Kane Brown Review
Back in 1988, my buddy Jeff told me about his father who was offered tickets to some newcomer named “Garth” who was playing the Firefighter’s Ball in Omaha. His father bought tickets and had no interest in seeing a performer named Garth. Who names a kid Garth?
In late 2015, I learned Kane Brown was coming to Sioux City. Kane Brown is as unknown an artist on the national radio airwaves as Garth Brooks probably was in 1988.
But, he just sold out a concert venue that holds 900 fans in Sioux City Iowa. Kane is the master of using social media to tout his talent…and boy, were his talents on display at Anthem!
After opening act Gypsy Lover and lead singer Ben Grillet impressed the energetic crowd at Hard Rock Casino Sioux City there was a quick changeover of equipment…and then another epic moment that gave me goosebumps. Kane Brown handed his iphone to one of his band members who ran it up to the stage and plugged it in – it was a song he cut 3 days ago with KSUX Birthday Bash headliner Chris Young called “There Goes My Everything”. A 30 second clip was leaked online and the entire crown was singing along to the chorus. I watched as Kane Brown watched the crowd react on the closed circuit screen in the green room. It was a cool moment – one of the coolest concert day moments I’ve seen in nearly 20 years.
This guy has got it.
It was fun to see an artist amass such a following without a record label. That little nugget will be changing soon. Expect a big announcement from Kane Brown on January 19th. My guess is he is opening for some pretty big stars in the format. The two names I heard bandied about are career-makers in the touring world.
Kane announced on stage this was his first stop in Iowa. Take that Des Moines! He gracefully segued from the album cut “Closer” to “Check Yes or No” by George Strait to “Almost Home” by Craig Morgan to, wait for it, “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down.
Throw in “Buy Me a Boat” by Anthem alumni Chris Janson and “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber. Yup. I just wrote Justin Bieber.
Brown pulled it off. Graceful. Laid back with a natural energy. One of the coolest performers to grace the Anthem stage at Hard Rock. There was a magic in the room where you just know this guy is going to be HUGE.
I have 6 takeaways after watching my first Kane Brown show.
1. This was a young show. My guess in 75 % of the crowd was under 30. Country music is sitting at the cool table of the music business.
2. You could tell Kane Brown is equally influenced by traditional sounding country music and pop music. This continues the trend as of late. Great music is great music. Performers and their fans don’t care about labeling formats.
3. The Anthem stage is magical. It’s so great to see stars being made in Sioux City, Iowa.
4. You don’t near a record label to have your name and your music heard from fans.
5. New Music delivery comes to us in many different forms. For Kane Brown, it’s “The X Factor” and social media platforms. It’s my goal on KSUX to expose listeners to new tunes not always heard on the radio. We are one of just a handful of stations nationwide playing “Used to Love you Sober”. I’m confident in saying 900 fans in Sioux City agree this guy has all the tools in the toolbox to prove he’s a gifted as other artists on the airwaves.
6. Sioux City is way cooler musically than Des Moines.
Tony Michaels
KSUX Program Director
