So last summer, I saw Jelly Roll before I knew who he really was when he opened for Shinedown. But I was impressed. Now a year later, the dude has blown up and is headlining a large tour of his own. The wife and I decided to go check him out since we’ve been digging his music and he’s such a great live performer.
The cool thing about Jelly Roll is that he does hip hop, rock/metal, and country. He has songs on both the rock and country charts (maybe hip hop too? no clue), and as a result, I figured he’d have an interesting audience. More on that in a bit…Let’s start at the beginning.
Here we are, August 4, 2023 in Mansfield, MA on the Backroad Baptism tour. Struggle Jennings opened. He’s a rapper from Tennessee apparently, and friends with Jelly Roll, but we missed his set due to the traffic and parking. I’m also told he’s the grandson or something like that of Wayland Jennings. This is according to the cool guy who sat next to us.
Elle King, also known as Rob Scheider’s daughter, was next. She is more country than anything else. Ex’s & Oh’s was a big hit of hers that hit the rock and alternative charts (and probably country) a few years back. But more recently, she’s been having success with country duets and country in general.
She played her hits: Ex’s & Oh’s, America’s Sweetheart, and Drunk. She prob did 10 songs total but those are the only 3 I knew. She talked and sang a lot about drinking and smoking, and lit one up during a song about, well, weed. It was fitting. She swears like a sailor, has a unique voice, and plays various string instruments. She’s pretty entertaining, and maybe a little white trash.
Before we get to Jelly Roll, what was unique about this show was that he had a “host.” This dude Josh Adam Meyers works the crowd in between sets with a band backing him up. He did some great crowd work, he crowd surfed, he had a ton of fun (it seems) and did some cover songs that everyone was into. This made it way better than just watching the crew change sets while random music plays over the PA. Nice touch! Other tours take note!
Jelly Roll was next to close the show. As previously established, Jelly Roll is a good time. He’s a great singer with good songs about his real life struggles. Read up on him or watch his documentary on Hulu. He has quite the past. But because of his past, he seems to be genuinely appreciative of his fans, his success, and getting to perform his music for a living. This was his 6th show of the tour, and the 6th sell out crowd in a row. Pretty awesome and he knows it, which is why he smiles ear to ear throughout the night.
He opened with the Lost, and played Halfway to Hell off the new album. He also did some older ones from 10 years back. He played the hits of course: Dead Man Walking, Son of a Sinner, and Need A Favor. He also did a country medley that worked in some Eagles, and a cover of House of the Rising Sun. Great vocalist and song writer. Now about that crowd…
I’ve gone to so many shows over the years, starting when I was 14. I never drank at shows until maybe the last decade, and even then it’s a beer or two and I’m done. I truly love the live music experience and want to enjoy the show and remember it. If you need to drink and get plastered to have fun, then you do you. I’m not one to judge. However…
Before we even got inside the venue, people were stumbling out. I’m sure they were partying in the parking lot all day as many people do, but come on. Unless your ticket was free, what a waste of time and money. Then there are the people who have drink after drink inside the venue. Drinks range from $13 to probably $30 and the tickets themselves were not cheap either. I just can’t see dropping $150 on a ticket and then drinking and smoking so much that you don’t remember the show or even know you’re at a show.
Take for instance, the douche bag in front me. Section 1, Row CC, maybe in seat 10? He could barely stand, couldn’t (or wouldn’t) turn off his phone flash light, and just kept filming and taking photos of the crowd around him (with said light shining in their face). Pretty sure he thought the fat, high dude next to me was Jelly Roll cuz he seemed to be trying to start a bromance. And why must drunk douche bags constantly want to high five, and face AWAY from the stage to sing to each other? And on top of that, sing so loudly that they can’t hear the person they paid a bunch of money to see? I don’t get it. Also, I can’t wait for him to look at his pictures the next day and realize all his pics and videos are total dog shit. He knows who he is.
Now take this drunk dude and multiply him by 17,000. The venue’s capacity is 19k, but I’ll pretend maybe 2k of us were sober…and we all started filtering out during House of the Rising Sun around 10pm it seems. If you know me, then you know I very rarely leave a show early. This is prob the 3rd one ever.
I’m not a prude, and I’m not against people having a good time. But screw this crowd. 90% of them will have no recollection of the night and I’m not sure how most made it home. I love Jelly Roll’s music, but I’ll sit the next one out. Metal crowds are way cooler and less annoying. See you at Metallica on Sunday in NJ.
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