Aldean brings his kind of party to Omaha

Country star Jason Aldean put on a dynamic, energetic performance

Country+Star+Jason+Aldean+performs+Keeping+it+Small+Town+for+a+sold+out+crowd+in+Omaha+on+Friday%2C+February+7th+2020.

Tenley Wright

Country Star Jason Aldean performs “Keeping it Small Town” for a sold out crowd in Omaha on Friday, February 7th 2020.

Tenley Wright, Chief Photographer

On Friday, February 7th, More than 14,000 country fans packed Omaha’s CHI Health Center for a sold out Jason Aldean concert. The show was Aldean’s fifth stop on his ‘We Back Tour’

As the lights dimmed inside of the arena, excitement grew and fans shuffled to their seats. With eyes fixed on the stage, they watched as rising country artist Riley Green stepped up to the microphone. 

Green started off his set with some of his lesser known songs including “Get That Man A Beer”, “Georgia Time” and more. He then grabbed a stool, sat center stage and began to belt out the words to “I Wish Grandpas Never Died”, a fan favorite. Green paused to listen to the crowd sing the chorus. Before closing up his performance, the Alabama native thanked the crowd and Aldean for letting him be a part of something so special. 

“Just a few years ago I was building cars in Alabama and now I got a song on the radio,” Green said while speaking to the crowd. “Thanks for making it my first number one.” 

The audience erupted in cheers as he began to play his chart topping hit, “There Was This Girl.” After he thanked the fans one more time Green’s band played him off stage.

Touring DJ/Remixer/Producer Dee Jay Silver took over the stage to entertain the fans between set changes. Silver, the first DJ ever signed to a major Nashville Record Label, mixed music and talked to the crowd. Before leaving the stage, he asked fans if they were ready for the next performer, and was met with a resounding yes. 

The excited buzz of the crowd grew as a white outline of a face appeared on the big screens. The image flashed on and off as red lights began to light up the arena. Three guitarists took over the stage and played an amped up version of Morgan Wallen’s “Whatcha Know ‘Bout That.” As the music grew louder, Wallen hopped onto stage, then skipped and jumped his way down the center stage catwalk before stopping at the edge to sing the opening words of the song. 

Wallen also sang hits from his debut album like “Up Down” and “The Way I Talk”, Making sure to thank the fans multiple times. 

Perhaps the most entertaining part of Wallen’s performance was the constant amount of energy he had. One minute he was hoping across the stage, high fiving fans along the way, and the next he was jumping off of a platform and running back down the catwalk. 

Towards the middle of his set, Wallen turned the energy down a bit, and talked to fans about his family, life, and writing music. He focused on being proud of where he came from, and how he was raised, which is a major theme in a lot of his songs. 

The Tennessee native stood at the mic and belted out some of his most recent work like “Chasin’ You”, “Heartless” and “This Bar.” Wallen then brought out a guitar and sang a cover of “Cover Me Up”, a song originally written and released by Jason Isbell. Wallen admitted he was originally hesitant to cover the song since it is so different from his usual country-rock style. 

He turned the heat back up for his final song of the night, and again was met with an eruption of cheers from the crowd as the band played the tune of the biggest song of his career, “Whiskey Glasses.” Wallen opened up the song with the bridge, (‘Line ‘em up, Line ‘em Up, Line ‘em up, Line ‘em Up / Knock ‘em back, Knock ‘Em back, Knock ‘em back, Knock ‘em Back / Fill ‘em up, Fill ‘em up, Fill ‘em up, Fill ‘em up) which filled the arena with the sound of the audience singing along. 

Before finishing his set for the night, Wallen caught a beer and shotgunned it, chucking the can into the crowd and hopping off stage. 

Dee Jay Silver came back out for the second and final set change of the night, and once again, got fans on their feet while waiting for Aldean. 

Then, A large stage- wide screen descended from the ceiling and lit up with images of white smoke. Large fog machines spilled fog onto the stage, and into the crowd. Large letters spelling out “We Back” and flashed with the beat of the music. When the screen lifted, Aldean was standing at a microphone with his guitar. 

“What’s up Omaha?” Aldean exclaimed while jamming on his guitar. 

The 42 year old country star filled the arena with an energetic show and upbeat music. He started off his set with performances of “Take A Little Ride”, “Flyover States”, “Burnin’ It Down” and more. 

Although I thought his single “We Back” would be one of the first songs he performed, Aldean waited until the middle of his hour long performance to sing it, explaining to fans that he was getting them warmed up before kicking the show into overdrive.

With three microphones lined up across the stage, Aldean moved from one spot to another, performing songs like “My Kinda Party”, “She’s Country”, and “You Make It Easy.” To close up his set, he put on a guitar filled performance of “The Only Way I know.” 

At the end of the night Aldean Saluted the crowd and exited the only way a country star could. With beer spilling from the can in his hand Aldean lifted his drink, and chugged it down, taking the towel from his back pocket, and throwing it to the crowd. 

All three performers combined to put on a wildly energetic show that had fans on their feet the whole night. It was without a doubt one of the best concerts I’ve been to.