I will never leave Salt Lake City off my touring list again!
“I will never leave Salt Lake City off my touring list again!”
Kip Moore shared, closing the over two-hour sold-out show at The Complex Thursday night. After the immersive show he put on, I can’t understand why he ever would. The energy was high and it was easy to tell that Kip had a blast from start to finish. This led to more than a few whiskey shots drunk (and spilled) followed by some deep-cut tracks and even women and men alike hoisted up on the shoulders of friends. That’s right, full-grown men on the shoulders of their buddies - when is the last time you saw that? Kip’s response? “I see you, baby!”. With the show starting just before 9 pm, Kip was already intent on breaking curfew by 9:34 pm, saying “I’ve been fired many times before”. To me, it felt a little early for a comment like this, leaving my friend and I to think this may be a short set, but this was just Moore recognizing early on that we were all in for one hell of a night.
IMAGES BY: BAYLI JONES
When’s the last time you heard a piano solo at a country concert, and one that was absolutely rocking, at that? I’ve been to my fair share of concerts and I have to say that this instrumental solo during “Backseat” was so impressive, that I’d like to start a petition to add the ivory keys in between the fiddle and steel guitar on more stages. Transitioning to a few acoustic songs, which Kip shared he hadn’t performed acoustically in over a month, he kicks off with “One More Time”, a song the band had never done in this fashion before, prefacing the audience with the warning
“If we mess up, don’t tell on us and don’t tweet that shit out”.
I swear the crowd was louder than the amps and don’t worry guys, you didn’t mess it up. Kip took multiple breaks during the show when it was obvious his voice was wavering, but this was no task for the crowd, who sang his songs with projection back to him like second nature. At one point, I wondered if he would ever start singing one of the songs he started. But at that point, he didn’t even need to. The crowd took control and he was able to just sit back and soak it all in.
IMAGES BY: BAYLI JONES
Once the band plugged back in, he continued the show with multiple comments about how they were urging him to wrap up the show, but he wasn’t done with this crowd just yet. I’ve never seen him dance on stage as he did in Salt Lake, and it was adorable to watch him sport such a massive grin. He hopped right into the front row during “Something Bout a Truck” to fully immerse himself with the energy from the crowd, and it was evident that he was having the time of his life. Finishing strong for all the die-hard fans in the audience, of which there were many, the encore consisted of Kip grabbing his guitar, arms wrapped around his band mates, and serenading us with a personal favorite of mine, “Guitar Man”.
This show will live at the top of my favorite Kip shows, and even the top of my all-time list, for a good reason. Evidence enough, once the lights were turned on in the venue, Kip sneaked back out to tease the audience, goofing around and spilling his staple bottle of Jack Daniels along the stage. I caught a few quick flights within 16 hours of each other to see this show in Utah, and I would recommend to any Kip Moore fan that if you want to see one of his best shows and be a part of one of the best crowds of rowdy fans, make sure you grab tickets the next time he passes through Salt Lake City. I’ll see y’all at the show.
IMAGES BY: BAYLI JONES
