at all - as I noted before, the lack of flashy stage effects actually enhanced the show to a significant degree, and I found this technical marvel to be out of place, distracting, and unfitting for a singer who is so vocally talented that his voice alone can hold the attention of 37,000 people for almost 2 hours.
Final thoughts
Chris Stapleton is undeniably talented. His voice alone put me into a trance - it almost didn't matter that he was on stage. I was so enthralled by his and his wife's singing capabilities that everything else seemed to fall to the wayside. The frustrating experience with the microphone seemingly not working while Chris was speaking, the odd color palette choices for some of the songs, and the stage lights that bobbed up and down took me out of the moment a few times. I was trying to decide between giving this a 3.75 and a 4; ultimately, I'm going to go with a 4 out of 5 given how magnificent Chris sounded.
