With quite a few cowboy boots and trucker Caps entering the arena Sons of the East began warming up the crowd, just like Melbourne’s warm spring weather outside.

With their smooth indie rock, the Aussie trio consisting of Nic Johnston, Dan Wallage and Jack Rollins, along with their touring band, began the night. For their first time at Rod Laver, let alone on the stage, Sons Of The East brought the energy and performance to get the crowd up and moving along ready for a big night of Kip Moore.

James Johnston hit the stage with a bang. Just like his hit from 2021, his opening number Raised like That raised the energy in Rod Laver another notch and the temperature continued to rise. Cranking out the tunes including Same Songs and Small Town and even throwing in a bit of Post Malone and Morgan Wallens I Had Some Help, James had the crowd signing along and transferring his infectious energy all throughout the arena. Finishing up with My People the people of Melbourne were primed and ready for Kip Moore. It was a perfect warm up.

Eighteen months after Kip last took to the stage in Melbourne at the smaller Margaret Court, he was back at but this time at one of his bucket list venues in Rod Laver Arena. As usual Kip was joined by his band The Slowhearts and they supported him throughout the night, providing him with not just the musical backing of a well-oiled machine, but also the energy, enthusiasm and that extra synergy between the audience and the music.

The concert moved at a steady pace, and you could feel the hits being played including Plead the Fifth, Wild Ones, Tennessee Boy, More Girls Like You and Beer Money were continuing the crescendo rising to something big. Just when you thought it was going to go higher Kip brought back to earth with a stripped back version of Hey Pretty Girl which he had recently reconnected with and began playing again. With a moment to relax and appreciate the tones of Kips voice, he quickly brought the band back as well as the support artists in James Jothnson & Sons of the East and played a really fun version of the The Weight by The Band with everybody sharing the vocals. And with that the concert was up and running again. More hits followed. The Bull, Hearts Desire and Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck until you reached what we thought was to the final song of the night, and was performed accordingly Come and Get it, with keyboard & guitar solos galore.  You wouldn’t have been disappointed if the concert ended there.

However instead of leaving the stage, Kip and the band played on. Yelling out to everyone to get their lights out, something Kip doesn’t normally do. A fine rendition of Last Shot was played. With a brief exit, Kip returned for one more song. Thanking the crowd for all the support over the years from small side stages at CMC to the Forum and Margaret Court to Finally Rod Laver, he said he would be back again. With so many of his hits been played already you wondered what he was going to finish with and instead of apologising for playing a new song which I have seen many artists do lately, Kip Moore & the Slowhearts smashed a concert worthy ending song in Live Here to Work, his latest single which he only released two weeks ago.

It was an amazing way to finish a very entertaining and enjoyable night. I can’t wait for the new album and for Kip to return to our Australian shores again with the opportunity to appreciate his music live, which I think is the best way to enjoy it.