Thomas Rhett has always been a great performer with a strong and melodic repertoire with which to create a set list from. His energy and enthusiasm on stage is infectious, whether he’s performing to a stadium full of fans or a much smaller, intimate crowd as he did on his last UK tour. He’s earned the right to headline the C2C festival more than most artists, releasing quality album after album and never relenting in his desire to be the best possible artist he can be.
The last time we saw Thomas Rhett in the UK was on the ‘Life Changes’ tour and he’s had something of a career epiphany since then and ditched a lot of the Bruno Mars-esque production sounds and vibes, returning instead to being a much earthier, grittier artist. That change is reflected by the fact that he now has a steel guitar player out on stage with him.
If you’d have said to me five years ago that ‘Unforgettable’ (amongst many other songs) would now have a steel guitar in it I wouldn’t have believed you but this is where Thomas Rhett is in 2023.
Show opener ‘Craving You’ set the tone for the evening to come as Rhett took the stage in a Rolling Stones T Shirt and Yeti cap. The song is beefier and heavier now than it has been before and it looks (and sounds) all the better for it. Similarly, ‘Look What God Gave Her’s keyboards have been toned down in favour of the electric guitar and what a great decision that turned out to be for that and many other songs in Rhett’s set.
All the classics that you would expect to hear at a Thomas Rhett show were there and he was clearly enjoying himself and touched by the audience response. ‘Half of Me’, ‘Life Changes’, ‘Marry Me’ and ‘Slow Down Summer’ all did exactly what they have been designed to do, just with a little more oomph and muscle than they had before. ‘Vacation’ was louder, rockier and all brash confidence whilst ‘She Had Me at Heads Carolina’, a song Rhett had a hand in writing alongside Ashley Gorley, convinced the last of the people still siting down to get up and have a damn good dance. The set closer triple whammy of ‘Crash and Burn’, T Shirt’ and then ‘What’s Your Country Song’ was as good a run of three songs as I’ve ever seen at the C2C festival in ten years.
Not everything was all loud guitars, steel guitars and drums though. A lovely version of new song ‘Paradise, which Rhett explained he’d never played live before whet the appetite for songs like ‘Die a Happy Man’, ‘Angels Don’t Always Have Wings’ and the double header set closer of ‘Feeling Country’ and ‘Country Again’ showed the O2 crowd just what an authentic and skilled writer and performer Thomas Rhett is. The latter two songs were acoustically delivered and dripping in Nashville vibes which is such a big shift from where TR used to be as a live performer in the late 2010’s. ‘Country Again’ was particularly delightful as it exploded out in the second chorus and became a steel guitar-drenched plaintive anthem of hope and perseverance.
A mid-set appearance by Niall Horan prompted both he and Rhett to deliver a cracking version of Horan’s ‘Slow Hands’ song whilst the brash, yet insanely melodic and loveable ‘Crash and Burn’ and ‘T Shirt’ served to remind the O2 arena just how good Rhett’s ‘Tangled Up’ album really was. Closing with ‘What’s Your Country Song’ left Rhett relatively speechless as emotions ran high. He declared the evening to have been one of the best of his career before leaving the stage all smiles, kisses and heart symbols with his hands.
There was a lot of love in the O2 arena for Thomas Rhett tonight and he didn’t disappoint. To see him playing with so much steel guitar inserted into his live sound is a joy to see – long may it continue! Rhett is an open and honest performer who has a knack of being able to communicate with the very last person in the highest level of an arena with just his eyes, his face and his lyrics. He truly brought the party to the O2 Arena tonight and let’s hope it’s not too long before he is able to come back and do it all over again!
Set List: Craving You 2. Look What God Gave Her 3. Half of Me 4. Life Changes 5. Slow Down Summer 6. Make Me Wanna 7. Marry Me 8. Get Me Some of That / It Goes Like This 9. Vacation 10. Paradise 11. Slow Hands (with Niall Horan) 12. Beer Can’t Fix 13. Angels Don’t Always Have Wings 14. She Had Me at Heads Carolina 15. Die a Happy Man 16. Feeling Country 17. Country Again 18. Unforgettable 19. Sixteen 20. Crash and Burn 21. T Shirt 22. What’s Your Country Song Venue: O2 Arena Date: Friday 10th March
