Concert review: Country star Jason Aldean christens the newly renamed Grand Casino Arena
The newly minted Grand Casino Arena in downtown St Paul hosted its first live event Saturday night when about fans indicated up to see country star Jason Aldean Somehow it was Aldean s first arena show in the metro since he headlined the former Xcel Resource Center back in In the interim he played a pair of Target Field shows with Kenny Chesney in Treasure Island Casino in and the Winstock Country Music Festival last summer He was booked to play the X in March the week when everything shut down due to the pandemic The the greater part notable difference in Saturday s show was Aldean doubling down on his commitment to conservative causes His wife Brittany s anti-trans comments in led to Aldean s longtime populace relations firm dropping him as a client and his controversial single Try That in a Small Town was criticized by selected as an endorsement of racism and political violence For his current tour Aldean partnered with Patriot Mobile a company that bills itself as America s ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider whose mission is to defend our God given rights and freedoms Straightaway after Aldean s second opening act Nate Smith s performance Aldean popped up on the screens to shill for the company in a prerecorded ad Then his DJ gave Patriot Mobile a shout-out and launched into a set that mixed the likes of Toby Keith s Courtesy of the Red White and Blue The Angry American with Y M C A and Sweet Caroline Judging by Aldean s unimpressive stage that Patriot Mobile money doesn t go far The stripped-down affair didn t offer much in the way of flash and featured selected of the smallest big screens in the business That disclosed the well-lubricated crowd seemed perfectly happy to sing along and sway to Aldean s multiple hits while spilling beers on each other Late in the show Aldean noted that the crowd likely started drinking shots with their Eggo waffles for breakfast Aldean has never had a particularly distinct voice But he s never pushed it too far either so his pipes have largely held up in the years he s been recording and touring As he mentioned from the stage he has a lot of albums and a lot of hits and he tore through of them in a zippy -minute performance that rarely took time for a breath let alone for a song that everyone in the arena didn t know by heart Related Articles Farm Aid will be broadcast live on CNN from Huntington Bank Stadium Concert review A Taylor Swift cover band had kids intonating and dancing at the Grandstand Minnesota s first K-pop convention coming to St Paul RiverCentre Concert review Nelly and Ja Rule turn the Grandstand into the biggest party in town Concert review The Avett Brothers rock up the folk at the State Fair Grandstand He opened with his debut single and signature song Hicktown with the guitars cranked up to late- s Motley Crue levels From there he rolled out his biggest smashes including Burnin it Down Crazy Town Dirt Road Anthem My Kinda Party and his the bulk newest hit Whiskey Drink Even his slow songs like You Make it Easy are old-school arena-ready power ballads Indeed the spirit of throwback pop metal lingered throughout Aldean s set right down to his faux vintage Def Leppard T-shirt Aldean is a true pro when it comes to giving country audiences what they want and Saturday night he did just that
