Saturday night Brad Paisley played the first stadium show of his career, playing to a sold-out crowd at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots. The country superstar has performed his music in many different kinds of venues over the years, but being at Gillette Stadium took it to a whole new level for him, as Brad admitted, “To be standing there in a stadium hearing these songs reverberate off the concrete is pretty wild.” Playing the first stadium show of his career was a huge thrill for the West Virginia native, who was reminded Saturday night just how far his career has taken him: “I’m here without a road map of any kind…so, I’m certainly in more shock today than anybody.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)
- The show was just the latest stop on Brad’s H2O World Tour, and provided fans with a reminder of the music they’ll get to re-live when Brad releases his Hits Alive album package this fall.
- Brad’s sold-out show included an all-star line-up that served up nearly six hours of continuous music for fans who began arriving and tailgating at the stadium earlier in the day. Others on-hand included Sara Evans, Jason Aldean, Darius Rucker, and Easton Corbin.
In Massachusetts after his Saturday night performance, Brad Paisley fills us in on what he’ll remember from his first-ever stadium show. (:43)
“It’s feeling each of these songs that I’ve written over the years, in this setting, in a place like this. To be up there standing and singing a song like ‘Alcohol,’ that was written with the kind of bombastic hugeness that I kind of pictured as being that kind of song — that would sound good in a stadium full of people holding beer. You know, to think of songs like that, and the same with ‘Welcome to the Future,’ in a city like Boston which is where America was essentially born in many ways, here or Philadelphia, and to be standing there in a stadium hearing these songs reverberate off the concrete is pretty wild.”
On Saturday night, Brad Paisley admitted it was hard to believe his was performing to a sold-out stadium. (:52)
“My dreams as far as my lifetime goal, early on, was to get to what I call the level of tour musician. Which was to have a tour bus to pile onto it to go play a show somewhere, other than where I lived, and then pile off of it, do the show, get back on it, and go to another town. And really stop there, that was what I wanted to do, and have hit songs that people knew. That was really it. I really felt like if I ever reach that league, that league of person, that has a hit song that people know their name, and go see them sing, I would be fine. That was the goal. I’m so far past where I planned to be that I’m here without a road map of any kind. I didn’t necessarily ask for directions on the way. So, I’m certainly in more shock today than anybody.”