On Saturday night, country star Kelsea Ballerini played ringleader to an arena-sized girls’ night out at Fiserv Forum, and on the heels of her most successful album to date, she’s very much hitting her stride.
The show was the fourth night of Ballerini’s first arena-level headlining tour, which she endearingly referred to as her “big girl arena tour.” While she’s certainly had her share of big shows in Milwaukee to date, momentum was on her side on Saturday night, and she had a crowd that was ready to party.
“I played The Rave, and there were 3,500 people at that show” said Ballerini early into her set. “Tonight I am so proud to say that there are over three times that number here.”
That was certainly no exaggeration; Ballerini was greeted by a very full seating bowl on Saturday, likely an encouraging sign for the first week of the tour. They came ready to sing and dance as well, fired up from the moment that Shania Twain’s “Man I Feel Like A Woman” played over the PA to welcome everyone to the show.
The lights would drop, and Ballerini emerged from the back of the stage for the title track from “Patterns.” Her newest material would be the focal point of the night, with two-thirds of the album finding its way into the set list, sprinkled in amongst Ballerini’s biggest hits. While some artists might feel pressure to deliver her situation, Ballerini had a confidence about her performance that truly showed her star quality. It may have helped that boyfriend Chase Stokes was spotted watching the show from the soundboard.
When she addressed the Fiserv Forum crowd, she was personable as ever, regularly using her time in between songs to be thankful and inspirational. She spoke proudly about where “Patterns” has taken her, fittingly as an introduction to “This Time Last Year.” Throughout the course of the night, she would take a selfie with a fan’s phone, and say hello to a fan that brought a meet-and-greet photo from 2017, and also receive a scrapbook from a fan that she opened up on stage.
One fan also asked for her to write her next tattoo on a sign, with an inspirational quote, to which Ballerini replied “Oh god. My brain right now. It’s like when someone asks what your favorite song is and all you can think of is ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.’” They would eventually land on “Love love” before Ballerini would warn her that the tattoo is, in fact, permanent. That was the charm that she brought to every interaction on Saturday, taking in her moment as the brightest name on the marquee.
When she wasn’t drawing tattoos or taking pictures, she was leading singalongs up and down the Fiserv Forum stage, often from the catwalk in the middle of the arena. Early hit “Love Me Like You Mean It” saw her vocals reverberated by thousands of fans, and “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” would have fans screaming along as well. After proclaiming that “Dry January hates to see me coming,” wine-drinking salute “Hole In The Bottle” received one of the loudest reactions yet. By the midway point of the show, Ballerini looked untouchable, certainly hitting her stride.
From a production standpoint, the show would see Ballerini in the air on platforms frequently, with a screen that dropped down in front of her from time to time. She would also quick-change by dropping through a hole in the center of the stage, only to re-emerge after short interludes. She would dance with a chair for “We Broke Up” and later mention that this was the “female rage” portion of the show. That segment of the night would also include “Two Things,” where she would walk the catwalk with glowing orbs dropping down from the lighting rig over the Fiserv Forum crowd.
Ballerini would use the back half of the show to not only deliver the hits, but give her a chance to bring things down a notch. She would sit on the floating platform for a full version of “Interlude,” complete with the lyrics on the screen in front of her, and later delve into her collaboration with Noah Kahan, “Cowboys Cry Too,” complete with a new second verse in place of Kahan’s vocals.
Then, she would go solo with an acoustic guitar for “Homecoming Queen,” which hasn’t been played yet on the tour. She explained that she had more songs that she wanted to play that weren’t in her set list, and this gave her a chance to perform material that she hasn’t done in a long time. While providing a cool moment for the Milwaukee crowd, the move did feel just a bit reminiscent of the secret acoustic songs that Taylor Swift added to each night of her “Eras” tour. However, if the end result is a unique moment for each crowd on tour, maybe Ballerini isn’t to be faulted too much for feeling inspired.
Things would ramp up once again, but only after a version of “Peter Pan” that saw the whole band come to the front of the stage together. Ballerini was flanked by a pair of background singers throughout various points of the night, and the song gave them a chance to unite for a three-part harmony that rang out especially well with the Fiserv Forum acoustics (and of course, the crowd singing along to every word as well.) They would continue into “I Would, Would You,” mashed up with Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me.” She quickly acknowledged being able to support women in country music by welcoming openers MaRynn Taylor and Sasha Alex Sloan on tour with her. Then it was time to bring the house down.
Dating anxiety anthem “How Do I Do This” closed out the main portion of the set, with Ballerini dropping into the hole in the stage to signal the end of the set. Suspense be damned though, as she would tell the crowd that she had more song left as she descended to the floor with the lights going out. There was one final singalong to be had in “Penthouse” and the crowd hung on every word once again. There was also one major faux pas.
Ballerini exclaimed “Goodnight! Thank you Minneapo-nope… Milwaukee!” before laughing her way through the closing notes of the song (Minneapolis was the previous night’s show.) If that’s the biggest blunder from a 90-minute performance that saw her covering every bit of the stage that she could, with multiple costume changes and choreography, so be it.
From the look of Saturday night’s show, it’s very apparent that Kelsea Ballerini’s first “big girl tour” will certainly not be her only “big girl tour.” In fact, she has the makings of a generational talent in country music, and those superstar qualities shined non-stop on Saturday night. With a current stint on “The Voice” as a judge, Ballerini’s stock only continues to rise, and the Milwaukee crowd got to witness her in the middle of her ascent on Saturday.
