Country singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen delivered an unforgettable night of music in front of a sold out crowd at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on Saturday night. The audience seemed to make the 30-year-old Tennessean’s evening as well.
“Sometimes you show up somewhere and you just know it’s going to be a special night — one you can’t forget — I swear that’s exactly what I felt for today,” he said to the enthusiastic crowd, who had already been warmed up by Hardy, Ernest and Baily Zimmerman.
Wallen’s One Night at a Time World Tour sold out stadiums in four countries and on two continents and is in support of his massively successful “One Thing at a Time” album, which has broken several records and spent more than 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.
The crowd of about 70,000 fans in Inglewood, who came out sporting cowboy hats, boots, and some wearing head-to-toe denim, were fired up and sang along with cups of beer in hand. It was a predominantly younger audience, filled with Gen Z and millennial fans. However, the older generations were into it, too, some even wearing Wallen’s merch. There were also a lot of fans dressed just like the show headliner, who came out with his signature trucker hat, white T-shirt and jeans.
As the stage lights came on and his band ran on stage, Wallen wasted no time busting into his set with the hits “Up Down,” “I Wrote the Book” and “You Proof.” Throughout the nearly two-hour performance, he did take time to share stories about how certain songs were created and the emotional rollercoaster of making it to where he is today. It wasn’t easy, he told the audience, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I moved to Nashville in July of 2015,” he said ahead of playing “Chasing You” off of his 2018 debut record. “Me and some buddies I met wrote this song in November in a tiny little room that same year about something I was going through. Now, a couple years later, this song made it to number one and changed my life. I still get that same feeling in that tiny room even being in these big rooms today, it doesn’t change.”
Though the setlist featured more than half of Wallen’s latest record, he did let fans know he’d be returning to his roots, playing things that fans that have been there for the long haul would appreciate.
“I focused this tour on a lot of the new stuff, but I have to play the old ones too because it’s what got me here today,” he said ahead of playing songs like “Still Going Down” and “This Bar.”
The show was loaded with fan interaction and pyrotechnics, but Wallen’s vulnerability stood out throughout the set. He took several moments to express his gratitude to the fans that took him from small town songwriter to a Stadium-headlining superstar.
He made sure to mix in ballads, too, with “Sand In My Boots,” during which a grand piano was brought to center stage for him to play. He strapped on an acoustic guitar and played “Thought You Should Know,” which he dedicated to his mother who was in the audience.
Wallen’s openers all rejoined him on the stage and brought back up the energy when they busted out “He Went To Jared” and “Cowgirls.”
Even with a three-song encore that included his first No. 1 single “Whiskey Glasses,” fans weren’t quite ready to leave. Wallen had them in the palm of his hand all night long as they sang, word for word, cried and cheered.
“This isn’t the end, you’ll see me soon,” he assured as he exited.
Morgan Wallen: One Night At A Time Tour
When: Saturday, July 22
Where: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood
