Chris Stapleton played the first of two sold-out at shows at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista on Friday night. The weather was perfect. The crowd was buzzing and were still coming in when Chris started his set.
From the opening number, “Bad As I Used to Be,” it was a sing along. The entire arena was on its feet singing every word to every song the entire evening. The energy was electric. As every song began you cold hear people in the crowd scream with joy as if every song was their favorite!
About a third of the way through the set the band left the stage and Chris told the crowd he wasn’t going to talk much. He just wanted to play as much music as he could in the time he had. He encouraged the crowd to have as much fun as they could in that time! The first song he did acoustically was the first song he got played on the radio, “What Are You listening To?” The crowd went wild and one young lady in the front row held up a sign with the words “What Are You listening To” written on it and had her moment as she was shown on the big screen.
Chris then went on to perform an acoustic version of his old bluegrass band, The Steel Drivers, song “Where Rainbows Never Die” before trading his acoustic guitar for an electric and launching into the bluesy, “I Was Wrong.” About halfway through the song he was joined back on stage by the band for an impromptu blues jam.
The rest of the evening was one big sing-along party of Chris’ hits and a John Fogerty cover, “Joy of My Life.”
Stapleton’s band is made up of his wife, Morgane Stapleton- harmony vocals, J.T. cure – bass, Derek Mixon – drums, Paul Franklin- pedal steel and Lee Pardini – keyboards, Mike Lopinto – rhythm guitar.
Find more information here on his website: https://chrisstapleton.com
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Show Review: Chris Stapleton with Marty Stuart and Brent Cobb Put Music First in Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena
The entire setlist follows:
1. Bad As I Used To Be
2. Arkansas
3. Nobody to Blame
4. What Am I Gonna Do
5. Parachute
6. Millionaire (Kevin Welch cover)
7. Second One to Know
8. Think I’m in Love With You
9. What Are You Listening To? (Chris solo, acoustic)
10. Where Rainbows Never Die (The SteelDrivers) (Chris solo, acoustic)
11. I Was Wrong
12. Cold
13. White Horse
14. Joy of My Life (John Fogerty cover)
15. Hard Livin’
16. Starting Over
17. You Should Probably Leave
18. Traveller
19. Fire Away
20. Broken Halos
21. Tennessee Whiskey (David Allan Coe cover — with band intros)
Encore
22. Might as Well Get Stoned