CHICAGO, Ill. – A sea of denim and cowboy boots flooded CTA’s Red Line as Country fans arrived at Wrigley Field to see Academy of Country Music’s Male Artist of the Year Morgan Wallen resume his One Night At A Time World Tour.
It was a perfect summer night for the at-capacity crowd of 41,538: 73 degrees as the sun went down with the home of the Chicago Cubs serving as the backdrop for a night consisting of cell phones in the air, pyro, collaborations and reason for celebration. Following baseball-style introductions to his band vamping to Wallen’s first-ever No. 1 “Up Down,” the camouflage cap clad singer/songwriter/superstar popped out from underneath the stage.
Wallen, addressing the crowd two songs in, was clearly overcome with gratitude taking it all in: “Thank you for the kind welcome, that means a lot to me. ‘Bout six weeks ago, I wasn't really sure when I was gonna be able to sing again,” pausing, then exclaiming, “but WE BACK!” before adding of his six-weeks on vocal rest, “I see more of y’all’s support, so I could not make it through without everything y’all do for me, so thank you. I’m really, really happy to be here. Thank you so much for showing up.”
With so much new music at his fingertips following March’s 36-track album release, fans were treated to “I Wrote The Book,” title track “One Thing At A Time,” “Everything I Love,” and “98 Braves” within the first half-hour with Wallen quipping of the latter, “I don’t have any songs about the Cubs… I’ll work on that. This is my best shot at a baseball song.”
During “Sand In My Boots” at least one fan in the crowd popped the question (spoiler: she said yes). And on “Thought You Should Know” Wallen shared, “My momma’s out there somewhere tonight… this one’s for you,” cell phone flashlights on during “Cover Me Up” turned to facetimed-calls-to-mommas everywhere, a reminder of his fans’ powerful connection to his music.
Wallen brought touring and writing mate ERNEST out as the first collaboration of the evening, teasing the “20 more along the way” they’ll collude on together ahead of performing their hit “Flower Shops.”
Following “The Way I Talk,” Wallen brought a surprise guest to the stage sharing, “This is where I usually step off stage and take a little break, but I’ve got a good buddy in town… he is one of Chicago’s own. Y’all make some noise for my brother Lil Durk!” marking their first-ever live performance of “Stand By Me” from Durk’s 2023 Almost Healed.
Twenty-four songs and nearly two hours on stage, Wallen closed out night one with his 11 week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Last Night” and three-week No. 1 “Whiskey Glasses” sharing in closing while fireworks erupted above, “Thank you so much Chicago! Make some noise for Bailey Zimmerman, ERNEST, HARDY… One more time, make some noise for my band! I truly appreciate every single one of y’all, thank you, thank you and God Bless y’all!”
From fans rallying around a young woman holding a sign that read “GOALS: Beat cancer twice √, Picture with Morgan Wallen ▢,” collectively helping her get to the front of the stage to fulfill the wish, to harnessing the unbridled Cubs enthusiasm donning a No. 7 custom jersey during his encore, last night a boy from East Tennessee brought people together to celebrate life and the joy of living in the moment together.
Morgan Wallen 2023 U.S. Tour Dates:
Fri, June 23 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field*$
Tues, June 27 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
Thurs, June 29 Detroit, MI Ford Field*#
Fri, June 30 Detroit, MI Ford Field*#
Thurs, July 6 St. Louis, MO Busch Stadium*$
Fri, July 7 St. Louis, MO Busch Stadium*$
Fri, July 14 San Diego, CA Petco Park*#
Sat, July 15 San Diego, CA Petco Park*#
Wed, July 19 Phoenix, AZ Chase Field*#
Thurs, July 20 Phoenix, AZ Chase Field*#
Sat, July 22 Los Angeles, CA SoFi Stadium*#
Thurs, Aug 3 Detroit Lakes, MN WE Fest^
Fri, Aug 11 Columbus, OH Ohio Stadium*%
Sat, Aug 12 Columbus, OH Ohio Stadium*#
Wed, Aug 16 Boston, MA Fenway Park*#
Thurs, Aug 17 Boston, MA Fenway Park*#
Fri, Aug 18 Boston, MA Fenway Park*$
Wed, Aug 30 Pittsburgh, PA PNC Park*
Thurs, Aug 31 Pittsburgh, PA PNC Park*
Sat, Sept 2 Washington, DC FedEx Field*$
Fri, Sept 8 Moline, IL Vibrant Arena
Sat, Sept 9 Lincoln, NE Pinnacle Bank Arena
Sat, Oct 7 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
Fri, Nov 10 Atlanta, GA Truist Park*
Sat, Nov 11 Atlanta, GA Truist Park*
Thurs, Nov 16 Austin, TX Moody Center
Sat, Nov 18 Houston, TX Minute Maid Park*
Morgan Wallen 2024 U.S. Tour Dates:
Thurs May 9, 2024 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium*
Fri, May 17, 2024 East Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium*
Sat, May 18, 2024 East Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium*
Sun, June 2, 2024 Panama City Beach, FL Gulf Coast Jam ^
Thurs, June 6, 2024 Virginia Beach, VA Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
Fri, June 7, 2024 Virginia Beach, VA Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
June 6-9, 2024 Myrtle Beach, SC Carolina Country Music Festival ^
TBC Philadelphia, PA Citizens Bank Park*
Morgan Wallen 2023 International Tour Dates:
Sat, Aug 5 Camrose, AB Big Valley Jamboree^
Thurs, Aug 24 Dieppe, NB YQM Country Fest^
Thurs, Sept 14 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
Fri, Sept 15 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
Sat, Sept 16 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage
Mon, Sept 18 London, ON Budweiser Gardens
Thurs, Sept 21 Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre
Fri, Sept 22 Quebec City, QC Videotron Centre
Sat, Sept 23 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Thurs, Sept 28 Winnipeg, MB Canada Life Centre
Fri, Sept 29 Saskatoon, SK SaskTel Centre
Sat, Sept 30 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
Tues, Oct 3 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
Wed, Oct 4 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
Sun, Dec. 3 London, UK The O2
* Stadium Dates
^ Festival Dates
# HARDY, ERNEST, Bailey Zimmerman
$ Parker McCollum, ERNEST, Bailey Zimmerman
& HARDY, Bailey Zimmerman
% Riley Green, ERNEST
+ HARDY, ERNEST
ABOUT MORGAN WALLEN
Hailed by Billboard for making “his superstar arrival as a touring artist” in 2022, Morgan Wallen recently wrapped his 55-show Dangerous Tour with his first headlining stadium show at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, which saw him shatter attendance records previously held by Elton John and Lady Gaga. Now, the ACM Male Artist of the Year who had record-setting shows in 30 venues across the country - with the only country tour nominated for Pollstar’s Major Tour of the Year– has embarked on a massive world tour. Spanning 29 stadium-plays across 5 countries and 3 continents, plus arenas, amphitheaters and festivals, Wallen’s 64-show One Night At A Time World Tour will deliver the man The New Yorkerdubbed as “the most wanted man in country” to fans worldwide.
With over 18.2 billion on-demand streams and nine chart-toppers at Country radio, the East Tennessean recently became the first artist to have three singles simultaneously in the top-10 on country radio with “Last Night,” “One Thing At A Time” and “Thought You Should Know” – as “Last Night” remains atop the Hot Country Songs chart for 19 weeks and the all-genre Billboard 100 chart for its 11th week. On the heels of the unparalleled success of his 5x platinum, ACM Album of the Year, Dangerous: The Double Album (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic Records) – which topped 2021's all-genre Billboard 200 Albums year-end chart and notched historical chart status as Billboard’s longest running Top 10 album in history for a solo artist (with 124 total weeks spent in the Top 10, eclipsing Adele’s 21 and Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA), Wallen’s 36-song deeply personal third studio album, One Thing At A Time, is available now. One Thing At A Time returned to No. 1 for a 13th non-consecutive week on the Billboard 200 charts after reigning atop the chart for 12 consecutive weeks, the most weeks at No. 1 for a Country album in over 30 years. $3 from every U.S. ticket sold for the One Night At A Time World Tour will benefit the Morgan Wallen Foundation. |
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