Originally from Bixby, Oklahoma, Corey Kent first broke through onto the country scene with his platinum-certified single, ‘Wild As Her’, which hit number one on country radio back in 2022. Since then he’s hit over 750 million streams, toured with the likes of Ashley McBryde and Jason Aldean, and released his second album, ‘Black Bandana’. This month he’s been back in the UK for his first headline tour in support of the record, culminating in last night’s show at London’s Electric Ballroom.
Accompanied by his four-piece band, Kent arrived on stage to a dramatic, wailing intro before launching into ‘Ain’t Gonna Lie’ from ‘Black Bandana’. It’s a heavy, brooding track that sees Kent reminiscing on a lost love and really showed off the soulfulness in his voice as well as a slight rasp. I loved the sense of atmosphere he created throughout the song and it felt like a very powerful – and different – way to kick off a show. The crowd burst into cheers and applause as he brought it to a close and it was clear that we were in for a night where everything would be left out on the table.
One thing that stood out to me throughout the show was how strong Kent’s connection was with the audience. He frequently encouraged them to clap and sing along, such as on the driving ‘Highways’ and current radio single ‘This Heart’, where he asked the audience to “sing along so loud it pushes this song up the charts back in the US”. I was also very impressed with his slick showmanship – whether that was cracking jokes that ‘you guys sing Lauren [Alaina]’s part better than I do’ ahead of bittersweet ballad ‘Now Or Never’ or slinking about the stage and pointing to female audience members during ‘Damn Good Country Song’ (which also featured a wicked guitar solo from his bandmates). He’s clearly come on leaps and bounds in that respect since his last trip to the UK and it’ll be interesting to see how he grows further over time.
However, for me some of the strongest parts of Kent’s performance came on the more introspective songs. ‘How You Know You Made It’, a touching number about celebrating the small things in life, was introduced by Kent with a story of how he was encouraged to go to Nashville by Willie Nelson after performing with him as a teenager. Elsewhere, the one-two of love songs ‘Gold’ and ‘Rust’ provided a sweet moment and he manifested playing at Wembley Stadium and reminisced on his experience of coming to play at C2C before the heartfelt ‘Never Ready’. On a completely different note, I loved his country-fried take on the Beatles’ ‘Come Together’, which had a great swampy, bluesy feel about it and put a completely different spin on the classic.
After a defiant rendition of the title track from ‘Black Bandana’, Kent rounded off the main portion of his set with his signature track ‘Wild As Her’. He encouraged the audience to ‘gimme all you got’ and they happily obliged, belting out the song with him as he hit a huge note towards the end, before going into the swaggering stomp of ‘Ain’t My Day’ which saw him split the crowd for a singalong. As he and the band left the stand the crowd roared for “one more song!”, and he happily obliged with a solo acoustic performance of the nostalgic ‘BIC Flame’. He followed that up with his take on ‘It’s A Great Day To Be Alive’, where he encouraged fans to take away the song’s positive message and looked back on his own experience working for a paving company before getting his big break. It was a hugely positive uplifting note to finish on and definitely ended the show on a high.
Overall Corey Kent has taken a huge step forward as both an artist and a performer with his latest tour, combining rock, blues and country with his distinctive vocals and great stage presence and energy. It’s fantastic to see him leaning in to what makes him unique and he’s becoming a really exciting prospect in modern country music, as well as having a fantastic connection with the UK audience (who he frequently thanked for coming out to support him throughout the show). He’s really going from strength to strength and I’m already looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do next.
Setlist: 1. Ain’t Gonna Lie 2. Highways 3. Tumbleweed 4. This Heart 5. Come Together (Beatles cover) 6. How You Know You Made It 7. Damn Good Country Song 8. Gold 9. Rust 10. Now Or Never 11. Something’s Gonna Kill Me 12. Never Ready 13. Black Bandana 14. Wild As Her 15. Ain’t My Day Encore: 16. BIC Flame 17. It’s A Great Day To Be Alive (made popular by Travis Tritt) Performance date: 11th February 2025 Review written by Laura Cooney
