Chris Stapleton Plays His First Ever Australian Show In Melbourne #REVIEW

Chris Stapleton’s 25 February 2025 at Rod Laver Arena Melbourne was the first time Chris has ever played in Australia. When he asked the audience if anyone had seen him before there were a rare few who put their hands up.

Over the past 15 years Stapleton and his wife Morgane have become the engine room for songs by Kenney Chesney, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Adele. Morgane has written for Carrie Underwood and LeAnn Rimes and she is right there front and centre singing with Chris on this tour.

Stapleton’s band is also as good as it gets. These guys are the real dea. On bass J.T. Cure, drums Derek Mixon, steel guitar Paul Franklin, guitar Mike LoPinto and on keyboards Lee Pardini.

Chris was a late starter. His first album ‘Traveller’ was released just 10 years ago when he was 36 years old. His version of the old David Allan Coe track ‘Tennessee Whiskey’, now his signature song, wasn’t even released as a single. It closed the set.

Chart-wise Stapleton’s albums haven’t been that big in Australia. Selling out all of his Australian shows including two x the 14,000 capacity Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, suggests a disconnect between the ARIA chart and real music fans.

The demographic of the Melbourne audience was mainly late 30s, early 40s. These fans knew his songs word for word. Stapleton’s style alludes to The Band and John Fogerty. His influences draw back to before he was born.

The 25 song setlist drew five songs from the most recent album ‘Higher’ (2023) and eight from the first one ‘Traveller’ (2015). For the audience this two-hour show was a musician masterclass.

The newer ‘White Horse’ from ‘Higher’ opened the show and later Chris performed an album sampler with a cluster of four with ‘What Am I Gonna Do’, ‘It Takes A Woman’, ‘Think I’m In Love With You’ and ‘Mountains of My Mind’.

‘Millionaire’ early in the show was a crowd favourite. The touching ‘Broken Halos’ also won the crowd. ‘Mountains of My Mind’ and ‘Whiskey and You’ were Chris by himself on stage with nothing to hide.

Chris Stapleton is what is great about American music. It would have been great to see him at Texan BBQ, but hey, let’s just add that to the bucket list.

: Chris Stapleton photo by Andy Barron courtesy Live Nation

: Chris Stapleton photo by Andy Barron courtesy Live Nation

: Chris Stapleton photo by Andy Barron courtesy Live Nation

Setlist Melbourne 25 February 2025

White Horse (from Higher, 2023)
Nobody to Blame (from Traveller, 2015)
Second One to Know (from From a Room Vol 1, 2017)
Millionaire (from From a Room Vol 2, 2017)
Devil Always Made Me Think Twice (from Starting Over, 2020)
Hard Livin’ (from From a Room Vol 2, 2017)
Worry B Gone (from Starting Over, 2020)
What Am I Gonna Do (from Higher, 2023)
It Takes a Woman (from Higher, 2023)
Think I’m in Love With You (from Higher, 2023)
Mountains of My Mind (from Higher, 2023)
Whiskey and You (from Traveller, 2015)
Arkansas (from Starting Over, 2020)
Parachute (from Traveller, 2015)
Starting Over (from Starting Over, 2020)
Joy of My Life (from Starting Over, 2020)
You Should Probably Leave (from Starting Over, 2020)
Cold (from Starting Over, 2020)
Traveller (from Traveller, 2015)
Fire Away (from Traveller, 2015)
Broken Halos (from From a Room Vol 1, 2017)
Tennessee Whiskey (from Traveller, 2015)

Encore:
Might as Well Get Stoned (from Traveller, 2015)
Outlaw State of Mind (from Traveller, 2015)

CHRIS STAPLETON’S ALL-AMERICAN ROADSHOW GOES DOWN UNDER
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 2025

With Special Guest Marcus King

Remaining shows:

Wednesday, February 26, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Friday, February 28, Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Saturday, March 1, Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Tuesday, March 4, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Wednesday, March 5, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Friday, March 7, Spark Arena, Auckland

https://www.livenation.com.au/chris-stapleton-tickets-adp1234931

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