Laura Klonowski
Last night (October 9th) multi-Grammy award winning country music trio Lady Antebellum brought their hugely successful You Look Good World Tour to Birmingham for a stellar night of live music at the Arena Birmingham.
Before Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott, and Dave Haywood arrived on stage, the huge crowd were treated to fantastic live sets from US acts Brett Young, and Kelsea Ballerini. First up was rising country star Young who wowed with a short set that featured his big hits such as ‘In Case You Didn’t Know‘, and ‘Sleep Without You‘. His performance went down well with the audience who were captivated by his gravel tone, and he had them in the palm of his hand when he sang a stunning cover of ‘Hallelujah’.
Up next it was time for country’s newest darling Kelsea Ballerini to take to the stage. The pretty blonde was welcomed with rapturous applause and her 45-minute spectacular set was heavy with massive hits such as ‘Peter Pan‘, ‘Yeah Boy‘ and ‘Dibs‘. The 24-year-old also performed a number of new songs off her upcoming album ‘Unapologetically‘ including the unique ‘I Hate Love Songs‘. But the highlight of her performance was when she got the whole crowd joining in on the catchy ‘XO‘. Ballerini was in her element and put on a headline-act worthy set. It won’t be long until she is selling out arena’s around the world on her own.
After a short interval it was time for the main event; Lady Antebellum. The country-pop band were welcomed with deafening cheers as they launched into an electric hit-filled set starting with an incredible performance of their massive hit ‘Downtown‘. Their tour shows are always off the scale and last night was no different. Charles, Hillary, and Dave gave a performance of a lifetime as they had the crowd on their feet for their 90-minute set which included all their greatest hits such as ‘You Look Good‘, ‘Just A Kiss‘, ‘Bartender‘, ‘We Owned The Night‘, and ‘American Honey‘.
Along with their hit singles Lady A also treated the packed arena to a number of new tracks off their latest hit LP ‘Heart Break‘, including ‘This City‘, ‘Good Time To Be Alive‘, ‘Somebody Else’s Heart‘, and an emotional version of ‘Hurt‘. They have added ‘Hurt’ to their set-list especially for the European/UK leg of the tour as the British crowd always “dig into the album” as Kelley put it. During the performance of this song, pregnant Hillary was brought to tears as the crowd sang-along to every word.
Not content with belting out their own hits, the trio also found time to slot in a stunning cover of Shania Twain’s worldwide smash ‘You’re Still The One‘. Lady A were joined on stage by support acts Kelsea Ballerini, and Brett Young for this, and the arena was lit-up by mobile phone lights as the fans sang at the top of their voices.
Their brilliant set ended with a performance of their first single ‘Love Don’t Live Here‘ which saw Charles Kelley walk through the crowd much to the delight of the fans. As they walked off stage to rapturous applause it wasn’t long before they returned for an eagerly anticipated encore of their global smash-hit single ‘Need You Now‘. The Birmingham audience were as loud as ever as they belted out the stunning track, and you could barely hear Lady Antebellum singing their number 1 song, above the audience singing along. It was a really special moment and a true highlight of an amazing concert.
The night ended with an emotionally charged, poignant tribute to the late Tom Petty who sadly passed away earlier this month. Lady A paid their respects by performing a note-perfect rendition of Petty’s ‘Learning To Fly‘. It was beautiful moment, and a real classy move by the American trio.
From start to finish, the energy level was ? inside @ArenaBirmingham!!! ?? Can't believe the #YouLookGoodWorldTour is almost over. pic.twitter.com/o2smzy856O
— Lady Antebellum (@ladyantebellum) October 10, 2017
Lady Antebellum were outstanding in Birmingham and they have proved themselves once again to be one of the best acts on the live-circuit!
RATING: 5/5
Were you at the Lady Antebellum gig last night? What was the standout moment for you? Let us know your thoughts over on Twitter @CelebMix.
