Morgan Wallen serves up the hits to big MetLife crowd, including Eli Manning: Review

Morgan Wallen might be the bad boy of country music, but on stage Friday, May 17 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford he was gracious to a fault.

“Man, when I was growing up I never thought New York and New Jersey would have such [good] country music fans,” said Wallen early in the show, “Thank you so much for that warm welcome. I really appreciate that ? thank you.”

Wallen, a native of Tennessee, played his hits with his six-member band in a close to two-hour show for more than 55,000 in the audience, which included former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. The two-time Super Bowl champ was shown on a video screen with Wallen just before singer took the stage.

Wallen kept the New York sports legends theme going later in the show when he donned a New York Knicks Patrick Ewing jersey for the encores. He didn't refer to either Manning or Ewing during the show. He did perform the song, “98 Braves,” which references the 1998 Atlanta Braves, but did so without comment.

Perhaps, in keeping with his good manners, he was afraid of offending local fans of the Braves' rival, the New York Mets.

Wallen plays a type of country pop that has multiple influences just below the surface. “Up Down” crackles with an arena rock spark, “Sunrise” has a trap hip-hop rhythm, and “One Day at a Time” has an '80s vibe that can be described as Jimmy Buffett fronting the Cure.

The material is compelling, but it lacked a certain umph to keep the crowd fully engaged. When Wallen stepped off the stage midway through the performance, the “Let's go Rangers” heard on the left of the stage suggested the audience was not fully tuned in.

Or maybe the crowd was hoping Mark Messier was backstage.

Wallen was at his best on the secondary stage, close to the fans across the field from the main stage. He talked about how he missed playing to smaller venues where he could “pretty much look at every single person in the eyes.”

He performed several ballads with a stripped-down musical backing in the secondary stage and it showed his country music artistry to full effect. His cover of Jason Isbell's “Cover Me Up” was ended with a very strong vocal flourish, and overall the four song set presented his firm tenor in a favorable light.

We mentioned he has a bad boy reputation. Wallen was criticized when, apparently intoxicated, he used a racial slur in public in 2021. He also recently got in trouble for throwing a chair off the roof a bar in Nashville and almost hitting two police officers. A court appearance is pending.

None of this was referred to from the stage. Wallen largely sings about girls, Southern identity, and alcohol. Many of his fans appear to be under 21, but they sang along to his drinking hits, including “Man Made a Bar” (with opener Parker McCollum), “This Bar,” “Whiskey Glasses,” and “Last Night.” Most songs were accompanied with pyrotechnics.

More: Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs helping country music take over New Jersey this summer

More: Morgan Wallen fans flood MetLife Stadium parking lots before the show

Wallen, modestly dressed in a backwards trucker cap, long-sleeve white T-shirt, and brown cargo pants, served 'em up with a smile and didn't forget to thank the customers.

Show two at MetLife is 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18. Tickets start at $95 on Ticketmaster.com. The two shows were rescheduled from last May as Wallen postponed the concerts due to vocal problems.

Morgan Wallen MetLife setlist

• Ain't That Some

• I Wrote the Book

• One Thing at a Time

• Everything I Love

• You Proof

• 98 Braves

• 7 Summers

• Sunrise

• Whiskey Friends

• Cover Me Up

• Thought You Should Know

• Lies Lies Lies

• Sand in My Boots

• Up Down

• Cowgirls

• Chasin' You

• Man Made a Bar

• Heartless

• Wasted on You

• This Bar

• More Than My Hometown

• Whiskey Glasses

• Thinkin' Bout Me

• Last Night

• The Way I Talk

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Morgan Wallen a hit with big MetLife Stadium crowd and Eli Manning