Saturday night at the The O2 Arena during the C2C: Country to Country Festival built steadily toward the arena spectacle of Keith Urban, but the strength of the undercard meant the evening felt like a full-scale event long before the headliner stepped on stage. Across four performances, the lineup traced a clear arc through modern country: from rural folk introspection to arena-ready country rock, each act adding its own flavour while sharing a common love of big hooks, powerful vocals and crowd-pleasing energy.
Bayker Blankenship: Youthful Energy
The night began with the quietly impressive rise of Bayker Blankenship, a young artist emblematic of country’s latest streaming-driven movement. Blankenship’s sound sits somewhere between rural folk and country rock, drawing comparisons with the new generation of introspective storytellers like Waylon Wyatt, Wyatt Flores and Sam Barber. Remarkably, Blankenship is just 20 years old, and the musicians around him aren’t much older — an 18-to-21-year-old band backing him with surprising confidence on the cavernous main stage. His set also marked a step up from his appearance at the festival the previous year, when he performed solo with an acoustic guitar. This time the full band gave his songs a muscular new dimension, particularly on his viral 2024 hit ‘Maxed Out,' which closed the set. What had once been a laid-back acoustic reflection now carried far more weight, its introspective rural themes delivered with a fuller folk-rock punch. Earlier, a playful cover of Joe Diffie’s classic ‘Pickup Man' injected some tempo into the performance, culminating in a lively instrumental jam that showed the band’s growing confidence. For such young musicians, the composure was striking — a promising glimpse into country’s next wave.
Alana Springsteen: Swagger & Charm
If Blankenship represented introspection, Alana Springsteen delivered attitude. Bursting onto the stage in a vivid red and yellow leather jacket and shorts, she greeted the crowd with a jubilant shout before launching into ‘You Don’t Deserve a Country Song,' a punchy middle-finger anthem dripping with defiance. Springsteen’s set leaned heavily into pop-rock country energy, with chugging guitars driving ‘Look I Like' and her stage presence growing with every track. One of the standout moments came with ‘Ghost in My Guitar,' the brooding collaboration she recorded with Chris Stapleton. Live, the song revealed a darker edge — built on a shadowy riff and a slow-burning intensity that almost flirted with grunge textures. By the second verse Springsteen was practically spitting out the lyrics, her guitarist ripping into a blistering solo that amplified the song’s raw emotion.
She balanced that intensity with vulnerability on the new track ‘Same God,' a deeply personal song written as she prepares to release her sophomore album. Addressing the crowd, she described it as a message to her parents — acknowledging how different she is from them while reassuring them she’s still okay. The performance built gradually into a soaring chorus that showcased the warmth in her voice. A fiery cover of ‘Before He Cheats' led into the swaggering ‘Cowboys and Tequila,' which erupted into a chugging rock groove before Springsteen toasted the crowd with a red Solo cup. She closed with arena-sized pop-country optimism on ‘Goodbye Looks Good On You,' with the sort of bombastic conviction that felt reminiscent of a young Carrie Underwood.
Tyler Braden: Gruff, Powerful Thunder
Next came Tyler Braden, whose arrival shifted the night firmly into rock territory. Bookended by pounding drums and massive guitar chords, Braden opened with ‘How It Starts,' his gruff, thunderous voice immediately filling the arena. Unlike many performers, he didn’t spend much time chatting — instead letting his towering vocals and high-octane band do the talking. ‘Thank Me For That' kept the adrenaline pumping, but it was the sweeping ballad ‘Might Be Dangerous' that truly showcased his vocal power, even without his usual duet partner Kaitlin Butts. Braden’s voice soared over the arrangement, raw and commanding.
The set continued with ‘Evergreen,' a dramatic mid-tempo anthem packed with vivid imagery of storms and lightning crashing overhead — a perfect sonic match for the arena’s scale. The viral hit ‘God and Guns N’ Roses' then turned the crowd into a sea of glowing phones as fans sang along to its soaring finale, with its nod to Guns N’ Roses and Axl Rose drawing cheers.
Perhaps the boldest moment came with a cover of The Devil Went Down to Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band. Performing the fiddle-heavy classic without a fiddle might seem risky, but Braden reimagined it as a snarling post-grunge rocker before sliding seamlessly into his own ‘Devil You Know,' closing his set with a heavy, explosive finish.
Russell Dickerson: Headliner Status Confirmed
The final support slot belonged to Russell Dickerson, who delivered what felt like a headline performance in miniature. Dickerson calls his live show “RussellMania” — a tongue-in-cheek nod to WrestleMania — and the spectacle began with an introduction booming through the arena: “Let’s get ready to Russell!” Huge stage signage, wailing guitars and flashing lights framed his entrance before he launched into the anthemic rocker ‘Worth Your Wild,' stretching the outro into a thrilling guitar jam. From there the pace barely relented. ‘It’s About Time' and ‘Home Sweet' turned the arena into a singalong, while ‘She Likes It' transformed into full-blown theatre as Dickerson theatrically stripped off his jacket to reveal a vest, joking about what constitutes a proper “RD party.” His willingness to poke fun at himself — goofy dance moves and all — only made the crowd love him more.
Dickerson slowed things momentarily with the tender ballad ‘Bones,' a tribute to his wife that brought a more intimate tone to the vast room. But the emotion quickly ramped back up as he ran through a string of number-one hits: ‘Love You Like I Used To,' ‘Blue Tacoma' and ‘Every Little Thing,' each delivered with full-throttle passion. Photos of his wife and child played on the giant screens during ‘Love You Like I Used To,' adding a heartfelt dimension to the show’s otherwise high-energy atmosphere.
By the time Dickerson reached the closing stretch — the 80s synth-tinged ‘Love That I Love You' and the dancefloor-ready ‘MGNO' — the arena had become a party. Dickerson leaned fully into it, throwing snippets of ‘I Gotta Feeling' and ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)' into the mix as he bounced across the stage. The set finished with ‘Yours' before the massive viral hit ‘Happen to Me' closed things out in euphoric style, complete with an intro nod to ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun' — a clever wink to the track’s sample. It's not hyperbolic to say that the whole arena was up on its feet dancing, singing and hollering along to ‘Happen to Me,' a truly iconic, Top 10 moment of the weekend.
Taken together, the undercard created a remarkably coherent build toward Urban’s headlining spectacle. Where Friday night at C2C showcased a broader stylistic spread, Saturday felt unified by a rock-infused country approach. From Blankenship’s introspective folk textures to Springsteen’s fiery pop-rock, Braden’s powerhouse vocals and Dickerson’s arena party anthems, each artist tapped into the same core energy while delivering it in distinct ways. By the time Urban finally arrived, the crowd was already warmed up by an evening of huge voices, roaring guitars and joyous, high-energy country — a fitting prelude to one of the genre’s most seasoned arena performers. (You can read our review of Keith Urban's headline set right here.)
