Pop Break Live: Maren Morris with Rae Lynn at The Fillmore in Philadelphia
One of Country Music’s brightest stars, Maren Morris, brought her GIRL: The World Tour to Philadelphia’s Fillmore on Friday April 26th. The Texas native has been turning heads since her stellar major label debut Hero was released in 2016. She won a Grammy in 2017, then was nominated multiple times over the last two years. Her massive top ten hit last year with Zedd, “The Middle,” was just the cherry on top. This girl is on fire!
The Fillmore was packed, even early on. Usually it doesn’t start getting crowded until the headliner comes on but this crowd was ready to go. Fellow Texas native RaeLynn opened the show and it was apparent right away that this little firecracker of a singer had her own fan base here as well, and they were loud. She grabbed the attention of country music fans over the years with her entertaining video’s and with songs such as “God Made Girls,” “Rowdy,” and “Tailgate.” She was backed by a great band and her highly entertaining performance really set the tone for the night.
Morris is touring in support of her critically acclaimed album GIRL, released in March of 2019. She has had many hits over the last few years so the setlist was a nice mix of new and old but was mostly a high energy romp! Audience participation(whether it was dancing or singing along) was high on such numbers as “80’s Mercedes,” “Rich,” and” All My Favorite People,” in which opener RaeLynn joined in on the fun. Maren’s performance on “Church” was outstanding.
It was one of the loudest sing-alongs I’ve ever heard. Another song that stood out was a spirited version of the anthem song “Girl.” During her set the stage lighting was very colorful and the visuals on the large screen in back of the band were pretty cool. In between songs she talked to the crowd and told some stories. Her husband of one year (married in March 2018) got a shout out on the song “To Hell and Back.” She thanked him for celebrating her and all that she has accomplished. She stated they found their “own kind of weird”. She came off “real and endearing,” just another reason to become a fan.
There were so many highlights from this show. The audience sang along on pretty much every chorus of every song but one of the loudest of the night was on “I Could Use a Love Song” which was her first ever #1 country song. Backed by cellos and an acoustic guitar, it was hauntingly beautiful, especially with the crowd’s backing. The encore included her super smash hit “The Middle”.
I can’t say enough about the crowd at this show. The audience was a mixture of pop and country fans and one of the happiest, most vocal audiences I have ever been a part of. Morris had said during her set how much she loved Philadelphia and announced that she’d be returning here later this year to play The Met. Something tells me it’s not just me that’s looking forward to round two!
